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VOLUME:117 No.167, JULY 27TH, 2020

HO US E & 12 THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1

SPORT: SHAUNAE RECORDS PERSONAL BEST IN 100M

PAGES

What about my wedding day?

Bride’s anger at calling off her big day when PM gave other ceremonies go-ahead

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net A BRIDE-TO-BE is upset that she cancelled her wedding to comply with COVID-19 rules only to learn that Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis exempted two couples from regulations limiting the number of wedding attendees to five.

The Office of the Prime Minister released a statement last night after photos and videos of a wedding at the Coral Sands resort in

Harbour Island went viral.

The wedding had more than five attendees, featured a Junkanoo performance and appeared to have guests who did not strictly follow social distancing protocols.

The Office of the Prime Minister said in a statement: “The competent authority granted permission for two pre-planned weddings with more than five in attendance to be held over the weekend lockdown, provided that proper COVID-19 mitigation protocols were adhered to.

THE government is continuing to “recalibrate” its COVID-19 travel protocols to give Bahamians “substantial protection without absolutely strangling tourism”, Attorney General Carl Bethel said yesterday.

“Everybody coming into the country, however they come in, has to have a negative COVID-19 test

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A MOTHER and daughter who contracted COVID-19 while abroad broke quarantine rules when they returned to Grand Bahama and subsequently infected eight other people with the disease, according to Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Delon Brennen.

His revelation during a Ministry of Health press conference on Friday renewed concerns about the enforcement of quarantine rules as the country battles a surge of COVID-19 cases.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced on April 27 that people who breach quarantine rules could be fined $20,000 or be imprisoned for five years.

CASES COUNT: 16 POSITIVE, INCLUDING EXUMA WOMAN

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

SEE PAGE FOUR

THE Bahamas recorded 16 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday, including ten on Grand Bahama and five on New Providence.

Exuma recorded its first case of the virus as well: a 27-year-old woman whose travel history was not disclosed.

This comes after ten new cases were confirmed on Saturday: six on New Providence and four on Grand Bahama. Three hundred and forty two cases of COVID-19 have been recorded to date.

The new cases in New Providence include four women ages 27, 88, 72 and 29 and one 72-year-old man.

and health visa, and if they come by commercial airline they have to go into quarantine because there are too many people and we cannot keep an eye on them,” he said. “The orders are being reworded in a way that we think will be able to capture everybody. The actual terms have not yet been settled because there’s some dialogue going on with the health professionals.”

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

GB WOMEN SPREAD VIRUS BREAKING QUARANTINE

SEE PAGE THREE

WE’RE ADAPTING AS WE SEE THE NEED - BETHEL

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

HOME

GUESTS enjoying a wedding at Harbour Island over the weekend

SEE PAGE THREE

NEW LOCKDOWN MAY BE ‘ECONOMIC SUICIDE’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN retailers were divided over the reimposition of weekend lockdowns with one branding it akin to “economic suicide” while others backed the move.

Egan Kemp, president of Eunison Company, the Shoe Depot parent, said the government response to the latest surge in COVID-19 cases was “actually making

PRIME Minister Hubert Minnis the situation worse by choking off” the little economic activity that is taking place.

Arguing that COVID-19 could remain a threat for years, Mr Kemp warned that The Bahamas must learn to live with the virus otherwise the country will have “no economy” left.

However, Andrew Wilson, Quality Business Centre’s principal, said Prime Minister Hubert Minnis had made the right call by reimposing restrictions, adding: “I’d rather lose a weekend than a lifetime.”

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

INSIGHT WHATEVER WE SAY, WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

SEE PAGE SEVEN

PAGE 2, Monday, July 27, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Tributes pour in for radio star Phil RADIO personality Phillip Sands, 54, best known for his impersonations as “Yvonne Batalise, LLB Esq” or “The Digger” on the People’s Radio Station (100 JAMZ), died yesterday morning at the Princess Margaret Hospital after suffering a massive stroke at his home last weekend.

“After 25 years, it’s hard to describe the tragic loss of such a uniquely talented Bahamian; let alone, one who was a close friend and played an integral part of bringing my vision for The People’s Radio station (JAMZ) to fruition,” stated Mr Robert Dupuch-Carron, President of TribuneMedia Group.

“There can be little doubt that he, Eric & Ed, Kirk Smith, Terrible T, Pencil, Randy C, Capt Keith, Peggy, Steve, Dion, JJ, Tameka, Dion, Butler, Brenda Lee, Vann, Manny and Desiray formed the cornerstone upon which 100JAMZ rests today,”

continued Mr Carron.

“While I’ll miss Phil’s infectious humour; legendary on-air pranks; the love and care he demonstrated towards his fellow

citizens and his unswerving dedication to the efforts of the Santa Claus Christmas Committee, I shall never forget the kindness and unconditional love he

demonstrated towards my wife, mother and me upon learning news of our LittleMAN’s vaccine-related death,” Mr Carron recalled.

“Phil Sands, aka Ivonne Bataliste, was an iconic figure when it comes to radio and entertainment in the Bahamas,” said Jamal Rodgers, Programme Director at Tribune Radio Ltd. “He was a kindhearted man who would give the shirt off his back, not only will I miss him but the entire 100JAMZ family mourns his loss.”

Among the tributes pouring into the station were those from Mr Dion “Da Butcha” Knowles, former Mixer and Programme Director at 100 JAMZ, who recalled that “Phillip is one of those special people and I became a huge fan of his when we worked together at JAMZ because he would say the most amazingly politically incorrect, hilarious things ever.”

“He made it a joy to come

to work. It was even more fun to watch him MC a wedding.

It seemed like he had the mic in one hand and the crowd in the other,” continued Mr Knowles.

“To no longer have his smiles and jokes and laughs is a pain that will never heal.

Rest In Paradise, my friend!”

“As a young boy I met Phillip at a party, he was the MC and we bonded from then to now,” said The Mighty Pencil, one of 100JAMZ’s original Thunderstorm mixers.

“Phil was one of the nicest persons you would ever come across, he would give you his last. In my community, he helped kids get back to school, gave them lunch money. If you were down, he would brighten your day with a joke. Always the life of the party, he would come to the party just to MC, but would end up bartending, serving and ushering in guests if he had to,” the Mighty Pencil added.

“At JAMZ, he, alongside Ed Fields, who he affectionately called ‘Eddie D’, made the best morning show in the history of The Bahamas!” recalled the Mighty Pencil. “People couldn’t wait to get up in the morning to tune into the show to hear the latest craziness from the Haitian sensation Yvonne Batalise. We were the best remote team! Phillip, I love you and you will always be a brother to me,” he continued.

Former afternoon on-air personality Terrible T said that everyone depended on Phillip with the Jamz van.

“Whether it was work or personal. If you had to do your live remote, you were stranded, needed a ride, your girlfriend needed a ride, call Phil,” he recalled.

“He was on the the way, he never had an excuse as to why he couldn’t make it, he came. Phil made friends with everyone in every

part of the island. And everyone knew that Jamz Van. He would be Kemp Road, Bain Town, East Street, Ida Street, Lyford Cay, Paradise Island, he would be everywhere and he was loved by everyone,” said Terrible T. “At JAMZ, it was never a dull moment when Phil was around! If you were falling down, he would say something stupid to make you laugh and forget about what had you down in the first place,” he explained.

“He created different personalities that our radio listeners loved, like Yvonne Batalis L.L.B Esquire and The Digger. I can’t imagine the original 100 Jamz posse without Phillip,” Terrible T added.

“Phil was all about friendship and family, his friends and the 100 Jamz team were also his family and he would do anything for anyone without thinking twice about it. We’re going to miss Phil’s crazy humour and jokes about who he was going to give the tight shirt off his back!

The “Smedium Size” he called it! “ “Phillip’s death has the affect on the Bahamas like Kobe Bryant had on the US,” added businessman and Tribune Radio’s spiritual adviser, Mr Burton Rodgers.

“You may have never met him, but if you did, something magical happened and you felt like you had known him for your whole life.” he added.

“Those that knew Phillip will feel like they have lost a family member,” said Mr Rodgers.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 27, 2020, PAGE 3

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

ANOTHER 16 POSITIVE, INCLUDING EXUMA WOMAN from page one

The ten new cases in Grand Bahama include eight men ages 21, 19, 48, 41, 44, 29, 42 and 31. A 21 and 39-year-old woman are also among the new cases.

Grand Bahama has emerged as the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Bahamas. During a press conference on Friday, Dr Frank Bartlett, head of Grand Bahama’s COVID-19 task-force, said most of the residents with COVID-19 on Grand

Bahama are between 40 and 49. The first confirmed case in the recent wave of cases was a 27-year-old man––a known contact of two people who recently travelled to Fort Lauderdale, he said.

“One of the persons who returned from Fort Lauderdale on June 30 would have become symptomatic on July 3,” he added. “Of that grouping, we have in that single cluster some twelve persons that can be directly linked to that group. Of that grouping we are testing contacts of

contacts. The age range of the persons we now have in Grand Bahama is at our very youngest, six years, and our eldest person is age 84. Most of our positive cases are between the ages of 40-49 and right behind that grouping is the group of 30-39.”

Dr Bartlett said the most common symptoms in recent positive patients are cough and other cold and flu like ailments along with fever and respiratory issues. He said some people have also had muscle aches and headaches. A “small

minority” have complained about a loss of taste and smell, he said.

He said the most common co-morbidity observed in the grouping is hypertension, then diabetes. Some have also had issues with obesity and sleep apnea.

“As of July 23, we have done 518 swabs,” he said.

“Once a person has presented symptoms or they are identified as a contact, they are swabbed. At this point in time, we are doing what is considered to be expanded swabbing. So, we have targeted groups, we’re

tracing contacts of contacts in some instances (and) now we’re tracing contacts of contacts of contacts.”

Dr Bartlett said officials are not conducting mass screening right now. Officials are taking swabs from some people to get an idea of what the “burden of disease” is in the community,” he said.

“As of July 23, we have some 422 persons who are in isolation,” he said.

“Also, as it relates to contact tracing, we have 230 persons we have in our listing and this group is

growing on a daily basis based on the amount of positive tests we have.

“Of the 422 persons that we have in quarantine, 111 of them are at home isolating, we have nine in isolation at the government quarantine centre and we have some 20 persons who are quarantined at our government centre.

The hospital at this point in time we are now only housing two COVID-19 positive cases. We would have transferred one of our cases to Doctor’s Hospital West in Nassau.”

those in quarantine and isolation.

Asked on Friday about the limits of the Hubbcat system and whether the solution is to put more people in government designated facilities, Chief Medical Officer Dr Pearl McMillan said: “Certainly the Hubbcat monitoring system, any system is good as it’s full use and certainly we introduced it and we utilised it and as we are now moving into having the need for more and more quarantine, we certainly

health monitored the hubcatt. Everytime we put someone in the geofencing, we had health monitors.

We are at the point now where we require additional capacity to do the monitoring and certainly we have partnered with (the Ministry of National Security) and we anticipate that what is going to be put in place––and it’s already started––will be what is required for the monitoring of persons in quarantine.

“It won’t necessarily fully

remove the need for having a site where we may need to put persons who are just not able to quarantine at home, but we are managing that whole quarantine activity pretty much utilizing multiple mechanisms, including both a mandatory site where we can put you and enhancing our capacity to do the monitoring through our Hubbcat solution.”

Dr Brennen said over 820 people are currently being monitored through Hubbcat.

GB women spread virus breaking quarantine from page one Yesterday, Assistant Superintendent of Police Audley Peters said to his knowledge no one has been charged with breaking quarantine rules to date.

Dr Brennen said the pair of Grand Bahama residents returned to the country without “necessarily having the appropriate testing” because they were Bahamian residents.

“They were asked and required to quarantine,” he said. “Unfortunately, through contact tracing we were able to find out from them that they had visitors to the house, they then went out into (the) community as well and when we were able to do swabbing within their contacts, we found at least eight other people who had been in contact with them that ended up being positive cases as well.”

“So, we have a cluster of

DEPUTY Chief Medical Officer Dr Delon Brennen at least 10 people that was related to two people traveling and it is all an issue of us being able to leave the country and return. “ Health officials admitted in April that some people were not obeying quarantine rules. At one point they revealed that 15 people who were supposed to be quarantining went missing and were

not retested so that their COVID-19 status could be confirmed. To boost compliance with quarantine requirements the government signed a contract with Hubbcat Solution so that people could be electronically monitored. Hubbcat provides geofencing capabilities and pre-programmes virtual boundaries around the properties of

GETAWAY TURNS TO REGRET AS 79-YEAR-OLD INFECTED

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A FUN getaway to Moore’s Island for the Independence holiday weekend is now a regret for Valencia Francis after the Berry Islands resident contracted COVID-19 and subsequently infected her 79-year-old mother.

The annual event she attended became a breeding ground for one of the country’s latest COVID-19 clusters, spawning at least six Berry Islands cases and three Moore’s Island cases––jolting residents in the Berry Islands where some had begun to think they were safe from COVID-19.

“My mother is not into partying and the fast lifestyle and she got COVID because of me,” Ms Francis told The Tribune yesterday.

“That’s my only regret and that’s what makes this so tough.”

Fortunately, she and her mother are coping with the virus and do not have serious symptoms. But she said even under normal circumstances their island has inadequate healthcare services, forcing worries about what happens if their health suddenly deteriorates.

“It’s kinda scary to think about what happens if we decline,” she said. “I’ve lived here all my life and I know once things get real bad you have to get airlifted out.”

Ms Francis hasn’t missed the annual Moore’s

Island event since she was 17. As many as 500 people attended this year’s event, she said, including she and 25 others who left the Berry Islands on July 10 aboard two boats. Social distancing protocols were ignored as people partied , she said. Although Berry Islands residents planned to return home on July 11, the weather kept them on the island until July 13.

“I wasn’t really sick when I got back,” she said. “I had a little cough and I went to the clinic for the cough and they tested me. We waited for about three days and it came back positive. I was kinda sad because I live at home with my 79-year-old mother and she also tested positive. We are really close-knit and I knew it was because of me.”

During a Ministry of Health press conference on Friday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Pearl McMillan said: “We believe, based on our history taking, that 26 persons from Berry Islands went into Moore’s Island on the July 10 holiday and I’m sure they enjoyed themselves, but this is a result of we believe in our contact tracing we learned that there was a socialising event where there was contact between persons from other islands that we know have multiple cases, i.e. Grand Bahama. So they went back home to the Berry Islands and began having symptoms and we have six active cases. So movement across our islands, it has risk at this time, particularly out of

islands that we know have active transmission.”

Ms Francis said the episode has taught her and others a valuable lesson, one she hopes all Bahamians learn.

“My thing with the whole inter-island travel thing is I’m a Bahamian. Bahamians have a problem with listening. You could go wherever you want to go and do whatever you want to do but the smart thing is if you were to Moore’s island, go and get tested.

People think once it’s not in a particular place they don’t feel a need to do the social distancing. But after what’s happened the past week or two, that mindset has changed.”

Indeed, Kelvin Pinder, another Berry Islands resident, said many residents there thought the virus was a hoax.

“Most people believed that because they haven’t seen anyone with it, it must be a hoax,” he said. “A lot of people thought the government was just using it as a ploy to lock people down. Now that it’s on their doorstep I think people are taking it more seriously because these are people they know personally who are affected.”

He said some Berry Islands residents are angry at those who traveled to Moore’s Island.

“We were focused on tourists and homeowners from the States, thinking they would be the ones to bring it here and it really was kind of disappointing

that our own brought it here to the island.”

He said he hopes residents take social distancing rules more seriously now that the virus is on their island, noting that they ignored lockdown rules the

last time COVID-19 cases surged in the country.

“There was very little consideration of social distancing rules on the Berry Islands,” he said. “During the previous lockdown persons here were having block

parties. You had people coming down here to campaign and were involved in these parties. No one was supposed to be doing that.

The police were called in a few times to disrupt the flow of those gatherings.”

NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS In light of the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic, and in adherence with the protocols relating to the maximum number of persons allowed at an event, Commonwealth Bank’s Board of Directors has resolved to postpone the Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) until further notice. The safety and well-being of our shareholders, clients, directors, staff and community remain our utmost priority. We will advise shareholders of the date, time and venue of the meeting via advertisement.

A copy of the 2019 Annual Report can be downloaded from the Commonwealth Bank website at www.combankltd.com/about-us/ investor-relations

Charlene A. Bosfield Corporate Secretary

“Leader in Personal Banking Services” www.combankltd.com

PAGE 4, Monday, July 27, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

WE WILL CONTINUE WITH SERVICES, SAYS BISHOP

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT ts-cartwright @tribunemedia.net

BISHOP Laish Boyd, head of the Anglican Diocese of The Bahamas & Turks and Caicos Islands, said although there is a spike in COVID cases, the Anglican community will continue to operate churches under the current government issued protocols.

After in-person church services were shut down in March and after months of negotiations, religious leaders received approval from the government to resume worship in churches beginning June 6.

Under the new protocols, churches have to close doors by 1pm on days of worship and are only allowed a portion of membership at a time. Among other rules, congregation members have to sit six feet apart, wear masks and sanitise before entering church.

The Tribune spoke to other religious leaders in the community and for the most part, they said they are going to continue to adhere to the current protocols put in place by the government and suggested by the Bahamas Christian Council.

“Prior to the lockdown we had laid down a set of protocols by which we were going to operate and we have been sticking

to those over the last six weeks that services had been resumed,” said Bishop Boyd. “So, the only thing that we will be doing is continuing our protocols practicing and promoting and encouraging our protocols throughout all of our churches.”

The Anglican bishop believes once COVID preventative protocols are followed the numbers will be contained.

“Our belief is that protocols save lives and when you engage in good practice in many places over a period of time, that’s what keeps the spread of infection down. That’s all we will be doing, just redoubling our efforts on that which we

are already engaged in.”

Rev CB Moss, of Mt Olive Baptist Church, also says for the time being nothing will change with the way his church operates.

“We will continue as usual and that is in compliance to the latest emergency order concerning New Providence,” Rev Moss said. “We maintain the physical distancing, do all the sanitising processes, we wear masks and we restrict our services to no more than one hour.

“So that is adequate for now. We feel that people need to have that personal contact even at a distance.

We also have contact over social media, but that physical contact at 11am on

Sundays is vital to us. Until further restrictions are imposed, we will continue to do that.”

Head pastor at First Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Bahamas), Pastor HG Ferguson, said nothing has changed at that church and protocols are being followed, strictly.

“What we are planning to do is continue on with the government protocols as we are doing,” Mr Ferguson said. “We have never actually taken down our protocols, even when things looked good. Yes, we are concerned about the recent spikes in our COVID numbers, but we have always kept up with our social distancing and sanitisation. We

GUESTS seen enjoying a weekend wedding on Harbour Island.

will continue on as usual with the protocols.”

After a meeting Thursday night, the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA), headed by Bishop Theophilus Rolle, will make the decision on whether to take more precautions than what are currently in place.

“We are thinking about changing some things,” the bishop told The Tribune. “We have a meeting at six o’clock this evening (Thursday) to discuss the same. The service is going to continue on as usual this Sunday, but we might change things for next week. We will decide that tonight and make the necessary changes if needed.”

POLICE CHIEF WARNING OVER SALE OF DRINKS

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

Bride’s anger at calling off her wedding when PM gave other ceremonies the go-ahead from page one “Permission was granted for a destination wedding on Harbour Island, Eleuthera, and a Bahamian wedding in New Providence. The competent authority has asked the Royal Bahamas Police Force to investigate reports that proper COVID-19 protocols were not adhered to at the wedding held on Harbour Island.”

Wedding planners and engaged couples expressed dismay and the revelation sparked criticism about preferential treatment.

Dornella Newbold, 29, had a wedding planned for

Saturday at 1pm which she cancelled after Dr Minnis announced the new wedding rules during a Ministry of Health press conference on Friday evening.

She said news that a couple was exempted from the rule felt “like an insult, a slap in the face”.

“It’s hurtful,” she said.

“Everybody knows how expensive it is to put on a wedding.

Everyone knows the amount of time that goes into preparing a wedding.”

She said many lack access to request certain privileges from the competent authority.

“I didn’t know any number to ask permission

to do things,” she said.

“They said nothing about whether there was a number to call so I couldn’t reach them to ask them any questions. It’s just double standards. We are supposed to all be under the same order so how could they have their event but others were made to cancel their events after what we heard on Friday night?”

She and her fiancé are now fighting to recuperate their $10,000 investment as most vendors refuse to refund their payments.

“I haven’t heard from one vendor saying they will refund us,” she said. “The flowers were already done.

The cake was already done

and it’s not like they could be saved for the next time.

Both my fiancé and I we had our parents brought here to Nassau for the wedding from Family Islands so the ticket costs are another loss we can’t make up. This is such a blow.

“Never in a million years I thought we would be going through this. Now we’re battling vendors, trying to see if I can get refunds and all that. It’s been a hassle and a mess, everyone saying they don’t do refunds and they can only allow me to have the services in the future. I’m not comfortable with that because I don’t know how long we will be in this situation of not being able to host our wedding.”

Ms Newbold said if the new wedding rules were announced earlier she would have saved money.

“I paid close attention to the radio all week because I wanted to see if he would make mention of it,” she said. “If he did we could’ve done things differently. He was on the radio days before, had he said something I wouldn’t have made all my payments and the like. But you wait until Friday night at 6pm to address the nation when everything for our weddings were already set, when we couldn’t do anything?”

The couple initially planned to have their wedding on July 4 but pushed their date back because the country “had just reopened” and they wanted more time to prepare.

Ms Newbold said her wedding was planned to follow social distancing guidelines more strictly than what happened at the Harbor Island wedding. “We planned for 30 people,” she said. “In our invites, we requested our guests bring masks because they would need the masks to enter. We told persons doing the decorations to set up tables in such a way that only five people could be at a table to ensure the necessary spacing in accordance with the social distancing rules. We tried to do our part.”

The Minnis administration has been criticised for extending privileges to some and not all before during the COVID-19 crisis.

Small restaurant businesses recently complained after learning that the Office of the Prime Minister gave a business group permission to open their restaurants until 9pm while restaurant businesses were generally mandated to close at 8pm.

Dwight Hart, owner of YOLO Grill and Hookah Bar, a restaurant in Exuma, called it a double standard.

“Here’s the problem,” he said, “once you do that for one, it shouldn’t be a question where anyone else could write and ask and get it, it should be automatically given because obviously everyone will want the same thing, everyone wants to be open later.”

Editorial View - Page 6

ASSISTANT Commissioner of Police Ashton Greenslade warned the selling of alcohol at bars and private residences during the COVID-19 lockdown is not permitted. People who break the rules will be arrested and prosecuted.

This came as Grand Bahamas went into a two-week lockdown on Thursday evening to stem the surge in COVID-19 infections on which now has 120 cases, the largest number of cases in the country. “We are asking business houses and bars that are supposed to be closed to please keep your doors closed…during the lockdown. We are also asking persons who tend to break the law selling alcohol from private residences to cease and desist forthwith,” warned the police chief.

He added: “We have persons who feel they cannot live without alcohol and will sneak out… to go to these private residences for alcohol. We will arrest the buyer for being out, and arrest the person who is selling at their home without a business licence.”

According to Mr Greenslade, police have already arrested and charged a young man for reportedly selling alcohol at a private residence.

“We discourage all illegal activity during this COVID period. We want residents of GB to follow the law.”

ACP Greenslade assured the public there is sufficient police manpower in Grand Bahama for the COVID-19 lockdown, amid reports that some officers are under quarantine. “We have over 400 officers on GB and the police stations are operational. We have a special task force to deal with COVID 19 that comprises 60 officers. We are more than ready for this challenge to make sure residents remain safe,” he stressed.

When asked how many officers are in quarantine, ACP Greenslade said: “I don’t have the figure (that is) in quarantine, but we have sufficient officers on the ground to deal with the situation. We don’t need help from Nassau.”

Patrols, he said, will be conducted throughout the island, and there will be police checkpoints and barricades at strategic locations checking vehicles. He said those persons permitted on the streets must wear masks and follow all other protocols.

BAHAMASAIR SUSPENDS WEEKEND FLIGHTS

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net BAHAMASAIR suspended all scheduled flights on their route network over the weekend due to the lockdown.

Tracy Cooper, the airline’s Managing Director,

noted in a statement on Friday that regularly scheduled domestic flights, with the exception of Freeport, Grand Bahama, are expected to resume today.

He added: “Customers are reminded that tickets can still be used for future travel and change fees will be waived through May 31,

2021. Health and Safety are, and always will be, paramount at Bahamasair. We remain committed to adhering to the best local and international aviation and medical standards, and we thank the travelling public for making us the airline of choice as we connect the islands of the Bahamas.”

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 27, 2020, PAGE 5

Attorney denies obstructing justice

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY Phillip Lundy outside court last week

ATTORNEY Phillip Lundy pleaded not guilty in the Magistrate’s Court on Friday to committing obstruction of justice.

It is alleged that on November 28, 2019 in New Providence the 61-year-old threatened, intimidated or restrained Justice Ruth Bowe-Darville for presiding or being about to preside over a matter as a judge.

His attorney asked that Lundy be granted bail, to which the prosecution had no objection. Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt granted bail at $20,000 with two sureties.

However, Lundy’s lawyer argued the alleged offence was outside the six-month limitation statute and that there was no formal authorisation for the caseby the Director of Public Prosecutor.

Magistrate FergusonPratt reserved her judgment on whether the matter was properly before the court.

The matter will continue on August 5.

Hutton: Abaco skills gap affecting quality of work

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net AS many construction jobs go unfilled in Abaco, a skills gap on the island has sometimes led to substandard construction work, according to Abaco Chamber of Commerce president Ken Hutton.

He spoke on Saturday during a virtual job fair highlighting employment opportunities for construction workers on the storm ravaged island.

“The thing that is most concerning is people are getting work done and it may not be work necessarily that’s up to standard,” he said.

“You have people getting money, paying good money that is very difficult to come by, paying someone that is giving less than standard, less than certified work, then that person disappears and the person is left with a substandard job. We are very concerned by that as a chamber.

“There is definitely a lack of qualified labour in the reconstruction efforts that we’re having here,” he continued. “As a result of that, the cost of reconstruction is just going up and up. Prior to the storm, Abaco had a very high cost of construction of between call it $350 and $400 per square foot. I think that’s now easily close to $800 a square foot primarily because of the lack of the labour. The qualified contractors that are here are booked solid for the next year and a half (to) two years.

“Our biggest concern is that up until yesterday the second homeowners were starting to come into the market to rebuild their properties and that was an additional pressure on the labour market so they were basically coming in on short term, they want their houses fixed, they want to pay whatever it took to get it done as quickly as

PRESIDENT: Ken Hutton possible, so that was putting pressure on the local market so in many cases it was causing the local contractors to go for the higher ticket and leaving the local people who needed their roofs done and their houses repaired waiting behind that. I don’t see that changing in the near future. I think the pressure on the labour market will continue so again, there is nothing but opportunity for contractors and construction people in Abaco at least for the medium term, I call it three to five years.”

Nonetheless, Mr Hutton said officials are encouraged by several ongoing construction projects.

“There’s the project down south in southern Abaco which is the Tyrsoz Group,” he said. “Elbow Cay continues to move forward with the Elbow Cay Club, there is Winding Bay, Winding Bay is winding up and doing more construction there. In particular, Treasure Cay seems to be turning a corner where that entire development needs to be reconstructed so that’s years of work out there of primarily second homeowners.”

He said the chamber has told foreign companies seeking work on the island to partner with local companies to ensure their knowledge is transferred.

“At the same time,” he said, “we cannot let the lack of skills at the present time prevent us from moving forward with construction and rebuilding.”

Michael Pratt, President of the Bahamas Construction Association, said his group is ready to enhance construction skills around the country.

“We have partnered with BTVI and other professionals to bring a level of certification to our work force,” he said. “This is one of the set backs that we’ve had for a long time, our workers have not been certified.

We’ve heard we have a poor image in the construction industry because this is one of the problems that we’ve had and it’s making it difficult sometimes to attract highly trained professionals into our industry. We have some parents who reinforce this perception by directing their kids away from the construction industry and then we just have some employers who are not training their workers to keep them abreast of the new industry standards.”

Insufficient accommodations is also slowing down Abaco’s recovery process, according to Mr Hutton.

John Michael Clarke, chairman of the Disaster Reconstruction Authority, echoed his view, noting there are no living accommodations in Marsh Harbour.

Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield and Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson participated in the webinar. Mr Henfield said the government has allocated two 60-acre plots of land, one in Wilson City and one outside of Spring City, to assist with accommodation.

“There’s also a construction site that is going to be identified for Central Pines––one for Murphy Town and many other private venture––so we’re poised to become the second city truly,” he said.

Mr Clarke said the authority plans to expand two of their home repair programmes.

“Currently there are 44 contractors

$250,000 FOR WATER MISSION

THE CENTRE for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) has granted the international engineering non-profit group Water Mission $250,000 to support ongoing disaster relief efforts in Abaco.

In a statement on Friday, the organisation revealed the grant will go towards developing two community-based projects on the island.

“Water Mission’s partnership with UNICEF

began in the early days of post-Dorian,” the statement read. “Besides a financial contribution of $1.2m made available for emergency interventions in (the) water and sanitation sector, UNICEF also ensured a ‘buildback-better’ approach in the project’s design in coordination with local authorities, such as Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) and the Ministry of Education for the

long-term sustainability of the projects.”

According to the statement, the first project will create “one of the largest solar arrays in The Bahamas,” which in turn, will provide “disaster resilience for WSC’s municipal water systems in the Marsh Harbour wellfields in the Abaco Islands.”

Water Mission said the second project will provide safe water for six area schools.

on the island of Abaco involved in the home repairs,” he said. “We are looking to expand that as soon as some of the COVID restrictions are lifted and we’re able to get more material on the island and be able to respond to people more quickly.

We are (also) expanding

the housing development project.

For his part, Mr Johnson emphasized that the government only wants “legitimate labour”.

“We’re encouraging everybody if you find there is someone in the Bahamas who you want to work for you, to make the necessary

applications,” he said. “(Not following the law) carries a high fine: $10,000 or five years imprisonment for harbouring, that’s giving residence to someone who is not a legal resident here in The Bahamas, and for employing someone who is not legally present here in The Bahamas.”

PAGE 6, Monday, July 27, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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One rule for one, one rule for another THIS is a story of two weddings. Or rather, a story of one wedding and one postponement.

At the weekend, a wedding went ahead in Harbour Island. Video circulated of the happy couple, and the celebration including a Junkanoo performance and guests dancing in close proximity to one another.

On Saturday, Dornella Newbold’s wedding in New Providence did not go ahead – postponed after the Prime Minister’s announcement on Friday of restrictions limiting weddings to five people.

One wedding went ahead, one did not.

After videos from the Harbour Island began to circulate on social media, the Office of the Prime Minister released a statement saying that two weddings – just two – had been granted permission to go ahead with more than five people in attendance. One of those weddings was the Harbour Island wedding, the other was a wedding in New Providence, the details of which were not revealed in the statement.

It is impossible to imagine the pain that Dornella Newbold feels – and other brides and grooms due to marry and suddenly finding their plans thrown into disarray. As she says, the news felt “like an insult, a slap in the face”.

Dornella didn’t have a phone number to call to ask for her wedding to go ahead. And even if she did, it is an injustice for some to be told yes, and others not to have the opportunity at all.

The statement from the Prime Minister’s office did not explain why the two Harbour Island and New Providence weddings were granted approval – though it did say the Royal Bahamas Police Force is to investigate the apparent failure to adhere to social distancing protocols in Harbour Island. The statement also did not explain how those involved in the weddings were able to make that request – but the decision was made by “the competent authority”. At the Prime Minister’s office, that would be Dr Hubert Minnis himself.

The concern, of course, is one of double standards, and it’s not the first time it has reared its head. The same concern was raised by restaurant

owners when one restaurant group was allowed to extend its hours, while others remained limited by more restrictive hours.

Let us go back a moment to the days of Dr Duane Sands as Minister of Health, who was at pains to say that this virus affected everyone, rich or poor. Being wealthy won’t save you from catching the virus, or giving it to someone else. Having the political connections to make the request of the Prime Minister won’t save you either.

You are no less at risk of contracting the virus than those who don’t have the right phone number to call. Simply put, if one wedding is unsafe, then all are unsafe. Do we blame the couples for asking? No. Do we blame those making the decisions for approving one and not the other? Yes. As for the rest of us, now we all face even more restrictive curfews during the week, with the doors closing at 7pm.

Businesses will have to shut their doors by 6pm at the latest – possibly earlier to ensure staff get home in time. That’s a burden the Bahamian people are being asked to take on – but how confident can the people be that there again won’t be one rule for one, and one rule for another?

Speaking of one rule for one and one for another, Attorney General Carl Bethel told The Tribune yesterday that people arriving by private aviation will not have to quarantine, though they must produce a negative test. Meanwhile, commercial airline arrivals will have to quarantine. That 14-day quarantine arrivals is a switch from the ban on US commercial arrivals, to create “a uniform standard”. That uniform standard does not seem to extend to private flights.

Now someone coming from a country with low infection rates, however, will have to face a 14-day quarantine – possibly even at the facility at Breeze’s and at their own expense. Was this change because of US pressure? A question that deserves a clear answer. Either way, quarantining arrivals from the rest of the world is going to bring a dead stop to arrivals again. Except perhaps the special few. That’s far from uniform, and seems in no way fair.

Madness of our entry requirements EDITOR, The Tribune THERE would be little doubt that Dr Minnis’ Administration and the COVID-19 task-force deserve our praise and heartfelt thanks for their superb handling of the extraordinary challenges facing our nation from the Coronavirus-19 pandemic. If the cascading effects of the COVID-19 virus rippling through our economy was not enough of a deep cleaning “Boom”, the Hon Carl Bethel, Q.C. has suddenly added insult to injury by issuing a press

release containing little, if any, logic behind the stunning reversal in “Entry Requirements” for tourists, residents, ex-pats and Bahamians alike.

Prime Minister, your decisive leadership to date stands in material contrast to the mutterings of our current Attorney General.

I implore you, please do not let others lead astray. Like many other nations, we support the establishment of reciprocal Air Bridges (without quarantines but COVID Tests) with the UK, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and

other nations, as conditions merit. And, contrary to the advice I suspect you’re being told, there would be widespread support and demonstrable legal precedent for restrictions being imposed on Bahamians travelling abroad.

May God’s perpetual light shine upon you, the leader of the opposition, our nation and the citizens of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

ROBERT DUPUCH CARRON Tribune Media Group July 26, 2020.

Ludicrous lockdowns EDITOR, The Tribune I AM a Bahamian currently in Ontario and read The Bahamas online news and comments daily.

This morning one of the online responses to further

lockdowns was from a lady who stated words to this effect: “Are we going to continue having lockdowns until there is no business and nothing left here at all?”

I can’t help feeling that she’s up for a greater

number of our people contracting the Covid-19 virus as long as there are no shutdowns. Ludicrous!

HEATHER WHITE Ontario, Canada, July 23, 2020.

The selfishness of others causes suffering for all EDITOR, The Tribune THE Prime Minister took to the floor of Parliament and gave us a tortured insight onto a contentious issue that has bedeviled governments all over the world this year.

Who wins when individual freedoms clash head-on with collective rights? In this case the PM had to balance civil liberties with public health. It’s a delicate balance. But it’s an equation that can only be synchronized when individuals rise to the high bar of self-sacrifice. We failed that test.

Covid-19 has presented the world with a casestudy that heretofore has not been taught in any government class, any constitutional law textbook or any public policy forum.

The PM, with the advice of his Cabinet colleagues and health officials, had to make decisions on the fly and it is encouraging to get confirmation that the opinions of civil society have a bearing on public policy decisions.

Deciphering what the PM told the House, we are left with the conclusion that the Cabinet ruminated on how best to open the economy to American tourists while at the same time restoring to Bahamians the right to come and go as they wished.

Obviously, politics played a role in the process, as it usually does, but it was eyeopening to see the extent to which the opposition PLP got inside the government’s craw. Dr. No (aka PLP leader Brave Davis) has turned public health into a political bat with which he threatens to bludgeon the government.

Apparently, the PM thought that enough people would see a denial of a flight to Miami as an infringement of some imaginary constitutional right and so he ceded the argument to the PLP. One can just imagine the hypocritical grin pasted onto PLP Chairman Fred Mitchell’s face when he realized that Minnis had succumbed to their bluster.

The PLP would have criticised a decision to demand

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net Covid-19 tests for all returning Bahamians just as heartily as they are now condemning the decision to send Bahamians into the arms of Florida merchants who had so terribly missed our dollars.

To be sure, some of our countrymen were incredibly naive. Witness the woman who told reporters that she takes her family on a fun excursion to Miami every summer and she was determined to not let a pesky virus put her off her escapade.

The medical advice given to the politicians was that it was possible to contain the virus if Bahamians went to Miami for no more than three days and upon their return went into isolation for 14 days.

Infection picked up in the world’s Covid hotspot could then be contained to the home isolation chamber.

But when the Bahamian caged birds landed in Miami, they went on a spree spending scarce foreign exchange, some posting to their social media accounts pictures of themselves with no mask, no social distancing and not a care in the world.

Returning home they waved their 72-hours no Covid required airport or harbour pass and some plunged head-first into normality in places like Grand Bahama.

Our stabilized infection rate soared and it’s as if the infected Miami shoppers came back and hugged everyone they knew. Those guinea pigs then interacted with more people and instantly tripled the number of confirmed Covid cases.

Dr. Minnis must never err on the side of caution during this pandemic. If we define the collective public health in terms of the lives of our citizens, then he has a moral duty to restrict the choices we have as individuals.

He must accept that there will always be a tension between the collective

good and individual rights.

The government must never dilly-dally over whether its actions offend any individual citizen, especially when such offence is juxtaposed against saving lives.

The late Livingstone Coakley understood Bahamians and as Minister of Health he famously said that all good public health policy involves a certain degree of trade-off.

Some politicians act as if all Bahamians are capable of making rational decisions. Many of us will never put the common good above our selfish desires while simultaneously expecting the government to do it for us.

The protection of the public’s welfare must always be paramount and it is not an abuse of constitutional power to curtail individual rights in a national emergency.

Those who never fancied the PM will see his every move as being ultra vires to the Constitution.

There is even a minority who mistrust everything the government does.

Much of this libertarian ideology is imported straight from Fox News in the US and it would shock the moral conscience to know how many Bahamians take that medium as gospel.

Rugged individualism and lack of leadership have caused fissures and chaos in a country that should be leading the world in this crisis. A fight rages over whether to wear a mask and social distance over there and sure enough we have imported those tensions into our public health debate.

The PM must not allow himself to get entrapped into this phony wrangling about public health and individual rights. The preamble to the Constitution makes reference to “We, the inheritors of and successors to this Family of Islands …”

We ignore our collective survival at our own individual peril.

THE GRADUATE Nassau, July 26, 2020.

MONDAY, JULY 27, 2020

THE STORIES BEHIND THE NEWS

THE BAHAMIAN people will yet again have to endure lockdowns and curfews in the spirit of making the country safe.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

We can play the blame game but, at the end of the day, we are all in this together

by Malcolm Strachan IT seems we have sobered up. After 170 new cases of COVID-19 in the past two weeks - all presumably a result of the country’s premature reopening - the emergency powers have been extended for another two months. The Bahamian people will yet again have to endure lockdowns and curfews in the spirit of making the country safe, as it was becoming in the weeks before the July 1 reopening. For weeks, there were no cases. However, nearly as soon as the floodgates were opened, things went haywire.

Unfortunately, the citizens that ventured out of the country most likely picked up COVID-19 in Florida, which is still being battered by the virus with more than 400,000 cases and counting. For one, it is where most Bahamians frequent for shorter trips, and the government’s policy that exempted travellers returning within 72 hours may have allowed a number of those cases to slip in the country undetected. Moreover, we did have a number of citizens abandoning the social and physical distancing guidelines recommended by health experts.

Certainly, there is enough blame to go around if that’s where we chose to place our focus.

But, as I’m sure our newly minted Minister of Health can appreciate a good scripture reference, the government should cast the beam out of its own eye before trying to remove it from its brother’s – or in this case, its citizens.

To wipe the slate clean which I believe we should be able to – all sides must be accountable and assume fault where deserved. In the case of the Bahamian people, we have not done the best job in remaining disciplined. From numerous beach parties to the way we wear masks under the nose or not at all, or questionably deciding to travel to a coronavirus hotspot in the middle of a pandemic – we’ve certainly not been as responsible as we should be,

and many are now paying for it. Aside from being locked down and pushing the economic restart back, our decisions potentially cause harm to others as we can see community spread occurring on a number of islands. Grand Bahama, in particular, has in a matter of weeks turned into the epicentre of the coronavirus in the country.

Let me remind you that the healthcare infrastructure needed to support Grand Bahamians was crippled in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, as was its economy. This is certainly the last thing that Grand Bahama needs right now, and dare we talk of this current hurricane season? We are not doing ourselves any favours.

And while we are being constructively critical of ourselves, a government should not get away with scapegoating its people.

That is not good governance. Nonetheless, we have heard a number of our leaders blame the citizenry with our recent setbacks. After placing a travel ban on Americans was ill received, the Minister of Tourism understandably took to damage control. However, despite noting Americans would have been slipping through the cracks from rampantly infected areas, the focus has only been on the transgressions of Bahamians who would’ve travelled abroad.

When asked his thoughts on this by the media last week, he responded: “Unfortunately, citizenry took advantage of their increased ability to travel and you will see that all of the cases are really domestic grown.”

Similarly, the talking points coming out of the competent authority have pointed to the same.

But it would have been refreshing and respectable to hear our leaders take ownership of the fact that they should have restricted travel, barring citizens from travelling to coronavirus hotspots or implement tighter restrictions on testing.

No doubt, we are writing the book as we go, as Prime Minister Minnis pointed out during the ministry of health coronavirus update

on Friday. Still, we have to consider all of these decisions and their consequences. Now, not only has tourism gotten a black eye, but if anyone thinks that the Bahamian people won’t remember this at the polls in 2022, you’re selling yourself a dream.

Right now, talk of elections in 2022 is presumptuous, as if we fail to get this right, many people may not be here. We may be a resilient people, but beyond the physical health impact from a virus, the mental health implications on a nation under siege with non-communicable diseases and the stress caused by a plummeted economy are enough to kill a populace that already scrapes to get by.

The most unfortunate part, perhaps, is how commonplace it is for Bahamians to state they feel like second-class citizens in their own country.

The men and women who rise to the ranks of leadership do not seem as equals to the common Bahamians who elevate them to high statuses.

This has to be corrected, and the timing is perfect as we are seemingly back to square one in the middle of a surging virus.

The government has shown it can be capable. Although this comes after a few false starts and failures here and there.

Nonetheless, they’ve shown themselves unafraid to grow in some of the most challenging conditions.

The Bahamian people is also capable of giving grace to the government. But I can assure you, it won’t come when their fingers are firmly pointed at us as though we’re the only problem here.

There is only one way to the next side of this pandemic, and that is together.

Rather than talking about it, the government has to be about it. However, that will only come with a complete reframing in the minds of the government and the citizenry that we are all Bahamians.

Before we can all be a part of the solution, first it must be recognised and acknowledged that we have all been a part of the problem.

PAGE 8 MONDAY, JULY 27, 2022

INSIGHT

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

THE CASKET of John Lewis moves over the Edmund Pettus Bridge by horse-drawn carriage during a memorial service for Lewis, inset, yesterday in Selma, Alabama.

By ANIKO BODROGHKOZY Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia ON March 7, 1965, Alabama state troopers beat and gassed John Lewis and hundreds of marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

TV reporters and photographers were there, cameras ready, and the violence captured during “Bloody Sunday” would go on to define the legacy of Lewis, who died on July 17.

I’m a media historian who has written about television and the civil rights movement. One of the remarkable features of the era’s media environment, dominated by the relatively new medium of television news, is how quickly certain

John Lewis crosses the Edmund Pettus Bridge for final landmark time events could roil the conscience of the nation.

Confrontations between police and protesters happened frequently during the 1960s. But a particular set of circumstances ensured that the images coming out of Selma galvanized

politicians and citizens with remarkable speed and intensity.

Most Americans didn’t see the footage on the 6:30 nightly news. Instead, they saw it later Sunday night, which, like today, drew the biggest audiences of the

week. That evening, ABC was premiering the first TV airing of “Judgment at Nuremberg.” An estimated 48 million people tuned in to watch the Academy Award-winning film, which dealt with the moral culpability of those who had participated in the Holocaust.

News programs never got those kinds of ratings.

But shortly after the movie started, ABC’s news division decided to interrupt the movie with a special report from Selma.

Viewers may have been peripherally aware of the marches that had been going on in the small city 50 miles from Alabama’s capital, Montgomery. Martin Luther King Jr. had kicked off a voting rights campaign there in January, and the media had been regularly reporting on the standoffs between Blacks who wanted to register to vote and Selma’s racist, volatile sheriff, Jim Clark.

Two years earlier, footage and photographs of Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor loosing police dogs and high-powered fire hoses on nonviolent marchers so alarmed the Kennedy administration that the president felt compelled to finally put forth a robust civil rights bill to dismantle Jim Crow segregation in the South.

But until Bloody Sunday, nothing had emerged out of Selma that gripped the nation’s attention. Even the Birmingham images didn’t have quite the immediate impact of those from Selma.

That’s largely because the special report interrupted a prime-time broadcast. But there was also the fact that the footage from Selma thematically complemented “Judgment at Nuremberg.”

In the days after the news film aired, a dozen legislators spoke on the floor of Congress linking Alabama

Gov. George Wallace to Hitler and its state troopers to Nazi storm troopers.

Ordinary citizens made the same connections.

“I have just witnessed on television the new sequel to Adolf Hitler’s brown shirts,” one anguished young Alabamian from Auburn wrote to The Birmingham News. “They were George Wallace’s blue shirts. The scene in Alabama looked like scenes on old newsreels of Germany in the 1930s.”

In the ensuing days, hundreds of Americans jumped into planes, buses and automobiles to get to Selma and stand with the brutalized marchers. The landmark Voting Rights Act passed with remarkable speed, just five months after Bloody Sunday.

John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was at the head of the line of 600 protesters. Their plan was to march 50 miles, from Selma to Montgomery, to protest the recent police killing of activist Jimmie Lee Jackson and to press Gov. Wallace for Black voting rights. Next to him, representing King’s organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was Hosea Williams. King was back in Atlanta that day.

Lewis, in particular, is quite visible in the news footage, with the camera zooming in on his tan coat and backpack as the troopers advance and then plow over him and the marchers behind him.

However, when CBS ran its story about the march Monday morning, Lewis wasn’t mentioned at all. In fact, CBS’ Charles Kuralt framed the story as a clash between “two determined men” who weren’t there: Wallace and King. “Their determination,” Kuralt continued, “turned the streets of Alabama into a

battleground as Wallace’s state troopers broke up a march ordered by King.”

Other national news outlets also tended to focus on King, who was often the only Black voice given a platform to speak on civil rights matters. The marchers, including Lewis, were little more than stand-ins for the important political players.

In recent decades, that’s changed. John Lewis has come to occupy a privileged place in the media once reserved for King.

But even the recent focus on Lewis – while much deserved – has the tendency to neglect the foot soldiers and activists who made the Selma campaign a success. Lewis’ organization, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, valued and cultivated grassroots movements and the empowering of ordinary people rather than organizing campaigns around a charismatic leader, which was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference model.

The Black Lives Matter movement, which also eschews the “great leader” approach, is very much in the spirit of John Lewis and his civil rights group.

The current waves of protests against police brutality and systemic racism have garnered massive media coverage and widespread public support, similar to what happened in the wake of Bloody Sunday. As Lewis once said, “I appeal to all of you to get into this great revolution that is sweeping this nation. Get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes.”

He uttered those words in 1963 during the March on Washington. But they apply just as much to protesters today. theconveresation.com

IN this March 7, 1965, file photo, a state trooper swings a club at John Lewis, right foreground, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Alabama.

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT ts-cartwright @tribunemedia.net NEW research from Global FinPrint, headed by researchers at Florida International University (FIU), has concluded that sharks are absent from many reefs around the world and has deemed the species, “functionally extinct”. The good news is The Bahamas is not in that count as it is one of the few countries that still has a healthy shark population.

Global FinPrint found that sharks were not observed on nearly twenty percent of the reefs surveyed. And, since 2015, the FinPrint team has used underwater cameras to pinpoint specific strongholds for sharks and rays.

Shelly Cant-Woodside, Director of Science and Policy, Bahamas National Trust, said that nearly 100 million sharks are fished for the Shark Fin soup industry, annually, but The Bahamas has a ban on shark fishing to keep its shark population intact.

“Destructive fishing practices still remains to be the biggest threat to all marine life, particularly sharks,” Cant-Woodside said.

“So in The Bahamas, specifically, the banning of fishing of sharks has prevented certain companies from reaching into our waters to fish out our sharks. But, around the world, Asian fleets are still wiping out large quantities of sharks just for shark fin soup. These are huge numbers. We are talking about nearly 100,000,000 sharks per year are removed for that industry. It is still devastating to these animals that are actually very slow growing. They have low reproductive rates.”

Cant-Woodside runs the science and policy department at the Trust. This department consists of a small, but highly specialized team. She works to guide the organization strategically on how to advance scientific research, policy development to assist with conservation and resource management in The Bahamas.

The team specializes in both marine and terrestrial environments and undertakes various projects from birds to sharks.

The Florida International University’s study showed 15,000 hours of underwater video from 371 reefs in 58 countries, states and territories around the world. It has revealed that sharks are absent on many of the world’s coral reefs.

The study refers to sharks

INSIGHT

MONDAY, JULY 27, 2020 PAGE 9

Sharks skirting on the edge of wipeout but not in our waters

THE BAHAMAS has a ban on shark fishing to keep its shark population intact as “functionally extinct”, which means they are so rare in certain areas they can no longer fulfil their role in the ecosystem.

“Unfortunately the world relies very heavily on things like long lining and netting,” Cant-Woodside continued. “And, any area that has a lot of that going on is going to remove predators as well because if you have fish sitting on a hook for hours at a time waiting for fishermen to pull in, it is going to attract predators.

“So even though those practices are not trying to get sharks, necessarily, they are trying to get tuna or sword fish or whatever it is, it accidentally targets a whole of sharks. So sharks are both being pursued very heavily around the world and they are also accidentally being caught around the world as well.”

The FIU-headed study shows that, essentially, there were no sharks detected on any of the reefs

in the following countries: · Dominican Republic · French West Indies · Kenya · Vietnam · Windward Dutch Antilles · Qatar A combined total of three sharks were observed during more than 800 survey hours in these locations.

Cant-Woodside reiterated that certain fishing practices are a threat to shark survival, but she also explained how important coral reefs are to their survival as well.

“The Bahamas worked quite hard to not just protect sharks, but we are trying to protect our fisheries resources so that Bahamians would always be able to rely on our fisheries resources,” she said continuing.

“Protecting sharks is one aspect of it.

The other aspect is by keeping long lining banned in

The Bahamas and by doing this we keep a healthier fish and shark populations than many other countries that use long lining fishing heavily.

“The coral reefs are extremely important for the health of all marine organisms. They supply the environment for marine life. Unfortunately, the world’s coral reefs are in great danger and declining gradually everywhere including The Bahamas.

Some countries are just doing a little bit better at keeping healthier reefs than others. We have things like global warming going on that’s heating up the reefs and making them expel their algae and then they are eventually dying. And, of course there are countries that have so much pollution and all these things together “If coral reefs start to die off, then there is going to be less fish around for sharks to feed on and so there

is going to be less sharks.

And, so the whole system starts to break down to the extent that you end up with what’s called a dead zone, eventually. It ends up deteriorating to nothing but just a bit of algae that can’t support the entire ecosystem.

Once you have a dead zone it’s really hard to get it back.

Coral reefs are definitely paramount to all of this.”

This FIU study, which also identifies the primary culprits of reef shark population declines, has long-term implications for protecting and rebuilding reef shark populations all across the world.

Cant-Woodside noted that, unfortunately, reefs are no longer safe due to various attacks like bleaching, but the latest being a disease to hit the Caribbean countries.

“Right now in The Bahamas we have this new disease that’s attacking our reefs that has been rampaging across Florida and the

Caribbean since 2014,” she informed. “We just got it and it’s called “Stony Coral Tissue Loft Disease” and it’s really devastating. It you think of how COVID is really devastating for people and how it’s really impacted our economy, well Stony Coral Tissue Loft Disease has the same effect in the marine environment, wiping out nearly twenty different species of coral.

They are just disappearing very quickly.”

In regards to Stony Coral Tissue Loft Disease, CantWood noted that scientists have not been able to identify the pathogen as yet and that’s why it has such a nondescript name.

“Bahamian reefs were starting to do really well in making a comeback and it’s really sad to see that it’s now in The Bahamas – off New Providence and Grand Bahama,” she continued.

“It seems to be spread by ports so we think that shipping traffic is a source of spread. It’s something that we are watching and very concerned about.

“All the different pressures on that system is going to have a cascading effect where it will also impact sharks. Sharks are a good indicator of how healthy an environment is. Studies like that look at sharks so much because if you have a lot of healthy shark populations you know that your system must be really healthy to be able to sustain all of that.”

The study listed the following countries as areas where sharks are most abundant and conservation is working: · The Bahamas · United States · Australia · Federated States of Micronesia · French Polynesia · Maldives.

It said in many of these areas, shark fishing has been banned or there is strong, science-based management practices in place, which limits how many sharks can be caught.

PAGE 10 MONDAY, JULY 27, 2022

INSIGHT

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

A tale of two neighbours RECENT electoral events in Guyana and Suriname, which border each other on the northeastern coast of the South American continent, display a remarkably different approach to democracy that could be the determining factor in catapulting Suriname’s development and prosperity well ahead of Guyana’s.

The two countries have many similarities and some differences.

One of the principal differences is that Suriname endured coup d’états by the military, whereas Guyana has not, although the latter is notorious for disputed elections with losing parties accusing the governing party of rigging the elections. There is a twist in the latest elections, held in Guyana on March 2, 2020.

After all parties and observers declared the elections to be free and fair, the governing party, APNU-AFC, claimed the opposition party, the PPP/C had somehow fixed the elections.

The coup d’états in Surname were both led by Desiré Delano “Dési” Bouterse, who became the de facto leader of the country from 1980 to 1987, and then again from December 1990 to May 1991.

Bouterse, eventually won two terms in office by way of the ballot box from 2010 to 2015 and 2015 until May 25, 2020 when his National Democratic Party lost elections.

As elections in these two neighbouring states were approaching at the beginning of 2020, if any public polling were taken on which government would have refused to leave office, even if it had clearly lost, it would have undoubtedly reflected Bouterse’s. After all, a man who had twice seized power at the point of a gun was a superior candidate for discarding the will of the electorate, democratically exhibited in elections.

Not so. In the end, the Suriname elections result was declared on June 4, and Bouterse conceded to the Opposition parties, led by Chandrikapersad ‘Chan’ Santokh of the United Reform Party. Bouterse himself placed the Presidential sash of office on Santokh at a ceremony on July 16.

In the meantime, the declaration of the result of the Guyana elections has been prolonged for over four months. A constant cycle of appeals to the Courts by supporters of the APNUAFC now halt a result being declared. Even after the highest Appellate Court,

the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), pronounced on the matter, appeals have been made to lower courts to overturn the CCJ’s judgment – an act unprecedented in the history of global judicial systems.

A striking similarity about Guyana and Suriname is that they have both become beneficiaries of major finds of oil and gas that promise to place them amongst the richest countries in the Western Hemisphere. The revenues from oil and gas sales would transform them from backwater nations to countries, whose economic power would make them significant influencers in the Caribbean and the hemisphere.

But, there is a corollary to that observation. It is that Suriname and Guyana each has to be an acceptable state in the world community, with governments that demonstrably adhere to democracy and the rule of law. The days of rogue governments operating with impunity in the international community are over.

There are several mechanisms by which Suriname and Guyana are tested.

These include the CARICOM Charter of Civil Rights, the Inter-American Democratic Charter in the Western Hemisphere and the UN-adopted International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Suriname has now demonstrated its readiness to honour its commitments under these binding

agreements, giving its own people, the international community and investors in its oil and gas industry the confidence that, in moving forward, democracy and the rule of law will be respected.

Suriname has every prospect now of establishing itself as a leader-nation in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), utilising its new oil and gas wealth to help finance regional integration in crucial areas such as air and sea transportation; food security; providing concessional financing for development projects through the Caribbean Development Bank; and acting as a strong interlocutor for CARICOM in international affairs.

Guyana, on the other hand, once a strong leader and an important voice in regional and global affairs, risks being ostracised in the regional, hemispheric, and international communities.

No number of braggadocious political claims about Guyana’s ‘sovereignty’, and why it doesn’t need the United States, CARICOM, the Organization of American States, the European Union or any other country or international institution, changes the reality that Guyana does need a constructive and respected relationship with all of them.

For sure, there is a great deal of reform that is urgently required within Guyana to establish truly independent and sustainable institutions which reflect racial inclusion and

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balance in their composition, especially in their decision-making boards.

Racial and religious understanding and appreciation must become integral to the education curriculum.

Fear that the proceeds of revenues from oil and gas will be sequestered into the pockets of a few, or for the benefit of one racial group over another, has to be addressed by the adoption of laws governing transparency and wealth distribution and by severe penalties for their violation.

The electoral system also requires root and branch transformation, including by ensuring that no politician serves on the Elections Commission or appoints anyone to it – that task should be passed to representative bodies of civil society and enshrined in law.

‘DÉSI’ BOUTERSE But, more than anything else, those who seek political office should understand that they are elected to serve the nation, and not to become the nation’s overlords. And, when the majority of the electorate vote to relieve them of office, they should leave, recognising that political office is not their right to hold; it is the people’s right to give and to take away.

Bouterse of Suriname showed, in the end, that he

understood well that Suriname’s interest in the 21st Century would have been gravely blighted had he chosen to remain despite the will of the people.

In this tale of two countries, adherence to democracy and the rule of law has set the Surinamese people on the path to progress, while the Guyanese people are being hobbled from striding forward on that rewarding road.

The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS. He is also a senior fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and at Massey College in the University of Toronto. The views expressed are entirely his own. Responses and previous commentaries: www. sirronaldsanders.com

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 27, 2020, PAGE 11

FLORIDA OVERTAKES NY STATE IN CORONAVIRUS CASES, ADDING 9,300 ORLANDO Associated Press

FEDERAL officers launch tear gas at a group of demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, Oregon yesterday

Protesters clash with police in violent weekend across US ATLANTA Associated Press PROTESTS took a violent turn in several US cities over the weekend with demonstrators squaring off against federal agents outside a courthouse in Portland, Oregon, forcing police in Seattle to retreat into a station house and setting fire to vehicles in California and Virginia.

A protest against police violence in Austin, Texas, turned deadly when a witness says the driver of a car that drove through a crowd of marchers opened fire on an armed demonstrator who approached the vehicle. And someone was shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there, authorities said.

The unrest stemmed from the weeks of protests over racial injustice and the police treatment of people of color that flared up after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Floyd, who was Black and handcuffed, died after a white police officer used his knee to pin down Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes while Floyd begged for air.

In Seattle, police officers retreated into a precinct station early Sunday, hours after large demonstrations in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Some demonstrators lingered after officers filed into the department’s East Precinct around 1am, but most cleared out a short time later, according to video posted online.

At a late-night news conference, Seattle police Chief Carmen Best called for peace. Rocks, bottles,

fireworks and mortars were fired at police during the weekend unrest, and police said they arrested at least 45 people for assaults on officers, obstruction and failure to disperse. Twentyone officers were hurt, with most of their injuries considered minor, police said.

In Portland, thousands of people gathered Saturday evening for another night of protests over George Floyd’s killing and the presence of federal agents recently sent to the city by President Donald Trump.

Protesters breached a fence surrounding the city’s federal courthouse building where the agents have been stationed.

Police declared the situation to be a riot and at around 1.20am, they began ordering people to leave the area surrounding the courthouse or risk arrest, saying on Twitter that the violence had created “a grave risk” to the public.

About 20 minutes later, federal officers and local police could be seen attempting to clear the area and deploying tear gas, however protesters remained past 2.30am, forming lines across intersections and holding makeshift shields as police patrolled and closed blocks abutting the area.

Multiple arrests were made, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many.

In the Texas capital of Austin, a protester was shot and killed Saturday night after witnesses say he approached a car that had driven through a march against police violence. In video streamed live on Facebook, a car can be heard honking before several shots ring out and protesters start screaming

and scattering for cover.

Police could then be seen tending to someone lying in the street.

Michael Capochiano, who attended the protest, told the Austin AmericanStatesman that the slain protester had a rifle and that the car’s driver fired several shots at him before speeding away. Police said the driver was detained and was cooperating with investigators.

Austin police haven’t identified the slain protesters but the man’s mother said his name was Garrett Foster, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Sheila Foster said her son was pushing his fiancée’s wheelchair across the intersection when the man drove through the march.

In the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado, meanwhile, a protester shot and wounded someone after a car drove through a crowd marching on an interstate highway, police said. The wounded person was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Police didn’t release many details about the shooting, including whether the person who was shot had been in the car. Police said on Twitter that demonstrators also caused “major damage” to a courthouse.

Protesters in Oakland, California, set fire to a courthouse, damaged a police station, broke windows, spray-painted graffiti, shot fireworks and pointed lasers at officers after a peaceful demonstration Saturday evening turned to unrest, police said.

In Virginia’s capital, Richmond, a dump truck was torched as several hundred protesters and police faced off late Saturday during a

OSCAR-WINNING ACTRESS OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND DIES, AGED 104 PARIS Associated Press OLIVIA de Havilland, the doe-eyed actress beloved to millions as the sainted Melanie Wilkes of Gone With the Wind, but also a two-time Oscar winner and an off-screen fighter who challenged and unchained Hollywood’s contract system, died yesterday at her home in Paris. She was 104. Havilland, the sister of fellow Oscar winner Joan Fontaine, died peacefully of natural causes, said New York-based publicist Lisa Goldberg.

De Havilland was among the last of the top screen performers from the studio era, and the last surviving lead from Gone With the Wind, an irony, she once noted, since the fragile, self-sacrificing Wilkes was the only major character to die in the film. The 1939 epic, based on Margaret Mitchell’s best-selling Civil War novel and winner of 10

DE Havilland as Melanie Wilkes in Gone With the Wind Academy Awards, is often experiences I’ve ever had ranked as Hollywood’s box in my life. It was doing office champion (adjusting something I wanted to do, for inflation), although it playing a character I loved is now widely condemned and liked.” for its glorified portrait of She was Errol Flynn’s coslavery and antebellum star in a series of dramas, life.

Westerns and period pieces, De Havilland remem- most memorably as Maid bered the movie as Marian in The Adventures “one of the happiest of Robin Hood.

demonstration of support for the protesters in Portland. Police declared it to be an “unlawful assembly” at around 11pm and used what appeared to be tear gas to disperse the group.

Five people were arrested in the incident and charged with unlawful assembly.

A sixth person was also arrested and charged with rioting and assault on a law enforcement officer.

In downtown Atlanta yesterday, federal agents examined damage to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility where windows were shattered late Saturday. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said in an email. No arrests had been announced.

FLORIDA surpassed New York over the weekend as the state with the second-most coronavirus cases in the US, as more than 9,300 new cases were reported in the Sunshine State yesterday, accompanied by an additional 78 new deaths.

Florida’s 423,855 coronavirus cases as of yesterday were surpassed only by California’s 453,659 cases. With 39.5 million residents, California has almost double the population of Florida’s 21.4 million inhabitants.

California is the nation’s most populous state, followed by Texas, Florida and New York.

New York, once the epicenter of the virus in the U.S., had 411,736 coronavirus cases. The state has 19.4 million residents.

There were 9,344 new cases reported in Florida.

The number of new cases was lower than other days last week, but caseloads released on Sundays tend to be smaller because of the lack of workers entering data or in labs testing samples. The statewide median age of coronavirus patients in Florida was 40.

Almost 3.4 million Floridians have been tested for the virus. The new cases tested over the weekend had a positive rate of 11%, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The state health department recorded 781 COVID-19 deaths over the past week for an average of 126 deaths per day on Sunday, down slightly from Saturday’s weekly average of 127 deaths per day. Florida had 5,972 total deaths as of Sunday, according to the Florida Department of Health.

• NIGHTCLUBS, bars and beaches — some of Spain’s favourite summer venues — are facing new lockdown restrictions after turning into coronavirus hot spots, and some European nations are warning citizens not to visit the country.

The northeast regions of Catalonia and Aragón host the three most worrying virus clusters in Spain, prompting authorities to tighten restrictions in Barcelona, in a rural area around Lleida and in Zaragoza that were relaxed only a month ago when Spain had its devastating outbreak in check.

Britain put Spain back on its unsafe list yesterday, announcing hours earlier that travellers arriving in the UK from Spain must now quarantine for 14 days.

Norway also ordered a 10-day quarantine for those returning from the Iberian Peninsula. France and Belgium are recommending that travellers ditch plans to spend their summer vacations in Barcelona and its nearby beaches, which have seen crowds too massive to allow for social distancing.

Tui, the UK’s biggest tour operator, said it had cancelled all flights due to depart to mainland Spain until Aug. 9, but it has maintained flights and travel packages for trips to Spain’s Balearic and Canary Islands.

Travellers were caught off guard by Britain’s move — even UK Transport Minister Grant Shapps is on holiday in Spain.

Spain reported over 900 new daily infections on Thursday and Friday as authorities warned that the country which lost at least 28,400 lives before getting its outbreak under control could be facing the start of a second major onslaught.

SPORTS SECTION E

MONDAY, JULY 27, 2020

SEE PAGE 15

Simply the Best Miller-Uibo clocks personal best in 100m

STEVEN GARDINER PRODUCES HIS FASTEST EVER 200M OPENER

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

HE won his heat, but Bahamian world 400 metre champion Steven Gardiner produced his fastest 200m opener ever to finish in second place overall in the timed final of the men’s 200 metres at the Back to the Track: Clermont Series.

Competing in his third meet for the year following the resumption of track and field after taking a three-month break due to the coronavirus pandemic, Gardiner posted a time of 19.96 seconds to win the second of four heats at the National Training Centre in Clermont, Florida.

“I felt pretty good about it,” said Gardiner about the race. “My start was okay, not the best. It’s something we have to work on. But coming off the curve, I was super fast. On the straight away, I was also super fast.

“My body felt great and so overall it was a good race. I just felt that my start could have been a little bit better.”

However, American Noah Lyles posted the fastest time in heat one in 19.94 for the victory in the twoday meet. It was Noah’s second victory after he sped to the finish line in a windaided 9.93 in the 100m over Canada’s Andre DeGrasse of Puma in 9.97.

Estonia’s decathlete Maicel Uibo, the husband of Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo, also contested the 100m, placing 13th overall in 11.30.

Miller-Uibo secured a double dose of victory in the women’s 100 (10.98) and 200m (21.98) at the meet. “I’m happy for her.

She deserves it,” said Gardiner of Miller-Uibo’s achievement. “She’s been working really hard. We talked about things and I’m just happy to see she actually ran 10 seconds in the 100m.”

Despite not being declared the overall winner, Gardiner said he and his coach Gary Evans were quite thrilled by his effort.

“The next one should be better,” said Gardiner, who intends to run in a 150m in his next race, followed by another 200m as the unusual track season swings into full gear.

It was Gardiner’s first normal race for the year, coming off his Bahamian national record-breaking feat at the V12 Summer

A

nother pair of world leading victory performances, including a personal best in the 100 metres, was logged into Shaunae Miller-Uibo’s account at the Back to the Track: Clermont Series over the weekend.

In contrasting style to her now specialised 200/400m double where she posted the world’s best times then of 50.52 in the 400m and 22.61 in the 200m at the Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida two weeks ago, Miller-Uibo displayed her youthful versatility at the National Training Centre in Clermont, Florida on Friday and Saturday.

In a span of one hour on Friday, Miller-Uibo produced the fastest qualifying time of 11.03 in the women’s 100m, only to come back and clinch her lifetime best of 10.98 in the final, surpassing the previous world-leading mark of 11-flat by Jamaica’s Olympic and world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce two weeks ago in Kingston, Jamaica.

“The meet was great,” MillerUibo told The Tribune. “I was glad for the opportunity to compete again seeing that not much is happening because of the pandemic.”

As a result of her century time, the 26-year-old Miller-Uibo joined a lofty group of just four women to run sub-11s in the 100m, sub-22s in the 200m and sub-49s in the 400m.

The list comprises France’s Marie José-Pérec (10.96 in the 100m, 21.99 in the 200m and 48.25 in the 400m), American Valerie Brisco-Hooks (10.99, 21.81 and 48.83) and Germany’s Marita Koch (10.83, 21.71 and 47.60, which stands as the world record from October 6, 1985).

With such historic feats to her ledger, Miller-Uibo, representing Adidas and Pure Athletic Track Club, returned on Saturday to conclude the two-day meet by lowering her world-leading time to 21.98 with her victory in the 200m.

She can now boast of having her name inked on the world’s fastest times of 10.98 in the 100, 21.98 in the 200 and 50.52 in the 400m, the latter coming at her previous double dip at the Showdown in Otown Meet at the Montverde Academy where she posted her previous world’s best of 22.61.

“I feel great about the times I did at the meet,” Miller-Uibo said.

“It was great to be able to hit subs 11, 22 and 49 and be the fourth female to ever do it.”

In the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic that has halted sports globally in March, MillerUibo has been on a tear as she re-established her dominance of the sport coming out of her loss (48.37) to Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser (48.14) at last September’s

SEE NEXT PAGE

SEE NEXT PAGE

STEVEN GARDINER AND SHAUNAE MILLER-UIBO.

Sprinter Anthonique Strachan pulls off victory in 200m

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net AFTER recording a second and third place finish in her previous two meetings in the Velocity Fest Meet series in Jamaica, Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan finally emerged to the top of the podium on Saturday.

Strachan, now training in Jamaica with the Maximising Velocity and Power Track & Field Club (MVP), which was founded by Stephen Francis, Paul Francis, David Noel and Bruce James in September 1999, pulled off her victory in the women’s 200 metres in 22.72 seconds.

It turned out to be the second-fastest time for the 2012 World Under-20 champion since 2015 when she ran 22.69 at a Diamond League meeting in Doha.

The meet saw Jamaican Olympic and world champion Elaine Thompson-Herah clinch her second consecutive victory in the women’s 100m in a wind-aided 10.73, coming off her legal time of 11.19 the previous weekend.

Strachan, the 26-year-old graduate of St Augustine’s College, is coming off a second place finish in 23.05 in the 200m at the Velocity Fest at Jamaica College last weekend behind Jamaica’s Olympic and world champion Shelly-Ann

STRACHAN

Fraser-Pryce, the winner in 22.74.

The weekend before, Fraser-Pryce clocked 11-flat to win the first Velocity Fest 2020 All Comers Meet at the Ashenheim Stadium with Strachan placing third in 11.84.

Fraser-Pryce’s time was the fastest posted so far this year until Bahamian Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo produced a new mark of 10.98 on Friday at the Back to the Track: Clermont at the National Training Centre in Clermont, Florida.

Miller-Uibo, coming off a second place finish behind American Allyson Felix at the virtual meeting in a rarely ran 150m at the

Weltklasse Zurich Virtual Inspirational Games, also turned in the world-leading time of 21.98 in the 200m at the meet on Saturday.

Strachan, who turns 27 on August 22, was named the Rising Star at the IAAF World Gala in 2012 after her stunning victory in the 100 and 200m at the World Under-20 Championships in Barcelona, Spain.

Strachan, who began her professional career in 2013 after she graduated from St Augustine’s College and skipped college, produced a lifetime best of 11.20 at the World U-20 Championship on July 11, 2012 to go along with her 22.32 in the 200m at the BAAA Nationals on June 22, 2013 and 52.42 in

the 400m in Monteverde, Florida on June 11, 2016.

She competed at both the Olympic Games and World Championships and also ran on the Bahamas’ victorious mixed 4 x 400m relay team that captured the gold at the third IAAF World Relays that was held at the National Stadium.

The team comprised of Miller-Uibo, Steven Gardiner and Michael Mathieu.

The Velocity Fest Meet series provided an opportunity for Jamaica to start the process of returning to track and field competition in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The meets, however, were void of any fans’ participation in the stands.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 27, 2020, PAGE 13

Ayton flashes new aspect of his offensive game, ‘Buddy’ has led Kings in scoring

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE NBA restart has gone through two of three scrimmages at Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, and both Bahamian players at the NBA “clean site” appear ready to perform at a high level once the games count toward the record books.

Buddy Hield has led the Sacramento Kings in scoring while Deandre Ayton has flashed a new aspect of his offensive game.

Hield led the Sacramento Kings in scoring for the second consecutive scrimmage - a 131-123 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. He scored 19 points on 8-18 shooting from the field (3-10 from three-point range) and also added two rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot in just under 26 minutes.

In the opening scrimmage, Hield finished with a team high 19 points off the bench in the Kings’ 104-98 loss to the Miami Heat. He shot 8-16 from the field, 3-10 from threepoint range and also added five rebounds in just over 24 minutes. “It was different, but thank God for the opportunity to come and

SACRAMENTO Kings’ Buddy Hield (24) and Phoenix Suns centre Deandre Ayton (22). (AP) play basketball again, it was fun to get back out there and show what we can do.

It wasn’t perfect, hopefully we can watch film and build off that and sharpen all the things we need,” Hield said to reporters following the Heat game.

Hield continues his adjustment from COVID19 recovery, but said the entire league his willing to adjust to life under the new restrictions.

“Trying to get my legs under me. I was out the last three weeks but I’ve been putting in extra work in the gym back and forth, just trying to find my groove, get right and be

comfortable out there,” he said. “I’m just happy to be able to hoop. Yea, the fans might normally control the momentum of a game but in this environment I think you have to be more mentally tough, more mentally locked in. You can hear yourself on the court, so the more we talk, the more we communicate the better we can be closing out games and be better defensively, better offensively. We have to be locked in each and every play, every play matters and it’s a different element out there playing but you have to adjust, these are new times we live in.”

In two games he has shot 16-34 from the field and 6-20 from three point range.

“The shooting background is great,” Hield said.

“I think this is a shooter’s gym because the backgrounds are dark, it’s not light, it’s not bright.

And as a shooter, you saw (Miami’s) Duncan Robinson, he shot the ball really well today, he had some good looks.

“I think if you ask him, too, the background was really good. It felt great I just don’t have my legs under me but it should be good.”

The Kings return to the court for their final

scrimmage on July 27 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

“Of course as a group we would like to be more together but we understand the NBA has its protocols and they are enforcing the social distancing,” Hield said. “But I think the NBA did a really great job setting up the background and everything, it looks really great.

It looks kind of like a FIBA basketball tournament.”

For the Phoenix Suns, Deandre Ayton had not hit a three pointer through his 95-game NBA career but has made 2-2 from beyond the arc in the Orlando bubble. Ayton finished with

11 points, seven rebounds and two steals. He shot 5-8 from the field and for the second consecutive made his only three-point attempt in a 117-103 loss to the Boston Celtics.

Suns general manager James Jones joined Jim Rome’s radio show on CBS Sports and discussed Ayton’s extended range on his jumper.

“It was good for the team.

If you’re here in practices, you see how much time these guys put into their craft, you’ll see these guys make threes,” Jones said.

“Deandre’s been able to shoot and make the three since the first day he stepped foot into our gym, but it’s different in a game.

It’s different against NBA competition. So to see him hit that first one and now he can check that box, it was good.”

Ayton finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and two assists in just over 20 minutes of the Suns’ 101-88 win over the Utah Jazz in the opener. The second year centre shot 6-7 from the field and also made the first three pointer of his NBA career.

The Suns close out the scrimmages Tuesday July 28 against the reigning champions Toronto Raptors.

SIMPLY THE BEST: In a span of one hour on Friday, Shaunae Miller-Uibo produced the fastest qualifying time of 11.03 in the women’s 100m, only to come back and clinch her lifetime best of 10.98 in the final, surpassing the previous world-leading mark of 11-flat by Jamaica’s Olympic and world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce two weeks ago in Kingston, Jamaica.

Shaunae has another pair of world-leading victory performances, clocks personal best in 100m FROM PAGE 12 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. The Rio 2016 Olympic Games 400m champion snatched the straight away title in Clermont from American Tamari Davis, the second place finisher in 11.15 and Aleia Hobbs, who ran in race 2, got third in 11.16.

In the preliminaries, MillerUibo was trailed by Natalliah Whyte of Puma in 11.15, while Davis, representing Adidas, had the third fastest time of 11.18.

And in the half-lap race, she was no match for second-place finisher Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who ran 22.45 and Lynna Irby, third in 22.47.

“I am satisfied with my performances for the three events this year,” Miller-Uibo stressed. “It shows that I am in good shape despite all of the challenges that are ongoing.”

During the meet, Miller-Uibo got a chance to watch as her husband, Estonia’s decathlete Maicel Uibo, finished 13th overall in the men’s 100m in 11.20 on Friday and fellow Adidas/Pure Athletics

team-mate Steven Gardiner take second in the men’s 200m in 1996 on Saturday.

American Noah Lyles won both events in 9.93 in the 100m and 19.94 in the 200m, both now listed as the world-leading times.

Since the return of track and field competition this year after a three-month hiatus due to the coronavirus, Miller-Uibo suffered just one loss and that was in the virtual meeting in a rarely ran 150m at the Weltklasse Zurich Virtual Inspirational Games on July 9.

In a race that was ran simultaneously in three different locations, Allyson Felix, the most decorated American female sprinter and a 34-year-old mother, turned in the fastest time of 16.81 in Walnut, California.

Miller-Uibo, competing out of Bradenton, Florida, was second in 17.15 and Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji, the 28-yearold World Championships’ 200m bronze medallist, was third in 17.38 as she competed in Zurich.

Miller-Uibo’s time of 21.74 in the 200m in Zurich in August

and 48.37 in the 400m in October World Championships in Doha are listed as the Bahamas’ national records. Her 100m time, however, is off the mark held by Chandra Sturrup, 10.84, that she posted in Lausanne, Switzerland on July 5, 2005.

As a junior in 2013 after she completed her tenure at St Augustine’s College, Miller-Uibo left her mark on the national records with times of 22.45 in the 200m at the Bahamas Nationals in Grand Bahama and 50.70 in the 400m for the University of Georgia at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

It was the same year she earned the Austin Sealy Award title of the CARIFTA Games at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium as the most outstanding athlete.

The only junior national record she didn’t hold onto was the 100m – that is occupied by Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, who ran 11.19 in 1995.

Miller-Uibo had ran a 11.94 as a junior in 2009 at the CARIFTA Games, but it was wind-aided.

She switched to the 200/400m combo following that regional junior games.

Earlier this month, Miller-Uibo was among a list of 24 athletes named to the newly created board called The Athletics Association (TAA) that was formed to safeguard the global interest of track and field athletes.

The board is headed by American Olympic and world champion male triple jumper Christian Taylor.

While Miller-Uibo admitted that she’s not sure exactly when her next meet will take place, she noted that she intends to continue training and competing until the season comes to a close and she can take a break to prepare for 2021 when the 2020 Olympic Games, which has been postponed because of Covid-19, is scheduled to take place.

She had made a plea to the International Olympic Committee and the World Athletics to amend the schedule so that she can go for the 200/400m double, but that request has not been granted as yet.

GARDINER FROM PAGE 12

Games where he won in 31.83 to erase Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown’s previous mark of 31.91 that he posted in Osaka, Japan, in 2007.

Gardiner’s time was posted as the fastest for the year and 23rd on the world’s all-time list.

The previous weekend, the lanky 6-foot, 5-inch Gardiner came out with a victory in his season opener in his first 300m at the B3R Sports Invitational in 31.95.

In addition to now holding the Bahamas’ national record in the 300m, Gardiner’s name is also on the men’s 200m time of 19.75 that he ran at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida, on April 7, 2018 and the 400m (43.48) that he established in winning his world title in Qatar on October 4.

At some point, Evans said Gardiner intends to pursue Brown’s national 800m record of 1:49.54 that he created at the Central American and Caribbean Games on August 17, 1998 in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Kinard Rolle, now a training partner of Gardiner, was scheduled to compete in the 200m in Clermont, but he didn’t start the race.

Rolle, a former St Augustine’s College 400m specialist, just recently graduated from Purdue University.

As for the safety measures at the meets in wake of the precautions of Covid-19, Gardiner said there are no spectators in the stadium, but because they can view from a hill, they watched from their cars.

He noted that the athletes are required to sign a waiver form denying any legal action against the meet promoters and they have to get their temperature checked before they are allowed to enter the stadium to compete.

PAGE 14, Monday, July 27, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

OHTANI DOESN’T RECORD OUT IN RETURN TO MOUND

SEATTLE Mariners’ Tim Lopes, centre, avoids Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado to score a run during the eighth inning of a baseball game yesterday in Houston.

OAKLAND, California (AP) — Back on the mound after nearly 23 months, Shohei Ohtani hardly felt comfortable. Rather rusty, in fact, the ball leaving his hand without the purpose and feel he is so accustomed to.

The way things started, Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon couldn’t see the day getting any better for his Japanese twoway star.

Ohtani didn’t record an out in his long-awaited return to the mound for the Angels, allowing the first six Oakland batters to reach base before his day was done in a 6-4 loss to the Athletics yesterday.

He may be available as designated hitter in today’s series finale.

(AP Photo/David J Phillip)

ASTROS LOSE 7-6 TO MARINERS, ANNOUNCE VERLANDER INJURY

By The Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros surrendered a tiebreaking two-run single to rookie Kyle Lewis in the eighth inning of a 7-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners yesterday, and then announced ace Justin Verlander will be shut down for at least two weeks with a strained right forearm.

Astros manager Dusty Baker denied a report that said the injury would end Verlander’s season. He said Verlander would be evaluated after two weeks.

Lewis and Shed Long Jr. each had two hits and two RBIs for the Mariners, who had dropped their last 15 games against Houston.

Dan Altavilla (1-0) got the win. Taylor Williams yielded an RBI double to Michael Brantley before striking out Alex Bregman for his first career save.

Martín Maldonado drove in two runs for Houston.

Chris Devenski (0-1) got the loss.

MARLINS 11, PHILLIES 6 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Miami scratched righthander José Ureña from its victory at Philadelphia and delayed its postgame trip home amid concerns about a possible coronavirus outbreak within the team.

No reason was given for Ureña being scratched.

Manager Don Mattingly said the Marlins decided to wait until Monday to leave Philadelphia, and they planned to arrive in

Miami hours before their home opener against Baltimore. The trip might be made while multiple players remain in Philadelphia.

Brian Anderson and Miguel Rojas each hit a three-run homer, and Stephen Tarpley (1-0) got two outs for the win. Jesús Aguilar and Corey Dickerson also went deep.

Bryce Harper hit a threerun shot for Philadelphia, and Adam Haseley finished with four hits. Cole Irvin (0-1) got the loss.

TIGERS 3, REDS 2 CINCINNATI (AP) — C.J. Cron hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth inning, and Detroit got to Cincinnati’s bullpen for the second straight day.

Miguel Cabrera led off with a 10-pitch walk before Cron connected against Michael Lorenzen (0-1), sending an opposite-field drive deep to right.

José Cisneros (1-0) pitched the eighth for the win. Joe Jiménez got Joey Votto to bounce into a game-ending double play for his second save in two days.

Cincinnati played without second baseman Mike Moustakas and center fielder Nick Senzel after each player was scratched.

Moustakas was placed on the injured list because he wasn’t feeling well, according to manager David Bell.

Senzel also reported feeling sick.

The moves came a day after Reds infielder

Matt Davidson went on the injured list because he tested positive for the coronavirus.

ROCKIES 5, RANGERS 2 ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Trevor Story homered twice for Colorado after Corey Kluber left his Texas debut with shoulder tightness.

Kluber, who was acquired in an offseason trade with Cleveland, lasted just one inning and 18 pitches in his first start in almost 15 months.

The Rangers said Kluber reported feeling the tightness in the first few pitches and it got worse as the inning progressed.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner was examined by a team doctor and will be further evaluated Monday.

Texas slugger Joey Gallo hit the first home run in the club’s new $1.2 billion retractable roof stadium.

Joe Palumbo (0-1), who replaced Kluber, got the loss.

Colorado’s Kyle Freeland (1-0) gave up two runs in six innings. Wade Davis pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.

INDIANS 9, ROYALS 2 CLEVELAND (AP) — More than a year since being stricken with leukemia, Carlos Carrasco struck out 10 in six-plus innings to help Cleveland take two of three in the delayed seasonopening series.

Jose Ramírez hit a threerun homer left-handed in the fourth and added a solo shot from the right side in the sixth for the Indians, who finally put some solid swings together against Kansas City’s bullpen.

With his rotation currently thin due to pitchers testing positive for COVID19, Royals manager Mike Matheny started reliever Ronald Bolaños (0-1), who gave up two runs in the first and took the loss.

Carrasco allowed two runs and five hits before he was lifted after allowing a leadoff double in the seventh. It was his first start since his recovery from chronic myeloid leukemia, a blood disorder that threatened his life.

ATHLETICS 6, ANGELS 4 OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani failed to record an out in the twoway star’s return to the mound, allowing the first six Oakland batters to reach base.

The right-hander from Japan gave up Marcus Semien’s leadoff single and three straight walks before a mound visit and Mark Canha’s two-run single.

Robbie Grossman singled in another run, and Angels manager Joe Maddon replaced Ohtani (0-1) with Matt Andriese down 4-0.

The Angels wasted a big day by Mike Trout, who hit a three-run homer in the third and a sacrifice fly in the fifth. David Fletcher wound up with four hits.

Yusmeiro Petit (1-0) worked out of a fifth-inning jam in relief of Mike Fiers for the win, and Liam Hendriks earned a four-out save.

TWINS 14, WHITE SOX 2 CHICAGO (AP) — Nelson Cruz homered twice and drove in seven runs, helping Kenta Maeda win his debut with Minnesota.

Jake Cave hit a grand slam in the first inning for Minnesota, which belted a major league-record 307 homers last season. Marwin Gonzalez added a solo shot in the ninth.

Maeda (1-0), a Japanese right-hander who was acquired in a February trade with the Dodgers, allowed two runs in five innings.

Cruz finished with four hits and scored four times.

He went 7 for 13 with 10 RBIs and three home runs in the opening series.

White Sox right-hander Reynaldo López (0-1) recorded just two outs before leaving with shoulder tightness. Left fielder Eloy Jiménez also departed early because he was feeling light-headed.

Highly touted rookie Luis Robert hit his first career homer for Chicago.

YANKEES 3, NATIONALS 2 WASHINGTON (AP) — Gleyber Torres homered to help the Yankees rally for the victory.

Torres and Luke Voit connected in the seventh, tying it at 2. Torres then singled in Hicks in the eighth against Sean Doolittle (0-1).

Chad Green (1-0) working two innings for the win.

Zack Britton got three outs for his first save.

The World Series champion Nationals dropped two of three in the opening series. They wasted a terrific performance by Patrick Corbin, who struck out eight in 6 1/3 innings.

PIRATES 5, CARDINALS 1 ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pittsburgh’s Derek Shelton staged baseball’s first major, socially distanced umpire argument, then got his first victory as a big league manager.

Colin Moran and Jose Osuna homered for the Pirates, and Mitch Keller (1-0) pitched five solid innings.

Shelton came out to argue with plate umpire Jordan Baker in the third inning after pitcher Derek Holland was ejected from the dugout for arguing balls and strikes. Baker let Shelton say his piece, and the first-year skipper was not ejected.

Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson (0-1) gave up four runs, including two homers, in 4 1/3 innings.

CUBS 9, MARLINS 1 CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Chatwood pitched three-hit ball over six innings, Willson Contreras homered and the Cubs beat

the Brewers to take two of three in their opening series.

Chatwood (1-0) struck out eight and walked two in an impressive start for a pitcher who struggled with his control his first two years in Chicago.

Ian Happ added a tworun drive in the eighth for Chicago, and Anthony Rizzo belted a solo shot one out later.

The Brewers finished with just three hits. Freddy Peralta (0-1) was charged with four runs and three hits in three-plus innings.

RAYS 6, BLUE JAYS 5, (10 INNINGS) ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Kevin Kiermaier’s first hit of the season, a tworun triple into the right field corner in the 10th inning, gave Tampa Bay the win.

Tampa Bay’s defensive whiz delivered the second game-ending hit of his career after the Rays scored twice in the ninth to force extra innings, then fell behind again 5-4 when Blue Jays pinch-runner Santiago Espinal stole third base and scored on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s sacrifice fly off Chaz Roe (1-0).

Ji-Man Choi connected for Tampa Bay, hitting the first right-handed homer of his career.

Shun Yamaguchi (0-1) got the loss. Bo Bichette had a two-run single for Toronto.

ORIOLES 7, RED SOX 4 BOSTON (AP) — Rio Ruiz and Anthony Santander each hit a two-run homer, powering Baltimore to the win.

José Iglesias added four hits for the Orioles, who took the final two games of the season-opening series. Wade LeBlanc (1-0) worked 5 2/3 innings, and Cole Sulser got six outs for the save.

Boston starter Ryan Weber (0-1) lasted only 3 2/3 innings, walking three and allowing six runs and six hits. Christian Vázquez and Kevin Pillar homered for the Red Sox. D-BACKS 4, PADRES 3 SAN DIEGO (AP) — Ketel Marte hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly off struggling Kirby Yates on Sunday, and Arizona rallied for four runs off San Diego’s vaunted bullpen to earn a 4-3 victory after the Diamondbacks’ Torey Lovullo became the first manager to be ejected in the COVID19 era.

The Padres had been MLB’s last undefeated team after St Louis and Houston lost earlier in the day.

San Diego’s Garrett Richards left with a 1-0 lead after holding Arizona to one hit in five innings, but the Diamondbacks, who struggled offensively in their first two games, came alive three innings after the masked Lovullo was ejected for arguing with plate umpire Mark Ripperger, who wasn’t wearing a cloth facemask.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 27, 2020, PAGE 15

Ronaldo scores again as Juventus seals 9th straight title

By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer ROME (AP) — Before the break for the coronavirus pandemic. After the lockdown. And now for nine years running.

Juventus is the undisputed leader of Italian soccer.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the go-ahead goal and Juventus beat Sampdoria 2-0 yesterday to secure the Turin club’s record-extending ninth straight Serie A title.

At the final whistle, Juventus players danced in celebration and embraced each other before the empty stands inside the Allianz Stadium.

It was Juventus’ first title under coach Maurizio Sarri, who brought in a completely new system.

“It was the most beautiful title, because it was the most difficult,” said defender Leonardo Bonucci, who has been wearing the captain’s armband with Giorgio Chiellini injured.

“We started a new era, a new philosophy, ran into so many difficulties, but we continued to give our all throughout, even when there were so many slip-ups.

HALEP WITHDRAWS FROM PALERMO OPEN AFTER QUARANTINE ORDER

JUVENTUS’ CRISTIANO RONALDO, second left, celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the Serie A soccer match against Sampdoria at the Allianz stadium in Turin, Italy, yesterday.

(AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

“It was so complicated beyond the field, too; the world changed in three months. It was difficult to get our heads back into it after three months. We suffered.”

Bonucci dedicated the title to Juventus fans who were victims of the coronavirus.

“It’s for those who left us and cheered for us from up above,” Bonucci said. “It’s been an intense year. But we stayed together as a team.”

For his 31st goal in 32 matches, Ronaldo completed a set piece when Miralem Pjanic rolled across a free kick for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner to fire into the far top corner in first-half added time.

Federico Bernardeschi then sealed it by scoring his first Serie A goal in nearly two years by knocking in a rebound of Ronaldo’s shot midway through the second half.

Ronaldo banged a penalty kick off the crossbar in the 89th.

Still, Juventus moved an insurmountable seven points clear of Inter Milan with two games remaining and can now switch its focus to the Champions League.

The Bianconeri host Lyon in the delayed round-of-16 second leg on

August 7 needing to overturn a 1-0 loss from February. If Juventus can do that, it will advance to the final eight in Lisbon.

“Now we need to recuperate our energy and focus on Lyon,” Bonucci said.

It was a bittersweet night, though, as Juventus lost both right back Danilo and forward Paulo Dybala to injury in the first half.

Danilo clashed heads with a defender while Dybala pulled up with an apparent left thigh issue.

Juventus entered the break for the coronavirus pandemic with a one-point lead over Lazio in what was expected to be a two-way fight for the title but the Roman club struggled for much of the restart.

Sampdoria ended with 10 men when Morten Thorsby picked up his second yellow for a foul on Pjanic.

It was Juve’s 36th Italian league title overall.

IMMOBILE HAT TRICK A hat trick moved Ciro Immobile within three goals of overtaking Gonzalo Higuain’s single-season record for Serie A with two matches remaining.

UNITED, CHELSEA INTO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, BOURNEMOUTH, WATFORD DOWN FROM EPL

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer MANCHESTER United and Chelsea qualified for the Champions League at the expense of Leicester on a frantic final day of the Premier League season yesterday, while Bournemouth and Watford were relegated to end five-year stays in the top flight.

United won 2-0 at Leicester through goals by Bruno Fernandes and Jesse Lingard to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team a thirdplace finish. Chelsea beat Wolverhampton 2-0 after a goal and an assist by Mason Mount and finished in the fourth and final Champions League qualifying place above Leicester, which has been in the top four for most of the season.

Leicester, instead, will play in the Europa League along with Tottenham, which drew 1-1 at Crystal Palace to secure sixth place

— above Wolverhampton on goal difference.

The battle to avoid the two remaining relegation places went to the wire as Aston Villa scored in the 84th minute, conceded a minute later, then held on for 1-1 draw at West Ham to survive. Captain Jack Grealish scored Villa’s goal in what could be his last game for his boyhood club.

Bournemouth did what it had to do and beat Everton, 3-1, but ended up one point behind Villa. Watford was also relegated as the nextto-last team after losing 3-2 at Arsenal.

Manchester City passed 100 goals for the campaign with a 5-0 win over last-place and alreadydemoted Norwich, a game that marked the last in the Premier League for David Silva after 10 years with City. Kevin De Bruyne got a record-tying 20th assist of the season and also scored twice. Liverpool ended its

title-winning season with a 3-1 win at Newcastle and finished on a club-record 99 points.

Also, Southampton beat Sheffield United 3-1, with Danny Ings scoring his 22nd goal of the season. That left him one behind Leicester’s Jamie Vardy, who won the Golden Boot as the league’s highest scorer.

SWANSEA ON TOP Andre Ayew’s terrific late strike gave Swansea a 1-0 win over 10-man Brentford in the first leg of their League Championship playoff semi-final.

Ayew, who had earlier seen his second-half penalty saved by David Raya, struck nine minutes from time at the Liberty Stadium with a ferocious volley from 16 yards.

Leeds and West Bromwich have already been promoted to the Premier League from the secondtier Championship.

Immobile netted two penalties and also scored a magnificent strike in Lazio’s 5-1 win at Hellas Verona. He now has 34 goals in 34 matches — three more than Ronaldo atop the Italian league’s scoring chart.

Higuain scored 36 for Napoli in 2015-16.

Immobile’s second goal of the night was a thing of beauty: Set up by Jordan Lukaku on the left flank, he curled a shot into the far top corner.

Lazio moved level on points with third-place Atalanta, one point behind Inter Milan, and eight behind Juventus.

OTHER RESULTS Roma increased its grip on fifth place by beating Fiorentina 2-1 with two penalties from Jordan Veretout.

Udinese won 1-0 at Cagliari and secured a 26th straight season in the top flight.

Relegation-threatened Lecce conceded a stoppage-time decider from Musa Barrow in a 3-2 loss at Bologna.

Also, Torino was held 1-1 at already-relegated Spal.

PALERMO, Sicily (AP) — Second-ranked Simona Halep withdrew from the Palermo Ladies Open yesterday following a quarantine ordinance issued by Italy’s health ministry.

“Given the recent rise in Covid19 cases in Romania and my anxieties around international air travel at this time, I have made the tough decision to withdraw from Palermo,” Halep tweeted. “I want to thank the tournament director and the Italian ministry of health for all efforts on my behalf.”

The August 3-9 tournament announced yesterday that the Romanian player’s manager, Virginia Ruzici, had informed Palermo officials of the decision.

The move comes after Italy’s health minister on Friday signed an ordinance requiring all those who have in the last 14 days stayed in Romania or Bulgaria to quarantine.

“We were filled with regret when informed of the news,” tournament director Oliviero Palma said.

“We had informed Halep’s staff in detail about the fact that professional players shouldn’t have to go into quarantine. “But nevertheless Halep’s staff informed us when their decision was already taken. We are disheartened and deeply upset,” Palma added.

Palma also said that a regional health minister had sent Halep a notice explaining that the government ordinance does not apply to workers, and therefore to professional athletes.

The clay-court tournament is the first professional tour-level tennis event following a five-month break for the coronavirus pandemic.

PAGE 16, Monday, July 27, 2020

WILLIAMSON BACK IN NBA QUARANTINE, COULD BE OUT ON TUESDAY LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (AP) — Zion Williamson will be out of quarantine by the time New Orleans plays in the first official game of the NBA restart at Walt Disney World.

Whether the Pelicans will play him that night or not remains anyone’s guess.

The NBA said Saturday that Williamson will have to serve a four-day quarantine for leaving the league’s Disney bubble on July 16 to tend to an urgent family matter. He returned to Disney on Friday night and immediately went into quarantine.

That means he will likely be released from quarantine sometime Tuesday, two days before the Pelicans play the first “seeding game” against the Utah Jazz. A person familiar with the situation said that if all goes well with Williamson’s quarantine, he can return to team activities during a practice scheduled for Tuesday night.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because such plans have not been completed and cannot be until Williamson passes more tests now that he has returned to Disney.

THE TRIBUNE

Williams will serve 10-day quarantine, miss games

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The NBA said yesterday that Lou Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers is being quarantined for 10 days because of his trip out of the league’s bubble last week to attend a family member’s funeral.

He will miss at least two of the Clippers’ seeding games, including their July 30 opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.

It’s possible he could miss more than two since his likely release will be August 4, the day of the Clippers’ third seeding game.

The issue was not that Williams left the bubble but that he also went to a club on that trip to Atlanta, and photographs of that visit — with him wearing a type of mask that the NBA distributed inside the bubble at Walt Disney World — appeared on social media.

That prompted an investigation by NBA security, and ultimately the 10-day ruling.

Williams visited a club that he has often described as being his favourite restaurant, and the establishment even has chicken

wings that are named for him on the menu.

But by being in a group of people and potentially exposing himself to coronavirus, the NBA decided that a longer quarantine was what’s required to ensure the safety of those in the bubble.

Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans got only a fourday quarantine after leaving the bubble earlier this month for a family matter. Williamson received the shorter quarantine because was tested daily during his absence and continually was negative, plus satisfied other NBA requirements.

The Clippers were not practicing yesterday and not expected to comment on the NBA’s ruling before today. They had 10 players available for their scrimmage game against the Washington Wizards on Saturday night.

With Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverley also having left the bubble for personal reasons and now Williams gone for an extended absence, they’ll be short-handed for the foreseeable future as well.

“It’s a challenge, you know, because we only have 10 guys,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said Saturday night.

CLIPPERS’ Lou Williams brings the ball up against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia on February 11. (AP) “That makes it really challenging. There’s no breaks in practice, so you tend to not go as long. You feel like you don’t get half the stuff in that you want to get in. So no, it’s been a challenge.

“I’d love to say it hasn’t been, but it’s been a definite challenge.”

Williams is a Sixth Man of the Year candidate this season, averaging 18.7 points this season for the Clippers. The Clippers have secured a playoff spot and enter the restart sitting second in the Western Conference, 5 1/2 games behind the Lakers and 1 1/2 games ahead of third-place Denver.

Embiid misses Philadelphia scrimmage with calf tightness

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (AP) — Joel Embiid is hurting, and that’s a cause for concern as the Philadelphia 76ers get set to restart their season this week.

The All-Star starting centre sat out Philadelphia’s scrimmage against Oklahoma City yesterday with right calf tightness, something 76ers coach Brett Brown hopes is merely a minor blip.

“I believe we’re just getting out in front of stuff and being smart with it,” Brown said.

Embiid has an extensive injury history, has never appeared in more than 64 games in a regular season and missed 21 of Philadelphia’s 65 games this season before the season was shut down March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Embiid is averaging 23.4 points and 11.8 rebounds this season. Philadelphia is 28-16 in games with Embiid this season, 11-10 without him.

Al Horford was moving into Embiid’s spot yesterday. “It’s an opportunity, truly — not coach-speak, not political-speak, truly — to play Al more, to put him with some different groups,” Brown said. “I think if this had happened three or four games sort of into what we’re calling the regular season, there’s always frustration, selfish frustration and I know frustration at times for Joel.”

Embiid played 13 minutes in Philadelphia’s scrimmage opener against Memphis, shooting 3 for 10 from the field and leaving the game for good with about 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter.

“Just trying to be smart with everything and move on,” Brown said.

The 76ers play their scrimmage finale against Dallas on Tuesday and open seeding-game play — essentially the restart of the regular season — on Saturday against Indiana.

Philadelphia and Indiana are tied with the fifth-best records in the Eastern Conference going into the restart, each at 39-26 this season.

WELCOME BACK Boston’s Kemba Walker and Phoenix’s Ricky Rubio both missed the first scrimmages with their teams inside the NBA bubble last week. They were back

yesterday, going head-tohead in the Celtics-Suns scrimmage. Walker and Rubio were both in the starting lineup for the contest.

Walker missed the first scrimmage with left knee soreness. Rubio was a late arrival at Disney and the Suns wanted to get him a couple of more practices before he saw any scrimmage action.

FORGETFUL PLAYERS The league is handing down one-day quarantines to players who forget to go to their designated locations for the daily coronavirus test — with Dallas’ Kristaps Porzingis the latest to get that penalty.

Porzingis missed Dallas’ scrimmage yesterday because of his forgetfulness. Denver’s Paul Millsap had to sit out the Nuggets’ scrimmage on Saturday for the same reason.

VOTING TALK Former First Lady Michelle Obama was scheduled to speak yesterday with NBA and WNBA players about the importance of voting — her remarks to those groups coming exactly 100 days before Election Day in the US. “We’re going to talk about the importance and making sure your voice is heard,” said Oklahoma City guard Chris Paul, the president of the National Basketball Players Association.

LIGHT DAY Of the 22 teams at the NBA restart, nine took the day off — at least from formal practice, though that didn’t mean players from those clubs couldn’t shoot or work out in small groups or on their own.

There were five scrimmages, with Philadelphia-Oklahoma City, Phoenix-Boston, IndianaDallas, Portland-Toronto and Houston-Memphis on the day’s schedule.

Orlando, Sacramento and Brooklyn all were scheduled for practice.

The other teams at Disney — the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Washington, Miami, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Utah, New Orleans and Denver — were down to take the day off.

All teams will play their third and final scrimmage game either today or Tuesday.