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VOLUME:115 No.203, SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2018

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Gunned down in front of his little girl

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GOVERNOR GENERAL’S AIDE DIES AFTER SCHOOL SHOOTING

L SOUR CE

Photo: Franklyn G Ferguson

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE respected aide-decamp to Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling was shot in front of his daughter during a school pickup yesterday afternoon and later died in the Princess Margaret Hospital from his injuries.

Inspector Carlis Blatch was immediately remembered for his professionalism and decency, with the Office of the Governor General noting he was someone who served

A SKETCH of a suspect released last night by the police investigating the killing. with distinction.

Former Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes

called him “a gentleman to the fingertips” in an interview with The Tribune last night.

Police suspect that Insp Blatch was shot during an armed robbery attempt.

Last night, as The Tribune went to press, police issued a sketch of a suspect being sought in relation to the shooting.

The suspect is described as having a dark brown complexion, a medium build and standing at about 5ft 11in or 6ft.

Officers combed the streets throughout the night in an island-wide manhunt

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for his killer even as grieving family and colleagues slowly trickled out of the Princess Margaret Hospital after absorbing the news.

He was a fixture at the side of Dame Marguerite and worked very closely with her on official matters.

Inspector Blatch served several Governors General during his career, becoming aide-de-camp under Dame Marguerite.

According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander, shortly after 3pm the officer SEE PAGES FOUR & FIVE

PAGE 2, Thursday, September 13, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Seeking to plug the skills gap

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net THE Ministry of Labour will analyse the skills gap issue by hosting a National Skills Symposium, an event where 100 representatives from a wide-range of sectors will create a report on the issue.

The event, “Forging our Future — Assessing and Analysing the Skills Gap in The Bahamas”, is invitation-only and will be held on Monday at the National Training Agency, at 9am.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis will open the symposium. During a press conference yesterday to announce the event, Labour Minister Dion Foulkes noted Dr Minnis said: “The prime minister is very adamant about the mission that we have embarked upon. He is very concerned about the amount of work permits and labour certificates that we still issue for persons to work in The Bahamas. And there’s no sense having a very active business community, there’s no sense having a lot of business investments, if Bahamians are not qualified to take advantage of the jobs.

“And that is what this is all about. We want to make sure that the curricula in our educational institutions, at the technical level, at the tertiary level, and at the high school level; that they’re relevant to the demands of the current job market.

“And that is what this symposium is all about. To do an analysis of that and to make recommendations through me to the Cabinet as to what we should do as a country going forward.”

The symposium is an initiative of the ministry’s National Committee for Industry and Skills Development in conjunction with partners. The committee was formed by Cabinet four months ago and is chaired

by Carlton Neymour.

“The Ministry of Labour considers the skills gap as a national priority,” Mr Foulkes said. “The longstanding negative impact of the disparity between employer needs and the available workforce has critically limited the growth of the private sector and subsequently the economic development of our nation.”

He added the government believes reducing the skills gap in The Bahamas can provide a “critical” step towards expanding the private sector, improving the ease of doing business, growing the gross domestic product, and increasing employment.

Robert Farquharson, executive manager in the Department of Labour, said the primary sectors the symposium will address are maritime, hospitality, manufacturing, financial services, health and allied services, and the construction industry.

Mr Farquharson noted based on the recommendations this symposium produces, educational institutions “will be able to adjust their programmes” to ensure they are providing the certifications and competencies needed for Bahamians to fulfil the identified skills gap.

Committee deputy cochair Matt Aubry added the symposium provides the opportunity for “coordination and collaboration”.

He also said the identified sectors were selected “in anticipation” of an upcoming job skills project that’s “about to be launched” in conjunction with the InterAmerican Development Bank.

Mr Aubry said the committee tried to be as “expansive as possible” but recommended that any key leaders or key technical and vocational groups that haven’t been contacted should reach out to the ministry through Mr Farquharson.

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, September 13, 2018, PAGE 3

Beauty queen loses title over social media post A GRAND Bahama beauty queen had to relinquish her title after a social media post caused a stir online and offended Bahamians.

Evena Gibson was ensnared in controversy after she posted a photo to Instragram with the caption, “Ha ha not a Bahamian sorry . . . too gorgeous to be, big uppp my Zoes (sic),” a reference to her Haitian heritage. The caption also had emojis of Haitian flags.

Condemnation on social media was swift with many calling for Ms Gibson, 17, to be stripped of her title.

One person wrote on Facebook: “So the woman who will be representing The Bahamas all over the world and is supposed to be an ambassador for our country doesn’t even claim The Bahamas? How does that work?”

The teen later apologised for the remarks.

Yesterday, however, The

Miss Grand Beauty Pageant Organisation released a statement on the controversy, announcing Ms Gibson no longer held her title.

“The reigning Miss Grand Bahama 2018 has relinquished the crown. It is important to uphold the integrity of the organisation which has been in existence for the past 30 years. We have become a diverse country, but in order to be a part of our pageant one must be a Bahamian citizen and proud of this country that has become a melting pot of a multitude of cultures.

“Our queens are some of the most distinguished ambassadors of our country, who have put country, pride and community first.

This has been a very unfortunate situation that we hope will never be repeated.”

EVANA Gibson and, below, the social media post.

UNIVERSITY FINANCES ‘STILL LEAVE MUCH TO BE DESIRED’

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESS on the University of The Bahamas’ overdue audits has been saddled with documentation challenges, according to finance vice president Ryan Antonio, who yesterday said the institution’s financial standing left much to be desired.

The institution is labouring to complete past due audits for the years 2013, 2014, and 2015 simultaneously, and Mr Ryan said he could not provide a timeline for the completion of those fiscal reports until auditors were satisfied with documentation.

He spoke to reporters on the sidelines of UB’s annual media “meet and greet”, held at the culinary school’s Choices restaurant.

Mr Ryan pointed to the recent hiring of financial controller Ingrid Culmer, and other initiatives that

are expected to increase efficiency.

“Part of our challenge has been because they are old audits so documentation, 2013, 2014, 2015 documents are somewhat challenging to find. So that is some of the problem we have run into with our auditors,” he continued, “trying to locate documents to satisfy our requirements. We are working through that as well as working through some staffing problems as well.”

Mr Ryan said: “We are working diligently, our finance team is actually focused on that - in addition to migration onto a new Banner platform, summer was vacation, we are giving our best shot to get it done as soon as possible.”

In 2015, The Tribune reported exclusively how poor auditing practices at the institution, then known as the College of The Bahamas, had prevented the institution from using the funds from a loan from

the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) that was designed to aid in its transition to university.

The Tribune reported at the time how the college was at least four years behind in audits when the Christie administration moved to borrow the funds.

In 2016, then Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald forecast the college would be up-to-date with its audits by that summer.

However, in June that year, it was announced the loan agreement between the government and the regional bank for $16.1m had been cancelled.

Speaking to the institution’s financial standing, Mr Ryan said: “It could be much better. I’m going to be very honest with you, we have some challenges in terms from a funding perspective. Costs are rising... but we are making our best efforts to do it. We are working more diligently and efficiently as we can,

our banner solution is going to help us a lot to improve some of our problems in terms of efficiency, but it can be much better.”

At yesterday’s event, UB President Dr Rodney Smith gave an overview of the institution’s track since transitioning to university on November 10, 2016.

Noted milestones include the constitution of its board of trustees for fully independent governance, the opening of a campus residence hall in Grand Bahama and the Sir Franklyn Wilson Graduate Centre, the transformation of the Portia Smith building from an “eyesore” to the “pride of our hearts”, and the launch of an integrated IT platform, Banner.

As he spoke of upcoming projects, Dr Smith flagged the opening of a small island sustainability research complex on October 25, and the institution’s flagship fundraiser, the President’s Golf and Spa Day on November 3.

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HUNT FOR MISSING MAN AN Eleuthera man has been reported missing by family members.

Police said Leroy Gray, 56, of Green Castle, Eleuthera was last seen walking in the settlement of Lower Bouge.

He is described as

being about 5’10” with a medium build and a brown complexion.

Anyone knowing his whereabouts is asked to contact the Rock Sound Police Station at 3342244 or the nearest police station.

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PAGE 4, Thursday, September 13, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

‘A gentleman to from page one was sitting in his vehicle with his daughter waiting for his son, who attends HO Nash Junior High School, when a gunman approached him and pointed a gun in his direction.

The man ordered him to get out of the car, then shot him.

The gunman pulled him out of the car, got into the vehicle and drove off. He eventually abandoned the vehicle in a corner off Farrington Road.

Before the suspect drove off, Inspector Blatch’s daughter got out of the car and ran for help, according to police.

Noting the area was crowded with parents picking up their children, ACP Fernander said: “We believe some persons may have seen exactly what happened and if they saw, we’re asking them to please come forward and assist in identifying this individual. He don’t need to be out a next hour. We are on a manhunt at this time. Everybody is out trying to find this individual and we will.”

ACP Fernander said police are looking for a dark man who “appeared to be very young, slim built” and between five feet and 5’6.

“It appeared to be an attempted armed robbery,” he said, “a crime of opportunity.

“As I always say the criminals are getting bolder and bolder every day. That is very bold.”

ACP Fernander called on the suspect to turn himself in.

“Go to a pastor, go to some family members, turn yourself in with your weapon or we will find you,” he said.

ACP Fernander said Insp Blatch was on duty at the time of the incident, but had “slipped out” to pick his children up from school.

This is the first time this year a police officer has been shot and killed. It marks the 69th murder of the year, according to The Tribune’s records.

INSPECTOR Carlis Blatch in a photograph circulating on social media yesterday.

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being,” he said. “He was a gentleman to the finger tips and he was admirably suited for the job he was in.

I worked with him for several years and it is a great tragedy and I’m very disturbed about this. He was there for the entire time I was there, the four years.

He was perfect for the job for that particular field, protocol and diplomatic protection. He was always in place and he always did the right thing at the right time. He had the right personality for it.”

A statement from the Office of the Governor General noted Inspector Blatch has been stationed at Government House for the past 14 years, serving with distinction as the officer in charge of protocol, then as aide-de-camp (ADC) to the governor general.

“His service at Government House was marked by his expert understanding of the procedures which attend the affairs at Government House, and as ADC to the governor

Photo: Letisha Henderson/BIS general. He always took great care to pass on his expertise to other staff, among whom he was highly regarded.

His interactions with the public also made him respected and admired,” the statement noted.

Official Opposition Leader Philip “Brave” Davis also spoke out about the killing, saying he and his colleagues are “simply devastated” by the officer’s death.

“We ask ourselves how much sorrow and needless death are we to bear,” he said. “One of our nation’s finest has been taken from us. A man who had come into his own and with the promise of a great future in front of him snuffed out for no good reason. The meanest of the act of murder in front of his child shows how low we have sunk.”

Obi Pindling, son of Dame Marguerite, called the killing “incredibly sad and senseless” in a Facebook post.

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POLICE investigate the scene where the stolen vehicle was found.

Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, September 13, 2018, PAGE 5

the fingertips’

POLICE investigate the scene where the stolen vehicle of a police officer and victim of shooting was found just off Farington Road.

Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff to grips with,” he wrote.

“To say he ‘served the GG well’ is such a gross understatement.

He treated her as if she were his own mother. He was truly a gem of an individual and will be terribly missed. May his soul rest in eternal peace and we pray that the good Lord will strengthen his family at this extremely difficult time.”

A friend of Inspector Blatch told The Tribune last night: “He was a great guy, really pleasant and a true family man. In his work, he was a true professional.

It’s a terrible shock for everybody.”

Insp Blatch served as an aide-de-camp for the past four years.

In view of his murder, Government House postponed the ceremonies of the award of honours scheduled for today. A new date will be set for these ceremonies shortly, and an official announcement will be made accordingly.

The Ministry of National Security last night confirmed that an island-wide manhunt was underway for the gunman.

Ministry officials said: “We are appealing to the public to come forward with any information they may have, no matter how small it may be, to help us in solving this horrific murder.

“These kinds of senseless killings remind us that we still have far to go in the fight against violent crime, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of Inspector Blatch, who are left to try to understand this tragic incident.

“The Ministry once INSPECTOR Carlis Blatch. again appeals to residents to call a police station with any information they might have or to contact Crimestoppers on 328-TIPS.” Stephen Greenslade, the deputy chairperson of the Democratic National Alliance, said last night: “I join with the Bahamian people in expressing my deep regret and sympathies upon learning of the shooting incident that took place on our streets here in the Capital, and the subsequent passing of aide-de-camp Inspector Carlis Blatch, who succumbed to injuries sustained during the said incident.

“On behalf of the Democratic National Alliance, our leaders, officers and members, I wish to extend sincere condolences to Inspector Blatch’s family and the Royal Bahamas Police Force family.

“Further condolences are extended to our Governor General, the staff at Government House where he last served and all his comrades. May his soul rest in peace.”

- SIR ARTHUR FOULKES

PAGE 6, Thursday, September 13, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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Osaka’s US Open win sparks cultural discussion YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Naomi Osaka’s victory in the US Open has added her to a growing list of athletes, Nobel Prize winners, and beauty pageant contestants who have raised the issue of what it means to be Japanese.

The daughter of a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, Osaka was born in Japan but raised in the United States.

But she is being lauded in Japan as the first from the country to win a Grand Slam singles tennis title, which has upstaged most questions about her mixed background.

Some children from mixed race families in Japan often get bullied and demeaned, called “hafu” — from the English word “half” — and are chided that they aren’t fully Japanese.

Japan has embraced Osaka, and she — despite barely speaking Japanese — talks fondly of her affection for her adopted country. But her victory also challenges public attitudes about identity in a homogeneous culture that is being pushed to change.

“It is hard to say for sure if the extremely narrow conception, unconsciously or consciously, held by many Japanese of being Japanese, is being loosened,” Naoko Hashimoto, who researches national identify at the University of Sussex in England, wrote in an email to Associated Press.

“In my opinion, it still appears that Japanese are generally defined as those who are born from a Japanese father and a Japanese mother, who speak perfect Japanese and ‘act like Japanese’.”

Athletes and celebrities seem to fall into a different category. Osaka has lots of company in this realm with an increasing number of sports stars claiming mixed backgrounds - such as Olympic gold medal winner in the hammer throw Koji Murofushi, son of a Romanian mother and Japanese father and raised in Japan.

Murofushi said he’s always felt Japanese.

“I know that I have a mixed heritage,” he said. “But I always feel Japanese.”

He added it’s “not something that really concerned me or anything”.

The visibility of mixed-race athletes in Japan is sure to increase as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics approach and the country hunts for competitors in sports where it has little history.

The reverse happened two years ago in the Rio de Janeiro Games, where Brazil found athletes with Japanese roots — more than two million Brazilians claim Japanese ancestry — to compete in non-Brazilian specialties.

One thing is clear, the 20-year-old Osaka is cashing in.

The US Open victory was worth $3.8m in prize money. And on Thursday, Osaka was introduced in Japan as a “brand ambassador” for the Japanese

car maker Nissan. It’s a three-year deal, though financial terms were not disclosed.

Osaka defeated Williams in Saturday’s chaotic final. Forbes magazine reports that Williams is the highest earning female athlete with income of $18.1m, almost all from endorsements and sponsorship deals. She’s topped the list for several years.

But Osaka’s mixed-race profile, her appeal in the huge Asian market, and her links to Japan’s world-wide brands should drive her long-term earning potential.

Osaka has charmed Japanese audiences with her grace and gentleness off the court, and her ferocity on it. She’s talked about her fondness for Japanese food — curried rice topped with a pork cutlet is a favorite.

She’s also been a spokeswoman for two years for the Japanese cup noodle brand Nissin, which is launching a new noodle cup to commemorate her victory.

Kazuyoshi Minowa, a spokesman for Windsor Corp, which operates tennis shops in Tokyo, said customers are asking to buy the same racket that Osaka uses. He said he met her two years ago when she visited a store.

“My impression was that she was very quiet, unlike her powerful image playing the game,” he told Japanese broadcaster NHK. Questions about race also surfaced in 2016 when Priyanka Yoshikawa was crowned Miss World Japan. Her mother is Japanese and her father in Indian and she was born in Tokyo.

This came a year after Ariana Miyamoto won the Miss Universe Japan title. She was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and African-American father.

Hashimoto, the researcher at the University of Sussex, pointed out that under Japanese law, Osaka will have to decide on her nationality before she turns 22.

She’s 20 now and cannot legally hold two passports.

Hashimoto referenced three Nobel Prize winners born in Japan who eventually took other nationalities. The writer Kazuo Ishiguro holds a British passport, and scientists Yoichiro Nanbu and Shuji Nakamura both now hold American passports.

She said the strict one-passport rule “could risk leading to brain drain of great talents out of Japan”.

“While Naomi Osaka’s victory should be celebrated on its own,” Hashimoto said. “Her case provides those Japanese with a narrow conception of Japanese-ness with an excellent opportunity to rethink what it means to be Japanese.”

By Stephen Wade, Associated Press

The tender process EDITOR, The Tribune.

SEEMINGLY trending in official circles - Tenders need not be held in a process of legitimacy and following long established Regulations of fairness.

We look at BP&L there is a serious case here and the Prime Minister has it totally wrong - PM it is not the board it is the process of the 80MW tender and that BP&L refused to comply with the Electricity Act 2015 to URCA the regulator of that utility.

As probably were many surprised by your Editorial last week on the Shell

America issue - sign immediately at no costs but the truth is, Editor, there are exceptionally serious allegations, which should immediately cause an enquiry - an enquiry possibly by the police.

We all suffered for 30 years with the mess of BEC and its inheritor BP&L - deliberate avoidance of switching fuel which would have saved us all millions probably enough to build two new state generation plants but the tangled web of insider ship won out.

Sorry, Mr Black, the tender published on October 16, 2017 - Tender:

978/17 requested bids for 80MW short term generation. No mention of 275 MW which the Shell America bid quoted for 16 plus small local business people bid for this how on earth could they have for a 275MW standby generation plant – clearly Mr Black you are not aware of what went down.

Prime Minister, stop doodling, put this to the Police Corruption unit and let what falls fall we are simply tired of this impotency and dithering.

H HUGGINS Nassau, September 11, 2018.

Cheap credit - culprit or bait?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

A WORLDWIDE, financial disaster occurred when investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, becoming one of the largest fatality in the 2008 financial crisis. It is the 10th anniversary of this financial crisis. I am asking is another one imminent?

Markets, despite their communal expertise, are apparently fated to repeat history as illogical enthusiasm is followed by an equally illogical despair.

Episodic bouts of turmoil are the inevitable result.

The last 40 years of global financial crisis verify the cyclical nature of the boom and bust cycle of the global economy and a general trend to disaster. About 40 years ago, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, borrowed money for development and infrastructure programmes using cheap foreign debt.

Interest rates on bond payments rose while Latin American currencies plummeted therefore they could not pay back their debt.

This economic crisis is emblematic of all global financial crisis.

The early 1980s recession was a severe global economic recession that affected much of the developed world in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The United States and Japan exited the recession relatively early, but high unemployment would continue to affect other OECD nations until at least 1985. Long-term effects of the recession contributed to the Latin American debt crisis, the US savings and loans crisis, and a general embracing of neoliberal economic policies throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Latin America debt crisis is similar to the 2008 crisis.

The structural adjustment measures, global, unregulated free markets, lack of protection for emerging economies, and debt all contributed to the global economic and financial

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net crisis in the late 1990s. It saw stock markets disrupted, economies collapse, unemployment and poverty increasing (and western nations and institutions made sure that the IMF “rescue” agreements would help get their money back, while structurally “adjusting” the affected nations).

This had an impact on everyone from Asia (1997) to Russia (1991), Latin America and Africa. The dot com bubble started in 1995 and burst in 2001. The high tech company bubble was fed by cheap money, easy capital, market over confidence and pure speculation - as investment capital dried up high tech companies crumbled and trillions of dollars evaporated.

Just as low interest rates led to the housing bubble, the Fed’s policy of raising rates from 2004 to 2006 eventually caused it to burst.

The cheap and abundance of credit caused by low interest rates caused individuals and institution to become heavily indebted. When interest rates rose they could no longer pay their debt and the financial system almost collapse, if it weren’t for quantitative easing (increase liquidity –-more money in the system) and unprecedented low interest rate- zero by the federal reserve and negative in Europe by the European Central Bank. This low interest rate caused individuals and institutions to barrow again. The increase of global debt, at an amazing $247 trillion (the Institute of International Finance, IIF) will be disastrous.

Since 2003, global debt has swollen. As a share of the world economy (gross domestic product), the increase went from 248 percent of GDP to 318 percent.

In the first quarter of 2018 alone, global debt rose by a huge $8 trillion. Fed officials at the July 31-August

1 policy meeting held rates steady, but their discussion left clear they are considering another rate hike soon.

The Fed has raised rates twice this year and expected to raise rates again this month. Capital Economics forecasts the federal funds rate will peak at 2.75% to 3% in mid-2019. The higher the Fed raises interest rates the stronger the US dollar gets.

Emerging markets have 63 trillion debt and most of it is denominated in US dollar. Their currency has weakened against the dollar.

This makes them unable to pay back their debt. The Argentine peso, Mexican Peso, Turkish Lira and the Iran Rial has devalued significantly against the US dollar. Turkey, Iran, South Africa, Argentina have high inflation and collapsing currency and more emerging economy will follow. This will spread globally because these countries owe US and European Banks and other countries.

When they can’t paid back their debt, it will caused contagion.

By 2020, the Federal Reserve will have to reduce the rate but by then another financial crisis will likely be imminent. Just as in 2008, they will stop raising the rate just before the crisis but the damage will have been done. This is because the US dollar is the world reserve Currency and most international trade is transacted in US dollars. In order to stabilise the global financial system debt must be dealt with. It must not be placed in different financial instruments and reclassified as traditional financial engineering to allow the system to continue only to transfer the wealth to those who are able to take advantage of an economic crisis.

During all these financial crises, some individuals got much richer while others got poorer.

BRIAN E PLUMMER Nassau, September 11, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, September 13, 2018, PAGE 7

Hospital operations cancelled again as temperature soars

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net NON-emergency operations at Princess Margaret Hospital have been cancelled again to allow urgent repairs to air-conditioning units in operating theatres.

In a statement last night, PMH said only emergency operations would be carried out until after the coming weekend.

The cancellation of operations came just hours after senior doctors threatened to withdraw services if temperatures in operating theatres at PMH climbed higher than 72 degrees.

Dr Locksley Munroe, president of the Consultant Physician Staff Association (CPSA), told The Tribune the beleaguered facility’s air-conditioning challenges posed a serious health risk to both patients and health care workers.

He said doctors plan to stage a demonstration outside the hospital on Friday after a doctor and a nurse fainted in separate

incidents due to the high temperatures.

Surgeries were postponed last week due to the nonfunctioning air-conditioning units but resumed earlier this week.

Yesterday, Dr Munroe said: “Based on the profession, if the temperature is greater than 72 degrees then we are not going to put ourselves, nurses or patients at risk.

“We had a patient undergoing a caesarean section, and the job of one person was fanning the patient because of the heat. When you think about the risk of infection, we the doctors and nurses are supposed to know better. We’re putting people at risk because of the heat, and also the risk of infection.

“It poses a huge risk,” he continued, “if you look all that protective garment you have on about three layers of clothes. You are so hot, it is not a joke, you have on a mask, hat, gown, your outside clothes, and your underclothes. With temperatures above 73 degrees, under those circumstances we are putting ourselves at

risk, and patients at risk for infection.”

A doctor fainted on September 1, and a nurse passed out on August 29 and had to be taken to the emergency room.

Yesterday, Dr Munroe said the temperature in

CHANGE TO UB ADMISSIONS POLICY THE University of The Bahamas is set to review its admissions policy to reduce dependence on the country’s tardy national examination results.

UB President Dr Rodney Smith said the timeline for those results often put high school graduates “down to the wire”, and he believes the institution loses out on prospective students.

Provost Dr Linda Davis said the university will use data gathered from its summer bridge programme.

“We are looking at other markers, other measures for success,” Dr Davis said.

Dr Smith said: “One of the problems we’ve been having for many, many years ties to the BGCSE for our admissions criteria, the BGCSE results don’t come out until the first or second week of August at the latest. Here’s the problem, students going

off to college or who are interested in going to college, and graduates of high schools in The Bahamas are also applying to colleges and universities abroad.

“The drop dead date to indicate that you are going to accept a seat or not is May 1 so we know for a fact there are many Bahamian students who would choose UB as their first choice, but if we put it down to the wire like this and they won’t find out until August and they are going to end up missing an opportunity if they don’t respond by May 1.

“We believe that we lost a lot of students that way.”

UB began a partnership with Bahamas Baptist Community College and found a group of students who lie on the cusp of eligibility, Dr Davis said. The Academic Enhancement Programme, modeled after the summer institute, was introduced this

fall with around 60 students.

Dr Davis said: “Students who have just fallen short, who are on the cusp and just need maybe a seven-week period accelerated to bring themselves up. The academic enhancement programme built after the summer institute introduced two years ago allows students access to the university system at various points in the year.

“As we track those students, what is their success rate, how are they performing, are the indicators that we are using for access those programmes as accurate as BGSCE, if so what does our admission policy need to look like? We have flexibility (presently) through existing structures, the BGCSE is one measure, summer bridge is another, SAT another, we already have multiple indicators that we use, we want to look at that holistically.”

MAN ACCUSED OF KNIFE MURDER

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net A 37-YEAR-OLD man was arraigned in a Magistrate’s Court yesterday in connection with the stabbing death of another man at a bar earlier this month.

Dino Pinto, of Yellow Elder Gardens, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt charged with one count of murder in connection with the September 8 incident.

It is alleged that on that date, Pinto murdered Jeremy Petti-Fere.

According to initial police reports, shortly after 1am on September 8, Petti-Fere and another man were at a bar on Tonique Williams

Darling Highway when they were approached by a man armed with a knife.

The men were stabbed about the body by the assailant, who fled into a nearby residential area after the attack, police said.

Paramedics were called to the scene to assist the victims.

Petti-Fere died at the scene, while the second man was taken to hospital.

Pinto was not required to enter a plea to the charge and was not eligible for bail.

The matter will be fasttracked to the Supreme Court by a voluntary bill of indictment, which will be served on October 31.

He has been remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in the interim.

Notice

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Bring the C.V. and the copy of passport on Sept. 15 between 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Located at Ancient Chinese Secret Ltd. Shirley Street, opposite Thompson trading.

557-1369 ( whatsapp only).

operating theatres can exceed 85 degrees as he condemned the horrible working conditions. While temperatures were normal on Tuesday, Dr Munroe said challenges with the air-conditioning system persisted yesterday.

This comes as the CPSA is planning to obtain a strike certificate after failing to finalise an industrial agreement with the PHA despite more than two years of negotiations.

The association filed a trade dispute with the

Department of Labour last week.

Last night, PMH said “management apologises for any inconvenience caused and assures the public that it continues to work to deliver the best in quality healthcare.”

PAGE 8, Thursday, September 13, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Without a goal you never know what you’re going to get

REMEMBER when you were little and everyone asked if you knew what you wanted to be when you grew up? You looked at them feigning respect and thinking what kind of idiot is this tall person in front of me? I’m six - my idea of the future is dinner! But as that six-year-old got older, the expectation that she would set goals became more ingrained. We grow up and long before there was such a thing as a bucket list, we were expected to set goals.

What we want to be. Who we want to be. Eventually where we want to be. Even how many children we want to have.

If we as individuals are expected to set goals, should not the country we’re part of set goals as well? When did we forget as a nation to plan where we want to be 20 years from now and beyond? We talk vision but I fear we wander, meander along the path, dealing with the day-to-day, taking care of the urgent, ignoring the plan that takes us through the few decades from now when we should emerge as a mature society.

That is what the National Development Plan was supposed to do, wasn’t it? On what shelf does it sit now?

What got me thinking about this was a remarkable story on MSNBC this week

by Rehema Ellis, the NBC and MSNBC education reporter. She travelled to Finland to see what it had

THEN Prime Minister Perry Christie at the launch, with much fanfare, of the National Development Plan in April 2016 - but where is the plan now?

By Diane Phillips

done to make it number one in education worldwide. Globally, Finland ranks in the top five in Science and Math. Dropping out of school is as rare as stockings that don’t run.

The national drop-out rate is two percent. The US drop-out rate - freshmen who begin high school but do not finish- is 25 percent.

The drop-out rate in The

Bahamas is 50 percent. Half of all high school students leave without completing.

The percentage of those who do complete and can pass a literacy exam or accurately and independently complete a job application is even lower.

Except for the weather, similarities between Finland and The Bahamas are striking. Like The

Bahamas, Finland with farming wasn’t working so a population of over five well anymore, it would remillion is still considered make itself as a tech giant. a small society. Like The That may sound easy.

Bahamas, it is not at the It was not. Just as Grand heart of a major continent, Bahama or anywhere else but on the periphery and its in The Bahamas that wants economy, during the dec- to position itself as a tech ades it was dependent upon hub must do, Finland had agriculture, was inexorably to prepare. There was the tied to outside forces and infrastructure, reliable and conditions. Just over 100 consistent power supply years ago, the country that and all the requisite incennow leads the world in edu- tives and provisos. But most cation was considered a importantly, what it needed developing nation. was people who were What did Finland do that trained to fill the jobs that made it the world leader would flow as a result of the in education, creating a makeover, the new Finland. system so far ahead of us And to that end, they made it leaves us sinking in its education the number one cold winter snow? It is very priority. simple really. Finland, as a Other matters had to country, as a people united take a temporary back seat. with a dream, set a goal. The school system became Farming, Finland’s its main ‘We talk vision but I fear winning economic quarterwe wander, meander engine, back, its was seri- along the path, dealing knight in with the day-to-day, ously shining on the taking care of the armour, its decline. royalty and urgent, ignoring the plan Although it genervast sec- that takes us through ated such tions of the few decades from respect terrain and loyalty now when we should were still emerge as a mature most citidedicated zens do not to agri- society. That is what the rememNational Development culture, ber a time producbefore Plan was supposed to tivity was do, wasn’t it? On what learning continually became shelf does it sit now?’ slipping. cooler And its than cool. education system, origi- Every classroom has three nally built to support that teachers, two to teach industry, was not serving the subjects, one to roam up new graduates equipped throughout and help a for a more modern world. It student or students who was a country in economic might be struggling with a struggle and it decided to problem. find a new future.

Finland did what it did If countries could snap and it became a tech hub their fingers and say “This because it set a goal and is what we are going to marched toward it. We set do”, Finland’s finger snap short-term goals and concould have been heard by stantly move the goalposts. the hearing-impaired round Imagine a football team on the globe. It was so pro- the field without goalposts. nounced it outperformed They’d just be well-built the unmistakable Baha- men in tight pants running mian wrist-snap-snap. That around throwing and kicklittle country up top of the ing and passing and not world near Norway and sure who’s winning. (Come Russia and other places - to think of it, that’s not an where Bahamians would entirely offensive picture.) borrow long johns on a A game without goalposts summer’s day - decided if is like a grocery shopping

without a list. You never know what you are going to get. When I go to the store with a list, unless the store is out of something, chances are I am going to return with pretty much what I intended to return with.

Leave the list at home and I’m likely to spend twice as much and return with two thirds of what I need.

Google goals’ – why not, we google everything else – and all the words about driver and engine and fuel come up. But my favourite was from the Code of Living, whatever that is, that defines goals as the oxygen to our dreams. The oxygen to our dreams. That’s a pretty good line, not as good as the best line of the week which came from the Jodi Picoult novel Songs of the Humpback Whales. The character defined the impossible (trying to figure out how his wife thinks) as “like putting a leash on a butterfly and taking it for a walk”.

We are not talking about walking a butterfly. We are simply talking about the realm of possibility when a group or a team or a nation establishes a dream, agrees a goal and goes about achieving it, pouring strategy and resources into making it come true.

Had we agreed that our historic buildings were worth saving, we would not have witnessed the tragic collapse this week of the original Pan Am Headquarters on East Bay Street just west of the bridge. Had we valued our historic structures, we would not have allowed the Water Tower with its amazing views of every vista of the island, to deteriorate to such a point that it has been closed for more than a decade.

Had we cared more for our publicly-owned larger buildings, we would not be planning imploding or demolishing four of them.

Had we taken better care of equipment and supplies at PMH, the Minister of Health would not be announcing cancellations of surgery due to lack of air conditioning.

Most importantly, had we made education a national priority we might actually be ready to be the tech hub we want to be. Or we could create a medical education campus and prepare for what The Bahamas is truly suited to be in addition to a sports tourism haven – the capital of offshore medicine close to the US and basking in the sun. Ideal for further stem cell research and application, senior assisted living, surgical care, extended hospital stays, oncology treatment, transplants. The possibilities are endless, especially if the founders of such a broad facility partnered with key providers and created the ultimate public-private partnership for health care.

A whole new way to look at The Bahamas, but then it takes a goal. Without it, you never know what you are going to get.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, September 13, 2018, PAGE 9

Marital rape bill delayed until next year, says AG

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net ANY changes to the country’s Sexual Offences Act in consideration of calls to criminalise marital rape are off the table until next year as the government prioritises more pressing legislative matters, Attorney General Carl Bethel told The Tribune yesterday.

Right now, he said, the financial well being of the country trumps all.

He explained there are several financial bills that must be passed by December.

Given this timeline, when the House of Assembly returns from its summer break next Wednesday, the government is set to embark upon an aggressive legislative agenda, Mr Bethel said.

“We have a lot of financial, immigration and crime bills to get through and very little time to get all passed as is. The financial bills alone are about five or six,” he said when asked if it was likely an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act would come this year.

“December 2018 is the hard deadline for the European Union BEPS project.

We still have four bills to pass (and) we still have FATF (Financial Action Task Force) Bills to pass.

“The agenda will be intense and packed.”

The government is still consulting over marital rape.

This issue was again reignited last December after the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women,

CARL BETHEL QC, Attorney General.

Her comments sparked Dubravka Šimonović, said public marital rape is the most widespread pressing gender-based issue discourse.

Amid discussions the facing the Bahamas.

She made the remarks Bahamas Christian Council during her inaugural coun- released its proposal for a companion bill to the Sexual try visit to the Bahamas.

She further stressed the Offences and Domestic legality of martial rape is Violence Act that seeks “a sign that something is to establish another advideeply wrong,” adding that sory council to set rules for the issue could easily be Bahamian marriages, legisresolved through legislative late counselling and effect changes. tax incentives for married

couples who live together.

The BCC at the time withheld its position on whether it would support proposed amendments, which would criminalise marital rape, until after the final bill is presented by the government.

However, legal counsel Michael Allen explained there has been a general consensus from the body on the need for a legislative

Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff approach to abuses that can general in these matters be occur within a marriage. dropped, with an exception Mr Allen said the coun- for cases involving people cil’s concerns centre on under the age of 21. proving the abuse, and the BCC President Bishop strength and range of pen- Delton Fernander has said alties; he added the council the council believes its has suggested the sentenc- companion bill, named the ing tribunal is afforded Sanctity of Marriage Bill the full range of options 2018, will strengthen “Godfrom counselling to life ordained” marriages and imprisonment. offer corrective incentives It was also suggested the that could prevent the inciintervention of the attorney dence of abuse.

CUSTOMERS TO BE ABLE TO COMPARE BANKS BAHAMAS Clearing Banks Association Chairman Gowon Bowe yesterday said within the next month or two, consumers should have a clearer indication of various banking fees and be able to compare across the board.

He further explained why certain banks either charged high fees to cash cheques from noncustomers or completely stepped away from the practice.

Mr Bowe told The Tribune that with instances of fraud on the rise, banks found they were opened to increased liability.

In an interview, he sought to justify through this one example of why some banks decided to raise certain fees, adding they were also grappling with declining margins in the lending business.

Banks, he said, have agreed to embark on an educational campaign, telling this newspaper this should be the focus moving forward and not

the decision of some institutions to lower their fees.

Nonetheless, he said it was up to the consumer to make their own decisions while banks had to determine what was best for their clients.

“With the cheque cashing you know . . . several years ago persons’ complaint was that they didn’t deposit cheques into their bank accounts because there was always a five-day working day or seven day working hold,” Mr Bowe said.

“But with the Bahamas automated clearing house, if you deposit a cheque into your bank today within 48 hours or less you should have your account credited.

“So for persons who still want to go through the process of manually cashing cheques then they have to decide if they are willing to bear the fees because certainly in the newspaper over the last 12 months the amount of cheque frauds that have been reported should be a clear indication that ultimately banks would have to be more vigilant

about interacting with persons that are not customers of the bank because there is no recourse for a fraudulent cheque.”

This comes as Labour Minister Dion Foulkes announced Tuesday that following three meetings, some institutions already began to lower administrative fees.

He said the Central Bank of The Bahamas and the

Clearing Banks Association will also list fees consumers are likely to pay, similar to the published gas tracker, so consumers are able to regularly compare fees across local banks.

The changes are in response to consumer concerns about surmounting banking fees and come after three meetings between various representatives, he said.

SENATOR DION FOULKES, Minister of Labour, who announced on Tuesday a reduction in administration fees by banks.

PAGE 10, Thursday, September 13, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

THIS enhanced satellite image made available by NOAA shows Hurricane Florence off the eastern coast of the United States yesterday at 5:52pm.

Photo: NOAA via AP

Bahamian islands ready for Hurricane Florence effects

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net OFFICIALS in North Eleuthera, Cat Island and Abaco are on high alert over Hurricane Florence.

In Eleuthera, officials are monitoring Florence to determine if there will be a need to close the Glass Window Bridge.

National Emergency Management Agency director Captain Stephen Russell said Tuesday that as the hurricane barrels toward the United States of America, Eleuthera, Abaco and Cat Island could experience storm surges with sea

swells reaching as high as 20 feet.

Ivan Ferguson, the island administrator for North Eleuthera, noted there are no settlements along the coastline that could be most affected by this, saying officials are focused on the bridge and whether it could remain operational. Earlier this year an American man was killed when he was swept off the bridge. Eleven other people were also affected.

Mr Ferguson said: “Residents are keeping a keen eye on the storm but I’m also of the feeling that they believe it is not going to have any direct impact on them. They

have been asking questions about the impact it will have on the bridge. I’ve visited the bridge at about 6am this morning (Wednesday) and I was out there late (Tuesday) and there is light wind but no turbulence or swells so far. North Eleuthera’s Disaster Preparedness Committee is in preparation mode. In any event of a change of trajectory for the storm, we are prepared to deal with the situation but certainly most questions relate right now to crossing the bridge and the safety of doing so.”

Mr Ferguson noted that unlike earlier this year, traffic at the bridge during this

season is typically low.

“There is very little traffic across the bridge because most of the resorts and tourist establishments are closed in Harbour Island where the bulk of the employment is,” he said.

“We are monitoring it.

If we feel it is unsafe for crossing, we will inform the media and we have chat groups that we will disseminate that information to.”

Officials use chains to cordon off the bridge to prevent people from crossing.

“We use chains at both entrances to the bridge and we’re assisted by the police in enforcing the closure of

the bridge,” Mr Ferguson said. “Some persons have a tendency to circumvent the chains and manage to cross over. We have no control over that.”

Teresa Bootle, the island administrator in Abaco, told The Tribune no evacuations are planned for residents near the coastline of that island.

“Our disaster group remains vigilant,” she said.

Neil Campbell, the island administrator for Cat Island, noted their island’s roads run near the coastline as does a school, prompting concern from teachers.

“We think we are ready,”

he said.

“Between yesterday and today I along with the ministry of works personnel we checked the drains on the island and the previous day we had a council meeting and discussed our state of readiness with equipment and servicing them,” he said. “We sent out advisory through WhatsApp and police assisted us in getting advisory out to mariners and beachgoers. We did our tsunami drills on the island three or four months ago. We say ‘go’ and people know what places to go to.

We’re hoping the hurricane doesn’t significantly affect us.”

CRUISE SHIPS DETOUR TO BAHAMAS DURING STORM

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net IN addition to large sea swells, Hurricane Florence is set to have another impact on the Bahamas in the form of an uptick in cruise visitors, due to major cruise lines redirecting their routes out of the storm’s path.

Cruise companies such as Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Lines have all had to change their itineraries due to the powerful Category Four storm which is expected to

make landfall in the Carolinas today.

Consequently, thousands of passengers have been rerouted to the Bahamas from Bermuda.

Norwegian’s “Norwegian Escape” left New York on September 9 and was initially scheduled to visit Bermuda’s King Wharf, Newsweek reported. Now the 4,000 people aboard the ship are on their way to Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay instead.

Royal Caribbean’s “Grandeur of the Seas”, a 2,446-passenger ship, has also changed its itinerary

from Bermuda to the Bahamas. That ship left Baltimore on September 8.

Carnival’s 2,124 passenger “Carnival Pride” left from Baltimore as well and has had to change its destination from Bermuda to the Bahamas.

According to international reports, Oceania Cruises’ 684-passenger “Sirena” will also stop at Nassau on Saturday as it makes its way to Miami from Europe.

The Bahamas is only expected to be indirectly affected by Hurricane

Florence, which will generate large sea swells in the country, particularly in Abaco, Eleuthera, and Cat Island.

Yesterday Chief Meteorologist Basil Dean said sea swells could be as high as 18-20 feet, warning beachgoers and mariners to stay out of the waters until conditions begin to subside tomorrow.

He also noted the Glass Window Bridge in Eleuthera will “certainly be impacted,” and asked residents and motorists to cease using the bridge “until conditions subside.”

THE TRIBUNE

November date for Major’s drug trial

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net DWIGHT Major’s upcoming drug trial will be heard before Deputy Chief Magistrate Subsola Swain starting November 8.

The decision was made yesterday by Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt, who had the matter submitted to her court for reassignment last week.

Ian Cargill, Major’s attorney, in an application early last month, requested that Magistrate Samuel McKinney recuse himself from the case on the grounds that the accused’s son, Ravon Major, had been involved in a somewhat contentious

relationship with a relative of the judge.

Mr Cargill told the court he was made aware of the relationship only after the matter had commenced and, following consultation with his client, determined it would be best to have the case transferred away from Magistrate McKinney’s court.

In presenting his decision last week, Magistrate McKinney said the court must act in a manner in which its justice could not be questioned or viewed with a level of doubt. He further indicated that he, in the days between the request for recusal and his decision, became aware of some connection between the accused’s son and one of his relatives.

Meanwhile, before reassigning the case yesterday, Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt expressed a level of concern over Magistrate McKinney’s decision, asserting she was of the view that the decision for recusal was “not grounded in law”.

In a brief back and forth with Major’s attorney, Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt said she remains of the view that Magistrate McKinney “ought not have recused himself” given the particulars of the request for recusal.

She said she had followed the matter by the coverage in local dailies, and based on what she has read, she found no reason for the recusal.

Major, 50, is on trial for

STUDENTS at Doctors Hospital for the four-month course.

SELECTED STUDENTS BEGIN HOSPITAL EMT COURSE TWENTY promising Bahamians have embarked on a four-month course to become trained and certified emergency medical technicians and potentially land a guaranteed full-time job at Doctors Hospital.

The group of 15 women and five men were chosen following a selection process from 782 applicants.

“The response to this unique opportunity being offered by Doctors Hospital exceeded our wildest expectations,” said vice president of human resources Paul Haven, “it told us that people are out there looking for opportunities that are not always readily available. Some of the comments we saw over and over as we went through the applications was ‘I’ve been looking for an opportunity like this, but I haven’t found it,’ or ‘I always wanted to do this, but couldn’t afford the training.’”

Qualified EMTs are scarce in The Bahamas, so Doctors Hospital decided there was value in designing a programme. In addition to covering costs of training and certification, Doctors Hospital is providing students with materials, subsidised meals and a monthly stipend.

According to Mr Haven, an EMT programme would normally cost a student $8,000-$10,000 and in the United States it would run $10,000-$15,000 plus travel and living expenses.

The Doctors Hospital programme aims to ensure that participants receive other certifications, including basic life support, paediatric advanced life, acute cardiac life support and ECG training.

At the end of the programme, students will sit the internationally accredited National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians examination.

Doctors Hospital initially pledged to provide 15 spots in the course with guaranteed employment for the top ten. However, the applicant pool was so impressive and the need so great, the decision was made to increase the number of placements to 20. Management has not yet decided whether the number of guaranteed jobs at the hospital also will be increased.

“We have a need based on our growing business and also we recognise that there are more opportunities within Doctors Hospital for people to take

IN the classroom for the course. on other responsibilities and do some other things as well,” he said, explaining that the EMTs at Doctors Hospital also work with the hyperbaric oxygen therapy programme.

Although Doctors Hospital specified that the academic requirement was simply a high school diploma and expected that the applicants would be primarily recent graduates, the nearly 800-strong pool included applicants with bachelor’s degrees in the sciences, some with education and experience in other healthcare-related fields and they ranged from age 17 and just starting out to people in their early 50s looking to finally make good on a life-long dream.

“I can feel and see the excitement of starting something new,” assistant vice-president of patient care Bridgette Sherman said following the two-day orientation. “I can see and feel the excitement that they were chosen because I keep hearing them say ‘over 700 people applied and you chose me’. I really believe that will help them do their best in this class.

Some have thanked me for the opportunity.”

The programme is being taught by a number of the medical practitioners the newly minted EMTs will eventually work alongside once they are in the field. They will also work with Doctors Hospital’s exercise physiologists and health coach to ensure that they are physically prepared for the demands of the course and their new career.

In addition to the 20 students in the EMT course, Doctors Hospital reached out to other applicants to offer other employment opportunities. According to Mr Haven, four people have already been offered other jobs even though they weren’t offered a spot in the EMT programme and there were a handful of nurses who applied who the hospital has already engaged to

join the hospital’s team.

“They were all interested,” he said, “for them, the EMT programme was one way, but their main emphasis was that they wanted to get into the healthcare industry. They love the fact that they can give back and care for others and that was their main objective in applying and those are the people we want on our team.”

Doctors Hospital management plans to offer the EMT programme annually and intends to move towards online learning so that adults are able to take advantage of the opportunity without giving up their current employment.

one count each of conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply and possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

According to police, shortly before 4am on Wednesday, April 4, Drug Enforcement Unit officers assisted by Mobile Division officers, while at Tonique Williams-Darling Highway and Baillou Hill Road, stopped and searched a Nissan March with two male occupants and discovered 283 pounds of marijuana. The two men were taken into custody.

Both men pleaded not guilty.

Major will now stand trial with his co-accused.

Both men will appear in court on November 8.

Thursday, September 13, 2018, PAGE 11

DWIGHT Major at a previous court appearance.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

PAGE 12, Thursday, September 13, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

$30,000 in grants being handed out by Minister of Social Services Frankie Campbell.

$30,000 in grants handed out by social services

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VARIOUS associations, non-governmental organisations and members of civil society were given over $30,000 in grants from the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development recently.

Minister of Social Services Frankie Campbell last week presented a series of cheques to support initiatives that help fulfil his ministry’s mandate for social development, social services, public assistance, senior citizens and child protection, rehabilitative services and community development. He wanted to learn from and be updated by his own staff, various facets of his ministry, as well as NGOs and civil society in order to lead the charge and fulfil the mandate of his portfolio.

“Within two months of reviewing my portfolio as minister of social services and urban development, I celebrate the work of

almost 200 NGOs in the Bahamas and particularly wish to highlight the existing partnerships of NGOs with Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development,” he said.

“It is our earnest intent to work with your executive team to establish more tangible mechanisms to strengthen our united efforts for the protection and improvement of the lives of Bahamians. At the national level, governments work with civil society organisations to develop and implement national action plans that result in holistic communities. Governments cannot alone bring about change at the micro level, and with your help, partnership, and dialogue, we can meet the needs of citizens within the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”

The civil society body, led by president Sean Ingraham and vice president Dr

Anthony Hamilton, aims to execute mandates with relevance to the purposes of the United Nations.

Several NGOs planning events for the United Nations international day of the girl child (October 11) and National Women’s Month (November) were given grants to support their initiatives. They include the Pilot Club; GirlCon (of Grand Bahama); Save Our Daughters 242; FOAM and the Agape Emergency Shelter for battered women; Girl Guides (which received additional funding for Family Island projects); Governor General Youth Awards; and the Zonta Clubs, which launches “16 Days of Activism” - a global UN initiative each year.

“Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years, but also as they mature into women,”

said Mr Campbell, a father of three daughters.

“If effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, social, cultural, political and private sector leaders.”

Mr Campbell also sat with various departments in his ministry including the Departments of Social Services, Rehabilitative Services and the Department of Gender and Family Affairs.

He met with several groups representing the disabled community, giving them his commitment to working with them to meet pressing needs. His week ended with a half-day meeting with the entire staff of the Urban Renewal Commission, including its director, Elaine Williams and permanent secretary David Cates.

US MAN HELD AFTER COCAINE FIND AN American man was arrested after police and American officials found $30,000 worth of suspected cocaine at the Lynden

Pindling International Airport on Tuesday.

Shortly after 1pm, Drug Enforcement Unit officers, assisted by K-9 Unit officers and US Border Control officers, acting on information, proceeded to the US departure lounge and conducted a search of a flight that was prepared for departure and recovered a quantity of suspected cocaine. All passengers were made to disembark and a further check of the aircraft was made.

Police then checked a male restroom in the departure lounge and recovered suspected cocaine. The drugs weighed 4.6lbs and have a street value of $30,000, police said.

Police also arrested five

men after guns and ammunition were seized on Tuesday.

Shortly after 2pm, DEU officers conducted a search of a home on Captain Road, Coral Harbour and recovered 85 rounds of .45 ammunition, 100 rounds of .40 ammunition and 100 rounds of 9 millimetre ammunition. Five men were taken into custody and are expected to be charged later this week.

Shortly after 11pm Tuesday, Anti-Gang and Firearms Unit officers searched a home and property at Father Calnan Road off Market Street, and recovered an AK-47 assault rifle and a quantity of .762 ammunition. Four men and a woman were arrested in connection with

this incident.

An hour earlier on Grand Bahama officers on patrol in the area of Coral Road and Royal Palm Way spotted a man on a motorbike acting suspiciously. On seeing the officers the biker fled throwing a package into nearby bushes. Officers gave chase but the man made good his escape.

Returning to the scene the two officers later recovered two handguns and 13 round of .9mm ammunition.

Tuesday also saw a man rob a convenience store at the junction of Palm Tree Avenue and Market Street.

The robber held employees at bay before escaping with a quantity of cash.

Investigations are continuing.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, September 13, 2018, PAGE 13

ISLAND Outsource/Itelbpo has expanded its call centre facility in Freeport.

25 new jobs - and 75 more to come at call centre

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ISLAND Outsource/ Itelbpo has expanded its call centre facility in Freeport which will create an additional 100 new jobs.

Due to significant growth and success over its past six years in operation, the company has now moved into the Sir Albert Miller Building in downtown Freeport.

Since its expansion, some 25 new employees were hired bringing the company’s total employment to 130.

Yoni Epstein, founder and executive chairman of Itelbpo Smart Solutions, said the company will hire another 75 Bahamians by the end of the year.

The company operates call centres in Jamaica, The Bahamas, Tampa, Florida and Mexico. The call centre opened in Freeport in 2013, with 65 workers.

“We have had a blessed six years in operation as an organisation,” Mr Epstein said. “We started back in 2012 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, with 12 employees. And over the last six years we have grown to just over 1,700 employees across all of our operations.”

In addition to the call centres, Mr Epstein said they also have team members working from their homes in the US from California to Florida, mostly in southern states.

He revealed Itel BPO has recently embarked on a new campaign with clients in Texas which has required the hiring of additional workers in Freeport.

“We have already hired the first 25 people, and we have another 75 persons to go with that, and other campaigns we are launching.

“By the end of this year, we should have close to 200 people working for us here in Grand Bahama. It has been a success,” said Mr Epstein.

He commended the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the government for their support from the beginning.

“We had great assistance and assurance from the government from day one ensuring we will be successful in Freeport,” he said.

“When we came to Freeport in 2013, it was a bit of an exploration for us. I knew what the Bahamas had to offer. I knew to be close to the USA, closer than Jamaica, some 55 miles from here to West Palm Beach was a great asset for growing our company,” he said.

Initially, Itel bpo was located in the Teachers and Salaried Workers Union building. After some two years, they needed more office space to accommodate their growing business.

“I went to Ian Rolle (president of GBPA) and Derek Newbold (senior manager at GBPA) and said we need more space,” Mr Epstein recalled.

The GBPA had recently purchased the Sir Albert Miller Building, and Mr Epstein negotiated and cut a deal with them. Itel gutted and completely renovated the building, and relocated to their new premises in April.

Minister of State for

YONI EPSTEIN, founder and executive chairman of Itelbpo Smart Solutions, left, with Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson.

Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson said the expansion by Itel bpo would bring not only additional employment but hundreds of thousands of dollars directly into the economy of Grand Bahama.

“Itel currently is about to double its workforce, and we are happy they will bring new jobs to Grand Bahama.

Today continues to signal to investors who are here and afar that Grand Bahama is indeed a good place to invest,” he said.

He noted that Itel has joined other companies who have started companies or expanded their business in Grand Bahama.

“This is another good day in Grand Bahama. We are having more and more good days in Grand Bahama. I am very optimistic about the future for us here in Grand Bahama,” he said.

“We are pleased with the expansion plans and also the phased employment of an additional 100 persons in GB which has already started with first 25 that have already been hired.”

He said Itel is a valued partner and stakeholder in the Grand Bahama economy.

“They have been a pioneer, a leader in the technology industry in Grand Bahama even before this government stated its vision to make Grand Bahama a tech hub. They really were pioneers along with the GBPA,” Mr Turnquest said.

Ian Rolle, president of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, said Island Outsource Itel bpo was the first stand-alone call centre in Grand Bahama and the Bahamas.

“We congratulate them on year-on-year growth and the recent expansion of their facility here at the Sir Albert Miller Building,” he said. “Today is a testament of partnerships to achieve a common goal which benefits all parties.”

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PAGE 14, Thursday, September 13, 2018

POPE CALLS SUMMIT ON SEX ABUSE VATICAN CITY Associated Press

POPE Francis summoned the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences on Wednesday to a summit on preventing clergy sex abuse and protecting children, responding to the greatest crisis of his papacy.

Francis’ key cardinal advisers announced plans for the summit early next year the day before the pope meets with US church leaders embroiled in their own crisis from accusations in the Catholic Church’s decades-long sex abuse scandal.

The meeting, scheduled for February, would assemble more than 100 churchmen to represent every bishops’ conference.

Its convening signals awareness at the highest levels of the Catholic Church that clergy sex abuse is a global problem.

‘60 MINUTES’ CHIEF FIRED NEW YORK Associated Press

CBS News on Wednesday fired “60 Minutes” top executive Jeff Fager, who has been under investigation following reports that he groped women at parties and tolerated an abusive workplace.

The network news president, David Rhodes, said Fager’s firing was “not directly related” to the allegations against him, but came because he violated company policy. Fager said it was because of a text message he sent to a CBS News reporter who was covering the story about him.

“My language was harsh and, despite the fact that journalists receive harsh demands for fairness all the time, CBS did not like it,” Fager said.

US coast braces itself for Florence to strike MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina Associated Press

HURRICANE Florence put a corridor of more than ten million people in the crosshairs yesterday as the monster storm closed in on the Carolinas, uncertainty over its projected path spreading worry across a widening swath of the south-east.

Faced with new forecasts that showed a more southerly threat, Georgia’s governor joined his counterparts in Virginia and North and South Carolina in declaring a state of emergency, and some residents who had thought they were safely out of range boarded up their homes.

The National Hurricane Center’s best guess was that Florence would blow ashore as early as Friday afternoon around the North CarolinaSouth Carolina line, then push its rainy way westward with a potential for catastrophic inland flooding.

Florence’s winds in the afternoon were down to

120mph (195kph) from a high of 140mph (225kph), and the Category 4 storm fell to a Category 3, with a further slow weakening expected as the storm nears the coast.

But authorities warned it will still be an extremely dangerous hurricane.

“Do you want to get hit with a train or do you want to get hit with a cement truck?” said Jeff Byard, an administrator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Tropical storm-force winds extended 195 miles (315km) from Florence’s center, and hurricane-force winds reached out 70 miles (110km).

The National Weather Service said 5.25 million people live in areas under hurricane warnings or watches, and 4.9 million live in places covered by tropical storm warnings or watches.

At the White House, President Donald Trump both touted the government’s readiness and urged people to get out of the way of Florence.

THE TRIBUNE

SAND bags surround homes on North Topsail Beach, North Carolina, yesterday.

Photo: Chuck Burton/AP “Don’t play games with it. It’s a big one,” he said.

As of 5pm, the storm was centered 385 miles (615 kilometers) south-east of Wilmington, North Carolina, moving north-west at 16mph (26kph). The hurricane centre said Florence

will approach the coast on Friday and linger for a while before rolling ashore.

As of Tuesday, more than 1.7 million people in the Carolinas and Virginia were warned to clear out. Airlines had canceled nearly 1,000 flights and

counting. Home Depot and Lowe’s activated emergency response centers to get generators, trash bags and bottled water to stores before and after the storm.

The two hardware chains said they sent in a total of around 1,100 trucks.

PUERTO RICANS UNIMPRESSED BY TRUMP’S CLAIMS SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Associated Press

PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s assertion that the federal government’s response to Hurricane Maria was “an incredible, unsung success” fell flat in Puerto Rico, where islanders are still struggling to recover from the devastating storm a year later.

“I was indignant,” said Gloria Rosado, a 62-yearold college professor who watched the president’s news conference on TV late on Tuesday from San Juan and was still fuming the

next day. “The image of my dead husband immediately came to my mind ... as well as all the lives that were lost.”

Rosado’s husband, who was hospitalised for respiratory and renal complications and ultimately suffered a heart attack, was one of the estimated 2,975 people who died in the Category 4 storm’s aftermath when medical resources were strained beyond the breaking point.

For many, Trump’s boast about “one of the best jobs that’s ever been done” was hard to square with their

daily reality: Blackouts remain common; nearly 60,000 homes are covered by only a makeshift roof not capable of withstanding a Category 1 hurricane; and 13 percent of municipalities lack stable phone or internet service.

“Federal response according to Trump in Puerto Rico a success?” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said in one of a series of tweets. “If he thinks the death of 3,000 people (is) a success God help us all.”

That reignited a longstanding feud between the mayor and Trump, who fired back calling her “totally incompetent” and saying the US government “did an unappreciated great job in Puerto Rico”.

A July report by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, noted several shortcomings in its response, including

that it underestimated how much food and water would be needed after the storm and that not enough Spanish-speaking aid workers were deployed to the island.

At the same time, the agency also faced challenges that were arguably beyond its control such as the sheer force of the monster storm and the logistical difficulties of reaching the Caribbean island over a thousand miles (1,600km) away from the mainland.

And many residents say local officials share much of the blame. Puerto Rico’s government has acknowledged that its emergency plans were designed for a Category 1 hurricane, as well as failures to follow those plans and communications breakdowns.

Ramon Ruiz, a 56-yearold business owner whose father died from heart problems on Thanksgiving

after riding out the hurricane alone at home, pressed up against the door to keep it from caving in, is among those who say both local and federal authorities were slow to act.

“If it wasn’t for the churches and private organisations, we truly would not have received help from anyone,” Ruiz said. “They are treating us like second-class citizens. ...

If we were another state, the response would have been much faster.”

In Maria’s aftermath, according to FEMA data analysed by the AP, approvals for individual assistance checks in Puerto Rico were slower compared with what happened with large storms last year. From Sept 30 to Oct 7, not one of those checks was approved. On Oct 8 the approvals began rolling again, but with a large spike suggesting a backlog.

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, September 13, 2018, PAGE 15

IN A FIELD OF HEROES, THE PRESIDENT ON HIS BEST BEHAVIOUR

By Our Special Correspondent in Shanksville

SHANKSVILLE, Pennsylvania is typical of tens of thousands of smaller, shrinking communities in what coastal Americans sometimes refer to as “flyover country”. The term, which is sometimes meant disparagingly, signifies the great swath of Middle America stretching from the major cities of the east coast to California.

It’s more pleasant and much quicker, the Coastals reason, to fly over this expanse of their country than to drive across it. If you live in New York or San Francisco, it is also easy to overlook the great middle of the country.

Flyover country elected Donald Trump. It has given and continues to give the Republican Party their congressional majorities.

It is populated by many of those whom Hillary Clinton referred to as the “Deplorables” in one of the most glaring gaffes in her curiously inattentive 2016 presidential campaign.

Many observers still feel the prestigious national public opinion polls understate the strength and commitment of flyover country.

Tuesday marked the 17th anniversary of the deadly, transformational attacks on the United States by the clever, malevolent and wealthy Osama bin Laden and his zealous associates in Al Qaeda. While Tuesday, September 11, 2001, dawned bright and fair, Tuesday, September 11, 2018, was gloomy, wet and overcast in New York City and Washington, DC. The weather was also grey and dismal with a light drizzle falling as crowds of enthusiastic supporters, security personnel and news media crowded into the site of the National Park Service’s Flight 93 Memorial, where 40 passengers and crew heroically fought their hostages on United Flight 93 destined

PRESIDENT Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump on Tuesday in Shanksville, Pa. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP without the accent. Make for San Francisco from Newark. The one Lebanese America Great Again shirts and three Saudi hijackers and hats were very much in intended to take over the evidence. Trump’s remarks plane and eventually to crash elicited cheers from the into Washington’s national crowd of onlookers and surmall. The likely target was to viving family members.

Second, Trump delivered be the nation’s capitol, at the well-written remarks that east end of the mall.

Instead, after a struggle paid appropriate homage to confirmed by cell phone the heroic 40. And he stuck conversations with loved to the lines as written, rotatones, the passengers and ing his head left and right as crew forced the hijackers he read word for word off to crash the plane 20 min- two teleprompters flanking utes from Washington, in a the podium. There was none forested Pennsylvania back- of the spontaneity or boastwater that had previously fulness that has excited his been the site of a strip mine. crowds and frequently led to All aboard perished. The subsequent trouble for the area has become a national man who loves to do and say monument, still remote but whatever he pleases.

But third, Trump delivavailable to all who make an effort to witness the ered his remarks in a notably courage of the 40. Each flat and muted monotone. year on September 11, dig- It seemed he was heeding nitaries come to offer their advice to stop his disrespect of American heroes. Of thanks and remembrances.

On Tuesday, Trump course, the 40 are no longer headlined a group of such around and proving to be opponents dignitaries. The question in bothersome many minds was whether as McCain had become. he could avoid defiling the Trump’s only flash of anihallowed ground in Shanks- mation came with a pointed ville with partisan and finger or fist pump as he self-interested bombast. It declared America would was a fair question to ask never submit to tyranny.

Perhaps Trump’s greatest of someone who had most recently denigrated the oratorical gifts - and there flawed but genuinely heroic are undeniably many - come when he casts himself in the Senator John McCain.

Several aspects of role of self-aggrandising Trump’s visit to the Flight demagogue. It appeared to 93 Memorial were note- several of those in attendworthy. First, throngs of ance not already infatuated supporters came from sev- with this president that he eral states to show him their really cannot figure out how support. Trump yard signs to simply celebrate the acts still proliferate in isolated and achievements of others.

It is all about Donald central Pennsylvania, often referred to as Alabama Trump, all the time.