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The Tribune

Volume:116 No.161, AUGUST 16TH, 2019

Established 1903

Weekend

WEEKEND: IT’S A WRAP FOR TODAY’S MEXICAN CUISINE

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Union demands ‘a fly in the ointment’ PUBLIC sector pay negotiations are a potential “fly in the ointment” that may cause the government to miss its 1 percent deficit target for 2019-2020, the deputy prime minister warned yesterday.

Peter Turnquest told Tribune Business that the “active union negotiating season” represented an unknown “that can throw you out” in terms of fiscal projections depending on the salary arrangements agreed with public sector worker representatives.

And, with global economic risks rising due to this week’s stock market

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

MOODY’S is predicting the government will overshoot its 2019-2020 deficit target by more than $82m and take longer than anticipated to produce the budget surplus it is seeking.

The international credit rating agency has forecast that the deficit for this current fiscal year will come in at 1.6 percent of economic

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

Taste of Mexico

A COMIC’S VIEW THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH THOSE LINE CUTTERS

SEE PAGE EIGHT

WORKER CRUSHED IN MIXER HUMAN negligence ultimately led to a 38-year-old man’s death last year when the cement mixing machine he tried to clean suddenly turned on and mangled his lower extremities, jurors heard yesterday.

Sterling Minnis, a former mechanic at Block World, said someone “didn’t follow procedure” in ensuring the lever to the main power SEE PAGE SEVEN

HAITIAN EMBASSY: 5 MOVED

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

output - a sum equivalent to $219.2m.

This is $82m higher than the $137m worth of “red ink” projected when the Budget was unveiled in May, with the government then voicing its optimism that the deficit - which measures by how much government spending exceeds revenue - would hit the 1 percent of GDP demanded by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Page 14-15

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

sell-off and the continuing US-China trade war, Mr Turnquest said the Bahamian economy “could be a victim” of such forces.

He pledged to update the Bahamian people should this nation’s fiscal and economic outlook change, but voiced optimism that the country was “still on track” to achieve the 1.8 percent economic expansion for 2019 projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest forecast.

He added: “The other thing, as we look out to the horizon, is what’s happening globally with the US-China back and forth. We have to bear these things in mind.”

MOODY’S WARNS GOVT WILL MISS ITS TARGETS

2019

FIT WITH REGINA

Nassau says hola to new resta urant Pages 8-9

Turnquest’s worry on effect of public sector pay claims

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16TH,

history puzzles

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

DO I HAVE TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL, SIR? THE BAIN & Grants Town Urban Renewal Centre yesterday held a fun day and back to school giveaway. Report and more pictures - Page 2 Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

FORMER Haitian Embassy Chargé d’Affaires François Michel yesterday confirmed his replacement will be Dorval Darlier, former minister counselor to the Nassau Embassy.

Mr Michel told The Tribune he has been transferred to Ecuador, a move that will take effect next week.

He further revealed SEE PAGE THREE

RECORD YEAR - SEVEN MILLION VISITORS

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar predicts that 2019 will feature a record-breaking seven million visitors coming to The Bahamas.

His statement came during the opening night of the Free National Movement’s youth convention at the Melia resort yesterday.

“If you pass me in the hallways of this convention

TOURISTS love The Bahamas. or conversely out on the streets of Freetown and you want to give me a new

nickname, may I suggest you say, ‘Hey one million more man!” A record 6.6 million foreign visitors came to The Bahamas last year.

“Stopover visitor arrivals will achieve a new record in 2019,” Mr D’Aguilar said.

“Cruise passenger arrivals will achieve a new record in 2019. Arrivals in New Providence will achieve a new record in 2019. Arrivals into the Family Islands will achieve a new record in 2019.”

SEE PAGE FIVE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

DIANE PHILLIPS JEFFREY EPSTEIN: SOME PEOPLE ARE NEVER SATISFIED

SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Friday, August 16, 2019

THE TRIBUNE Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

BAGS OF FUN

By FARRAH JOHNSON AS part of its ongoing youth empowerment initiative, the Bain & Grants Town Urban Renewal Centre yesterday held a fun day and back to school giveaway for children of the community.

A total of 80 backpacks filled with books, pencils and other school supplies were distributed to students in the area to help parents prepare their children for the upcoming school year.

Sergeant 498 Freddie Lightbourne, the officer in charge of the Bain & Grants Town Urban Renewal Centre, told The Tribune that they wanted to ensure that the children in the community had every opportunity to succeed in school.

“Every year we try to do as much as we can for the kids in the community,” he said. “Especially in the inner city community, some kids their parents honestly just don’t have it. Every

year you need books, pens (and) pencils…so we try to pitch in as much as we can.”

Sergeant Lightbourne said the Urban Renewal centre, which comes equipped with a TV room and computer centre, offers after school programmes to students where they can receive assistance with projects and homework assignments.

“People just need somewhere where they can have access to computers,” he said.

“It’s hard to do homework without computers, so this is somewhere where they can do research and have access to books, pencils and everything they could need for school.”

Maria Minnis, the manager for Bain & Grants Town’s Urban Renewal centre, also highlighted the important role the centre plays within the community.

“We recently had our summer camp and we had a lot of kids who were not able to attend,” she said.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, August 16, 2019, PAGE 3

HAITIAN EMBASSY: NOW FIVE HAVE BEEN MOVED from page one

another embassy official former First Secretary Adras Andris - had “resigned”, suggesting this was a directive by Haiti’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This came after a Haiti commission of inquiry was sent to Nassau earlier this month to probe concerns of alleged corruption.

However when pressed for further details, Mr Michel said the report had not yet been made public, adding he had no knowledge of its findings.

“The commission has investigated and gave (a) report. This is why he has been resigned,” Mr Michel told this newspaper.

The Tribune reported earlier this week that Mr

Michel had been recalled along with two other embassy diplomats; however, Mr Michel explained his removal was not a recall but a transfer to another embassy.

Mr Michel has served in the Nassau post for five years, and insisted there was no correlation between his transfer and the commission of inquiry’s findings.

He also confirmed another Nassau embassy official, First Secretary Sandhrinie Imbert, has been transferred to Mexico.

Consul Herns Mesamours and First Secretary Blaise Claudy will return to Haiti as previously reported - bringing the total number of officials removed from the Nassau office to five.

The commission conducted its investigations from July 29 to August 3, and its scope centred on claims the embassy was involved in getting visas for Haitians and finding fake partners for them to marry to gain status in The Bahamas.

In a statement announcing the commission, Haitian officials referenced media coverage of an arraignment

of three Bahamians and two Haitians accused of a fraudulent marriage scheme on July 24.

According to an embassy statement, the group met with the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the two Haitians in prison awaiting trial; the superintendent in charge of the investigation and other government officials.

US specialists won’t have much impact, says Maynard

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

CEO Whitney Heastie tours the BPL site.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

THE emergency fix by a US specialist team will have little impact on Bahamas Power and Light’s load shedding, according to Paul Maynard, the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union’s (BEWU) president.

However, Mr Maynard acknowledged the return of an additional 20 megawatts of power - which the American team is working on at the Baillou Hills Power Plant - will help.

“Who am I to question the prime minister?” he said yesterday. “It is what it is. That ain’t gonna solve the problem but it will help.

You gotta help it some way.”

In a statement on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced a six-man team of specialists from Philadelphia Gear was on the ground working to restore additional power to the Baillou Hills plant as he lamented BPL’s unacceptable power cuts.

Yesterday, Mr Maynard explained the specialists were working on the gearbox of engine G7.

28-YEAR-OLD ACCUSED OF STABBING MAN TO DEATH

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A 28-YEAR-OLD man accused of stabbing another man to death in the Pinewood Gardens area in June will appear before a Supreme Court judge in a month’s time.

Whitney Johnson will appear before Justice Bernard Turner to be formally arraigned in connection with Jareth James Cartwright’s death on June 21.

He was served with his voluntary bill of indictment, which outlines the Crown’s case against him, when he appeared before Acting

Deputy Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain yesterday.

According to police reports, Cartwright was walking on Rosewood Street, Pinewood Gardens shortly after 11pm on that Friday when he was allegedly approached by Johnson who stabbed him before running away.

Cartwright was taken to hospital where he died a short time later. The stabbing incident occurred just hours after 32-year-old Shamano Cooper is alleged to have murdered Bahamian singer Devon “Mdeez” Knight.

Cooper is expected to be served with his VBI today.

Meanwhile, a 50-year-old man will stand trial later this month over allegations he injured a female Fusion Superplex employee in the company’s parking lot in late-July.

Shaon Johnson, of Joe Farrington Road, will stand trial before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle-Davis after denying allegations he caused grievous harm to Kanesha Williams on July 26.

According to Inspector Leonardo Burrows Johnson allegedly assaulted Williams on that Friday as a result of a “domestic dispute”. Williams ended up suffering “non-life threatening injuries” as a result.

An attempt to return engine G10 to service failed on Wednesday night, according to Mr Maynard, who said the machine could supply 21 megawatts of power.

Another downed machine, G5, has an output of two megawatts but will take months to repair, he said.

Mr Maynard explained it was critical to bring more machines online so that other machines could be taken offline for sorely needed maintenance. He said engine G9 had the capacity for 20 megawatts but was currently only producing around 10 megawatts due to lack of maintenance.

Mr Maynard believes the company’s decision to direct all its financing towards the $95m Wartsila acquisition left it “unable to meet maintenance goals”.

That new power plant is expected to be finished by December.

The outspoken union chief maintained the energy monopoly’s

PAUL MAYNARD management and board has under-estimated the generation capacity required for summer.

BPL’s peak demand is 250

megawatts and is currently experiencing a 40 megawatt shortfall.

The company began daily load shedding on June 19, but frequent power cuts were an issue even before that time.

In his Wednesday statement, Dr Minnis revealed that BPL officials briefed Cabinet on a short-term plan to provide relief to residents and businesses. That plan also includes returning to service an additional nine megawatts of power from BPL’s Aggreko units, he said.

PAGE 4, Friday, August 16, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

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An unforced error ahead of union talks STORMY waters lie ahead for the government – some of them literally – as it tries to keep on track for its deficit target of one percent this year.

One storm it must weather is the hurricane season, hoping that nothing comes our way, but the other storm that seems headed right for the government is the prospect of union disputes.

Peter Turnquest didn’t help matters there yesterday by describing the prospect of negotiations with unions as a “fly in the ointment”. Being dismissed as a troublesome fly won’t help the mood of union leaders as they sit down to try to get an agreement with the government.

One hopes too that the government took into account the “active union negotiating season” when aiming for its one percent target – surely they would have known that unions would have had goals of their own for their members.

After all, it is only a few weeks since Education Minister Jeff Lloyd said he was happy with discussions with the Bahamas Union of Teachers and was aiming to ensure teachers were satisfied – this despite the teachers union leader, Belinda Wilson, saying they were seeking a pay rise of 20 percent. Is that in Mr Turnquest’s figures?

It certainly sounds like he isn’t keen on picking up the phone to Kimsley

Ferguson, president of the Bahamas Public Services Union, who says it hasn’t received a response in two and a half months to its proposal for pay changes across the public sector. Brensil Rolle came out firing on that issue, saying the government was negotiating... before admitting it was still working on its counter-proposal.

Meanwhile, over at the Public Hospitals Authority, there are claims from the union that management is stalling over talks – claims the PHA denied.

Negotiations can take a long time, of course, but if Mr Turnquest is right and negotiations are about to step up a gear, it seems Mr Turnquest has made an unwise choice of words.

Starting off by offending the opposite side is no way to encourage goodwill while you’re trying to keep costs down to hit your targets.

We hope negotiators can put such a view behind them – while also hoping that unions will understand the financial position too, perhaps suggesting multiyear rises so as not to take too much in the first year, but building to a fair agreement over time.

We also hope there will be no other unnecessary foot-in-mouth moments.

If matters are as delicate as Mr Turnquest says, we can do without further disruption.

A record breaking year for tourism WHILE there may be trouble brewing in one part of government, another has good news to celebrate. Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar believes The Bahamas is on course to set a new record for visitors. In fact, he thinks we will break the seven million mark this year.

Better yet, the success is being spread

around – there are likely to be new records for stopover arrivals and cruise passenger arrivals, and New Providence is headed for a new high mark, but the Family Islands too are also set to exceed their previous best.

Now that is a success we can all be grateful for.

So what is the truth at BPL? EDITOR, The Tribune BP&L…what is the truth?

Many times politicians/ Cabinet Ministers will be best not to comment, but here stick a microphone and have a camera rolling, what comes out of those ministerial mouths is interesting.

Sunday last…didn’t Whitney Heastie/BP&L Managing Director, hold a press conference and went into detail and stated, a serious prognosis of the state of BP&L? What were

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net

his words - “We are in the cliff edge. Anything can go wrong!”

What did BP&L tell Cabinet just 48 hours later, for the DPM to say what he said?

Most of Nassau suffered extended loss of electricity yesterday…businesses with generators, failed to kick-in

(over worked) and half a day totally disrupted.

So these Wartisla engines - now remove the folk story about BP&L, insisting on Wartisla as being Shell’s preferred engine provider.

Ask BP&L after all this mess - what will those new engines produce 1KW at?

If it is not in the range of 14-16 cents per KW, BPL has skewed us again. My opinion BP&L - Bahamas sold to Shell!

ABRAHAM MOSS, Nassau August 15, 2019

Putting Sir Roland Symonette into context EDITOR, The Tribune OVER 39 years since his demise, Sir Roland Symonette, first premier of The Bahamas, remains a lightning rod and a polarising political figure among Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) supporters who are unwilling to exonerate deceased members of the Bay Street Boys and their heirs.

This anger towards Pop Symonette, as he was affectionately called, is due to his prominent role within the now defunct United Bahamian Party (UBP) and his support for his wealthy comrades who comprised the white oligarchy that ruled the Bahamian colony for decades.

Symonette detractors would invariably point to the late UBP leader’s legislative support for the late Free National Movement (FNM) MP Errington “Bumpy” Watkins’ motion for a United Nations supervised referendum in Abaco, in which Abaconians would be given the choice of either going along with the PLP’s push for independence or remain a crown colony of Great Britain. This move by Watkins and the white Abaconians brings to mind UBP MP Donald d’Albenas’ revelation to Parliament in 1968 that his Long Island constituents were threatening to secede from The Bahamas, if full independence is sought.

Interestingly, Watkins’ controversial initiative for Abaco was also supported by FNM Parliamentarians Cleophas Adderley (Nassau City) and Michael Lightbourn (Clarence Town). The remaining FNMs, Kendal G L Isaacs, Norman Solomon, Noel Roberts, Cyril Fountain and C F Tynes all demonstrated bipartisanship and Bahamian patriotism in supporting the PLP and Sir Lynden Pindling.

In response to this bipartisanship gesture by the FNM, Watkins said the following on the July 8, 1973 edition of The New York Times: “The fight is over now, but my feelings was that as a crown colony our stability was protected from a government that one day might produce a dictatorship.” In the

same article, penned by Richard Severo, Watkins had estimated that 75 percent of his Marsh Harbour constituents, many of whom were white, supported his anti-independence stance. Because of his unrelenting inflammatory rhetoric and over-the-top radicalism, Watkins was promptly expelled from the FNM. The decision to fight Pindling and the PLP on the matter of independence was foolhardy.

Watkins led his naive supporters on a fool’s errand. In all things considered, the Abaco Independence Movement (AIM), the Greater Abaco Council and the Council for a Free Abaco (CFA), all posed a massive challenge to the nascent Pindling administration. Descendants of the English Loyalists and white Southerners who fled the United States around the time of the American Revolutionary War in the late 18th century, white Abaconians were simply not prepared to be governed by a black majority administration without any oversight from the United Kingdom.

This distrust led certain radical elements within the CFA to engage in talks with an arms dealer named Mitchell WerBell, who managed Defence Systems International out of Powder Springs, Georgia.

The fact that the experienced mercenary WerBell was based in the former secessionist slave holding state of Georgia is indeed telling.

The year 1973 was just five years removed from the Civil Rights movement in the United States.

Obviously, white Abaconians had found an individual who would commiserate with them. In an obvious rebuttal of racism allegations levelled against Leonard Thompson and Co, one Bahamian commenter on Weblog Bahamas noted that Thompson had served in World War II; and was a POW, having fought against Adolf Hitler, as if this bit of information weakens the position of Pindling and the PLP. I will give the leadership of the CFA the benefit of the doubt. However, the commenter should know that the Negro 369th Infantry Regiment, which fought

valiantly in World War I, encountered racial discrimination from their white American counterparts while fighting in Europe, according to Marcus Garvey biographer Edmund David Cronon.

In an April 1973 Milwaukee Journal article, WerBell (spelled Bell In the article) is quoted as saying, “that he had been approached by the people of Abaco to help them as much as I can. My job is to attempt in every way to enable them to follow their wishes and remain a Crown Colony.” Pindling biographer Michael Craton wrote that it was rumoured that WerBell had hired 300 British mercenaries to assist the Abaconians in their fight against independence (Pindling: The Life and Times of the First Prime Minister of The Bahamas, page 208). Nothing materialised with respect to a rumoured military coup against the Pindling administration, which obviously was not in any position, militarily speaking, to go up against First World militiamen anyway, especially seeing that the Bahamas Defence Force was not yet in existence. In any case, the entire chatter about a violent revolution led by Messrs WerBell and British soldier Colin Mitchell may have been nothing more than a bluff on the part of the CFA and the AIM, in order to frighten the nascent Pindling administration, in order to give in to their unreasonable demands. On the diplomatic side of the squabble over independence, Bumpy Watkins and other AIM representatives fared no better in England, when an amendment bill drafted by Conservative MP Ronald Bell was soundly defeated in the House of Commons by a vote of 74 to four; and in the House of Lords, by a vote of 50 to one. Pindling argued persuasively before English lawmakers, alleging that the AIM petition was nothing more than the biggest attempted land grab in the history of The Bahamas. This allegation was also levelled against CFA representatives by Pindling at a seminar on independence,

held at the Holiday Inn in Freeport in May of 1972. Conversely, the PLP’s White Paper on independence stated that it was the government’s policy to hold all lands In trust for the Bahamian people (Pindling: Life and Times of the First Prime Minister of The Bahamas, page 205). What AIM members wanted was for Abaco to be another Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands -- two British colonies.

In the minds of Pindling and the PLP, however, the motivating factor of the white Abaconians in their revolt was entirely based on finances, despite AIM allegations that the PLP was being motivated

by American Black Power radicals. Granted, within the PLP was a think tank called Unicomm.

An offshoot of Unicomm was the Vanguard National Socialist Party -- a leftist group that espoused economic theories which ran counter to American capitalism. AIM members had painted the entire Pindling administration with the same broad brush that was used to paint the Vanguard Party, whose leadership admired Karl Marx, Fidel Castro and the late Marxist Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah. Obviously the procommunist rumours were started to garner support from the United States and the United Kingdom for AIM members. However, a cursory examination of the PLP’s 1972 White Paper on independence would have quickly dispelled all rumours of a planned Marxist revolution by the Pindling administration. All told, the PLP was just as much a believer in the capitalist/ free enterprise economy as their UBP predecessors. What is ironic about the CFA and its allegations against the PLP is that Abaco today, some 46 years after the initial Independence Day, remains one of the more economically prosperous Family Islands. History has vindicated the father of the modern Bahamas. Whether or not one agrees with everything Pindling did in his 25 years as prime minister, right-thinking Bahamians must

side with him, as opposed to Watkins and the AIM, on the issue of independence. As for Sir Roland, his opposition to independence must be judged within its historical context. When Pindling announced in 1971 that his government would be seeking independence after the 1972 general election, not only Symonette opposed the idea, but also the then UBP Chairman Geoffrey Johnstone and the then Free-PLP Leader Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield. Symonette argued that independence was not in the best interests of the Bahamian people. Again, history has vindicated Pindling. Having said that, Symonette, who chose to remain in The Bahamas after his erstwhile UBP colleague Sir Stafford Sands had moved to Spain, was probably still emotionally hurt over his party’s overwhelming rejection at the polls in the 1968 general election -- an election called after the untimely death of PLP MP Uriah McPhee in February of that year.

With the predominantly black PLP firmly in power, emotions were running high among UBP and PLP supporters. Symonette’s actions during the lead-up to July 10, 1973 should not be used to define him as a statesman and consummate Bahamian national hero, anymore than Sir Cecil’s initial opposition to independence should define his role in helping to shape the modern Bahamas. Even Pindling conceded this, by mentioning Symonette as one who loved The Bahamas during his farewell address to Parliament in 1997. In closing, it is interesting that the PLP administration of former Prime Minister Perry Christie had engaged Bumpy Watkins in some capacity between 2002-2007, I think.

If I am correct, it would then mean that the PLP has forgiven Watkins. So why can’t the party forgive Symonette? That’s a question worth answering.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama, July 8, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, August 16, 2019, PAGE 5 THE TORCHBEARERS Youth Association Convention last night. Pictured speaking below from the left are Dionisio D’Aguilar, Carlyle Bethel, TYA president and Jeff Lloyd.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

D’Aguilar predicts 7 million visitors from page one

Mr D’Aguilar also revealed that his ministry hired 25 “young people” this month after he grew concerned about the lack of youth at the institution.

He did not say what void the new workers were hired to fill. He said not only do young people comprise a small part of the ministry’s workforce, but they are also the most likely to resign.

He said: “Do you know when I took over the Ministry of Tourism, a manpower audit revealed that just five percent of the staff, five percent of the Ministry of Tourism staff were under the age of 30? No lie! That’s what the PLP left in place.

Five percent of the staff were young like you all.

And get this: 95 percent of the resignations were also under the age of 30. So what that tell young people?

First, we ain’t into you and if you should manage to get in, we ga do our best to run you.

“As such, when I saw that only five percent of the Ministry of Tourism

staff were under the age of 30, I said no, no, no t’ings gotta change! So we went on a recruitment drive and just this month we hired 25 young people into the Ministry of Tourism. We were blown away by their exceptional talent, ingenuity, creativity, enthusiasm and qualifications. Let me tell you that the future success of the Ministry of Tourism is secured by these new young Bahamians coming on board.”

In 2017 Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced a freeze on hiring in the public service.

Department heads were subsequently told there would be no new hires in the service unless there is a critical need, and even then applications would have to be approved by Cabinet. It is unclear when the hiring freeze was lifted.

Education Minister Jeff Lloyd also spoke during last night’s convention. He praised the Minnis administration’s investments in education, including the expanded access to free tuition for University of the Bahamas students.

For their part, youth speakers praised the administration’s efforts to strengthen the economy, noting GDP increases, a recent decline in the unemployment rate and efforts to impose greater prudence on government spending.

When he spoke last night, Carlyle Bethel, head of the FNM’s Torchbearers Association, sought to differentiate the FNM from the PLP and highlighted the role the youth organisation has had in producing government officials over the years, citing past and current officials like Tommy Turnquest, Kwasi Thompson, Don Saunders, Rickey Mackey and Jamal Moss.

“FNM elected young Bahamians to Parliament such as Travis Robinson and James Albury,” he said.

“PLP does not get its MPs from the (Progressive) Young Liberals. They use young Bahamians at election time and if they win, the old guard swoops in to get all the appointments and all the contracts. That is the PLP mindset!”

Editorial View - Page 4

PAGE 6, Friday, August 16, 2019

By RIEL MAJOR Tribune Staff Reporter rmajor@tribunemedia.net

THE Public Hospitals Authority released a statement yesterday dismissing the claims of Bahamas Public Services Union president Kimsley Ferguson concerning “postponed” negotiations.

In the statement, officials from PHA said they have been made aware of the comments made by Mr Ferguson regarding the current negotiation status for a new BPSU industrial agreement.

“The PHA and the BPSU both agreed to strict confidentiality concerning the matters being discussed between both parties. To date, the PHA has maintained this position but finds it disappointing that the BPSU has not,” the PHA statement noted.

“While the PHA will continue to honour the confidentiality of our mutual discussions, we feel it necessary to speak to the BPSU’s statement that the negotiation meetings are being continuously postponed and that as a result, negotiations on a counter proposal have stalled for almost ten weeks. The PHA categorically denies these claims. At the onset of negotiations, both parties agreed to specific conditions to ensure a

THE TRIBUNE

PHA dismisses claims over ‘postponed’ talks proper, cordial engagement over the term of the negotiation period, including a separation of negotiations into non-financial and financial matters.”

PHA officials said the non-financial teams were scheduled to meet twice per month, every other Friday.

The statement noted the PHA deferred the first meeting that was scheduled on August 9.

The statement read: “While a first meeting of the non-financial team was held on November 23, 2018, it was agreed by both parties that formal meetings would begin in earnest on January 11 owing to the busy holiday season. Commencing with the January 11 meeting, there were a total of 12 negotiation meetings held, some of which were held on dates other than originally agreed due to scheduling conflicts by both parties.

“Our records reflect that

one meeting was cancelled due to a no-show by the BPSU, while four other dates were postponed by mutual agreement. There were no instances where the PHA acted alone and cancelled any negotiation meeting. The final nonfinancial meeting took place on July 30, 2019.

“Regrettably, the PHA requested a deferment of that meeting in order to allow members of the PHA’s financial team to attend another function in support of a senior official of the PHA, a key participant in the financial negotiation meetings. While a deferment was requested, the PHA offered to either extend the next two scheduled meetings by an additional hour or to meet twice in one week to make up for the deferred meeting,” the statement added.

PHA officials said the organisation remains

BAHAMAS Public Services Union president Kimsley Ferguson

committed to the negotiation process with BPSU and other stakeholder groups.

The statement noted: “As we recognise the importance of negotiations and collaborative agreement to ensure that our employee benefits are maximised within the financial constraints of the PHA.” On Monday, Mr Ferguson told the Nassau Guardian meetings with the PHA “continue to be postponed”.

The BPSU is requesting two lump sum payments and a salary review for its union members in its industrial agreement negotiations with the PHA. Mr Ferguson said he was concerned because Bahamians are facing challenges preparing their children for school, adding they need relief. He also made an appeal to the PHA to work together to arrive at a reasonable solution.

Plastics ban: Transition period to help business

By RIEL MAJOR Tribune Staff Reporter rmajor@tribunemedia.net

THE six-month transition period for businesses to sell off prohibited singleuse plastic bags represents efforts to provide relief to businesses who have made

significant financial commitments, according to Ministry of Environment officials.

In an interview with The Tribune, Lyndee Bowe, environmental officer, said the ministry hosted meetings with businesses and discovered some companies

paid for containers of inventory months in advance and have unused stock within their warehouses.

Ms Bowe said: “This additional transitionary period was agreed upon by businesses and was granted out of respect for their business model and

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• Develops strategic plans and implements the objectives of the IT organization to ensure the computer capabilities are responsive to the needs of the company’s growth and are aligned with corporate goals and objectives.

• Leads the business to review changes in the industry and recommends strategies to review or address new growth opportunities, technologies etc.

• Develops and manages operating budgets across IT • Implements opportunities for new products, services, and markets.

Looks beyond the boundaries of the immediate organization for new growth opportunities in technologies and applications.”

• Accountable to ensure that performance objectives are established for each employee and are aligned with the IT strategy.

• Ensures projects align with the business and IT strategies at the department level.

• Contributes to the development of client strategies at the project to department level.

• Builds trusted relationships throughout IT to enable effective delivery of IT services. +

Skills & Qualifications Required • Bachelor’s degree or higher level in Information Technology, Telecommunications, Computer Science or other relevant disciplines, MBA is a plus • Related Telecommunication Industry experience is a plus, no less than 10 years • Strong team player with the ability to interact with all levels of staff in the organization • Strong ability to create systems for operational efficiency

are you ready to be a part of this dynamic team? send your resume to: Aliv Lead Architect, Central Bahamas. careers@bealiv.com no later than August 23, 2019

operations. The selling of compostable plastic bags is commonly practiced with bans worldwide, it also provided an easier transitional switch for businesses who currently use plastics bags being banned as they procure and investigate reusable bag options that best suit their needs.

“Effective June 30, (2020) the fines will come into force. Up to this point businesses will still be allowed to use the plastic bags but won’t be allowed to import those bags as of January 1.”

She added: “The ministry realised the importance of working alongside businesses on coming up with a transitional plan that will ease their ability to adapt and foster an environment of support and acceptance. We are extremely grateful for all the feedback we are receiving thus far from the general public and the business community.”

Ms Bowe said compostable single-use plastic bags will be exempt from this phase of the ban but can be “eventually” phased out.

“This phase of the ban includes four specific items inclusive of the plastic bags,” she said. “This ban is set so that eventually we would be able to add

certain items as we come along. “These four items were chosen specifically because we have available alternatives ready.

“The typical Bahamian could use these items at least three times a day.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner we use these items, so these bags that are included don’t have available alternatives and hence they have been excluded by the ban.”

She added: “The only bags that are going to be banned are point of sale shopping bags. All of these other plastic bags they are not going to be affected by this phase of the ban. It may be something that we want to look into eventually but at this time it’s not included.”

If passed, the Environmental Protection (Control of Plastic Pollution) Bill, 2019 will prohibit single-use plastic foodware and non-biodegradable, oxo-biodegradable and biodegradable single-use plastic bags; prohibit the release of balloons; and regulate the use of compostable single-use plastic bags. Single-use plastic foodware outlined in the bill include: Styrofoam cups, plates and other similar Styrofoam foodware used to contain food; plastic

knives, forks, spoons and straws.

Businesses will be allowed to sell compostable single-use plastic bags for 25 cents to $1, excluding VAT. Business will not be able to sell these bags to customers at the point of sale, and if they do, the sale of the bag must be separately stated on the receipt and identified as a “checkout bag fee”.

Business will be allowed to keep the fees collected for the sale of these bags; however, a record must be kept of the number of bags supplied during the reporting year, along with the gross and net proceeds of the sale. Failure to keep a record is an offence with a fine up to $2,000, and failure to supply a copy of the record to the ministry carries a fine up to $1,000.

Compostable single-use plastic bags will be exempt from the ban along with a number of others based on their intended use like party bags, dry cleaning, food and hardware storage, newspaper deliveries and trash.

While many stores and businesses have phased out plastic and Styrofoam, others are still preparing for the ban. Glenmore Wallace, manager of Sakura Sushi, said the Cable Beach restaurant is one of them.

“The way that I see it, at the end of the day it’s going to be something good so we might as well do it.

We are trying to be (ready for the deadline) and if we aren’t then the decision was to stay close until we fully make the transition,” he said.

“We have decided that we don’t want to run into any issues. I’m all for the change itself so if we don’t get a chance to switch over everything by the deadline, we’ll just stay closed for the extra maybe two or three days to make sure we have everything that we need to operate the business.”

James Galanis, Twisted Lime owner, said his business is “definitely” ready for the 2020 plastic ban.

He said: “For the most part (the transition is) not hard. I think the government should go even deeper if it affects the country. (We just need) the to-go cups; (we are still using) plastic cups but only because we are trying to use the last.

“We are definitely already ready if it comes down to certain companies not having the right cups.

We can use soup cups for the time being…It’s not something we can’t find to get our way around it.”

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, August 16, 2019, PAGE 7

NIB SETS UP SERIOUS ARREARS TASK FORCE THE National Insurance Board has established a Serious Arrears Task Force to go after the millions in contributions arrears which are owed to it, stressing those who do not pay what they owe may face prosecution.

NIB stressed the millions which are unpaid are needed to fund the pensions and other benefits of Bahamian workers through the National Insurance Fund.

“Over the years, NIB has allowed employers who have from page one switch was secured in the off position prior to Kelly Steven Brown attempting to clean the cement mixing drum on February 19, 2018.

As a result, Mr Minnis said somehow the machine turned on and consequently “mashed him up”.

The testimony was made during an inquest into Mr Brown’s death. He was injured while at work at Block World at the rear of FYP on Wulff Road.

According to reports, Mr Brown, who had only been on the job for two to three weeks, was in the process of cleaning the mixer while the electricity was off, when the power suddenly came back on and amputated his legs. He was later transported to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Taking the witness stand before Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez, Mr Minnis explained the correct procedure for using the mixer.

He said an individual would first have to unlock a padlock that secures the main power lever in the off position. Afterwards, the lever is pushed upwards to activate the flow of power to the machine. Then, a button is pushed to start the mixer.

Upon completing one’s business with the machine, the lever is pulled down to disconnect the power supply, and the padlock is then used to secure the lever in the off position.

According to Mr Minnis, it

fallen into arrears with respect to their NIB contribution payments to enter into installment agreements,” NIB said in a statement released yesterday. “As a matter of policy, NIB requires an initial payment representing the amount that the employer would have deducted from its employees towards the NIB contribution. These funds would not have belonged to the employer at any time.

“NIB reminds the public that it may not write-down any amounts

owed to NIB as the funds are held in trust for the payment of pensions and other benefits (ie retirement, maternity, sickness, industrial injury and survivor’s benefits, etc) for workers of the Bahamas. NIB does not turn away employees in search of benefits to which they are entitled, even when contributions have not been made on their behalf by delinquent employers, once it has been established that the persons were employed at their

establishments. As such, NIB has paid benefits to such employees, notwithstanding the non-payment by their employers. This becomes an unsustainable burden on the Fund.”

NIB urged all employers to pay their contributions in a timely manner pursuant to the National Insurance Act. Those employers in arrears are urged to contact the Compliance Department at 502-1762 to arrange the settlement of the

outstanding amount. “Failure to do so can result in prosecution before the courts. Efforts are also being made to develop innovative approaches to ensure that all workers are registered with their current employers at NIB to improve compliance.

NIB remains committed to working with employers who find themselves in difficulty,” NIB said.

NIB is owed about $17m in outstanding contributions.

Human error led to 38-year-old worker being crushed in mixer is physically impossible for the machine to get power if the lever is secured in the off position.

However, he said when he arrived on the scene, the main disconnect was not locked and secured. According to Mr Minnis, Mr Brown could not have pushed the button to start the machine, as the mixer and the control panel are too far away from one another.

Meanwhile, Mr Brown’s brother Geno said on that fateful day, he had just gotten off from work early when he received a call from his cousin, who worked in the steel section at FYP, who told him that Mr Brown was involved in a serious accident and had lost his leg.

Geno Brown said he subsequently got in his car and sped from Fox Hill where he

THE BAHAMAS AGRICULTURE AND MARINE SCIENCE INSTITUTE

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BAMSI invites Tenders from interested persons/companies to provide for the construction of an entrance wall and a security booth at its Campus in North Andros, Bahamas.

All persons/companies are invited to collect the RFP document between the hours of 10:00am to 4:00pm. Monday through Friday from: The Bahamas Agriculture & Marine Science Institute East Bay Street Island Traders Building Nassau, Bahamas Telephone No. 397.6580 All Proposals and supporting documentation must be submitted in triplicate (3) in a sealed envelope labeled “ENTRANCE WALL AND SECURITY BOOTH TO BAMSI” and addressed to: Chairman The Bahamas Agriculture & Marine Science Institute East Bay Street Island Traders Building P.O. Box SS-6254 Nassau, Bahamas Telephone No. 397.6580 The deadline for submission of Tenders is September 20th, 2019 BAMSI reserves the right to reject any and/or all Tenders.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

was to FYP on Wulff Road.

He said when he arrived, EMS personnel and one or two other employees were trying to “untangle” his brother’s leg from the machine’s gears and take him out. The machine was off by that time. Geno Brown said that process took some 10 minutes.

At the time, Geno Brown said his brother was still alive and conscious. He

said he repeatedly called out to Mr Brown, who had his hands propped up on the rim of the mixer and his head lowered. Geno Brown said when he would call out to Mr Brown, the latter would only look up at him, but didn’t say anything.

Geno Brown said the next time he saw his brother was in the morgue the following day when he had to identify his body.

In response to questions by the coroner, Geno Brown said his brother never expressed any concerns about working at Block World. In response to a question by the jury’s forewoman, Geno Brown said his brother never mentioned anything to him about any altercations with any other employees on the job.

The matter continues on Monday.

PAGE 8, Friday, August 16, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

(NOW THIS LOT SEEM TO KNOW HOW TO WAIT IN LINE...)

When it comes to cutting the line, it’s best to know the rules of engagement WE have all waited on a line, especially here in the Bahamas.

And since we agree, we’ve all towed the line before, then we also must admit to being cut in the line!!

There are a variety of line “cutters’’, some with good reasons and others without, but it’s generally infuriating all the same.

Here’s a few tips on how to deal “the cutters” regardless of the situation.

STUDY THE YOU’RE ON :

Funeral Service for

WINIFRED MABEL BAIN, 83

of Bozine Town, will be held on Sunday, August 18th, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. at Judaea Baptist Church, off Tonique Williams Darling Highway. Officiating will be Rev’d. Dr. Marina P. Sands and Rev’d. Dr. William Thompson. Interment will follow in Woodlawn Gardens, Soldier Road.

Left to Cherish and reminisce on fond memories are her daughters: Marilyn Johnson (Baby) and Henrietta Campbell, Victoria Fox, Thelma Ferguson and Melvern Bain; daughter-in-law: Louise Campbell; numerous grandchildren: Va’Shon (Tyrone) Scavella, LaMonte and LeVar Hamilton, Alicia (Stacey), Streisand, Shazanne, Michaella, Yasmin, Selena and Michael Elijah, David (Obie), Vaughn, Dwight, Clement, Rochelle, Karen, Glenroy (Boy), Steve, Sophie, Sidney, Kishnell, Randolph, Tonia, Roshanna, Rudolph (Lil Bo), Simone (Nickey), Celianne, Manassah, Atario (Boots), Siobhan; numerous great grandchildren: Tyrone and TyRon Scavella, Trey, Shareif, Devonya, Levardo, LaVaughn, Sydney, Brianna, Arianna (Rosie) LeVar Jr, Acale, Joshua, Janelle, Alexia, Lucinson, Dashia, Ahrielle and Lalin; sisters: Bertha Hopkins, Jane Rolle and Princess Clyde; brother: Earnest Hopkins; adopted daughter: Katherine and Junior of Boston, Mass.; adopted brothers: Garth (Carmie) and Gardwell Johnson; sister-in-law: Margaret Hopkins; brother-in-law: Cyril Clyde; uncle: Jim Fernander; aunt: Agnes Pinder; numerous nieces and nephews including: Marvin, Nicarra, Montez, Leron, Alfreda, Javari, Michelle, Michael, Antoinette, Lisa, Judson, Cheddi, Ricardo, Marvalee, Nadine, Dionne, Miriam, Nathaniel, Rickey, Mikeva, Deborah and John Deleveaux, Kenva Johnson; god-children: Troy, Constance, Nicole, Jermaine, Gersham, Prescola Roberts, Hilton and Basil McIntosh, CJ and Kaleia; other relatives and friends: Rev’d. Dr. Marina Sands and family, Linda Johnson and family, Mavis Miller and family, Gerry Pyfrom and family, Ritchie Duncombe and family, Jennie Neely and family, Neville Woodside and family, Rev’d. Agatha Strachan and family, Mr. Armbrister, Patricia Strachan and family, Henrietta Turnquest and family, Sandra Newton and family, Jackie King and family, Gloria Fowler & Gaynor Curtis, Tony, Allan, Paul, Monica, Monalisa and Michael Prosper and families, Yolanda Dean and Lillian, Mr. & Mrs. Leon Griffin and family, Vanessa Armbrister, Patrice Deleveaux and family, Lataria Darville, Gary Lotmore, Kendal Johnson, Kirlin King, Joseph Whymms, Lucinda Forbes and family, Sharlene Newbold, Kendolyn Theophilus, Leonie, Mildred, Ivy, Mable, Sylvia, Donna, Oliver and Anna, Monique Taylor and family, Herbert and Eva Archer and family, Barbara Newbold and family, Mr. and Mrs. Beauford Dorset and family, Kim Johnson, Patricia Dean and family, the entire Archer family, Balinda Johnson and family, Cenita and Mrs. Duncombe, LaShanne Johnson and family, Charlene Nesbitt, Esther Campbell, Min. Ishmael and Mazie Brown, Rev’d. Patrick Smith, Krissy Winder, “The Solomon’s Crew – Marilyn Sands, Sheila Grant, Janet, Mrs. Ferguson and Mrs. Delancey, Halcie Scavella, Joseph Scavella, Oscar and Betty Scavella, The entire Scavella family, Debbie Poitier and family, Myrtle Gilcud and Family, Dr. Cyprian Strachan and family, the entire Judaea Baptist Church Family and the entire Bozine Town community. If we failed to mention your name, please bear with us. We are indeed grateful and appreciative for all thoughts, acts of kindness and prayers offered during this our time of bereavement.

Viewing will be held in the Perpetual Suite at Restview Memorial Mortuary and Crematorium Ltd., Robinson and Soldier Roads on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and at the church on Sunday from 9:30 a.m. until service time.

LINE

When people wait in line, in essence they’re gathering one behind the other in single file—or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work.

Unfortunately, not every line is created equal.

Stores will occasionally offer some sort of designated method of organization, even sometimes offering a hired helper to move things along efficiently.

Other stores will just let their customers figure things out on their own.

(This is where the manure usually hits the fan in the 242).

Another good example of this is, boarding a flight, where an organization scheme is offered, but is hardly ever followed.

Lack of organization, is why these types of problems tend to occur.

When there is a seemingly lax organization, it’s quite easy for any person to misinterpret the rules of the line.

REMAIN CALM : Before you make any decisions about what to do, know what kind of line you’re in.

If the instructions are clear, you can point them out.

If they’re not, you may just want to let the issue go.

(Especially if dealing with a ‘jungaliss’ ) In the event you do want to say something to the cutter, proceed with caution. Your insurance may not cover it, and it may have been an honest mistake.

People make mistakes often, so don’t forget the old adage, “to err is human, to forgive, is divine.”

I remember in my college days, I was waiting in line for 20 minutes to make a deposit at the school ATM. It always had a ridiculous single-file line, but it was a half of a mile to the next ATM. Another student pulled a chat and cut in front of me, very early on in the line and I didn’t say anything because I thought he was talking to his friends.

When he tried to use the ATM, I’d built up so much anger that I lashed out at him. The entire line then got mad at me, because he played the victim.

In retrospect, I think he honestly had no idea I was in line.

When I angrily told him in my best, most colourful ‘Bahamanese’ I was there first and I thought he was just talking to his friends, the rest of the line suddenly saw a raging monster emerge from the ether.

Although I earned my rightful spot back in line, it was with an angry mob at my back. When you bring anger into the situation, don’t expect things to always work in your favour.

KNOW THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT : When you do want to approach a line cutter, to let them know they just violated the rules of engagement, don’t forget these three important things: Don’t get angry.

Ask someone near

by—preferably behind you—if they saw that person cut in the line. (If they did, you now have a partner who has a horse in the race).

Confront the cutter as soon as possible. (You’ll lose your chance if you “slunk”).

When you confront the line cutter, be polite.

A simple sentence like, “Excuse me, but I believe you just cut in line” is forceful enough to get your point across while still remaining open to the possibility that you could be wrong and they were simply joining their friend to wait with them in solidarity.

In the event that they argue and things get out of hand, you either need to let it go (if the ‘cutter’ is willing to drop the issue, too, or wearing an ankle monitor) simply find a manager/ person of authority and ask them to handle the problem for you.

IS IT REALLY WORTH IT? But something as unimportant as a person cutting in line should really never escalate to that level.

The important thing to remember is that while it’s rude for people to cut in line, you can’t fight every battle.

A majority of the time, it’s simply not worth fighting.

(Consider the unnecessary stress and high blood pressure you’re willing to take).

If ‘cutters’ really get your goat, the problem is you, not them.

Yes, you, people’s ability to annoy us largely depends on the permission we give them, never lose focus, that one of the most virtuous things in humanity is, patience.

LOWER THE PRIME RATE TO HELP ECONOMY READERS have been commenting on the stories making the news this week on tribune242.com.

AFTER Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest said the government had not given any detailed consideration to increasing the minimum wage, Sickened asked: “What about

lowering the prime rate to help the economy grow?

Four percent is WAY too high in these economic circumstances. Bahamians don’t have savings so

having a lower interest rate on deposits doesn’t hurt so much as it will help.”

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis called the state of power generation in New Providence unacceptable.

That prompted this from The_Oracle: “A perfect example of politicians/politics being the creators of problems, never the solutions.”

THE TRIBUNE

T

HE world has watched the Jeffrey Epstein story unfold with the same kind of stomach-churning fascination with which it watched the Charlie Manson murders, curiosity piqued by a failure to understand how someone could do the things he did.

As a man, Epstein is far more interesting than Manson. Here was a man who seemed to have it all.

Money, power, good looks, a man who mingled with the rich and famous, was worth hundreds of millions, had magnificent homes in New York, Palm Beach and an island in the Caribbean. Even his upbringing was picture perfect. Good education, great start in the world of high finance, going independent with clients like The Limited and Victoria’s Secret In that high-flying world of designer drugs, endless vacations and careless abandon for the price of champagne, Epstein had just one flaw. It turned out to be fatal. He liked his women young. Very young. And he wasn’t about to solicit them himself. So as the days passed after his arrest for sex trafficking crimes and the story drew gasps and Page One headlines around the globe, perhaps the richest registered sex offender in the world took his own life in a Manhattan prison cell.

His death triggered an investigation likely to point fingers in directions from a near-royal socialite to workers in an understaffed prison to the bosses who ordered Epstein taken off suicide watch. This crossthe-start-line, first rush to win the blame-game has already taken down the former Secretary of Labour under the Trump administration, Alexander Acosta, who as US Attorney in Miami in 2007, let Epstein off the hook with a 13-month sentence in a county jail for molesting underage girls. In the world

Friday, August 16, 2019, PAGE 9

The strange, sick case of Jeffrey Epstein and why some people can never be satisfied of criminal law, the light sentence for sexual assault was a slap on the wrist and that slap came right back to hit Acosta smack in the job jaw.

But my fascination with the case is not so much the legal angle. It is the ageold question of why some people are never satisfied.

It does not matter how much money they have or power or status. I had a close friend like that who nearly killed himself trying to find satisfaction. Beautiful women, fine wine, great friends until the days of excesses searching for satiated happiness began to exceed the days of normalcy. It grew worse. He travelled more, searching, always scouting for that one experience, that one moment, that would

finally land him where he wanted to be, in the palm of satisfaction.

Try as he might, he never did find that moment, that ultimate sense of relief that he was where he needed to be and all was good in the world. He never found it, that is, until he stopped looking. He took time off - from everything.

He retreated. When he emerged a year later, he was a different man. He founded a great cause in the community that helps thousands of Bahamians every week. It is hard to find him without a smile on his face these days.

The difference is not simply that he changed course. He changed how he looked at the course he was on.

Instead of caving in to

the ordinary thinking that satisfaction lies ahead, a wish for the future, obtainable tomorrow, he realised that by giving back he found satisfaction every day. He did

not have to worry about what one writer called “a leak in a positive memory tank” that stokes dissatisfaction, he found a tank that was always full with a fuel that burned strongest

INAGUA IS INDEED A NATIONAL TREASURE ON August 7, when Prime Minister Hubert Minnis presented land deeds to eight residents of Inagua finalising turnover of Crown Land awarded but not legally conferred earlier, the mention of Inagua and the image of the Rassins with flamingoes sent me exploring old documents.

Here is what I found, a speech

by Sir Lynden Pindling, then Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, on the opening of the first Bahamas

Telecommunications Company facility in Matthew Town, Inagua on May 23, 1992. He jokingly wondered aloud if Inagua shouldn’t be renamed ‘as far south as Inagua” because he never heard it referred to any other way.

By way of praise, he said Inagua was “a remarkable island – some 763 miles away from the hub and capital of Nassau, boasting of nearly 100 percent employment, a 387-square mile

Congratulations to Barry and Esther

BARRY Rassin and his wife Esther at Ardastra Gardens.

WHEN a Bahamian, Barry Rassin, assumed the helm of Rotary International, the election was noted with a dash of pride and a sprinkling of decorum. Though Rassin would hold one of the most prestigious posts on the globe, there was no national day proclaimed, no parade in his honour, no medal he would be awarded as crowds gathered to cheer him. In Bahamian eyes, his important achievement paled by comparison with the pride that made us scream, pump fists and

THE EPSTEIN case will be headline material for a very long time to come.

dance in the streets for Olympic successes like the Golden Girls or the Golden Knights.

So, it was good to see the excellent interview in The Tribune this week paying homage to Barry and Esther Rassin who spread goodwill about The Bahamas and good deeds in dozens of nations around the world during an exhausting year. It was also a treat to see the greatly under appreciated Ardastra Gardens, Zoo and Conservation Centre on the cover of Rotary International’s

official magazine. Congrats, all. And if you have not been to Ardastra in a while, do go. We can see the yellow elder, our national tree, everywhere.

We can hear our National Anthem daily when ZNS comes on the air. We can see our Police, Defence Force, Corrections, Urban Renewal bands many times a year, but there is only one place in Nassau we can go to see our national bird, the Caribbean Pink Flamingo, and that’s Ardastra. They are a sight to behold.

national park maintained by the Bahamas National Trust and home to 50,000 flamingoes. Most of all, Inagua boasts a hard-working and industrious population that values education and abhors crime.”

Inagua has been the centre of so many labour disputes in recent years it was good to be reminded by two prime ministers 27 years apart that the southernmost isle is indeed a national treasure.

when he looked outside himself.

Would Jeffrey Epstein ever have stopped in his tracks? Would fewer young girls have faced their future without being haunted by the evils and hurt of their past? We will never know. And that’s the tragic part of any investigation. We may learn who was complicit but we will never understand the cause nor undo the pain of its victims.

The Epstein case will be headline material for a very long time to come. Assets of more than $550 million will not be divided without bitter battles and, if justice is served, heads will roll right on to cots in some of the finest secure facilities the legal system has to offer.

PAGE 10, Friday, August 16, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

RUSSIAN PILOT LANDS JET DISABLED BY BIRD STRIKE

WOODSTOCK FANS SET FOR ANNIVERSARY BETHEL, New York Associated Press WOODSTOCK fans are expected to get back to the garden to mark the 50th anniversary of the generation-defining festival this weekend.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is hosting a series of events at the 1969 concert site, 80 miles northwest of New York City. Woodstock veteran Arlo Guthrie is set to perform before an outdoor screening of the concert documentary on the famous field.

There won’t be overcrowding and chaos this time. Visitors need tickets to drive to the site through the weekend. An estimated 400,000 people showed up for the original festival on upstate New York farmland in August 1969.

MOSCOW Associated Press

WOODSTOCK veteran Arlo Guthrie at the original site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Fair.

Love me or hate me, you have to vote for me NEW HAMPSHIRE Associated Press

PRESIDENT Donald Trump last night sought to reassure his supporters about the state of the US economy despite the stock market volatility and told rallygoers in New Hampshire, a state that he hopes to capture in 2020, that their financial security depends on his reelection.

“Whether you love me or hate me you have to vote for me,” Trump said.

Speaking to a boisterous crowd at Southern

New Hampshire University, Trump dismissed the heightened fears about the US economy and a 3% drop on Wednesday in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was fuelled by a slowing global economy and a development in the bond market that has predicted previous recessions.

Avoiding an economic slump is critical to Trump’s reelection hopes.

“The United States right now has the hottest economy anywhere in the world,” Trump said.

Trump, who reached the

White House by promising to bring about a historic economic boom, said, as he often does, that the markets would have crashed if he had lost his 2016 bid for the presidency. He also warned that if he loses in 2020, Americans’ 401(k) retirement accounts will go “down the tubes”.

The president also defended his tactics on trade with China. He has imposed 25% tariffs on $250 billion of imports from China and has threatened to hit the remaining $300 billion worth of

Chinese imports with 10% tariffs. He has delayed that increase on about half of those items to avoid raising prices for US holiday shoppers. He said China wants to make a trade deal with the US because it’s costing the country millions of jobs, but claimed that the US doesn’t need to be in a hurry.

“I don’t think we’re ready to make a deal,” Trump said.

New Hampshire, which gave Trump his first GOP primary victory but favoured Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election, is doing well economically, at least when using broad measures. But beneath the top-line data are clear signs that the prosperity is being unevenly shared, and when the tumult of the Trump presidency is added to the mix, the state’s flinty voters may not be receptive to his appeals.

An August University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll found that 42% of New Hampshire adults approve of Trump

TRUMP last night. while 53% disapprove. The poll also showed that 49% approve of Trump’s handling of the economy and 44% disapprove.

Some Democratic presidential campaigns are holding events to capitalise on Trump’s trip. Joe Biden’s campaign set up down the street from the arena to talk to voters and enlist volunteers. A group for Pete Buttigieg’s campaign gathered in nearby Concord to call voters about his support for new gun safety laws.

And Cory Booker urged Trump to cancel the speech and instead order Congress to take immediate action to prevent gun violence.

A RUSSIAN pilot whose passenger jet lost power in both engines after colliding with a flock of gulls shortly after takeoff yesterday managed to land in a cornfield smoothly enough that only one of the 233 people on board was hurt seriously enough to be hospitalised.

The quick thinking of the captain, 41-year old Damir Yusupov, drew comparisons to the 2009 “miracle on the Hudson,” when Capt.

Chesley Sullenberger safely ditched his plane in New York’s Hudson River after a bird strike disabled its engines.

Experts say the two near-tragedies could force aircraft makers and regulators to rethink engine designs so they can better withstand bird strikes, although technology to do that is not yet available.

Yusupov was hailed as a hero, and television stations showed passengers standing in head-high corn next to the plane, hugging Yusupov and thanking him for saving their lives.

The Ural Airlines Airbus A321 was carrying 226 passengers and a crew of seven as it took off from Moscow’s Zhukovsky Airport en route to Simferopol in Crimea. Russia’s Rosaviatsiya state aviation agency chief, Alexander Neradko, told reporters that the crew “made the only right decision” to immediately land the fully loaded plane with its wheels up after both of its engines malfunctioned.

“The crew has shown courage and professionalism and deserve the highest state awards,” he said, adding that the plane was fully loaded with 16 tons of fuel. “Just imagine what the consequences would be if the crew didn’t make the correct decision.”

The airline said Yusupov, the son of a helicopter pilot, is an experienced pilot with over 3,000 flight hours.

SIX POLICE SHOT IN STANDOFF THAT ‘COULD HAVE BEEN FAR WORSE’ PHILADELPHIA Associated Press

THE criminal history of a man suspected of barricading himself inside a Philadelphia house should have prevented him from legally owning the firepower he used on Wednesday to wound six police officers in a standoff that carried deep into the night, authorities said.

Maurice Hill, who authorities say had at least a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun when he opened fire on officers serving a drug warrant, has on his record multiple arrests in Philadelphia and adjacent Delaware County between 2001 and 2012, according to online records.

He has convictions for an array of crimes that include assault, perjury, fleeing and eluding, escape and weapons offenses.

Hill, 36, served two stints in state prisons — three, counting a return for a probation violation. He was also hit with a 55-month federal prison term over a pair of convictions for being a felon in possession

POLICE take shooting suspect, Maurice Hill, into custody after an hourslong standoff with police of firearms. Pennsylvania prison officials said Hill served about 2½ years on drug dealing charges and was paroled in 2006, and then did more than a year for aggravated assault before being released in 2013.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said that Hill’s arrest history also includes burglary, resisting arrest, taunting a police animal and reckless endangerment, although he cautioned not all resulted in convictions.

“I think what it says is that the system had multiple

contacts with this man, and the system ... did things that obviously did not stop this incident,” Krasner said.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross expressed amazement that the standoff ended with no one dead and no lifethreatening injuries, despite the gunman firing over 100 rounds. The six officers who were struck by gunfire were released from hospitals Wednesday night.

It “could have been far worse,” Ross said. “This was a very dynamic situation, one that I hope we never see again.”

SCIENTISTS CONFIRM GLOBAL HEAT RECORD FOR JULY BERLIN Associated Press

JULY was the hottest month measured on Earth since records began in 1880, the latest in a long line of peaks that scientists say backs up predictions for man-made climate change.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said yesterday that

July was 0.95 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th century average of 15.8 C for the month.

Because July is generally the warmest month on the calendar, meteorologists say this means it also set a new all-time monthly record for the past 140 years.

Last month’s temperatures narrowly topped the previous July record, set in 2016, by 0.03 C.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, August 16, 2019, PAGE 11

AMERICAN LEADS REEF RESTORATION PROJECT Photos – courtesy of Jamika Culmer, MOT

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net AMERICAN Steve Wilson loves to visit Grand Bahama, but he took his love of the island to another level when he spearheaded a reef restoration and coastal clean up in McLean’s Town, East Grand Bahama.

In addition to the clean up exercise, he also made a financial contribution to two churches in the East End settlement.

Mr Wilson - a resident of Coconut Creek, FL - is a frequent visitor to The Bahamas, particularly Grand Bahama. He said he fell in love with The Bahamas many years ago.

“The serene beauty, natural charm and above

all, love and warmth of its friendly people, like Captain Phil, Barrie Thomas, and the entire Thomas family, who have become like family to me, keeps me coming back,” he said.

Because of his love for the island and the community of McLean’s Town, Mr Wilson felt the need to tangibly give back to the community, which he said had “given so much to me.”

He said: “‘The Bahamas is rich in sea life resources, and as someone who thoroughly enjoys freediving and spearfishing, I understand the economic importance of its marine life to the people of the Bahamas and McLean’s Town in particular.”

The four-hour cleanup exercise was jointly

organised by local bonefishing guides Philip and Mel Thomas, and supported by various sectors of the local community, including church leaders, the Ministry of Tourism, families and business operators.

Some 40 bags of debris was collected.

Mr Wilson also made financial contributions to the Latter Day Outreach Ministry and the New Emmanuel Baptist Church in McLean’s Town.

Jeff Pinder, senior executive for product development and sustainable tourism at the Ministry of Tourism, was especially pleased with the passion and vigour shown by Mr Wilson, and the swiftness and success of the cleanup exercise, despite the event’s short planning period.