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VOLUME:115 No.205, SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2018

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Minnis declares ‘War on Crime’ PM warns nation must defend itself or be ‘destroyed’

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday reiterated his plea for the country to unite against criminality as he underscored the psychological toll murders wrought on the nation.

Dr Minnis said that the country would be destroyed by the traumatic impact of violent crime unless its citizens and residents collectively waged war on criminality and dishonesty in every instance.

He spoke as police announced the arraignment of a 48-year-old man in connection with the death of police Inspector Carlis

Blatch, at Magistrate’s Court today.

Dr Minnis told The Tribune all law enforcement agencies have been put on full alert.

“The entire Bahamas is needed to declare war on criminality and dishonesty,” he said, “if we want to save this nation.

Crime and criminality is not just against one or two individuals, it is against a nation, the psychological crime that occurs against a nation.

“We look only at the one or two individuals, those that were overtly affected but we don’t look at the global picture,” Dr Minnis continued.

SEE PAGE FIVE

THE privatisation of Festival Place is expected to be completed by next month, according to an internal memo being circulated among vendors and officials at the cruise terminal.

Among the litany of topics being addressed and finalised in the document are the final approvals

for lease agreements, the appointment of a director for the terminal and efforts to improve the overall look of the property.

According to the communication obtained by The Tribune, once privatisation is completed, vendors will be expected to agree to new two-year contracts, which will have to be signed prior to them being readmitted to the terminal building.

SEE PAGE 11

SUB-STATION BLAZE HITS POWER FOR THOUSANDS

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

AN electrical fire at Bahamas Power and Light’s Baillou Hills sub-station over the weekend left parts of southwestern New Providence without power for periods up to 12 hours.

The blaze, which was detected around 9.45pm on Saturday, marked the fourth fire at a BPL plant in over a week.

In a statement released by the energy provider late yesterday evening, officials said smoke was initially detected at the 11KV substation at the Baillou Hills plant.

SEE PAGE SIX

MARINE IN FATAL CRASH WITH TWO PEDESTRIANS

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

MEMO REVEALS NEW DEALS FOR FESTIVAL PLACE TRADERS

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

HOME

A CROWN FIT FOR A QUEEN

TWO pedestrians were killed early yesterday morning after a collision involving a car driven by an off-duty marine.

The deaths of the man and woman, reportedly hit by a 2010 Toyota car, pushed this year’s number of traffic deaths to 55 higher than the total for the whole of last year.

In 2017, 54 people died in traffic-related fatalities, while 44 died in 2016.

According to police, the driver was heading north on Marathon Road in the area of Samana Drive shortly before 1am when he lost control of his car and struck the pair, both of whom died at the scene.

SEE PAGE THREE

3 AMERICANS HELD OVER ‘WHERE’S THE RED CARPET FOR SHAUNAE?’ GUN SEIZURES

DANIELLE Grant receives her crown as the new Miss Universe Bahamas last night in the final held at the Atlantis Theatre. She will now go on to represent The Bahamas in the global contest.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net ENGLERSTON MP Glenys Hanna-Martin last night complained about the lack of fanfare for 400m Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo on her return to The Bahamas last week after an extraordinarily successful season on the track and field circuit.

“Last night, I attended a private event celebrating

SHAUNAE Miller-Uibo winning the women’s 200m final during the Diamond League Memorial last month. the outstanding, indeed phenomenal achievements of Shaunae

Miller-Uibo,” Mrs Hanna Martin said in a Facebook post over the weekend.

“This young Bahamian woman has propelled herself to the top globally in athletics in what is a fiercely competitive environment.

“We know that it is her sterling determination, her extreme hard work, and her pure disciple that has made her incredible achievements possible.”

SEE PAGE TWO

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THREE Americans are in police custody after they were found with weapons over the weekend.

In one instance, police arrested an American woman after she was found with two pistols and ammunition at the Lynden Pindling International Airport on Saturday.

SEE PAGE THREE

PAGE 2, Monday, September 17, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

‘Where’s the red carpet for Shaunae?’ from page one

SHAUNAE Miller greeted in a reception on Saturday at the National Tennis Centre.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

®

EVERYDAY VALUE

She continued: “Shaunae Miller-Uibo represents the best of who we are as a Bahamian people and at each and every outstanding attainment on the world scene she pulls out our beautiful Bahamian flag as a indisputable display and to demonstrate her very strong national pride and patriotism. Shaunae is a national hero.”

However, Mrs Hanna Martin noted: “She is home but there is little fanfare.”

“I wish to encourage the Bahamas government to raise the profile on Shaunae’s victorious homecoming so that she will know without a doubt the level of pride, love and appreciation the Bahamian people hold for her and that her country fully and warmly embraces her both home and on the international tracks. She is more than deserving of this. So are we.”

Romell Knowles, president of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, was harsher in his assessment in a Facebook post yesterday. Although he could not be reached for comment, he said in the post: “So the Ministry of Sports removed their name from a wonderful signature event which celebrated the Queen of the IAAF Diamond League, our very Shaunae Miller-Uibo.

This was after the same ministry was too busy to meet with Shaunae, in the first instance.

A SERENADE for Shaunae during the reception at the National Tennis Centre.

“Michael Pintard the by Adrian Francis, the former minister of sports, ministry of sports as realising his former minis- an afterthought and try would not acknowledge SHAMED, plan to the moment, rose to the acknowledge the diamond occasion and welcomed queen on Monday.... don’t with open arms the best expect invitations to be athlete in the world to his hand delivered though, offices....a wonderful cel- keep your phone in hand ebration was experienced. as it is likely you might “The nation chief execu- receive an informal text.” tive PM Minnis agreed Mrs Miller-Uibo was to a courtesy call almost undefeated in 2018 and is immediately but his sports one of the favourites to ministry was too busy. be honoured as the IAAF “The event organisers female athlete of the were charged $1700 to use year. Her season highlight the precinct of the national came on July 20, 2018, when stadium, so it was switched she ran the national record to the national tennis 48.97 in the 400m, becomcentre. ing one of few women to “Despite the challenges, I run sub-49 in that event. It along with scores of others was the fastest time in the had a wonderful time. world in 12 years. She also “As a result of a won- dominated the 200m this derful evening organised year.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 17, 2018, PAGE 3

MARINE IN FATAL CRASH WITH TWO PEDESTRIANS from page one

The driver, who remained at the scene, is helping police with their investigation.

Last night, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force

identified the driver as an off-duty marine who was driving a private vehicle.

The marine, a woman, was said to be assisting police with investigations into the incident.

The RBDF statement noted the marine waited

for paramedics and Police to arrive at the scene prior to being transported by ambulance to Princess Margaret Hospital for medical treatment.

“The prayers and sincerest condolences of the Commander Defence

Force, Officers and Marines are extended to the members of the bereaved family,” it added.

The fatalities follow a serious traffic accident that took place in Grand Bahama on Saturday.

Police said the accident took place on Warren J Lavarity Highway shortly before 8pm.

The accident involved four vehicles, including a church bus transporting parishioners.

Collectively, the driver

of the bus and passengers sustained serious and slight injuries. The other vehicles and drivers received slight and serious injuries as well and were all taken to the Rand Memorial Hospital by emergency service personnel.

FROM left, Sherell King, National Training Agency (NTA); Cecilia Strachan, permanent secretary (Acting), Dion Foulkes, Minister of Labour; Archilene O’Brien, Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute; Herman Chisholm, Ministry of Transport and Henry Brown, fire safety inspector at the LJM Maritime Academy (LJMMA).

GOVT AIMS FOR MORE CRUISE JOBS MIINISTER of Labour Dion Foulkes pledged the government’s commitment to creating more jobs for Bahamians in the cruise ship and maritime sectors during a recent tour of the LJM Maritime Academy

(LJMMA) in Nassau.

This pledge comes just days after Minister Foulkes and Minister of Transport and Local Government Renward Wells led a delegation to Carnival Corporation’s Centre

for Simulator Maritime Training (CSMART) facilities in Almere, The Netherlands.

Minister Foulkes along with key officials held a follow up meeting at the LJMMA earlier this month

to discuss the way forward.

Also in attendance were acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Cecilia Strachan and Robert Farquharson, executive manager in the Ministry of Labour.

3 AMERICANS HELD OVER GUN SEIZURES from page one The woman presented herself to a US Border Control Officer for travel to the United States shortly after 5pm, police said.

She was reportedly found with a .42 pistol with four rounds of ammunition and a .45 pistol with eight rounds of ammunition.

Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers also took two Americans into custody after finding them with suspected drugs and weapons Friday afternoon.

Defence force officers were conducting a routine boarding and search of a blue and white Contender in the Nassau Harbour area shortly after 12pm when they uncovered a small quantity of suspected marijuana. Their search of the vessel also uncovered two pistols, one shotgun and 262 rounds of ammunition.

According to the RBDF, the man and woman could not produce documentation for the weapons and

ammunition.

Meanwhile in other crime matters, police arrested a man who robbed Checkers Cafe on Robinson Road shortly after 5pm on Saturday. The armed man entered the restaurant, held up an employee, took cash and fled.

Officers of the mobile division located the suspect and his vehicle shortly afterwards and recovered the stolen cash and firearm. The suspect is expected to be arraigned this week at the Magistrate’s Court.

In another incident shortly after 1am on Sunday, police said a man arrived at his home on Peak Street off Johnson Road when he was approached by three men, two of them armed with firearms, who got out of a grey coloured Kia Sportage Jeep. The men held him up and robbed him of his black Suzuki Swift car. Police did not report making an arrest in this matter.

In a third incident, shortly after 3am Sunday

a man was robbed of his cell phone and car after he arrived at his home on Taylor Street, Nassau Village. Police report the man was approached by two armed men who robbed him of his cell phone and

other items before getting into his 2008 white Toyota Camry and speeding off.

Police later recovered the vehicle behind a business establishment in Churchill Subdivision. Investigations are continuing.

PAGE 4, Monday, September 17, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

Publisher/Editor 1903-1914

SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,

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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Historic day for Princess Margaret Hospital AS one of the most widely admired and oft quoted world leaders, Sir Winston Churchill’s rousing oratory, wit, and steadfast leadership during the London Blitz held a besieged and frightened nation together, while his legendary tenacity and profound sense of conviction rallied the UK to victory against Hitler’s Germany.

Unlike the head of the Princess Margaret Hospital’s Consultants Union, who has implied that he and his members had no knowledge of the “unconscionable neglect” dumped into Health Minister Dr Duane Sands’ lap when the FNM defeated the PLP last year, Sir Winston has left behind a compendium of sayings that are as applicable to our situation today as they were for a battled scarred world in 1945.

We are surprised, for example, that the head of the Consultant Physicians Staff Association (CPSA) was seemingly unaware of the non-repair of the Princess Margaret Hospital’s roof, significantly damaged by Hurricane Matthew in October, 2015; of the many wards and key medical equipment no longer operational, the CPSA’s apparent lack of knowledge of the parliamentary debate when the public was informed of funds desperately needed to keep the PMH functioning for the sake of patients had been diverted to win an election.

For example, in that debate, Parliament, among many other things, was informed that the PLP government had approved monthly cleaning contracts for mini-hospitals in Exuma and Abaco, to the tune of $424,638.84 and $500,000. However, the clinics were not yet open and no cleaning was yet required.

Meanwhile, back in Nassau, vital repairs in the Cory Newbold ward of the PMH, which had been started, had to be suspended. The suggestion at the time was that the funds, earmarked for this much-needed ward, had to be transferred for the Out Island clinics - remember the winning of an election was seemingly more important than the public’s health.

When Dr Sands’ ministry inherited the problems, the Cory Newbold ward was a scene of work started, but suddenly stopped. The ceiling was being torn out, when the order had been given to down tools. That was the scene when the new government inherited the problems. The next rude awakening was that there were not sufficient funds to carry out the critical hospital repairs. Then it was the problem as to where were funds to be found for staff increases that the PLP government had promised before its defeat?

The PLP’s twisted attempts to deflect their dismal failure in healthcare

belongs to a category from which no semblance of dignity - nor validity - could ever prevail. Sir Winston’s lucidity, wit and life’s lessons inspire us today. Take for example: “It’s no use saying we are doing our best. You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary”, or, how about “if you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Similarly, one of our favourites is: “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever.

Use a piledriver. Hit the point once.

Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack!.”

Tomorrow is the beginning of an historic journey for the PMH as it enters a whole new world of medical imaging. Instead of our differences, how about celebrating that, although while The Bahamas might be 20 years behind, the installation of the new X-Ray machines – a Picture, Archiving and Computer System (PACS) and Ct Scanner – starts today at the Princess Margaret Hospital; followed closely by a new CT Scanner for the Rand Memorial Hospital in Freeport. This means that it’s out with film, and the tedious and time-consuming processing, developing, fixers and water. Instead, it’s now full steam ahead with the electronic, digital images that appear within seconds and can be read by radiologists in the Princess Margaret Hospital in the blink of an eye - just like those in the UK and USA. It is hoped that the considerable private/public efforts that have gone into assisting the PHA with the ability to diagnose patients’ digitally – an historic first for our nation – will provide the impetus for the Consultants Union and PHA to seriously engage in talks regarding an agreement on proposed physicians’ fees.

Instead of being at loggerheads over demands for health insurance and salary increases for an entity – which for all intents and purposes — is now insolvent?

Having approved the deployment of a number of HVAC/Ops teams to assist the PHA resolve some of the outstanding issues facing its various departments, there appears to be a sprinkling of faith – across all sectors of the PHA - that The Bahamas’ main hospital can be transformed into an institution capable of delivering world class patient care to our citizens. With the Corey Newbold ward now almost ready to go back into service – our Minister of Health and PHA chairman are encouraged to press forward heeding Sir Winston advice: “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks!”

Who uses a siren?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

WHO is permitted to legally use a siren and flashing lights?

Walking past McDonald’s yesterday suddenly the quiet was disturbed by a very loud siren…turning I see a black BMW SUV flashing light and using a siren.

I looked for police outriders - the Governor General’s car, Prime Ministers’ car, ambulance.

Editor, none could be seen. The sole identifying mark on the vehicle was the licence plate of the BMW

SUV…it was a CD plate issued to embassies.

I continued walking to Marlborough Street, in fact by the time I walked to George Street, eureka!

This same BMW SUV appeared coming up George Street towards Christ Church, at about that time people were assembling for Chief Justice Isaacs’ funeral.

So I was able to walk faster than the BMW SUV and all their noise but that is not the issue - who is legally able to use a siren and flashing lights and

cause traffic to pull to the side to allow the vehicle through?

Recently, you published a letter complaining about the Commodore of the RBDF doing the same thing.

Traffic is bad enough, do we really need this?

I recall PM Minnis said this was to stop from the craziness we got so used to under PM Christie.

Coming back, it seems!

Power corrupts?

A MORRIS Nassau, September 8, 2018.

Bewildered inside the hospital EDITOR, The Tribune.

U-turn and went up a flight of stairs. At the top of the THIS week, I went to the stairs I asked someone Princess Margaret Hospistanding there where the letters@tribunemedia.net tal to visit a patient. When men’s private ward was. She I entered the lobby, I was the corridor and up another directed me toward double greeted by a very pleas- flight of stairs. I set off doors at the end of a short ant, helpful security guard. again, up the stairs, across hallway. Off I went, folI said I was there to see a the corridor and arrived lowed closely by the patient. patient and was asked his at the end. On my way I I went through the double name and when he was again attempted to sanitize doors and into an air-conadmitted. I had his name my hands using the mul- ditioned ward, followed but was unsure about when tiple dispensers along the closely by the patient. At he was admitted. The secu- way. They were all empty. that point I decided that rity guard let me pass and Arriving at the end of the even if this was not the directed me to Accident & corridor I was faced with men’s private ward I would Emergency. multiple options for where spend some time in the cool I started down the cor- to go. Fortunately, there and get the most specific ridor which was lined with was a directional sign, directions possible. There hand sanitiser dispensers. unfortunately there was were a number of ladies I attempted to get sanitiser no listing for men’s private behind the counter one of from the first dispenser. It ward. At that moment not whom confirmed that this was empty. I continued being able to sanitize my was indeed the men’s pridown the corridor think- hands, having gotten into vate ward and told me the ing that I would sanitise a full sweat and going in room number of the patient my hands from the next circles, I considered aban- that I had come to visit. I dispenser that I saw. The doning the visit. thanked her, turned and second dispenser was I decided not to give up. started walking toward the empty as well, so was the I was hot, sweaty and now room, followed closely by third, fourth and fifth. more determined than ever the patient. At this point When I finally arrived at to find the patient. What I was not sure why this Accident & Emergency there started out as a visit had patient was following me, were surprisingly few people turned into a journey and but I soon got the answer. in the waiting room and the was quickly becoming a The patient was attendant was standing in quest. Fortunately, I saw a approached by a young the doorway of the admitting staff member sitting nearby. staffer who asked him what office. I approached the lady I approached her and asked he was looking for. The and told her I was there to for directions to the men’s patient told the staffer that see a patient. The lady asked private ward. She was he was looking for the place me if I knew what ward he very nice and told me to go where they could take out was on and I told her that the that way, turn right and go his IV ports. The young reason that I was sent there up the stairs. She pointed man sent him off in another was because I did not know down the corridor that I direction and I carried on to what ward the patient was had just travelled in order visit with the person that I on. had come to see. After my to get to where I was.

The lady then asked when Sweaty and frustrated, I visit I thanked the ladies at he was admitted to which I set off back from where I the desk and set off down responded that I thought it had come. When I reached the stairs. At the bottom of was about a week ago. She the top of the stairs I real- the stairs I walked behind asked me if I knew his birth ised that if I went back a security guard who was date to which I responded down to the security guard accompanying the patient in the negative. I was then at the entrance I would be that had previously foladvised that hundreds of sent back to where I was lowed closely behind me patients are admitted into now. There was a patient looking for the place where the hospital every week, that sitting in a wheelchair, a they could take out his IV admissions were not com- patient that I passed on my ports. puterised, and I would need way up the first time. In The security guard to provide more informa- desperation, I asked the accompanied the patient, tion. I made a call, got the patient if he knew where with me following not so patient’s birth date and gave the men’s private ward was. closely behind them, to the it to the lady. She asked He directed me back down entrance and showed him to me to have a seat while she the corridor that I had come a seat in the lobby. I carried looked up the patient. I from, but with one critical on out of the hospital bewiltook a seat and waited. bit of information that I did dered by my experience. I After some time, the lady not have the first time. set out to visit a patient came to the door and told The patient told me to and ended up on a journey me that he was in the “men’s turn left before the end of which turned into a quest private” ward. When I asked the corridor, left where the and became an odyssey. how to get to the men’s pri- bright light was shining. As Having read in the paper vate ward she instructed I set off back down the corri- about all of the current me to go out of Accident & dor I noticed another patient issues at the Princess MarEmergency, turn right, walk walking behind me. Arriv- garet Hospital I felt the to the end of the corridor ing at the end of the corridor need to share my experiand look for the security I turned left at where the ence. There is much to be guard who would show me bright light was shining. As addressed at Princess Marthe way. I thanked her and I turned left at where the garet, from overcrowding started on my journey. bright light was shining I to a lack of equipment, old When I arrived at the end saw the staff member that equipment, poor equipment of the corridor there was no just sent me down the cor- maintenance, nursing shortsecurity guard. I found a ridor minutes before sitting ages, doctors threatening to lady and asked her for direc- in the same place not ten strike. I am relieved that it tions. She pointed down the feet away. She said that she is not my responsibility to corridor and instructed me had watched me walk past fix these challenges. Realto go to the end. This cor- the entrance to the corridor ising that you can’t tear it ridor looked familiar and leading to the men’s private down and start again while it turned out that it was as ward and wondered where I delivering services I would I ended up at the entrance was going. not know where to begin. where I started. I then asked I turned left and started the security guard how to get up a long-sloped ramp, HOPE NEVER TO BE to the men’s private ward. followed closely by the A PATIENT The security guard told patient. At the end of the Nassau, me to go up the stairs cross sloped ramp, I made a September 14, 2018.

LETTERS

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 17, 2018, PAGE 5

Minnis declares ‘War on Crime’ from page one “Those one or two individuals being robbed or murdered are impacted today, but the nation is impacted tomorrow. We are allowing these individuals to rob our nation of its future, we must declare overt war. When individuals get robbed, we feel sorry for one or two people but we don’t look at the criminality that occurred against the entire nation.”

Dr Minnis said: “To declare war we must report all illegal transactions, criminality, dishonesty to the police, that is the only way we can declare and change this nation as we move forward. We also send out notice to environmental destructors and violators, and traffic violators we will not tolerate these types of infractions.

The police and all law enforcement officers have been put on full alert to deal with such matters.”

Insp Blatch, aide-decamp to Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling, was sitting in his vehicle last Wednesday, with his 13-year-old daughter, in a school parking lot when he was approached by a gunman and shot.

Police told the press on Friday that a wanted suspect from Fort Fincastle had turned himself into the Central Detective Unit.

ACP Fernander was careful not to draw a connection between that person and the Blatch investigation.

Insp Blatch was immediately remembered for his professionalism following his shooting. He had worked at Government House for 14 years.

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

Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff Yesterday, Dr Minnis said: “We are engaged in two type of murders, the overt murder where a policeman, a father was murdered but there was also the potential murder of an entire school and

families. The psychological murder, the traumatic murder that we don’t look at, is he could have caused serious damage to an entire school, our future generation. The psychological affect (of his murder) on

the youth.

Dr Minnis said: “If we don’t declare as a nation, war on crime, war on dishonesty, and war on murders, all forms of criminality, then we subject ourself to the murder of a

nation. The psychological murder that we are subjecting ourselves to, the destruction of a future of a nation.

“So I ask all Bahamians, just as we came together, the police force, defence

force and all in searching for that one individual. We must declare war if we are to save this nation from the psychological murder by crime and other criminal elements, or we will destroy this nation.”

MURDERER’S SENTENCING DELAYED AGAIN BY COURT

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE sentencing of convicted murderer Devaughn “Short Man” Hall was postponed for the second time to Friday, September 21, in the Supreme Court on Grand Bahama.

Hall, 24, was

unanimously found guilty of the double murders and armed robbery of Deadman Reef couple Barry and Sheena Johnson on May 10 following an eight-monthlong trial. Two other men, Paul Belizaire and Kevin Dames, were co-defendants with him.

The first sentencing hearing in July was

re-scheduled for September 13 on the anniversary of the couple’s death after a probation report had not been completed.

The husband and wife were shot to death at their triplex apartment on September 12, 2015. The bodies were discovered by a tenant in the early morning hours of September 13. They had

been robbed of a set of keys and their GMC truck.

In addition to the probation report, a psychiatric report also will be presented before sentence is passed by Justice Estelle Gray-Evans.

Belizaire was found guilty of the armed robbery and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He is expected to be

retried on the murders after the hung verdicts on the two murder charges.

The jury also came back

with hung verdicts in relation to Dames on the murders and armed robbery charges.

PAGE 6, Monday, September 17, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Sub-station blaze hits power for thousands from page one BPL employees on duty reportedly attempted to extinguish the fire while calling in support from Police Fire Services, who arrived on site and extinguished the blaze.

The statement read: “Preliminary investigations suggest that the electrical fire in the substation was caused by equipment failure. A full investigation has been launched into the cause of this failure. Foul play

is not suspected at this time.”

It added: “As a result of the fire customers in the following areas experienced power outages: Fire Trail, Carmichael, Golden Gates, Pride Estates, Bel Air, Portions of Harold Road, Yellow Elder, Stapledon and Millennium Gardens.

Power was restored to all affected customers by 10:00am this morning.

BPL’s engineers are currently working to repair the damaged substation.”

BPL said it expects the sub-station to be back in

Live the life you want to live, but don’t hurt others as you walk this life’s journey.

~Betty Taylor ~

Original Author

For more original and inspirational quotes, please get a copy of the book “Hold On To Life and Love” at Logos Bookstore, located in the Harbour Bay Shopping Centre.

service by this evening, informing customers in the affected areas to expect temporary outages until the work is completed.

When contacted for comment on the recent blaze and extended outage, Bahamas Electrical Workers Union President Paul Maynard yesterday issued a warning of his own, telling the thousands of Bahamians depending on BPL for their energy supply to be prepared for “more of the same”.

Mr Maynard in his warning explained that most of the equipment being at BPL has already “done all it can,” insisting that the company has to get serious about replacing its old machines.

“This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” Mr Maynard told The Tribune yesterday. “The boards being used for transmission and distribution have run their course.”

Often outspoken, Mr Maynard added: “These types of issues will continue as long as we depend on this ancient equipment.

We need to get serious about making the necessary changes and stop this shock and surprise when things break down.”

Meanwhile, Progressive Liberal Party chairman, Senator Fred Mitchell in a statement of his own, implored the Minnis administration to provide the Bahamian people with a “full, frank and honest” explanation on the circumstances surrounding the latest fire at the BPL’s Baillou Hill sub-station.

“With four fires in one week,” Mr

THE BAHAMAS Power and Light plant at Clifton Pier.

Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff relieved of this duty in the Mitchell noted,”the public leadership is inexplicable is understandably losing public interest.” and inexcusable.

He added: “To date, the confidence in the current “Dr Minnis said he had administration’s ability to government has managed no plans or vision for BPL competently manage BPL to politically interfere with and the voluntary separaand facilitate the much the work of the BPL board tion exercise, followed by needed energy sector and needlessly incurred these catastrophic fires are reform this government additional expenses in turning out to be a self fulexcess of $100m in equip- filling prophecy. We pray promised.”

“If the substantive Min- ment damage stemming that God helps us all in the ister is not up to the task, from these fires.” midst of this haplessness “This total breakdown in and crisis in leadership.” he should be mercifully

THE STORIES BEHIND THE NEWS

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

The power rests in your hands alone, PM Minnis

By MALCOLM STRACHAN HEAVY hearts laden the country in the wake of the murder of Police Inspector Carlis Blatch, Aide-de-Camp of Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling. When the carnage in the country is localised to a bloodthirsty criminal element fixated on slaughtering each other in the streets, we simply pray not to get caught in the crossfire. However, when an innocent civilian is preyed upon, the reality that any of us can be snuffed out any time becomes a chilling revelation. It is much more alarming when it happens to a member of society whose sworn duty is to protect and serve.

Although the late Inspector Blatch was away from active duty and assigned to the Governor General’s team for the past 14 years, the fact a policeman was murdered in the coldblooded fashion he was is enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Slain in front of his child, a family has been wrecked by the thoughtless attempted robbery in such a high traffic area. And for what? To roam the streets for a few days longer, hunted like an animal before you are eventually caught and incarcerated?

Perhaps that level PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. of thought is not even Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff explored by today’s criminal element. Certainly, when we are the ones who on trying to find a path to there is not much to fear suffer the effects of their remove the Privy Council as the final Court of Appeal. for someone who has blanket judgments.

In Opposition, Prime This would certainly get us already committed themselves to living out their Minister Hubert Minnis on the path to capital pundays executing acts of vio- spoke in a tone many ishment once again.

In the interim, the prime lence and crime. Our court Bahamian people appresystem, though marginally ciated. His “popping the minister can also up the improved, has long been necks of murderous scum- ante on the crime fight in a revolving door, where bags” statement has been other ways that make it murderers get out on bail requoted in the news many much harder for criminals – in many cases to be mur- times since its first utter- to hide. Stricter gun pendered themselves before ance, and still serves as alties would increase the ever being tried. And while the benchmark for what pressure on offenders to is expected cooperate with the police imprisoned, from this on how the weapons are many of the ‘The Bahamian making their way into the administration. inmates are people want The Baha- country. Surely, the govquite comfortamian people ernment can perform case ble despite the retribution. want retribu- studies on other countries terrible living Whether his tion. Whether to ascertain the correlation conditions. statement was his statement between the strictest of gun It’s a part was to pander control mechanisms and to pander to of life that to the elector- crime statistics. comes with the the electorate Continuing to get guns ate or not is of territory for or not is of no no consequence off the street is a laudthem. to the Baha- able accomplishment by Time and consequence to mian people the police force, but making again, we have the Bahamian today.

There is a criminals think twice about seen where the looming expec- taking the risk would also hands of our people today. tation on every bolster their efforts. In legislators have There is a prime minis- which case, the legislators been forced looming ter that they have to get to the drawing to turn it up will confront board. a notch. Yet, expectation on Also, we are still waiting criminals with we have been every prime drastic on CCTV to be fully operastuck doing minister that they more measures than tional. Other jurisdictions the same song they’ve experi- such as the US, the UK, and dance with will confront enced in recent Canada and Australia have our hands tied criminals with times. Moreo- all experienced the benefits by the Privy more drastic ver, subsequent of CCTV as a crime prevenCouncil – a tion tool, as well as a means commentary decision-mak- measures of detecting and identifying from the prime ing body far than they’ve minister on offenders. away from the experienced in Last month, National crime since bloodshed on has remained Security Minister Marvin recent times.’ our streets.

Dames announced the RFP consistent Is it not with his 2016 for CCTV was completed. curious why successive administrations have not sentiments. However, the While we know the govdone what is necessary to Bahamian people want to ernment has its plate full, remove this nonsensical see the prime minister make it is difficult when tragblockade from the path- his actions back up his words. edies take place that could When speaking with have been avoided if such a way of enforcing capital reporters this past week, the deterrent was in place. punishment?

Here, we have a murCertainly, former Prime prime minister suggested he Minister Perry Christie is somehow powerless in the derer, committing such wasted our time on such matter. He stated that he if a bold crime in a public matters. And the last hang- could respond to the crimi- space. One can only hope ing in The Bahamas took nal element in the manner that we could have done place under the Ingraham he wants and remain within more to protect the goveradministration in the year the confines of the law, the nor general’s slain aide.

We believe the prime 2000. Based on the Privy Bahamian people would see minister really wants mura “changed man”.

While Council’s characterisation of the “worst of the worst”, we can appreciate that the derers to hang. However, who among us can say that prime minister vilifies mur- unless he intends to be in 18 years and amid recent derers, the steps he has to viewed as Christie 2.0, he record-level crime, that we make - being the individual will have to make some decisions. have not seen some acts fit- with the sole authority to uncomfortable After all, that is at the core do so are not as extreme ting that description? of leadership – the ability Furthermore, there as he portends.

As a start, the prime to make the decisions that should be no group outside The Bahamas pulling minister can instruct the others enjoy the liberty of strings on our government Attorney General today not making.

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PAGE 8 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

INSIGHT

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

Turning the tide towards offshore solar energy

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net AS countries around the world wean themselves off fossil fuels, one increasingly popular alternative catches the eye: floating solar panels.

Fastened in place on top of the water by a network of plastic rafts, the innovative system functions just like land-based solar systems, but with water as its base.

In the past decade, as

the price of solar panels has declined, the system has been popping up in Asia, Australia, Europe, South America, North America and Africa – everywhere but the Caribbean.

The reason is simple: land is a scare resource.

Solar panels are restricted in their ability to convert sunlight into electricity so many of them are needed and countries find it challenging locating enough land to create utility-scale

solar farms.

It’s a problem The Bahamas knows well.

PowerSecure, Bahamas Power & Light’s former manager, ruled out constructing a $140m solar farm on New Providence, not least, it said, because of difficulty finding 155 acres of land on which to build the farm.

Last year, Works Minister Desmond Bannister told The Tribune: “One of the issues with solar in New Providence is that it

simply takes up large areas of land.”

Facing similar problems, countries around the world have found their solution in the water.

Japan created a floating solar system that produces 13MW of electricity.

Australia opened a 100kW floating solar plant this year and plans to increase its size five-fold.

Last year, India opened a floating solar plant capable of producing 500kWp of electricity.

The Godley Reservoir in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, has 12,000 panels, generating 2.76Wh of energy per year to power a local water treatment plant.

The world’s largest floating solar plant is located in China – a 40MW marvel that opened last year.

Floating solar panels don’t just solve land scarcity problems. Experts say they are naturally cooled by wind and water as well.

And in the absence of trees and dust, they require minimal maintenance.

One floating solar plant in South Korea has a production efficiency that is 22 percent higher than a comparable ground-mounted plant. Why? Because it is easier to rotate and has unobstructed exposure to sunlight.

As everyone knows, if there are two resources The Bahamas is in plentiful supply of, they are sun and water.

Could floating solar panels solve this country’s energy woes? Perhaps it could – but probably not in the near future. Almost all of the world’s floating solar farms are located inshore in lakes and reservoirs.

Floating solar panels on the open sea – the only feasible option in The Bahamas – poses unique threats, experts say, because of changing water levels, stronger winds, wave action, corrosive salt water and the possible growth of marine organisms like barnacles on floats.

It is also unclear what effect floating solar systems could have on marine ecosystems, an important issue for a country whose sea is among its most treasured resources.

These problem, however, have not looked insurmountable to a Dutch company which recently unveiled a $1.5m project to create the world’s first floating energy platform at sea.

The Netherlands, which

is one of the few countries to push sustainable solutions, will host the farm in its coastal waters.

A nine-member consortium, headed up by Oceans of Energy, a Netherlands company that creates floating offshore systems for clean energy generation, will develop the system.

It will be backed by government funding via the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy’s Netherlands Enterprise Agency over the next three years.

Called the Project Solarat-Sea, a feasibility study will be undertaken with around 30 square metes of solar panels in the North Sea Farm. The aim, by 2021, is to have 2,500 square metres of solar panels in place.

Allaard van Hoeken, founder and CEO of Oceans of Energy, said solar farms were prevalent in lakes and inshore water bodies, but none had been sourced at sea due to wave and wind concerns.

He added the project should be a success as it was being built on the competencies of the consortia project partners and on the expertise of the Dutch offshore industry.

The consortia comprise energy sector companies: Oceans of Energy, TNO, TAQA, TKI Urban Energy, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and ECN. Utrecht University will conduct sustainability research, while the Maritime Research Institute of the Netherlands will carry out independent research for the Dutch government.

Utrecht University solar power expert Wilfried van Sark said the impact of wave energy on the solar panels would be one of the many issues to be analysed.

Mr Van Hoeken said the project would help create “a lasting impact worldwide” as the majority of the global population lives close to coastal regions.

In addition to the Dutch, Singapore’s Housing and Development Board (HBD) signed on to a research project this year with a landscaping firm to study the development of a floating solar system for coastal marine conditions.

The study will examine whether the system can withstand the harsh environmental conditions of the sea, according to Singapore news reports.

A similar study began six years ago in the sunny archipelago of Malta, a country whose population and Gross Domestic

Product mirrors that of the Bahamas.

That $260,000 project, spearheaded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology research and innovation, is nearing its final stages.

If Malta can do it, what is stopping The Bahamas from positioning itself at the forefront of research into open sea floating solar panels?

The country has little to lose: According to the Inter-American Development Bank, the Bahamas is the worst in the Caribbean for renewable energy penetration.

“The Bahamas ranks lowest in the region for renewable energy penetration, suffers from a high fuel import bill, high and volatile electricity prices, as well as large and financially challenged utility, Bahamas Power and Light, which experiences frequent power outages and elevated system losses,” the IDB report, released this year, said.

The Bahamas’ National Energy Policy, released in 2014, called for the Bahamas to produce 30 percent of its energy from sustainable sources by 2030.

But speaking to Tribune Business last month, Phillip Holdom, president of Alternative Power Supply, said the country is “nowhere close” to achieving that rate.

The country’s energy policy revolves around the development of liquefied natural gas, a “clean” fossil fuel that emits 50 percent less carbon dioxide than coal when burnt but still attracts the ire of environmentalists. In April, Sam Duncombe, the president of reEarth, called the adoption of LNG as the country’s main power source a “huge regressive step,” questioning why the government has not pursued solar energy instead.

“ReEarth spent six years fighting the AES pipeline that would have taken natural gas from a re-gasification facility on Ocean Cay to Florida, so that we wouldn’t become basically Florida’s gas station,” she said. “All of the safety concerns are still there.You are now talking about putting an LNG plant right next to Mount Pleasant, Adelaide, Albany and Lyford Cay. All of those communities are in potential danger.

We have so many issues to deal with in this country that to go back and rehash stuff we have already dealt with is so backward and so discouraging.”

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

INSIGHT

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 PAGE 9

Shorts fired in Dealey Plaza echo in the White House today

By LLOYD COX Lecturer, Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University AT PRECISELY 1pm on November 22, 1963, the 35th president of the United States was pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital Trauma Room 1 in Dallas, Texas.

John F Kennedy’s personal physician stated the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. This was officially announced to a stunned public half an hour later.

The shock waves of the president’s assassination, the fourth in US history, continue to reverberate today.

What happened?

While the events of that day have been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories, the basic facts are now widely accepted. The president’s motorcade was making its way through Dealey Plaza in down town Dallas when, five minutes from its destination, three shots rang out from behind and above the presidential limousine.

Two of those shots found their mark, with the second being fatal. Texas’s Democratic governor, John Connally, who was seated immediately in front of the president, was also hit, though he would recover from his injuries.

Seventy minutes after the attack, Dallas police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US marine who had spent three years in the Soviet Union. However, before Oswald could be properly questioned on his motives, less than 48 hours after the assassination of the president, Oswald himself was also dead.

He was gunned down on live television by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner with links to organised crime. This inspired generations of conspiracy theorists for whom the Kennedy assassination was an expression of unidentified malevolent forces threatening the United States.

The impact of the assassination - speculations about a second gunman?

One of the most ubiquitous and apparently plausible of the conspiracy theories floating around was that there was a second gunman, and that both he and Oswald were part of a wider circle of conspirators.

Despite the Warren Commission, which had been set up by new President Lyndon Johnson to investigate Kennedy’s murder, stating in September 1964 that Oswald was a “lone gunman” and was not part of any domestic or international conspiracy, this conclusion was not widely accepted until the mid 1970s.

Several developments that cast doubt on the lone gunman thesis include a Senate Select Committee established to investigate “Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities” in 1975.

It asserted investigations of the assassination by both the FBI and CIA had been deficient, and that some fundamental evidence had not been forwarded to the original Warren Commission.

Furthermore, Abraham Zapruder’s now famous

26-second silent home movie of the killing was also released to public scrutiny in 1975.

To the untrained eye, the film seems to show that the fatal second shot came from the front of the president’s car. His head snaps back and bodily matter is projected to the rear. Viewed in conjunction with conclusions from the Senate and House Committees, this was presumed by many to validate the claim that a second shooter had fired from the infamous “grassy knoll” to the right and front of the presidential cavalcade.

Subsequently, the theory that a second assassin fired a fourth shot was conclusively falsified. The United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) had acquired a police radio channel dicta belt recording of a motorcycle officer who had been part of the cavalcade. When this evidence was reexamined by independent acoustic research experts, they unanimously agreed the apparent fourth shot was not a shot at all.

Similarly, after reviewing the evidence, ballistic, forensic and medical experts have repeatedly drawn the conclusion that the entry and exit wounds on the president were consistent with having been shot from the rear rather than the front.

So we can conclude with a very high degree of certainty that Oswald was the sole gunman who shot Kennedy. But it does not follow the conception and planning of the assassination was that of Oswald’s alone.

The JFK Act As a result of renewed interest generated by the Oliver Stone film, JFK, Congress passed the JFK Act in 1992. This led to the public release of over four million pages of documents pertaining to the assassination.

It was on the basis of an exhaustive analysis of this material, in conjunction with all of the earlier government reports and secondary literature, that David Kaiser published the first book about the assassination written by a professional historian with all of the archival evidence available to him.

The Road to Dallas: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy cites archival evidence that firmly links Oswald to a network of organised crime figures, anti-Castro Cubans and farright political activists, all of whom had motives for wanting the president dead.

While its conclusions are not watertight, the book’s judicious judgments provide the most compelling account yet that Oswald acted as part of a broader conspiracy.

Kaiser’s essential argument is that a cabal of organised crime figures and anti-Castro Cuban exiles most likely recruited Oswald to be the trigger man in an attempt on the president’s life.

The interests of organised crime figures, many of whom had had commercial operations in Cuba disrupted by the revolution, coincided with those of wealthy anti-Castro Cubans who had been exiled to the United States.

Both groups were profoundly hostile to Kennedy and his brother,

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PRESIDENT John F Kennedy travelling in Dallas, Texas, moments before he was shot and killed on November 22, 1963.

Attorney-General Robert Kennedy. Their administration had not only failed to invade Cuba and restore mob and Cuban private property, it had also waged a relentless campaign against particular organised crime figures.

There is solid evidence that Oswald had direct or indirect contact with at least two such figures, while also being in contact with a wider group of anti-Castro activists.

Kaiser surmises the overlapping networks of mobsters and Cuban exiles hoped the assassination of Kennedy, for which Oswald would be paid handsomely, would provoke a US invasion of Cuba and the restoration of their private property and commercial operations.

This, of course, did not happen. Instead, there was a very different set of short and long term consequences.

Contemporary relevance In the short term, the new President, Johnson, seized the opportunity offered by a nation’s grief to crush the Republican challenge at the 1964 election. He used that result as a mandate

to vigorously pursue his liberal, Great Society programme and civil rights agenda, which greatly expanded the role of government and advanced the rights of African-Americans and other ethnic minorities.

Longer term, it was Johnson’s liberal programme that provoked a conservative, white backlash that would gather strength under the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

In the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections, Nixon adopted his infamous “Southern strategy”.

It deployed the coded racial language of “states’ rights” to split away white southerners from the Democratic Party whom they had traditionally supported.

Nixon’s law and order rhetoric simultaneously appealed to the anxieties of what he claimed was a “silent majority”, who had been shaken by urban turmoil and the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Respectable fears and the politics of race converged with paranoia stoked by conspiracy

theories involving all of these assassinations.

This white backlash and the realignment of many white working and middle class Americans to the Republican Party accelerated in the 1980s under President Reagan, and was consummated in the 2000s during the presidencies of George W Bush and Barack Obama.

A significant sub-section of white America could not reconcile themselves to the legitimacy of a black president after 2008. This expressed itself in the “birther” backlash against Obama, and the generalised hatred that greeted the new president from the political right.

It is that same backlash, albeit taking new forms, that we today witness in the strange spectacle of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Trump had been a central protagonist in the birther controversy, and has consistently played on racebased fears and prejudice to energise his supporters.

Where once Nixon and Reagan spoke in the coded racial language of states’ rights, Trump now speaks in the forthright language of

stopping Muslim immigration, kicking out Mexican murderers and rapists, and building walls between us and them.

The vindictive, emotional politics of fear and rage is his standard currency. He has concentrated in his rhetoric and actions the most noxious elements of American politics in the half century that has passed since Kennedy’s untimely death.

The political reverberations of the Kennedy assassination, then, continue to be felt in all sorts of unlikely ways.

The paranoid, racialised and faux anti-elitist politics of the American right did not begin with the backlash against Kennedy and his administration. But his presidency and assassination, and the anxious political forces it set in motion, are an important milestone in their development. The American right today, with Trump as its figurehead, is the direct political descendant of this dark chapter in American history.

• This article was first published on theconversation.com.

PAGE 10 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

INSIGHT

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

As parents it’s our job to give our kids a chance IF we want to stop violence, we need to understand what causes it in the first place. Young men who carry out acts of serious violence are often experiencing deep-rooted problems. The majority of youths in custody are themselves victims of abuse. Some experience suffering and violence at home. The struggle many of these children have experienced so early in their short lives is a key factor in their violent criminal behaviour.

Kids start developing their sense of self as babies, when they see themselves through their parents’ eyes. Your tone of voice, your body language and your every expression are absorbed by your children. Your words and actions as a parent affects their self-esteem more than anything else.

PARENTS how involved are you in your children’s lives?

How well do you think you know them? Do you attend regular Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings? Or better yet, do you know the names of your children teachers?

How about their friends and their friends’ parents?

Do you know what your kids are doing after school?

We have been hooked on to our phones, or social media or somewhere else while we should have been paying attention to our children.

Parenting is a skill which must be practiced diligently, it is one of the most challenging jobs in the world to raise a problem free child who is a proper balance of morals, values and discipline. Each child is different and so is the parent. The idea of rearing a child differs from parent to parent.

Are you too carefree as a parent, giving your kids the power to decide everything?

In such cases, kids become their own masters, going to bed late, getting up late, doing absolutely

Police advice

By SERGEANT NATHALIE RANGER

everything at their will.

Owing to hectic lifestyles and both parents working, no one does the work of disciplining the kids as life is already chaotic. If this is how your kids live their lives, this is what they will do when they visit their aunt or cousin. They simply would not know how to behave appropriately.

Discipline is the only way your kids grow up knowing right and wrong.

Parents need to do some real hard work to raise kids who know how to behave properly.

There will be times when kids will test the parents by breaking rules, hence parents need to establish and clearly communicate the consequences of breaking those rules.

PARENTS are you giving your children any of your time?

Guilty of being glued to your phone screen when your child is demanding you play with him/her?

Got an official call and cannot listen to your child telling you about his/her day? Stop! Your children do not just need food or money from you, they want to speak to you, share their experiences and sometimes need to hear your comforting words.

Communication is the only thing that will strengthen your bond, not expensive gifts. The deal should be to be the parents your children want to hug and spend time with, not the ones who are like ATM machines.

Kids may inadvertently perform odd behaviour to attract parent’s attentions. At the end of the day, the most overwhelming

key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of parents.

Put your children on a schedule Kids are more likely to pick up negative activities or fall into the wrong crowd when they are not on a schedule. After-school programmes such as subject lessons is a great option to ensure your child has an advantage in class. Other options such as sporting teams, music and band participation are also great options.

I know as parents you get so busy trying to provide the best for your little darlings that you just do not view these things as important, but an involved parent is a more informed parent and it lessens your children’s chances of succumbing to peer pressure, experimenting with drugs, becoming teen mothers and getting involved with gang activity. Children who are properly cared for become more competent and independent adults.

Speak life into your children Labelling children as lazy or dumb and using these words in public can significantly hurt a child and lower his/her self-esteem.

Likewise, if you criticise your child’s efforts or look down upon him/her by comparing with others’ achievements, then your child may develop feelings of jealousy and resentment

Do not fulfil every wish that your children has Every parent wants the best for their children, and some can practically afford almost everything a child

desires. Do you reach out to your pocket the moment your child sets his/her eyes on a new toy or a new dress?

Hold on! Buying everything your kid lay their finger on is again a sign of bad parenting.

Such kids fail to understand the value of money.

They will demand anything from you anytime expecting you to present it to them, whatever your circumstances.

Even after they grow up, such kids end up hopeless on their finances and

are unable to deal with their responsibilities.

Sometimes, this need may provoke them to steal, lie or become rude. We must set good examples and be a positive role model in our children lives. Be the person we want our kids to be.

PARENTS Let’s raise good productive children • Do not turn a blind eye when your child is doing wrong.

• Do not start disciplining your children at the adolescent stage. At this stage, their mind-set is already developed and is open to peer pressure. Start disciple at the toddler stage.

• Have structure in your child’s life.

• Know their

whereabouts at all times.

• Do not leave your children uncared for, to be at risk. Get involved with every aspect of their lives.

• Give your children a strong foundation of discipline and godliness.

• Boost their self-esteem.

• Set limits and be consistent with your discipline.

• Make communication a priority.

• Tell your children you love them and show that your love is unconditional.

• Teach them that manners, respect for themselves and others will take them through the world.

• Be more aware, attentive and alert, let’s get more involved. After all your children are a reflection of you.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 17, 2018, PAGE 11

Memo reveals new deals for Festival Place traders from page one Further to that, all new agreements will be based around a new lease schedule, which is reportedly still being formulated by management.

According to the memo - which was written and circulated by Yvette Price, president of the Festival Place Tenant Association - longstanding Tourism officer Monique Hepburn will serve as the new director of Festival Place The communication did not name the new management firm responsible for Festival Place.

However, it did note the new firm has no “intentions” to hurt or harm any of the vendors.

It added: “They are looking forward to us working together in the best interest of all of us.”

Vendors are presently operating on the outside of the facility while it undergoes renovation.

According to the communication, there were “unforeseen circumstances” involving a worker installing the facility’s new air condition unit.

The setback was blamed for the delay in tenants returning to the inside of the facility.

On the topic, the memo indicated the Ministry of Tourism is providing liability insurance in the interim, but will cease to do so once tenants are allowed back inside.

“We told them that (the insurance) was included in our rent before, and that our payment included it, and we asked them to do the same again,” the memo explained.

Another factor addressed in the communication was the work being done to “spruce up” booths.

“It was suggested that perhaps, we can get one person to paint so that we could negotiate a group price… reduced rate,” the communication read.

According to the memo, vendors will be mandated to ensure all existing products not on old contracts and all new products are requested in writing.

Furthermore, the products must be approved before being posted.

The memo continued: “As far as new products, (vendors must) ensure that they are Bahamian made.” “(Management) would like to visit your factories or ask that you provide photos of the items being made in your factory.

“We were also encouraged to use the Bahamian flag colours as much as possible.”

With respect to food being sold at the terminal, the memo implored tenants to use as much local fruits and Bahamian food as possible.

Dilly, soursop, mango and coconut were listed as options.

As for sanitation, the memo added: “Management said that the food and beverage area is not

as sanitary as it should be.

For those persons who use straw, we were encouraged to create solutions for the lack of availability of straw, and to negotiate group discounts at places where artisans buy supplies from.”

“Management has mentioned a seminar with the Port for tenants in October. More information will be given as soon as this is available,” it furthered.

The memo continued: “We went through the three page memo that was sent to Tenants recently so some of this will be a repeat.”

“IDs must be visible at all times.

“ID classes will now be held every Wednesday, instead of once a month.

“All persons holding an ID is going to be required to take the ID class again, effective immediately, for 2019 ID’s because of additional information... every Wednesday morning at 8am.

“Vetting will take two weeks before IDs are approved.

“Business licences must be displayed at all times. “(The new management unit is) working on directional signage and signs with operational hours.”

In its address of the terminals operational hours, the memo further indicated that the time would be up for discussion, with determination having to be made in the early weeks of September.

“If 8am is not a suitable opening time, we have to come up with a suitable time that will be displayed on these signs. Our deadline to inform them of what we want our operational hours to be advertised is this coming Friday, 7 September, 2018.”

This comes as a Bahamian investor group continues it push to make its “re-imagination” of Nassau’s cruise port and downtown a reality.

In a Tribune Business report last week, Gerald Strachan, founder, president and chief executive of Culture Village (Bahamas), in a statement said his group’s proposal for reviving both Prince George Wharf and the surrounding Downtown area would focus on development consistent with this country’s heritage.

His comments came in response to reports that the government plan to put Prince George Wharf’s management out to bid through a public tendering process might result in any request for proposal (RFP) seeking to copy Culture Village (Bahamas) ideas by mandating that all offers have a similar “Bahamianisation” flavour.

There has been no firm indication by the government publicly on whether it has selected a management company to date.

Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar could not be reached for comment up to press time.

The Tribune also reached out to Ms Price but she did not return calls for comment.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

SOME of the trader booths along the wharf at Festival Place.

PAGE 12, Monday, September 17, 2018

DR RODNEY SMITH, University of The Bahamas president.

THE TRIBUNE

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

University ‘needs $300m not $3m’

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net THE University of the Bahamas will need to dramatically ramp up funding in order to meet ambitious goals of building a premier tertiary institution, according to its president Dr Rodney Smith.

Dr Smith told reporters the institution was not satisfied with its current level of funding, pointing to its endowment fund at a “really tiny” $3m.

At last week’s “meet and greet”, he said the university would be comfortable if the fund grew to $300m.

Dr Smith explained the university had less than two years under its belt, and there were no tax incentives for donors in the United States or other countries.

“We are not satisfied with the funding level,” he said.

“To build a university that we’re talking about, the kinds of missions that we have, the kinds of goals that we have, requires a lot of money. Understanding that we’ve just transitioned to a University of The Bahamas less than two years now, and prior to that for about 40 years most people gave money for scholarships, cash donations etc, and that was because we were a quasi government organization.

“So we’re just getting folks accustomed to trying to help us to build an endowment. The endowment is what’s going to help the institution to grow.

So we need a lot of our corporate partners, individuals who give scholarship money, to really think seriously about giving an endowed scholarship fund which would go a longer way and give much more

benefit. Not only to students individually but also to the entire institution, so that’s what we’re asking folks to do.”

Dr Smith was expanding on a question about the university’s financial standing that was asked of UB’s finance vice president Ryan Antonio, who told media “it could be much better”.

Dr Smith said: “I think very, very big. Right now we’re about $3m in our endowment which is really tiny, tiny. I’d say we will be comfortable with $300m in our endowment. We are trying to get everyone to think in terms of get away from the cash donation for scholarship, try to think more of a named endowment scholarship fund that will continue to grow.

“If you want to create a scholarship in the memory of someone companies can come together and name.

Those are going to go a lot further, if they want to do a $100m endowed scholarship fund or $100,000 or whatever they can do that over a period of years and each year put that money into the account and let it grow.

“We need to be very creative about how we are going to grow the University of The Bahamas. We don’t have the kind of tax incentives as they do in the United States and other countries. So we have to really be reliant upon the goodness of individuals, not only our second home owners but also individuals, Bahamians who are committed, also the alumnus.

“It doesn’t matter what amount you give as long as you give something back.”

The university’s flagship fundraiser, the President’s Golf and Spa Day will be held on November 3.

TWO CHARGED AFTER DRUGS FOUND IN FOOD AT PRISON

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net TWO women were arraigned in Magistrate’s Court yesterday in connection with the discovery of a quantity of marijuana in a plate of food presented to the Bahamas Department of Corrections earlier this month.

Wendy Smith, 60, of Windsor Place and Chavon Johnson, 43, of Hutchinson Street, Bain Town, stood before Deputy Chief Magistrate Subsola Swain on charges of conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply and possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

According to police reports, shortly after 11am

on Thursday, September 6, officers conducted a routine search of two plates of food presented by Smith to the facility’s Property Intake Section.

The search resulted in the discovery of one ounce of marijuana, concealed at the bottom of one of the plates.

However, court dockets presented yesterday alleged the pair conspired together to possess the quantity of drugs.

The drugs have an estimated street value of $100.

The two entered not guilty pleas to the charges and were remanded to prison until October 29, when the pair will stand trial for the offences.

The women can apply to the Supreme Court for bail in the interim.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 17, 2018, PAGE 13

Robbery conviction quashed by court

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net THE Court of Appeal has quashed the 2015 armed robbery conviction of Deangelo Antonio due to “defects” identified by the appellate judges.

In their written ruling, Appellate Justice Jon Isaacs, along with Justices S. Maureen Crane-Scott and Roy Jones stated they were “left with a lurking doubt as to the safety of the appellant’s conviction”.

It follows a verbal ruling given on April 16, which set aside Antonio’s 20-year sentence and ordered a retrial.

Antonio had been convicted of the armed robbery of Shardener McPhee on October 13, 2014.

Ms McPhee had reportedly taken a taxi from her work to her home shortly after 9pm. She was standing outside the vehicle, paying the taxi driver, when a man approached with a hood over his face and grabbed her bag. Ms McPhee said she initially assumed it was one of her brothers and told the man to stop playing; however, during the struggle the hood fell from the man’s head and exposed his face.

The man then pulled out a firearm and held it to her face, demanding the bag, according to the ruling.

Ms McPhee reportedly saw the man’s face for about 15 seconds before he escaped with her bag.

She described the man as fair skinned, light brown, about 5’8” to 5’9”, with braided hair and missing teeth, the ruling continued.

Ms McPhee gave a statement to police and assisted in the drawing of a sketch the following day.

On December 18, Ms McPhee was shown a Rogue’s Gallery - a photo album depicting individuals, including Antonio - and she picked him out.

Following that exercise, the ruling read, Ms McPhee participated in an identification parade that included Antonio and seven other men - and she identified him.

It was added the men were requested to speak during the process and Ms McPhee positively identified Antonio by his voice.

The taxi driver did not see the armed robber during the incident because he was distracted, but reportedly heard his demand for Ms McPhee’s bag. The appellate judges noted it was surprising police did not conduct a voice identification parade for the taxi driver.

Antonio was convicted on July 21, 2015, and filed his appeal on August 13, 2015.

Antonio appealed his conviction and sentence on seven grounds, but abandoned the fourth ground - that his sentence was too severe - at the hearing of his appeal.

The other six were: “That the Learned trial judge erred in law in that he allowed inadmissible evidence to be wrongly admitted; That the Learned trial judge erred in law in

YOUR

allowing the trial to continue when the Appellant, who was unrepresented asked a witness a question which elicited an answer about the Appellant being picked out in a Rogue Gallery. This was prejudicial to the Appellant because it disclosed the fact that he was previously in police custody. The case should have been stopped and the jury discharged; That the verdict was unreasonable or could not be supported having regard to the evidence; In summing up to the jury, the Learned Judge failed to state the defense case fairly and made the comment that was highly prejudicial, unduly and negatively influencing the jury making the conviction unsafe and unsatisfactory; That under all the circumstances of the case the verdict is unsafe and unsatisfactory; and that the Judge erred in law in not allowing the Appellant to make a no case submission although he asked the Learned Judge to Make a No Case Submission.”

The appellate judges noted they only addressed the first two grounds in their judgment due to concerns it may prejudice the retrial.

On the first grounds, they wrote: “…we perceived as a flaw in the exercise carried out by the Police when they showed ‘rogues’ gallery‘ to Ms. McPhee just prior to her participation in the identification parade.

We did not enter into the issue of whether or not the make-up of the parade was of persons similar in description to the appellant because that was an issue of fact to be determined by the jury having heard the evidence of Ms. McPhee and Inspector Darrell Weir on the one hand, and the evidence of the appellant (Antonio) and his witness, Kim Wright, on the other.

They continued: “Inasmuch as Ms. McPhee claimed to know the appellant but also stated she may be able to identify the robber if seen again the Police were, in our view, right to conduct an identification parade to test Ms. McPhee’s ability to correctly identify the person she said she may be able to identify if seen again.

“Unfortunately, she was shown a ‘photo array’, the ‘rogues’ gallery’, which included a photograph of the appellant just before she was to undergo the test thereby negating the efficacy of the parade exercise. The limited utility of the exercise due to Ms. McPhee seeing the appellant’s picture in the photo array before she went on the parade was not brought to the attention of the jury by the Judge.”

Further to the second ground, they wrote: “Courts are at pains to prevent prejudicial material from being introduced during the trial of an accused person. It is unfortunate that an otherwise unexceptional proceeding has been upended by a totally avoidable error... that the photo array shown to Ms McPhee was referred to as a ‘rogues gallery’ …”

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PAGE 14, Monday, September 17, 2018

‘I THOUGHT KAVANAUGH MIGHT KILL ME’ WASHINGTON Associated Press

THE woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were in high school has come forward, alleging in an interview that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and covered her mouth when she tried to scream.

“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” Christine Blasey Ford told The Washington Post.

“He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”

Ford, now 51 and a clinical psychology professor, says she was able to get away after Kavanaugh’s friend jumped on top of them and everyone tumbled.

Kavanaugh, now 53 and a federal appeals judge in Washington, has denied the allegation.

“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time,” Kavanaugh said.

Top Senate Democrats immediately called for postponement of a Thursday vote on whether to recommend that the full Senate confirm Kavanaugh to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy on the nation’s highest court.

THE TRIBUNE

Death toll reaches 16 as Florence hits Carolinas WILMINGTON, North Carolina Associated Press CATASTROPHIC flooding from Florence spread across the Carolinas yesterday, with roads to Wilmington cut off by the deluge and muddy river water swamping entire neighborhoods miles inland. “The risk to life is rising with the angry waters,” Gov Roy Cooper declared as the storm’s death toll climbed to 16.

The storm continued to crawl westward, dumping more than 30 inches of rain in spots since Friday, and fears of historic flooding grew. Tens of thousands were ordered evacuated from communities along the state’s steadily rising rivers — with the Cape Fear, Little River, Lumber, Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers all projected to burst their banks.

In Wilmington, with roads leading in and out of the city underwater and streams still swelling upward, residents waited for hours outside stores and restaurants for basic necessities like water. Police guarded the door of one store, and only ten people were allowed inside at a time.

A MEMBER of the North Carolina Task Force urban search and rescue team wades through a flooded neighbourhood looking for residents who stayed behind as Florence continues to dump heavy rain in Fayetteville, North Carolina, yesterday.

Photo: David Goldman/AP Woody White, chairman of the board of commissioners of New Hanover County, said officials were planning for food and water to be flown into the coastal city of nearly 120,000 people.

“Our roads are flooded,” he said. “There is no access to Wilmington.”

About 70 miles away from the coast, residents near the Lumber River

stepped from their homes directly into boats floating in their front yards; river forecasts showed the scene could be repeated in towns as far as 250 miles inland as waters rise for days.

Downgraded overnight to a tropical depression, Florence was still massive.

Radar showed parts of the sprawling storm over six states, with North and South

Carolina in the bull’s-eye.

In North Carolina, fears of what could be the worst flooding in the state’s history led officials to order tens of thousands to evacuate, though it wasn’t clear how many had fled or even could. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brock Long, said officials were focused on finding people

and rescuing them.

The storm’s death toll climbed to 16 when a pickup truck ran into standing water in South Carolina and the driver lost control, hitting a tree, authorities said. Two other people also died in storm-related wrecks, and two more people died from inhaling carbon monoxide from a generator in their home.

‘TOO MUCH BLAME AROUND ON PUERTO RICO DEATHS’ WASHINGTON Associated Press THE Trump administration’s disaster relief chief said Sunday that “the numbers are all over the place” from studies on the death toll in Puerto Rico from last year’s Hurricane Maria, keeping the issue in focus after President Donald Trump questioned the widely accepted count.

“There’s just too much blame going around,” said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Brock Long, and “we need to be focused on what is Puerto Rico going to look like tomorrow”.

Trump tweeted this past week that “3000 people did not die” in Maria and that death count was inflated “by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible” by adding unrelated deaths to the toll from causes like old age.

Independent researchers at George Washington University estimated that 2,975 excess deaths were related to Maria in the

six months following the hurricane. Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosello, commissioned the study and accepted the death toll as the best available.

“I don’t know why the studies were done,” Long said. “In my opinion, what we’ve got to do is figure out why people die, from direct deaths, which is the wind, the water and the waves” and collapsed buildings, which probably was that initial tally.

“So the George Washington study looked at what happened six months after the fact. ... You might see more deaths indirectly occur as time goes on because people have heart attacks due to stress. They fall off their house trying to fix their roof. They die in car crashes because they, they went through an intersection where the stoplights weren’t working,” he said.

Long also cited “all kinds of studies on this that we take a look at. Spousal abuse goes through the roof.

You can’t blame spousal abuse, you know, after a disaster on anybody.”

64 DEAD AS TYPHOON HITS PHILIPPINES HONG KONG Associated Press

TYPHOON Mangkhut barreled into southern China yesterday, killing two people after lashing the Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left at least 64 dead and dozens more feared buried in a landslide.

More than 2.4 million people had been evacuated in southern China’s Guangdong province by yesteray evening and nearly 50,000 fishing boats were called back to port.

“Prepare for the worst,” Hong Kong Security Minister John Lee Ka-chiu urged residents.

In the Philippines, Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan said that at the height of the typhoon’s onslaught on Saturday, dozens of people, mostly miners and their families, rushed into an old three-story building in the village of Ucab.

The building — a former mining bunkhouse that had been transformed into a chapel — was obliterated when part of a mountain slope collapsed.

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THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 17, 2018, PAGE 15

SUICIDE SUSPECTED AS WOMAN’S BODY FOUND

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A MIDDLE-AGED social worker was discovered hanging at a residence in Freeport, Grand Bahama, on Saturday. While police have not yet released the victim’s identity, The Tribune understands that the deceased woman is Patrice Mack, a senior employee with the Department of Social Services. Her death is believed to be a suicide.

According to reports, police were called shortly after 6pm to a residence on Paraquay Court in the Malibu Reef Subdivision, where they discovered the lifeless body of a woman hanging in the house. The body transported by hearse to the morgue at the Rand Memorial Hospital, where an autopsy will be performed to determined the cause the death.

A colleague at Social Services was shocked to learn of her death.

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HURRICANE PREP 101 PUBLIC EDUCATION FORUM

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Saturday, September 22, 2018 Harry C. Moore Library Auditorium, University of The Bahamas

Trade Show: 1 – 5 p.m. || Information Session: 3 – 5 p.m.

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Activities for the kids!

Refreshments served.

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Email askus@bahamasfirst.com

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