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VOLUME:115 No.193, AUGUST 30TH, 2018

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INSIDE

Why so little aid and why so late?

Year from Irma, islanders insist govt does more

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net RESIDENTS of Ragged Island are calling for more government assistance than the $4,000 per household issued by the National Emergency Management Agency on Friday.

Restoration Ragged Island Association Chairman Ellerly Lockhart told The Tribune while residents “definitely” do not consider the money to be enough, they see it as a start.

Mr Lockhart was also dismayed the “first physical

assistance” provided to Ragged Islanders by the government was delivered less than two weeks before the first anniversary of Hurricane Irma.

He added this treatment has contributed to the distrust locals now feel toward the Minnis administration and could affect how they will respond to any future evacuation notices.

Following the assessments, NEMA approved 18 households on the island for assistance. They received a maximum of $4,000 per SEE PAGE FIVE

PROVIDENCE Advisors/Waste Resources Development Group Consortium is the government’s selected bidder for the investment and management of the New Providence Sanitary Landfill and the group estimates the total project will cost around $130m to complete.

Although he could not reveal yesterday how much the consortium would be paid to transform the dumpsite into what will be known as the New Providence Ecology Park, Housing and Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira insisted the government “got it right” when compared with the efforts of the former Christie administration.

SEE PAGE SIX

DOMINICAN DIES IN BIMINI CRANE FIRE

By DENISE MAYCOCK and RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporters

A DOMINICAN crane operator was killed in north Bimini yesterday after a 40ft beam he was attempting to move snapped his machine’s cable and crashed on to the crane’s cabin, fatally pinning him inside as the crane was engulfed in flames.

According to a police report, the incident occurred shortly after 9am when the crane operator was attempting to move the beam from a barge to a nearby dock.

A number of short videos of the tragedy appeared on social media yesterday, one of which showed firefighters attempting to extinguish a large blaze caused by the accident.

SEE PAGE TWO

RENEWABLES WE’RE WAY OFF 2030 TARGETS

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

LANDMARK DAY IN DUMP’S FUTURE

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

L SOUR CE

WEB SHOP MURDER SUSPECT WILLIAM ETIENNE, 26, was arraigned in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday in connection with the recent murder of Alvin Strachan in a web shop. See page three for the full story.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

THE Bahamas “is never going to make” the goals set out in the National Energy Policy (NEP), providers warned yesterday, with an extra nine megawatts of renewable capacity required every year to hit target.

Philip Holdom, Alternative Power Supply’s president, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas was “nowhere close” to achieving that renewable expansion rate, which he said is now needed to hit the NEP target of producing 30 percent of this nation’s energy needs from sustainable sources by 2030.

His warning came as the Government moves to create an Energy Planning Unit, which will be charged with creating the road map and framework for The Bahamas to achieve these goals.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

SUPER CINEMA SETS OPENING TARGET

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net FUSION Superplex, the $50m entertainment facility and movie theatre located at the junction of Gladstone Road and JFK Drive, is projected to have a November 2018 soft opening.

Yesterday, media houses and social media influencers were invited on a tour of the 100,000-square foot facility that features 17

INSIDE the Fusion Superplex yesterday. brands ranging from restaurants to arcades.

Construction is ongoing

at the centre, although the media was able to experience the major theatres and appreciate the stunning lakeside views.

Developers say while they anticipate a soft opening by late November they are also aiming for an October pre-launch.

The major attraction of the entertainment destination is its nine cinemas, which includes two “pure SEE PAGE NINE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

DIANE PHILLIPS:

I’M GOING TO SIT RIGHT DOWN AND WRITE MYSELF A LETTER

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

THE BLAZE in Bimini that left a Dominican crane operator dead - as seen in these images taken from video circulating on social media.

Dominican dies in Bimini crane fire from page one The crane operator was pronounced dead at the scene by local medical personnel.

The Tribune was told the deceased was working on the construction of the hurricane-damaged dock at the Bimini Bay resort and was reportedly employed at Bimini Bay for OPAC/Rav Bahamas.

The dock at Bimini Bay sustained severe damage during Hurricane Irma last September and work was being undertaken to rebuild it.

“Work was proceeding on the dock, and they were completing the final stages,” a resident told The

Tribune. “The crane operator was lifting a concrete piling beam when the cable broke, and the beam landed on the crane. It burst into flames, and persons were unable to get him out.”

The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, did not know the victim’s name but had seen him around the town.

“I glimpsed him in the town, and I heard that he was married to a Bahamian woman in Nassau, but they had been divorced for over a year,” the resident said.

According to the resident, many Mexicans and Dominicans are employed at the site operating heavy equipment.

The police investigation continues.

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 3

Man dies after bar shooting

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

WILLIAM ETIENNE, 26, outside Magistrate’s Court yesterday in connection with the recent murder of Alvin Strachan.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

ACCUSED FACES COURT FOR KILLING AT WEB SHOP

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net A 26-YEAR-OLD man was arraigned in a Magistrate’s Court yesterday over allegations he murdered another man in an East Street web shop last Friday.

William Etienne, of Balfour Avenue, stood before Deputy Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain charged with one count of murder in connection with the August 24 incident in which Alvin Strachan was killed.

According to initial reports from police, a man entered the East Street establishment and went into a restroom.

That man then came out of the restroom and approached another man who was described as a customer. The armed assailant spoke to the customer before fatally shooting him multiple times and fleeing the establishment, police reported.

Etienne was not required to enter a plea to the charge and the matter was adjourned to October 16 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

A MAN died in hospital Tuesday night after being shot multiple times outside a bar off Soldier Road.

The incident marks the 63rd murder for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.

Police said shortly after 11pm, the man was sitting in his vehicle outside a bar in Kennedy Subdivision when he was approached by a group of men.

One of these men, armed with a gun, opened fire on the man, shooting him about the body, before the group escaped the scene.

The victim was transported to hospital where he later died of his injuries, police said.

He was later identified as Tarino Bevan White Jr, aged 23, of Willow Tree Street.

As investigations

continue, police appealed to members of the public to come forward with information that may lead to solving this case.

The incident came four days after a man was fatally shot at an East Street web

shop on Friday for which a man appeared in court yesterday and was charged with murder.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 5029991 or the Crime Stoppers hotline at 328-TIPS.

Magistrate Swain informed Etienne that she didn’t have the power to grant him bail for the offence.

However, he has the right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.

Etienne was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in the interim.

He was not represented by an attorney.

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THE TRIBUNE

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

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,

jrolle@tribunemedia.net

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

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

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

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Canada stunned by Trump trade threats TORONTO (AP) — It started with President Donald Trump’s attacks on Canadian dairy farmers. Then Washington slapped tariffs on Canadian steel, citing national security. There was that disastrous G-7 summit in Quebec. Now it’s a new North American free trade agreement that excludes America’s northern neighbor.

Canadians are stunned by the repeated broadsides from what has long been their closest ally and some have even begun boycotts.

“Everybody is afraid,” said Margot Lajeunesse, who helps run a familyowned bistro in Quebec. “We depend a lot on the US.” About 75 percent of Canada’s exports go to the US so the tariff threat looms large after Trump snubbed Canada and reached a preliminary deal with Mexico.

LaLa Bistro, owned by the Lajeunesse family, is among Canadian businesses that are boycotting California wines, American ketchup and other US products in protest. Some Canadians have cancelled US vacations, particularly after Trump assailed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G-7 meeting in June, calling him a “weak” and “dishonest” back-stabber.

“It’s not the way you treat a friend,” Lajeunesse said.

“It’s revolting, agreed Raymonde Kennedy, who has ceased buying American products like mustard and clothing.

“We won’t be insulted like that, by a man with no brain.”

Luc Routhier, co-owner of Bar Le P’tit Canot in Quebec, also banned American wine from his eatery after Trump announced tariffs on Canadian aluminum and threatened Quebec’s dairy industry.

“I’m not even going to the US this year,” he said. “I’m a golfer, and normally I do two trips a year to the US with my buddies.”

“I’ll only go back to the United States when Trump is gone.”

To intensify the pressure on Canada, Trump threatened this week to impose new taxes on Canadian auto imports if Canada didn’t negotiate “fairly”.

Canada must now decide whether to sign onto an agreement it didn’t negotiate, or risk that the US and Mexico will make good on threats to do a two-way deal that excludes it.

Canada could lose 60,000 jobs in a trade war and take a 1 percent hit to its GDP — a significant drop because Canada’s economy is projected to grow just 2 percent next year, according to estimates from the CD Howe Institute, a Toronto-based think tank.

Canada had been left out of the trade talks for the past five weeks, but Trudeau said there was still a “possibility of getting to a good deal for Canada”

by Trump’s deadline of Friday.

“But,” he added, “as I’ve said all along it has to be the right deal for Canada.

We will not sign a bad agreement.”

Trump expressed optimism on Wednesday that a deal could be reached.

“We gave until Friday and I think we’re probably on track,” Trump said.

“We’ll see what happens. I love Canada.

And you know what, I love Mexico too. ... I like them both the same.”

There is some optimism in Canada’s automotive sector despite the Trump tariff threats.

Among other things, the US-Mexico deal mandates that 40 to 45 percent of a car be made in a country with a minimum hourly wage for auto workers of at least $16 to qualify for duty-free status — a requirement that could stem the flow of auto-sector jobs to Mexico, where auto workers earn on average just $5 an hour.

“This should stop the bleeding in Canada,” said Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union.

Bank of Montreal chief economist Douglas Porter said the US deal with Mexico leaves Canada in a near takeit-or-leave-it situation. Still, he noted investors have welcomed the news and that helped push the Canadian dollar up 0.5 percent. Stocks of Canadian auto parts companies were up too.

“Perhaps the clearest indicator that the market is viewing the US-Mexico deal as a positive for Canada is the strengthening of the Canadian dollar,” Porter said.

Reaction in the Canadian press reflected the mixed feeling about the US-Mexico deal.

“Canada scrambles as US, Mexico ink NAFTA pact,” headlined the Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper.

The Toronto Star had a different take.

“PM cool in the face of Trump’s NAFTA heat,” it read.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland hurried to Washington this week to try to repair the damage and was in talks Wednesday with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other US officials.

“Mexico has made significant concessions which will be really good for Canadian workers. On that basis we are optimistic,” Freeland said of the talks.

But the opposition Conservative Party accused Trudeau of mishandling negotiations by letting Mexico and the United States cut a deal without Canada.

“Canada is on the outside looking in while Canadian jobs hang in the balance,” Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer tweeted. Foreign-affairs critic Erin O’Toole said in a statement that “Mexico has usurped our role as the key US trade partner.”

Still, the ties between the US and Canada are without parallel anywhere in the world. Trade between the two neighbors totaled an estimated $673.9 billion in 2017, with the US enjoying a nearly $3 billion surplus with Canada.

Each day, about 400,000 people cross the world’s longest international border.

There is close cooperation on defense, border security and law enforcement, and a vast overlap in culture, traditions and pastimes.

Trudeau’s father, the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, offered this take on sharing a continent with the United States. “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant,” he said. “No matter how friendly and eventempered the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”

Perhaps the younger Trudeau had his father’s words in mind when he asserted that he wouldn’t let Canada get pushed around by the US at a news conference at the end of the contentious G-7 summit in June — a remark that enraged Trump.

“He made this point that he’s going to make Canadians pay,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto.

University of Toronto professor Robert Bothwell said the latest trade deal excluding Canada shows Trump is more focused on exerting American economic might than reaching a fair deal with friends.

“This is going to have a horrendous impact on Canada-American relations,” Bothwell said. “Canada may well have to give in to this because of the threat to the auto trade, but it’s going to leave a very bad taste.”

By ROB GILLIES , Associated Press

Train the RBDF EDITOR, The Tribune.

US Embassy donates new harbour patrol craft - boat trailer, etc…this is a US global policy, big deal, they do it all round the world.

Pity they have not been

able to train the RBDF to catch the poachers - smugglers and traffickers. $240m in boats and harbour and still Haitian sailing sloops get through right uptown the front door of HMBS Coral Harbour

whilst the RBDF play dominoes!

Task Force? Joking, surely!

L MURPHY Nassau, August 17, 2018.

In tribute to James Catalyn EDITOR, The Tribune.

BUSH crack and James Catalyn gone!

Catalyn devoted his life to uplifting the Bahamian vernacular and to making us proud of “we culture” which is a fusion of African, American, European, Asian and Latino heritages which he merged into one to the exclusion of all else.

That he was a cultural giant cannot be disputed.

Lesser known was his work behind the scenes to build up and promote what the Ministry of Tourism gurus casually refer to as “the product”, those uniquely Bahamian experiences that we used to share with visitors.

And while he was passionate about giving tourists a cultural glimpse of his Bahamas, he understood instinctively that his audience was not those who came here for a week, but those who called this place home and who needed to have their lives, their dialect and their culture validated.

And so, while he begged the government to clean up Fort Fincastle and to bring Fort Charlotte back to life, he undertook significant steps in his own theatrical career putting together a band of friends simply to crack some jokes and get people laughing at themselves.

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net It grew quickly and made his a household name. He laughed easily and often and had a trademark cut-eye that was more endearing than it was threatening.

There was no colour barrier amongst James Catalyn and Friends, his troupe, but he understood that the children in his audiences needed to see positive role models of every stripe on stage. He figured out that we have to remove social stereotypes from acting and from comedy. He minimised prejudices by poking fun at them.

To do so he shuffled his cast between roles and in so doing eliminated the perception that only a certain type of actor can play certain roles. Anyone on any given day could be given any role that Catalyn wanted showcased.

To him the message was more important than the messenger even though he was paternally protective of his troupe. And they in turn were fiercely loyal to him.

His success spawned others such as the theatre company, Shakespeare in Paradise. He used the clout of his box office draw to push for the upgrading of

the Dundas Centre and to get schools to amplify and not minimise drama classes.

It will be hard to fill the shoes that he has left behind. But, understanding his role as a trailblazer, he coached others to become choreographers, writers, producers, singers and actors in order to expand their repertoire.

“Why yinna gatta overtink erryting,” Catalyn would say to those who obsessed with style and process.

It didn’t exactly mask the fact that he was a stickler for details and demanded devotion to the craft. “If you come up in here halfstepping then whole step your way out the door” he would boom and then immediately grin.

He endured the inevitable criticism that came his way because he was not thin-skinned even though he was hard-headed.

The best way to mourn Catalyn is to laugh. If they haven’t already, then a fitting tribute would be for the University of The Bahamas to consider the posthumous grant of an honorary degree for this accomplished artist who taught us to laugh at we-sef.

THE GRADUATE Nassau, August 29, 2018.

BPL turbulence EDITOR, The Tribune.

BPL - good for you Ms Osborne let it all hang out if what has been said is not the truth - truth Madam never lies so you have a big advantage.

To Mr Donovan Moxey I would be exceptionally careful not to put your foot, sorry feet, in your mouth believing everything since May 2017, election and the appointment of the outgoing BP&L board was all in compliance with the Electricity Act, 2015 which a number of letters to

the Editor dealt with and the RFP process for the 80MW standby generators or the Aggreko generators?

Mr Money you are exceptionally fortunate that the sole one member of the immediate past board Attorney, Feron Bethell, remains on the new board - we hope he will guide you through the straight and narrow ensuring on our behalf total compliance which quite honestly does not seem to have taken place.

Final word to Ms

Osborne you have your personal and professional reputation to take care of - if the statement of the Minister does not afford you at the minimum justification and courtesy then Madam use the ultimate course of redress.

Ms Osborne, you were the choice of Prime Minister Minnis let’s hope he will not throw you under the proverbial bus?

ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau, August 20, 2018.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 5

SOME of the damage still remaining in Ragged Island after Hurricane Irma.

Why so little aid and why so late? from page one household to further assist with post Hurricane Irma recovery efforts.

Hurricane Irma passed over Ragged Island as a Category 4 storm on September 8 last year. The hurricane wrought widespread devastation, and the island was subsequently declared uninhabitable by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

Shortly afterwards, Dr Minnis announced the government’s intention to “transform” it into the first fully “green” island in the region.

Nearly a year later, locals are still living in a state of desolation.

“There’s still no government services down there,” Mr Lockhart told The Tribune.

He clarified while there is electricity, phone services, and finally water facilities, other major services are absent from the island.

“There’s still no nurse, still no kind of health facilities, still no kind of educational facilities, still no kind of local government administrative facilities.

Business is still being conducted in Holy Innocence Church.

“There is no post office, no postal service. So you can’t— literally you cannot send no money.”

He added people either do not receive their mail or receive it when bills are past due.

“Things that you take for granted in other parts of the Bahamas, (Ragged Islanders) don’t have that.”

Mr Lockhart’s house was “totally destroyed” by the hurricane. He described himself as an “in transit” resident, between Nassau and Ragged Island, as he rebuilds.

He also said the lack of government water facilities for months after the storm hindered his ability

to rebuild.

“The water situation was still an issue when I started (rebuilding). It was still very, very iffy. So I couldn’t build or use water for building and compete with the resident who needed to use water for daily purposes.

“I literally had to take water on the mailboat to Ragged Island for construction.

“That situation has since been rectified,” he added.

“The water situation is now back to what it was pre-Irma.

“The water situation has just started to get regularised over the past three to four weeks. That’s by the Water and Sewerage Corporation. (They) purchased a plant and the plant is functioning.”

Three months into the 2018 hurricane season, Mr Lockhart said locals are on “pins and needles” regarding the possibility of another major storm hitting the island.

However, he doubts all residents will evacuate this time, and pointed to the government’s refusal to lift the “uninhabitable” declaration as contributing a factor to this decision.

“I am telling you literally that many, many persons there still will not be able to withstand hurricane weather,” Mr Lockhart said.

When asked if more people will evacuate should the government issue an order, Mr Lockhart replied: “No. The people really don’t trust the government.

They don’t trust the government because they think the government has ulterior motives or (is) trying to get them off Ragged Island. “(Locals) are hailing… those residents who remained on Ragged Island as heroes because they believe (that) if they were to (leave) Ragged Island, especially since the prime minister…declared that

Ragged Island was uninhabitable, if everybody had vacated Ragged Island, you wouldn’t have been able to re-enter, you wouldn’t (have) been able to get back to Ragged Island.

“You would have been prevented from landing on Ragged Island. You would need permission to land on Ragged Island. That’s why those 17 people who remained on Ragged Island were so important to the (local) community.

“And I don’t think that the people will be welcoming to the evacuation order or evacuation this time around, because they really do not trust the government now, especially how they were treated over these past 11 months.

“Irma hit Ragged Island on the 8th of September . . . And the first physical assistance that individuals got from the government for individuals – I’m not talking about water, light, things like that – I’m talking about assistance in terms of help, was couple days ago.

The government gave them $4,000.”

However, Mr Lockhart added he “congratulates” the government for the initiative and said “any amount of money is welcome”.

When asked if residents consider the money to be enough, he said “definitely not but it is a start”.

“And hopefully the prime minister will reconsider the uninhabitable status of Ragged Island,” he added.

“We, especially as chairman of the Restoration Association, we would really like for the government to pick a government building, you don’t have to do them all. Just pick one and repair, rebuild.

“That would be kind of a jumpstart for the economy of Ragged Island… That’s not an unfair request, right?”

PAGE 6, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Landmark day in dump’s future from page one Definite timelines for when tangible changes could be seen or when the company will take over the dumpsite were not readily available. Equipment along with reporting and accounting mechanisms have also yet to be decided.

The minister said these key details have not been decided because the contract’s finalisation has not yet happened. It is expected the government and the consortium will negotiate over a 30-day period after the private company accepts the letter of award, which was issued yesterday, in accordance with the request for proposal. Providence Advisors/WRDG has seven days to confirm the acceptance of the letter of award.

The project will feature several sustainability measures and beneficial features for the immediate long-term health of the surrounding communities and environment, said Kenwood Kerr, chief executive A WORKER in a protective mask at a dump fire last year. officer of Providence tonnes of carbon dioxide possible entity to take Advisors.

These include but are emissions per year, which is over the management of not limited to extinguish- the equivalent of the emis- the New Providence Sanitary Landfill and we have ing all fires at the site and sions of 37,000 cars.

Eventually, a public mini every confidence at this implementing operational measures to prevent such golf course, fitness circuit time in their success and fires in the future; reme- and ecology park within ultimately the benefits to diating the existing site’s a buffer zone will also be the Bahamian people.”

Mr Kerr assured leaking toxins and health featured.

Mr Ferreira said he was Bahamians funding was hazards transforming an ongoing nightmare for the not a part of the techni- readily available in escrow site’s neighbours into a well- cal team, adding there had to ensure the group could run operation with much been no political inter- see the landfill remediation reduced environmental ference in the selection through to completion.

“We as a group accomimpacts; as well as keeping process.

“At the beginning, we panied by some of the the site clear, secure and green with a lush natural said that we wanted to get members Henry Dean and this right,” Minister Fer- Wellington Rolle, we have vegetation cap.

The consortium says reira said. “We said that been active travelling dual paths here so we want to they will also ensure there over and over again.

“Obviously the Baha- see the terms and the conis recycling, reusing and recovering at least 50 per- mian public through the ditions of the award so cent or more of the waste press wanted deadlines to we can develop a finalised generated in New Provi- appraise the people when contract,” Mr Kerr told dence; installing a landfill this was going to happen. reporters.

“We have a team that gas and leachate collection We were more concerned and management system, with getting it right going is waiting and ready to be extending the current site’s through the technical steps mobilised within the next operational lifespan to at and a proper assessment 30 days, that’s the first thing etc.” that will happen that you least 2052.

He added: “Nothing will see visibly a team on Creating 30 megawatts of green, renewable power is guaranteed. I won’t sit the ground that’s working inclusive of up to 15mw of here and say we are 100 dealing with all the what solar power and up to the percent. Nothing is guar- we would call low hangsame amount of biomass anteed, but we are very, ing fruits as it relates to the generated power is also a very certain based on the optics and the operations of technical assessments the landfill. feature of this new landfill.

“My team is from today There is also to be a the calibre of people that reduction of greenhouse gas did the technical assess- on accelerating and finalemissions by some 220,000 ments that this is the best ising the capital raising,

which we have escrowed to a large degree so that we have the appropriate funding to move forward in earnest.”

Mr Kerr further explained the $130m needed will be divided for the operations and management of the landfill and then for the development of a conservatively sized small power plant.

“For clarity, the operations, remediation and management of the landfill and putting in all the necessary infrastructure to do it properly in our technical submissions to the government was a number that ranged I think from $47m to $54m and this could be back checked for accuracy,” he said.

“Linked to that project is conservative sized renewable energy infrastructure which is a power plant in English so that’s a very conservative small sized power plant that’s estimated to be in the vicinity of $70 odd million. So when you combine the two it’s an estimated project total cost in the area of $130m.

“That power plant is a combination of solar and biomass power generation,

which takes the waste stream, puts it into an incineration burning process and it creates power that will be transferred on to the grid of BPL and into their base load network at a price. So that’s what makes up that $130m.”

He explained: “Not to be presumptuous, before we embarked on the process we had identified funding.

Clearly funding is driven by the terms and the conditions that will be concluded and defined in the contract.

“Once those economically viable terms that all parties agree, the funding is available to be accessed to start the project immediately.

“As the financial advisor to the group we wanted to be proactive in the process.

Clearly as we move through the completion of the RFP requirements discussions with the government, we were advancing our discussions with the funding, which is 100 per cent local and as we move through the process, as the process became clear as the outcome became a little clearer, the funding commitment cemented and became clearer.”

Providence Advisors has a mammoth task ahead.

This is because Renew Bahamas, which withdrew its dump management services in 2016, did very little at the landfill, Thomasina Wilson, senior deputy director for landfills in the Bahamas, said.

“Renew Bahamas was never asked to remediate the landfill,” she said in response to a question from The Tribune. “So that aspect of operation was never a part of their contract. They were generally just operations and management and to say that they did anything, very little was done.

“So the new consortium is not picking up from where they left off, it’s a new slate inclusive of the remediation aspect of it.”

The landfill has been plagued with intermittent fires, with the most recent one happening in January. A massive fire in March 2017 burned for almost three weeks. This fire caused an evacuation order and displacement of Jubilee Gardens residents.

It also sparked great public outcry for a resolution to this vexing problem.

SAUNDERS: I’LL HOLD FEET TO FIRE OVER DUMP

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

TALL Pines MP Donald Saunders says he plans to hold the government and Providence Advisors/Waste Resources Development Group Consortium’s feet to the fire when it comes to the management and proper maintenance of the Nassau dumpsite.

Following Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira’s announcement that the consortium was the selected bidder to manage the landfill, Mr Saunders said the city dump had been a concern from the day he accepted the nomination for his constituency, where the landfill is located.

He said: “Today is an historic day for the island of New Providence, an historic day for the people of Tall

Pines and in particular the residents of Victoria Gardens and Jubilee Gardens.

“Today I am happy to see the government finally agree to a company that will fix this problem once and for all. I am happy for the residents of Tall Pines who I work tirelessly for each and every day.

“Today marks another election promise by the Free National Movement government being fulfilled.

Today marks another election promise being fulfilled

by Don Saunders on behalf of his people of Tall Pines.

“With this new management company coming in with its experience they will reorganise the dumpsite and set up a proper way to dispose of the waste and will eliminate the dump fires we all have come to know about over the many years.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 7

PHA: No new dialysis fee despite internal memo

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE Public Hospitals Authority said it has not implemented a new fee structure for wheelchair transport services for dialysis services at Princess Margaret Hospital, after concerns were raised about an internal memo made public proposing such a move.

Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin rebuked the proposal yesterday, which according to the memo, would have introduced a wheelchair transport fee for dialysis patients at PMH next week.

A weekly charge rate of $150 for transport to and from the Dialysis Unit three times a week was outlined in the memo by Hospital Administrator Mary Lightbourne-Walker, who noted the proposal for the new charges was reviewed and supported by the Princess Margaret Hospital’s executive management team.

Ms Lightbourne-Walker did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

However in a statement yesterday, PHA confirmed it has not executed the new fee structure.

“Presently,” the PHA statement read, “transport services are being provided via private services at prices determined by the private contractor.

Additionally, the dialysis treatment fee per session has not increased from its gazetted fee of $275.

“The Public Hospitals Authority apologises for any inconvenience caused as a result of the circulation of this information and assures the public that

the authority remains committed to its mandate of delivering the best in quality healthcare.”

The PHA would not confirm the name of the private company nor the cost of the service.

However, Mrs Hanna Martin - the Official Opposition’s shadow minister for social services - said the memo exposed the current mindset of the Public Hospitals Authority, adding her party would be closely watching the matter.

She also expressed concern over speculation about an impending fee increase for dialysis services.

“The proposal is outrageous,” Mrs Hanna Martin said. “People who are on dialysis from my experience tend to be people with limited mobility, no insurance and catastrophic illness.

To seek to target that category to raise revenue, it’s obscene.

“Clearly they intended to implement this (transport charge) on a particular day.

This is what they intended to do.”

The memo sent to Superintendent Jeffery Henfield of the Transport Department, and dated August 23, refers to a verbal communication between Ms Lightbourne-Walker and the superintendent about the proposal.

The proposed charge rates were listed as: $25 for a one-way trip to or from the Dialysis Unit, and $50 for a roundtrip. This amounts to a weekly charge of $150 for three visits.

“We propose a start date of Monday, 3 September 2018. Customers desirous of engaging this service must pay at the Business Office and provide their receipt for the review of the

ENGLERSTON MP Glenys Hanna-Martin. transport personnel prior to transport,” the memo noted.

“By copy of this correspondence, the dialysis services clinical management team leaders are advised and encouraged to convey this information to our customers.”

The gazetted fee for ambulance services is $15 for Bahamians, and $30 for non-Bahamians.

A source close to the matter explained the memo did not follow established protocol to implement a

new charge and came as a shock to some PHA board members. The memo has been rescinded.

The source noted the PHA is currently reviewing its fee schedule, but any changes would be authorised by its board and not PMH. In expressing her anger about the proposal, Mrs Hanna Martin also said yesterday: “This appears to have targeted the most vulnerable in the health care spectrum. I am also told they are increasing

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff costs for dialysis treatment.

Dialysis is not optional, it’s life or death. If you don’t do it, you will die. I cannot see why the government has targeted this type of illness as a means of meeting expenditure for the hospital. I’m told they have other methodologies within health care sector where they can garner revenue, and it amazes me their imaginations have gone to the weakest link in this entire. You have the Physician’s Alliance, why can’t they look to the private part

of the public health care system all those doctors and consultants why not put pressure on them?

“But it’s more of the same contradictory behaviour, where (the Cabinet) did give themselves increased benefits, where they have created new and more executive chairman posts that didn’t exist before for parliamentarians.

They have used the Public Treasury in this way, but then on the other hand come with a heavy hand with poor people.”

PAGE 8, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

I’m going to sit right down and write myself a letter

By Diane Phillips

and other times I cannot conquer how to make breakfast. There are days I feel beautiful and days I want to crawl under a rock.

But I cannot say I don’t feel beautiful – that is not looked upon fondly; a lack of confidence does not bode well in a corporate or perA letter to myself and for sonal world.

How are some women all the women like me – you victims and sad all of the know who you are.

You are to move through time? Yet taken care of life showing no signs of relentlessly by what we weakness. You are to deem as strong men?

Why are the strong love fully but not get too engaged. Have feelings of women driven to maintain anger but never show you optimum coolness?

Who creates this – or are mad. Feel jealousy but better yet, how did this never reveal the truth. happen?

At Have a good what point time but never ‘Who makes did we (strong lose control, women) make be carefree these damn that turn in our but maintain rules? Is it life where we responsibility. destiny?

Is it God are to “always” Open your soul be that tower but never over and destiny? Is of strength? share. Feel sad- it true that our Who makes ness but limit path was always these damn your tears. rules? Is it desInternalise your carved out? Do tiny? Is it God insecurities and we go back to and destiny? never let them Is it true that see you fall astrology? Or is it the Outliers? our path was down. always carved Yet with all Can we shift out? Do we go of this, we are back to astrolwomen that are our fate?’ ogy? Or is it to show true compassion, unconditional the Outliers? Can we shift love, empathy and under- our fate?

Don’t get me wrong, I standing – always. When is do not want to be in the it ok to just be me?

Sometimes I am con- “victim” category. But it fident, sometimes I am sure would be nice if, just not. Sometimes I know once, I could be ME. No I can conquer the world judgement, no expectations, EVERY woman could have written the beginning of this column. I did not. It was sent to me by someone close and special and it was too good not to share so I do so in the form in which it landed in my inbox.

My words follow.

or disappointed partners.

Just a beautiful (internally), sexually charged, crazy hot mess. Is that such a big request?

Then again, to get here, I would have to know who “ME” is. And therein lies the problem really. Spending years of being the person I was always supposed to be. The lady I was regarded as, the mother I am looked upon, the proper girlfriend – who am I? And and and…what do I want to be?

Wow, that is the epiphany. Not only do I not know, but I have no idea what I

want. So I stare down the smoking gun of 53 years and that is what I am faced with. Is there still time to be a victim? I feel a very good case coming on! But I do think no one would feel sorry for me at this point.

Plan B… pick up the pieces and face the cold hard truth of uncertainty. And that is HUGE. It is uncertainty of a lot of things… who I am, where I am going. How will I learn who is ME?

••• Maybe we should all sit down one day and write ourselves a letter like the woman who sent me that letter did. We don’t have to worry about mailing it.

It probably wouldn’t get to us any time soon anyway.

We should just jot down all our thoughts, especially the trivial ones, and slide them into a mental box called “to be mulled over later”. It

could be like a safe for your thoughts, waylaying them in a secure place until time for rumination. They are thoughts so you don’t have to have a best-by date.

We could start, just for the fun of it, with thoughts about who designs these things that we use on a regular basis that someone else always seems to be able to open and we can’t.

You know the stuff. That individual pat of butter that comes in an inch-long container with a little plastic top that you are supposed to be able to peel back.

You try, politely, about ten different ways, frustration growing with each attempt until you give up and take a knife and stab it.

If they wanted you to stab it, why didn’t they just say that in the first place and save you the embarrassment of pretending you could open it politely?

Same with the bacon that comes in a plastic wrapper with the words “Peel Apart” at the top. Are you kidding? Houdini couldn’t peel apart those two pieces of plastic. That marriage is so tight no fingers were ever meant to come between them.

The worst is the plastic produce bag in the grocery store. Okay, so you forgot to get it from the produce bag dispenser and blow on it to open it before you loaded up your hand with snow peas, so now you have to perform a dance with snow peas in one hand and the other hand massaging the bag hoping it will give up its virginity. Of course what happens is you spill them all over the corn on the cob and have to fish them out yourself or beg the produce person - who has been slyly eyeing your maneouvers trying not to laugh - to lend a hand.

Those are just the small thoughts, probably not worth including in a letter to yourself. But someone has to resolve them. Then there are the mid-range thoughts – what do I have to do that I am not already doing to make my family closer and avoid ironing forever?

Then there are the deep thoughts that earn their right to be part of a letter to ourselves. Did we help someone in need when we first recognised that need?

What makes us like one person and not another?

Why do we apologise to inanimate objects and say sorry every time we bump into a chair or accidentally drop the lid of the photocopier?

Why does any of it matter when what really matters is how we love and treat one another, how we forgive the small stuff, how we appreciate, how often we let them know we care?

Maybe the letter we write is not to ourselves but to those who deserve to know we think of them more than they know.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 9

INSIDE the new Fusion Superplex cinema yesterday.

Photos: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff

Super cinema sets opening target from page one VIP” theatres. These feature spacious leather seats, adjustable headrests, blankets, and privacy panels.

The facility will feature the only IMAX theatre in the world that offers food and beverage service to seats. The butler service will bring restaurant-style food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to patrons during films.

The 4DX theatre features multi-sensory technology with 20 environmental effects, including seat motion, snow, fog and rain. The seating capacity is 124.

The IMAX screen is 80ft wide and 55ft high, 320 regular seats and 38 VIP seats.

The cost for all cinemas, from standard to VIP will range from $14-$35, Fusion Superplex CEO Carlos Foulkes revealed yesterday.

In terms of dining, Fusion will feature two restaurants, spearheaded by executive chef Emmanuel Gibson and food and beverage director Devin Johnson. Both offer direct views of Lake Cunningham.

The complex will also include a Starbucks, the largest coffee lounge in The Bahamas, with outdoor and indoor seating.

SubZero nitrogen icecream will also be made right in front of patrons, and “customers can also choose dairy, yogurt, custard, lactose and sugar-free bases for their ice-cream.”

The entertainment facility also offers play areas, where children up to the age of 12 can have supervised fun. Adjacent is a quiet entertainment room where parents and guardians can choose to watch their children.

Another Fusion brand is the “Arena”. An E-Sports product, this “will feature local and international E-Sports competitions for both players and spectators with real time feeds.” All nine theatres are “Arena” equipped.

Fusion Superplex is also excited to offer “modern twists” on the

entertainment experience.

“We have created an app and website that allow users to book and pay for a host of our service and products before they even arrive on property,” chief operating officer Dominic Richards said in a statement. He added “every aspect” of the experience will be able to be booked, ranging from valet parking to seating to supervised playtime for kids.

Another feature is ‘TimePlay’, which is an “onscreen cinema gaming app that allows viewers to earn points while playing on mobile devices before each movie,” the press release added.

These points can be redeemed at both Fusion and its partner brands.

The entire complex will also be available for bookings for private functions.

PAGE 10, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Forbes: Low housing take-up shows flaws in programme SHADOW Housing Minister Picewell Forbes yesterday raked the government’s low-cost serviced lots scheme over the coals, stating the low rate of eligible applicants evidenced a flawed programme.

“We can’t believe the minister and the prime minister put down a plaque to promote the sale of the 10 lots created in the Sunset Close extension by the PLP and he has not sold them,” Mr Forbes said in a press statement yesterday.

The South Andros MP further claimed the lots at Sunset Close Subdivision extension had already been pre-assigned by the former administration and were pre-approved.

He said he found it amusing the government would promote a project he claimed was designed and approved by the PLP ahead of the 2017 general election.

“I am advised that all these lots were all assigned prior to the election and SOUTH Andros MP Picewell Forbes. because of their size, specially designed houses were subdivision,” Mr Forbes the assignments were preto be constructed there to said. approved so why are the complement the existing “The persons who got applicants now failing to qualify?

“In my budget statement I warned the government that their programme was flawed. I did not believe that applicants who needed affordable housing would have the resources to take

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told reporters outside of Cabinet just nine of 60 applications received by the Department of Housing were eligible – some six weeks since the initiative was launched.

He urged Bahamians to get their “financial house” in order as the lots on offer represented a

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What I predicted has come true. The programme has fallen woefully short of the mark.”

When contacted yesterday, Housing Minister Romauld Ferreira called on Mr Forbes to provide evidence of his claims.

On Tuesday, Mr Ferreira

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase land in New Providence at low rates.

The Department of Housing launched its serviced lot initiative at Sunset Close off Carmichael Road, called the Sunset Close Subdivision Extension, on July 12.

Those lots are priced at $15,000, but Mr Ferreira said the price for the other lots, in Fox Hill and Carmichael, will depend on the cost to install infrastructural services.

In his statement yesterday, Mr Forbes said: “Their housing programme is woefully inadequate, under-resourced, if not nonexistent. It is shameful that all the housing minister can tell us is how the majority of people who applied for their service lot programme could not qualify.

“The FNM has this unfortunate way of glorying in the misfortunes of its citizens. The minister should have instead been boasting about how they are working with each applicant to ensure that they do qualify.”

Mr Forbes added: “The picture of the prime minister and his minister of housing laying a plaque to promote the sale of a mere ten lots shows how desperate this government is for good news. Unfortunately, there is no good news there either.”

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AFTER Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar said the $65m Grand Lucayan deal “is not a cataclysmic event” for the Government’s finances, insisting: “We think we’ve hit a home run”, readers responded on tribune242.com.

Dawes said: “If the hotel could be successful the private sector would have bought it. Whats going to happen now is all Bahamians will have to fund a hotel in Freeport until the Government can find someone to buy it at a large loss. The fact is that tourists don’t want to go to Freeport.

They should have dealt with the port and told them if they don’t do something to save the hotels then the Government will provide

DIONISIO D’Aguilar and Brensil Rolle at the Grand Lucayan resort.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff incentives to get the rest of impressed by the minister’s Grand Bahamas going and comments: “The ‘We’ is the leave Freeport to its fate. FNM sitting members. Most What they are doing now is right-thinking Bahamians see this whole game as a a waste of money.”

BoopaDoop wasn’t sure loss for Grand Bahama and The Bahamas.”

DWW had some figures: “Bahamas’ labour force is 220,000 people. 62% of that work in private sector and essentially pay the salaries of the other 38% employed by government. This means that 136,000 people pay all the bills for the government. Or, put another way, $19,000 in tax per employed person in this country. No wonder everyone is broke.

And we gonna buy one hotel to keep 400 people employed using gov’t tax dollars. Has no one actually considered that there is a reason all the hotels in Freeport are closed . . . let’s flog some more dead horses, aye?”

Birdiestrachan had this to say: “This man does not mention what the government will pay to renovate the hotel. Is that amount in their budget? Herein lies the problem which he and his government ignores – also the operation cost. It will not be a game and they will realise it soon enough when the bucket comes up empty. Persons with vision consider all – not just the purchase cost. He has to do better, because he knows better. The spin will not do.”

After it was revealed that three Family Island schools will have delayed openings, Dawes had this reaction: “Every year, doesn’t matter who’s in power, it’s the same.”

Bonefish asked: “Have we ever had a smooth opening for the public schools?”

And Clamshell had this to say: “Every year the government seems shocked, in August, that schools are supposed to reopen.”

• Don’t miss your chance to join the debate on tribune242.com.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 11

BAHAMAS Striping Group of Companies led by president Atario Mitchell presented president of the Rotary Club of Eleuthera, Sandra Ingraham and her team with 620 school bags for distribution at four of the island’s primary school and one high school.

‘Businesses must help students for school year’

WITH the recent value added tax hike, cost of living increases and a 25 percent cut to the government’s school uniform assistance budget, Bahamas Striping Group of Companies is urging local companies to do their part to help more students from disadvantaged homes prepare for the new school year.

“With the start of a new school year less than a week away, we can do better,” said BSGC president Atario Mitchell. “We must do better. Time is running out.”

Other companies might have tightened their belt, cutting back on donations to nonprofit organisations, but Bahamas Striping is bucking the trend, putting its money where its mouth is.

Through its annual back-to-school initiative, the operation, which has only been in business for eight years, is supplying backpacks, notebooks, pens, pencils, sharpeners and rulers for 10,000 students across The Bahamas.

“It did not make sense for us to reinvent the wheel

and host our own back-toschool school event which would cost money that could be put to better use purchasing school supplies for those in need,” said Dominic Sturrup, BSGC’s senior vice president of business development.

“To boost efficiency we thought it best to partner with active civic and charitable organisations to distribute our back to school supplies.

These organisations are plugged into the communities, schools and families most in need here in New Providence, but equally as

important, on the Family Islands.”

Bahamas Striping brought strategic partners onboard to help defray cost without negatively impacting quality.

“Betty K, one of the largest shippers in The Bahamas, and the fastgrowing Island Maritime Customs Brokerage graciously agreed to partner with us in importing the school supplies,” said Dr Allen Albury, BSGC’s managing director.

“Then, we turned to our civic partners to bring in their enthusiastic team of

volunteers to pack and distribute bags.”

Bahamas Striping’s giveaway has more than tripled in size since its inception in 2013, when the company and its subsidiary, Airport Maintenance Services Ltd, donated 3,000 bags to the Urban Renewal Commission.

In 2017, the initiative expanded to include notebooks. This year pens, pencils, sharpeners and rulers were added to the list.

Recently, Bahamas Striping executives travelled to Eleuthera to present the

island’s Rotary Club with 620 school bags.

In the nation’s second city, BSGC sent 100 bags to a local Rotary Club.

BSGC has contributed stuffed backpacks to more than ten constituencies’ back-to-school events and dozens of civic and charitable organisations.

BSGC encompasses Airport Maintenance Services, Caribbean Pavement Solutions, Bahamas Themed Photography, Abaco Caribbean Holdings Limited and Bahamas Striping from which the group takes its name.

PAGE 12, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

US research group to study cancer gene in GB

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net WITH high rates of prostate cancer in the country, a cancer research group from the United States is due back in Grand Bahama today to continue ongoing research of the BRCA gene in Bahamian men and its link to the disease.

Don Mitchell, chairman of Us TOO Grand Bahama, said that a research team out of Philadelphia will conduct research on Bahamian men who have had prostate cancer.

The group will conduct training on Friday and Saturday for designated volunteers who will be assisting the team in its research.

Mr Mitchell said research participants will take a saliva test and be interviewed by the trained designated volunteers at

the Quantum Physicians Facility on West Atlantic Drive on September 3-6.

“This is possibly a breakthrough area we are venturing into in Grand Bahama, and it is also going to be done in Nassau, and we will also be getting samples as well from (a doctor) in Abaco,” said Mr Mitchell, a prostate cancer survivor.

“We have already discovered through this research that prostate cancer is linked to the BRCA gene and it is a distinct possibility that the gene originates in the man.

“If the father has the gene he can pass it on to his son and daughter and it will show up as prostate cancer in the son and breast cancer in the daughter.

“This research will continue for a while as you are aware research takes a long time, but I think we should applaud Dr Robin

Roberts who has given very unselfishly for many years to see our Bahamian men with prostate issues free of charge, and he is taking it to another level and we are supporting him.”

The Us TOO organisation, along with the Cancer Society here on the island, is conducting its annual free prostate cancer screening for men on Grand Bahama on September 7 and 8 and has planned a number of events to raise awareness of the disease.

According to US Too member Averil Mortimer, black Bahamian men have a 50 percent greater chance of developing prostate than other races and ethnic groups.

He added 17 percent or one in six men - will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 13 percent of them will die from it.

However, if diagnosed early, prostate cancer can

be 100 percent treatable.

“Death from prostate cancer is a long, painful and expensive,” Mr Mortimer said.

“Our greatest problem is that many men wait too late to be tested and by that time prostate cancer has taken hold, and this results in a large number of prostate cancer deaths in the Bahamas in general, and Grand Bahama specifically.”

Mr Mortimer said research in Grand Bahama began last year on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutation through a saliva test.

BRCA is the acronym for BReast CAncer susceptibility gene. He explained that BRCA1 and BRCA2 are human genes that produce tumour suppressor proteins. These proteins help repair damaged DNA and, therefore, play a role in ensuring the stability of each cell’s genetic material, he said.

Mr Mortimer explained that when either of these genes is mutated or altered, such that its protein

product is not made or does not function correctly, DNA damage may not be repaired properly.

“As a result, cells are more likely to develop additional genetic alterations that can lead to cancer,” he said.

“Specific inherited mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2 most notably increase the risk of female breast cancers, but they have also been associated with increased risks of several types of cancer.”

He stated that people who have inherited mutations of BRCA1 and 2 tend to develop breast and ovarian cancers at young ages than people who do not have these mutations.

“The BRCA1 and BRCA2, normally, they help protect you from getting cancer. But when you have changes or mutations in one or both of your BRCA genes, cells are more likely to divide and change rapidly, which can lead to cancer,” he said.

Mr Mortimer noted that in a paper by Dr Robin

Roberts, Us TOO GB consulting urologist, the research shows that in the Bahamas for women who have breast cancer almost one out of every five (20 percent) have this defective gene.

“Our Bahamas rate of defective genes in a population per capita is the highest in the world,” he said.

“Now, recent evidence suggests strongly that these breast cancer defective genes occur in men also, and may play a role in men being at greater risk to have prostate cancer.

“The evidence to supports this stem from cases in certain families where men diagnosed with advanced and aggressive prostate cancer had fathered daughters who later developed breast cancers; both the father and daughters were discovered to have the defective breast cancer gene.

“There are indications that the mother who passes the defective gene to their sons increases the chances of them being more prone to prostate cancer.”

DOMINICAN national Manuel Hernandez Gomez, 31, was convicted in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court this week for illegal landing.

DOMINICAN ACCUSED OF ILLEGAL LANDING

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net AN immigrant from the Dominican Republic was charged in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court this week with illegal landing.

Manuel Hernandez Gomez, 31, appeared before Magistrate Charlton Smith and pleaded guilty to the charge.

According to the particulars, immigration officials reported that on August 24, acting on information, officers went to a resort in the Lucaya area where they discovered the accused in one the rooms.

Gomez was questioned regarding his legal status in

the country and could not produce anything to officers. He was taken to the Department of Immigration, and after a check of the Border Control System, there was no evidence Gomez entered the country legally.

After pleading guilty to the offence, Magistrate Smith ordered Gomez pay a $300 fine and in addition serve four months in prison. The magistrate ordered that he would serve an additional month if he fails to pay the fine.

Gomez was also ordered deported on completion of his custodial sentence at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in New Providence.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 13

ODELL Edwards and Charmaine Edwards, parents of Jordan Edwards, react to a guilty of murder verdict during a trial of fired Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver.

Photo: Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP

15 YEARS IN JAIL FOR COP WHO SHOT BLACK TEENAGER DEAD DALLAS Associated Press

A WHITE police officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday, after being convicted of murdering an unarmed 15-year-old boy when he fired into a car packed with black teenagers leaving a house party in

suburban Dallas.

Roy Oliver, who faced up to life in prison, was sentenced one day after being convicted in the 2017 death of Jordan Edwards. The verdict marked an extremely rare murder conviction for shootings involving onduty police officers. His

lawyers are expected to appeal.

Oliver was a police officer in Balch Springs when he and his partner responded to reports of underage drinking at the party. Oliver fired into a car carrying Edwards and his friends, later saying he feared the vehicle

was moving toward and endangering his partner.

Edwards, who was in the front passenger seat, was shot.

Police initially said the vehicle backed up toward officers “in an aggressive manner”, but later admitted that bodycam video showed the vehicle was

moving forward as officers approached. Oliver’s partner told jurors he didn’t believe his life was ever in danger.

Investigators said no guns were found in the vehicle. Oliver was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department days after the shooting.

“I just want to say I’m happy, very happy,” Edwards father, Odell Edwards, said outside the courtroom. He said it had “been a long time” since he felt that way.

The jury acquitted Oliver on two lesser charges of aggravated assault stemming from the shooting.

Racism becomes issue in Florida governor’s race TALLAHASSEE, Florida Associated Press

RACISM immediately became an issue in the Florida governor’s race Wednesday as both nominees made predictions: The Democrat said voters aren’t looking for a misogynist, racist or bigot, while the Republican said voters shouldn’t “monkey this up” by choosing his AfricanAmerican opponent.

Only hours after their primary election victories, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and US Rep Ron DeSantis made clear the high-profile race in the nation’s largest political battleground state was going to be nasty and racially charged. Gillum, a far-left Democrat seeking to become the state’s first black governor, and DeSantis, a Trump-endorsed Republican, are political opposites, both seeking to gin up turnout among

the party’s most ardent supporters.

Asked if he’s afraid of President Donald Trump’s support for DeSantis, Gillum told CNN that his race is about uniting the state.

“I actually believe that Florida and its rich diversity are going to be looking for a governor who’s going to bring us together, not divide us. Not misogynist, not racist, not bigots, they’re going to be looking for a governor who is going to appeal to our higher aspirations as a state, “Gillum said.

Meanwhile, on Fox News, DeSantis called Gillum an “articulate” candidate, but said “the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting this state. That is not going to work. It’s not going to be good for Florida.”

Democrats immediately

KANYE SORRY FOR SAYING SLAVERY WAS A CHOICE KANYE West apologised yesterday on a Chicago radio station for calling slavery a “choice,” and he broke down on air over an old friend.

“I don’t know if I properly apologised for how that slave comment made people feel, so I want to take this moment right now to say that I’m sorry for hurting, I’m sorry for the one-two effect of the MAGA hat into the slave comment,” West told 107.5 WGCI radio in his hometown.

“And I’m sorry for people who felt let down by that moment, and also I appreciate you guys giving me the opportunity to talk to you about the way I was thinking and what I was going through and what led me to that,” he said.

West also addressed a question that left him speechless on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” about why he feels President Donald Trump cares about black people. He later tweeted he wasn’t stumped by the question and didn’t much appreciate how the show cut awkwardly to a commercial break after his extra-long pause.

He said he was just carefully considering his answer: “I feel that (Trump)

cares about the way black people feel about him, and he would like for black people to like him like they did when he was cool in the rap songs and all this,” West told WGCI. “He will do the things that are necessary to make that happen because he’s got an ego like all the rest of us, and he wants to be the greatest president, and he knows that he can’t be the greatest president without the acceptance of the black community,” the rapper added. “So it’s something he’s gonna work towards, but we’re gonna have to speak to him.”

As for the field trip to the Los Angeles offices of TMZ in May, when he wore the “Make America Great Again” red cap favored

by Trump supporters and made the slavery remark, West said Don C — a former collaborator, tour manager and record exec — used to “have my back” and likely would have shut him down before things got out of hand.

“One thing that I got from the TMZ comment is that it showed me how much black people love me, and how much black people count on me and depend on me, and I appreciate that,” West said.

decried DeSantis’ comment as racist, but the DeSantis campaign clarified that his comments were directed at Gillum’s policies, not the candidate himself. “To characterize it as anything else is absurd,” his spokesman Stephen Lawson said.

Gillum called the comment a form of “gutter politics” that he said comes from the “Trump school” of trying to “fire up the base”.

DeSantis came from behind in the GOP primary with the help of Trump to

beat Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who campaigned longer, raised more money and built party establishment support.

Gillum upset a field of five that included former US Rep Gwen Graham, who was hoping to become the state’s first female governor and win the office once held by her father, Bob Graham. Gillum spent the least of the major candidates, but won the hearts of those who consider themselves progressives, and got

a late boost from Vermont Sen Bernie Sanders.

They’re seeking to succeed Gov Rick Scott, who can’t run for re-election because of term limits and is instead challenging Democratic US Sen Bill Nelson.

In a state sure to be a battleground in the 2020 presidential vote, the governor’s race will essentially be a referendum on Trump.

“We’re going to make clear to the rest of the world that the dark days that we’ve been under coming

out of Washington, that the derision and the division that have been coming out of our White House, that right here in the state of Florida that we are going to remind this nation of what is truly the American way,” Gillum told cheering supporters.

DeSantis also came out fighting, criticising Gillum as “way, way, way too liberal for the state of Florida”.

“That is not what Floridians want,” DeSantis declared.

PAGE 14, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

EMERGENCY responders, police and firefighters search for a missing boy who disappeared beneath the water of a retention pond on Tuesday.

Photo: Wm Glasheen/The Post-Crescent via AP

SAVED BY HIS FINGERTIPS - BOY WHO WAS TRAPPED IN SEWER MADISON, Wisconsin Associated Press

AN 11-year-old boy sucked into a flooded Wisconsin storm sewer was saved when an eagle-eyed firefighter saw the boy’s fingers pop through an opening in a manhole cover.

The astonishing rescue on Tuesday evening came as storms pounded

the southern half of the state and southeastern Minnesota.

The Calumet County Sheriff’s Office said the boy was playing with friends in a flooded drainage ditch after the rains passed around 6pm in the village of Harrison. He disappeared under the water and didn’t surface.

A dive team, sheriff’s

deputies and volunteer firefighters responded. Deputy Fire Chief Wesley Pompa said that when they arrived they found a bystander trying to hold onto the boy but he was sucked into a culvert that led to the storm sewer.

Pompa said the water was rushing so quickly it would have sucked a full-grown man into the culvert.

The rescuers could do nothing except try to determine where the flow might take the boy. Pompa called the village road superintendent, Bob Kesler, to the scene to help map out the sewers.

Pompa and Kesler were standing on top of a manhole cover about 30ft away from the ditch when Pompa saw the boy’s fingers pop

through an opening in the cover. The boy had found an air pocket just beneath the manhole cover and was hanging onto a ladder leading up to the manhole.

The firefighters wrenched the cover open. Pompa and Kesler lifted the boy to safety.

“He was hollering and talking to us and he was able to reach up for us,”

Pompa said.

The boy was taken to the hospital, and authorities said he was alert and conscious after his ordeal.

Pompa said he never got the boy’s name.

“I just thank God he was alive and he’d made it that long,” Pompa said. “It could have gone a million different ways but this one way it worked out for him.”

Pope at centre of cover-up claims VATICAN CITY Associated Press THE author of the bombshell accusation of sex abuse cover-up against Pope Francis denied yesterday he acted out of revenge or anger, breaking his silence as his claims continued to divide a Catholic Church already polarised under Francis’ reformist agenda.

While the Vatican is no stranger to scandal, leaks or plots, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano’s accusation has weakened a papacy already under fire for Francis’ poor record on dealing with sex abuse cases, and has intensified a long-simmering ideological battle between right and left for the soul of the Catholic Church.

Vigano told an Italian journalist he was “serene and at peace” after publishing his allegation-laden declaration, albeit saddened by subsequent attempts to undermine his credibility.

“I spoke out because by now the corruption has arrived at the top of the church hierarchy,” Vigano was quoted as saying.

For the church’s conservatives, Vigano’s 11-page manifesto, published on Sunday, is a courageous denunciation of sex abuse cover-up and corruption.

For Francis’ reformist supporters, it’s an angry diatribe from a homophobic bishop embittered that he never got the cardinal’s red hat he so craved.

Both sides, however, agree Vigano’s accusations require a response given that, as the former chief Vatican diplomat in the US, he was in a position to know certain information.

Francis’ decision to punt — “I won’t say a word on this,” he declared Sunday — hasn’t helped his cause or satisfied the faithful.

“I do think this is a crisis in trust and authority that comes really close to the Lutheran Reformations in the early 16th century,” said Christopher Bellitto, church historian at Kean University in New Jersey.

“It’s like a marriage: When trust is questioned you can go forward, but it’s not the same.”

In his letter Vigano accused a long list of US and Vatican officials — including Popes Benedict XVI and Francis — of covering up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the

retired archbishop of Washington, whose penchant for sleeping with seminarians was apparently an open secret in some church circles for over a decade.

Francis last month removed McCarrick as a cardinal and ordered him to a lifetime of penance and prayer after a US church investigation determined that an allegation he groped a teen-age altar boy in the 1970s was credible.

Up until then, the only accusations against McCarrick had involved sleeping with adult seminarians — a clear abuse of power that was perhaps quietly tolerated in the pre-#MeToo era, but doesn’t fly now.

Vigano said he informed Francis of McCarrick’s history with seminarians at a meeting on June 23, 2013, and accused the pope of turning a blind eye and effectively rehabilitating McCarrick from the sanctions he claims Benedict had imposed in 2009 or 2010.

There is ample evidence, however, that any sanctions, if they existed, were never fully enforced since McCarrick travelled widely for the church in those years and participated in official church functions, including alongside Vigano, who was responsible for enforcing the sanctions.

Vigano insisted Francis must resign, given the explosion of the McCarrick scandal in the US and a string of other gay sex abuse and cover-up cases in the church in Chile, Honduras and Australia that have implicated several of Francis’ top advisers.

Massimo Franco, a columnist for Italy’s leading daily, Corriere della Sera, said the silence from the Vatican is telling.

“I think that in this case, if these allegations were ‘fake news,’ I think someone would have spoken out on behalf of the pope,” he told The Associated Press.

“What is striking is the general silence.”

The Vatican declined to comment Wednesday beyond Francis’ remarks Sunday night, when he was asked by a reporter on a flight home from Ireland if Vigano’s claims were true.

“I think the text speaks for itself, and you have sufficient journalistic ability to draw conclusions,” he said.

“If time passes and you’ve drawn your conclusions, maybe I’ll speak.”