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VOLUME:115 No.211, SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2018

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1

WOMAN: SHAUNAE’S SISTER STEPS OUT OF THE SHADOWS

Couple’s killer jailed 60 years

By DENISE MAYCOCK Hall, a 25-year-old father Tribune Freeport Reporter of two, aged two and five dmaycock@tribunemedia.net years, stood quietly and

showed no emotion as DEVAUGHN Hall was the judge delivered the sentenced to 60 years in sentences. prison yesterday for the On the counts one and murders of Deadman’s Reef two for the murders of Barry couple Barry and Sheena and Sheena Johnson, she Johnson who were shot to sentenced him to 60 years death during an armed robimprisonment bery at their on each count. home three On the third years ago. count of armed Supreme robbery, JusCourt Justice tice Evans Estelle Gray sentenced him Evans noted to 25 years that while imprisonment. the murders The senwere “horrific, tences callous and are to run cold-blooded” concurrently. she was not While satisfied the addressing circumstances MURDER victims Barry and the court, the of their deaths Sheena Johnson. judge said fall in the catthe Crown’s egory of the application for ‘worst of worst’ or ‘rarest of the imposition of the death the rare’, or so exceptional penalty was denied. for the imposition of the SEE PAGE FIVE death penalty.

CHIEF Magistrate Joyann Ferguson Pratt led tributes last night to Inspector Carlis Blatch during a memorial service for the slain former aide-de-camp to Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling.

Her tribute came a week after she presided over the arraignment of Timothy

Cole, a 48-year-old man charged in her court for the killing of Blatch.

“I am here this evening because I knew our brother Carlis,” she said. “In my capacity as chief magistrate I often interacted with him and it is so unfortunate that we have to wait for settings like this to honour professionals. Carlis was a man who did not just exist. He SEE PAGE TWO

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

A PRISON officer foiled an attempted robbery when he shot the suspect outside a banking establishment on Prince Charles Drive yesterday afternoon.

According to reports, a man was driving a suspected rental vehicle while a second man attempted to steal a “money bag” from a local security company worker as he approached the Royal Bank of Canada branch to make a deposit.

A Canine Unit from the Department of Corrections was parked nearby, and onlookers reportedly beckoned to the officers to assist.

As one suspect escaped into the bushes, his accomplice “sped off towards the officers”, according to Chief Superintendent Solomon Cash.

SEE PAGE THREE

CAT ISLAND AIRPORT’S FUTURE IN BALANCE

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net THE Minnis administration is reportedly at a “crossroads” over whether it will repair or permanently close the Arthur’s Town, Cat Island airport, Tourism and Aviation minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said yesterday.

Sky Bahamas announced it was immediately suspending flights to the island’s second airport over safety concerns with the runway.

The airline said it would be rerouting all of its scheduled flights into New Bight, Cat Island, adding the resumption of flights hinged on the completion of all repair work to the runway and apron.

MAGISTRATE IN CASE LEADS TRIBUTES TO SLAIN POLICEMAN

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ROBBER SHOT IN BOTCHED BANK RAID

DEVAUGHN Hall pictured outside court at a previous appearance.

Photo: Vandyke Hepburn

SEE PAGE SIX

VICTIM: I PRAY FOR LABOUR DAY DRIVER - IT WAS AN ACCIDENT

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net SIXTY-THREE-YEAROLD Anabel Gibson thought she would die after a truck mowed through a crowd on East Street during the Labour Day parade in June.

“I said to my sister,” she recalled yesterday, “when she came out and realized I had got hit, with the little breath I had I said: ‘Carrol, do you think I’m going to live or die?’ She said ‘no, no, you going to live to declare the glory of the Lord’.”

Ms Gibson has not

returned to work since the accident. She said on August 3rd a doctor instructed her to take another three months off.

Speaking to the press as the Public Hospital Authority kicked off “rehabilitation week”, a

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE SEVEN

FACE-TO-FACE:

GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND TO HELP PEOPLE HEAR AGAIN

SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

MOURNERS gathered at New Birth Deliverance Kingdom church to pay respects to Inspector Carlis Blatch.

MAGISTRATE IN CASE LEADS TRIBUTES TO SLAIN POLICEMAN from page one impacted every life that he met and I want to just pause and give God thanks for his life at a time when we have so many questions, may I submit to us that this is a good time just to say Lord I thank ya.”

Yesterday’s memorial ceremony, which lasted several hours, took place at New Birth Deliverance Kingdom off Soldier Road, Inspector Blatch’s former church.

The congregation was told that Inspector Blatch sang for two hours during his last appearance there.

A number of people paid tribute to him and the event was punctuated with praise and worship songs.

Mrs Ferguson-Pratt said: “I want to also, not only speak of his professionalism and his decorum. I don’t want to speak only of his character as a good policeman. I want to speak of his commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ and I challenge

any mister or mistress who could challenge when a man or woman has been blood bought.”

Noting she had to travel this morning, Mrs Ferguson-Pratt said: “I had to come to this place, grace this place and tell you that one Carlis Blatch, he made a mark. He was an officer and a gentleman to me and I’ve come here to extend my heartfelt condolence and to let you know that earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

Photos: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, September 25, 2018, PAGE 3

Robber shot in botched bank raid

from page one

The officers “discharged several rounds” at the driver, who was shot in the shoulder, according to witnesses at the scene.

The injured suspect was transported to the hospital by ambulance while the second is still at large.

The victim was unharmed during the incident and several deposit bags were recovered by officers at the scene.

“Shortly before 12 noon today, a local security company [was] making some deposits for several local business establishments throughout New Providence,” CSP Cash told reporters yesterday. “[He] arrived at Royal Bank, Prince Charles location. As he pulled near the bank, he was approached by an individual who came from a champagne coloured (Toyota) Passo vehicle which was parked right next to the bank.

CSP Cash said: “This individual approached him in a threatening manner (and) snatched all of the deposit bags from his person. In doing so, there was a Canine Unit from the Department of Corrections in the vicinity at the time of the incident.

“Concerned citizens beckoned to that vehicle, pointing out to them the suspected vehicle that both individuals got in that snatched the deposit bags.”

“The officers, they came from their department’s vehicles and they walked towards the vehicles where the suspected persons were in. As they did so, the driver of that vehicle sped off towards the officers,” CSP Cash continued.

“The officers, being in fear of their life, produced their service pistol and they discharged several rounds at the driver of that vehicle, subsequently shooting (that) suspect.

“We also were told that there was a second suspect who escaped from the vehicle and ran across Prince Charles and nearby bushes.”

CSP Cash could not confirm whether the suspects were armed, saying: “I was told that one individual had an object in his possession which resembled a firearm.”

According to Police Press Liaison Shanta Knowles, the suspect is in stable condition and “under heavy guard” in the hospital.

Following the incident, a series of videos were released on social media of the suspect as he hung out of the Toyota Passo with blood draining down his arm.

The man appears to be leaning on his bloodied forearm, which could be seen touching the ground while the rest of his body remained in the vehicle as an officer stood nearby.

Responding to rumours that there were three perpetrators, CSP Cash said he was told there was “only one” escapee.

These reports were corroborated by a security officer who witnessed the incident. He described the suspects as “two young men” who were armed and began shooting during their struggle with the victim.

The security officer told The Tribune that as the victim got out of his vehicle, “two men walked up to him, yucked the bag, pull out gun.

“That’s when they start shooting,” he added.

A second witness, identified as Mr Johnson, could not confirm whether the suspects had a gun. However, he told The Tribune the injured suspect was shot inside the car as he was trying to escape.

Noting the investigation is still in its early stages, CSP Cash could not say whether all the money was recovered nor how much it was.

CSP Cash also revealed the suspects were driving what appears to be a rental car with disguised licence plates.

“I want you all to take note so you can see how crafty these criminals are—here it is you have a vehicle that appears to be a private vehicle, with a private registration plate, but just beneath the private registration plate is SD plates,” CSP Cash said.

“So from that we suspect this vehicle may be a rental vehicle and they defaced it so it can look as if it’s a regular vehicle driving through the community.”

“But I would also want to say to members of the public and also persons in security business who have the task of making deposits for various businesses, to be cognizant of their surroundings.

CSP Cash said: “Always look about your surroundings, where you’re making these deposits. Because people could be around just lurking. So you need to be on your P’s and Q’s, as to any suspicious behaviour, any suspicious vehicles.

“But again, like I said earlier, chances are you may not have suspected this vehicle to be occupied by suspected criminals, given its appearance.”

HOSPITAL TEAM CELEBRATES REHABILITATION SERVICES

By RIEL MAJOR

THE Public Hospital Authority will put a spotlight on the efforts of rehabilitation professionals as it works to raise public awareness on the diverse nature of rehabilitative services this week.

Catherine Weech, managing director, spoke to the invaluable impact of rehabilitative services in the lives of Bahamians everyday at the opening ceremony for Rehabilitative Service Week yesterday.

“This is a service,” said Ms Weech, “that is truly encapsulated by your theme ‘your progress is our passion’. It highlights the nature and importance of the various disciplines of Rehabilitative Therapy and the incredible difference you make in the lives of Bahamians every day.

“Rehabilitation plays a critical role in achieving this objective by preventing and minimising the limitation such as mobility, cognition respiration, vision and communication.

“Rehabilitation has been found to be beneficial in reducing length of stay in hospitals and decreasing readmission, thus mitigating the negative social and health risk associated with prolonged hospitalisations,” Ms Weech said.

“I would encourage all of you in the rehabilitation profession to work closely with the University of The Bahamas to introduce the relevant allied health programmes into the curriculum over the coming years,” she added.

Rehabilitation services currently offered at Princess Margaret Hospital: physiotherapy, respiratory therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.

Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre offers occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and recreational therapy, while the Rand Memorial Hospital in Grand Bahama offers physiotherapy.

In 2010, the Bahamas Census recorded about 10,000 persons with disabilities living in The Bahamas.

There are currently 115 licensed rehab professionals, both in the public and private sector, serving a population of 400,000 and only 30 of these professionals work in the public healthcare system.

Heather Hanlan, PHA director of rehabilitation services, said: “The aging population and the increase in chronic non-communicable diseases within The Bahamas, more people are living longer and with disability.”

“This means in addition

to focusing our health services on reducing mortality we have to simultaneously ensure people get the best possible outcome after injury or illness. Rehabilitation is a key component in meeting the objective,” Ms Hanlan said.

POLICE examine a vehicle at the scene of yesterday’s robbery. Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff

PAGE 4, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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Hanging up on cell phone drivers ON Saturday, The Bahamas recorded its 56th traffic fatality for 2018, a heinous hit and run with the vehicle, reportedly a red Suzuki, speeding off, leaving the victim to die on the busy section of Tonique Williams Darling Highway.

In 2017, there were 1,204 hit and run accidents according to published Royal Bahamas Police Force statistics. That same year, 54 people died as a result of traffic accidents, a figure we have already surpassed this year with three more months to go before year-end. The number of pedestrians hit by vehicles, killed in crashes or mangled for life is far higher than it should be and the leading cause has been obvious for a long time distracted driving.

The government of The Bahamas has had enough. On Wednesday last week when the House of Assembly reconvened following the summer break, the Minister of Transport and Local Government tabled a bill amending the Road Traffic Act that would at last tackle the thorny distracted driving issue. It would ban cell phone texting and any talking unless the device is anchored in place through a Bluetooth connection or other speaker phone. We applaud the move and cannot overstate how important the anti-texting ban is.

According to the US National Safety Council, texting is nearly six times more likely to cause a crash than talking. Repeated testing has demonstrated that when driving it takes an average of five seconds to answer a text. Texting and travelling at a speed of 55mph, you would have gone a full football field before you could react. The same report cites distracted driving as the leading cause of the nearly 1.6 million accidents in the US annually with countries from the UK to Canada, Australia to India chiming in to declare distracted driving the greatest threat to road safety.

Cell phone use is not the only form of distraction. Eating, grooming and turning to speak to a child or someone in the back seat also divert attention but nothing is more dangerous and pervasive to bad behaviour behind the wheel than the smart devices to which we are all connected.

If we were truly honest with ourselves, we would confront our own addiction to them. We should ask ourselves if we have traded one kind of slavery for another, and if our ‘overlord’ is something we hold in our hands that puts our personal contacts, our need to

communicate and the wider world at our fingertips.

The bill that was tabled calls for fines of up to $1,000. It is not clear yet whether a driver can be stopped because he or she is texting, making it a primary cause, or whether it is a secondary offence, spotted by an officer who has stopped the vehicle for another reason like weaving in and out of a lane, indicating distraction or other driving impairment.

We know the former Minister of Transport Frankie Campbell had laid the groundwork for this. A police officer for 29 years who saw too much death and pulled too many mangled bodies out of cars, he declared road safety as his number one priority and wasted no time in creating two committees, one for youth and another for general road safety. He enlisted the expertise of an FIA director and motor sport pioneer David McLaughlin, a Brit with close ties to The Bahamas. We commend all who are involved in the resulting proposed legislative amendments and this important game-changer.

We also urge them to take the initiative further to wrestle the unwieldy jitney tactics that play out on the streets daily.

On a single roadway, perhaps 1,000 feet long, linking East Bay Street to Village Road, we have seen jitneys stop as often as three times to disgorge a single passenger at the northern end, blocking traffic in both directions, then again near the southern end to pick up someone and again 100 feet further south to pick up another individual. Jitneys are not taxis. They are not meant to stop wherever a prospective rider happens to be and to flag them down. Jitney drivers who fail to obey bus stop loading laws put others in danger and should be subjected to the same sorts of fines and penalties that distracted drivers will face under the new regimen when it becomes law.

It is time to get tough on traffic offenders, a crackdown that will make all people who travel the roads respect the law.

We Bahamians “will get use” to divorcing ourselves from our cell phones, just as we did when we learned authorities were serious about our need to wear seat belts. As the book said, Sweat the Small Stuff, and see the impact on the larger picture. The cell phone ban for drivers is an important entry into the ‘war on crime”.

Union threats EDITOR, The Tribune.

KINDLY allow me the opportunity to address recent comments in your newspaper attributed to Paul Maynard, President of the Bahamas Electrical Workers’ Union.

While I fully understand that Mr Maynard might take very seriously his duty to represent his union constituents to the best of his ability and to ensure fairness in the work place, I am certain that I am not the only Bahamian appalled by his threats to “shut the island down” and other similar antics.

His open and ever so frequent intimidations

against the Bahamian public are completely disrespectful.

Such bombastic behaviour is an affront to the long-suffering taxpayers and should be very closely scrutinised by the Management of BPL and the Government of The Bahamas to determine whether he is truly acting in the best interest of Company and Country.

Based on his hostile and venturesome outbursts, Mr Maynard should be reminded that, in his capacity as an employee of BPL, he is first and foremost a public servant to the people of this Bahamaland. We pay his

wages, as well as those of the people who support the BEWU via their dues.

Mr Maynard ought to serve his members, and Bahamians at large, with grace and humility; to ensure that taxpayers receive exemplary and most efficient service on a daily basis, whether in the field or in the office; and to set the example of what it truly means to be a Public Servant.

If he cannot, perhaps, as he says, he is at his end, and it is time for him to retire.

DNC Nassau, September 19, 2018.

UN entourage EDITOR, The Tribune.

I READ with astonishment the list of those persons comprising the Prime Minister’s delegation attending the UN meetings in New York.

Excluding the Prime Minister and his wife, no less than fifteen other individuals required to make up the Royal entourage, Fred Mitchell must be experiencing heart palpitations.

So much for fiscal responsibility, it is clearly the People’s Time, at least for some people.

IAN MABON Nassau, September 21, 2018

Think first on cruise port bid EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE recent announcement of Arawak Port Development’s (APD) partnership with other entities to submit a proposal to manage Prince George Wharf generated some negative discussion online and in print. Specifically, there seemed to be a very strong perception that APD is owned by a small group of Bahamians.

Although I didn’t purchase shares, I distinctly remember that APD offered shares of the company to the public through a $10m IPO in 2012, which was the largest in Bahamian history at the time.

This means that over 11,000 Bahamians – Bahamians – have a 20% equity stake in the business.

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net Few people think about the tens of millions of dollars that Nassau Container Port generates that go directly into the Public Treasury every year. By all accounts, APD is a profitable, stable, well-respected company that is managed and operated by Bahamians that we should be proud of.

Surely, this team is managing that port better than any government agency had been able to before APD was established. There are few local companies that have capability, international connections and local know-how to make Nassau Cruise Port the welcoming,

efficient, and celebrated gateway to our destination that it should be. This is the time to choose experience.

I encourage Bahamians to do their own research before jumping on the bandwagons of online trolls who spread misinformation and gossip with the aim of fulfilling their own agendas or pockets. Visit websites, read annual reports and talk to people in the business instead of believing everything people post online. Think critically and make informed decisions that are truly your own. We won’t make any progress – economically or otherwise - if we never change the way that “we” think.

TRUE BAHAMIAN Nassau, September 24, 2018

Call URCA to get BPL answers EDITOR, The Tribune.

QUESTIONS over BPL and URCA…Editor’s comment: We understand that BPL’s position is that in this case it is not obligated to consult with URCA as it is not adding additional generation, but merely replacing existing generation…Ed. If you were unbiased surely you should have asked your journalists to contact URCA. Call

URCA… I distinctly recall an URCA statement where they challenged BP&L they had not applied to them or as they are required put the case for their proposal.

Editor…So you think 80MW is the same as 275MW? The announced choice of Shell Americas certainly 1000% confirms that what Shell will put at Clifton is new generation…new fuel being used both issues which are covered by the

Electricity Act, 2015 and requires BP&L to put their case for additional new 275MW and use of a new fuel to The Bahamas which is not regulated at all - there are no safety regulations.

Editor call URCA - URCA regulates the utility provider BP&L…not BP&L controls URCA. JULIA MURPHY Nassau, September 19, 2018.

Irony of ironies EDITOR, The Tribune.

ON the very same day (September 19th, 2018) that it tabled a bill to borrow $35m at 4% interest in order to complete a $65m purchase of a

property valued at $57m (having agreed to forego $3.25m in stamp taxes and let the seller pocket the $80m insurance payout for Hurricane renovations, which the government will now

presumably cover with taxpayer money) the FNM tabled the “Fiscal Responsibility Act”.

ANDREW ALLEN Nassau, September 20, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, September 25, 2018, PAGE 5

Couple’s killer jailed 60 years from page one “The imposition of the death penalty in my opinion is not a proper sentence in the deaths of Barry and Sheena Johnson as they do not fall in the category of the most extreme or exceptional as horrific as they were …and the Crown’s application for the imposition of death penalty is denied,” she said.

“While it is no doubt in my mind that the convict’s act of committing these murders wreaks of cold bloodedness, callousness, and senselessness, given the authorities as I understand them, I am not able to say I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the circumstances to which the murders were committed put them in the category of worst of worst or rarest of rare or the most exceptional when compared to other murder cases.”

She noted that although it has been argued by the prosecution that one reason of imposing the death penalty was the convict had shown no remorse in the face of overwhelming evidence which was an indication that he cannot be reformed.

Justice Evans said she was not of the view that Hall could not be reformed.

“No one really knows when a person is capable of being reformed or where and when a person may come to a point of remorse over the period of time,” she said.

“In the word of Justice Dame Joan Sawyer of Court of Appeal where a life sentence was overturned and a determinant term was imposed, she said that all persons who appear before the court deserve an opportunity for redemption.

“Those are comments which I fully concur and respectfully adopt… and bearing in mind that the death penalty should only be imposed in those exceptional cases where there is no reasonable prospect of reform and the object of punishment would not be achieve by any other means, which in my judgment is not the case in this case,” She noted two lives of two productive citizens were snuffed out.

“While no one can know what was going through their minds, I believe it is reasonable to assume that at minimum that they (Barry and Sheena) were

DEVAUGHN Hall at court yesterday. terrified,” Justice Evans stated.

She noted the incident happened late at night in the sanctity of the Johnsons’ home where they ought to feel safe.

“There is no doubt in my mind after having had opportunity to view the recording of the incident and to hear the testimony of the accomplices, that it must have been a traumatising experience for the Johnsons held hostage at the mercy of four men, three of them armed with firearms,” she said.

Shirley Stubbs, the mother of Sheena, felt Hall should have received the death penalty.

“Justice is served, but I think he should get death for the killing my baby and he showed no remorse. It will not bring my child back, but I give God thanks and I will pray God will help give me closure,” said Mrs Stubbs, who said she could not sleep for several days.

Candy Johnson, the

sister-in-law of Barry Johnson, who also read a victim impact statement in court before the sentencing, said the family has closure.

“It won’t bring them back, but hopefully we have some closure. It’s been one year at trial and it has been rough for both mothers (of the deceased).

Ms Johnson said they can only visit the graveyard of their loved ones, but Hall still has life and that his family will be able visit him at Fox Hill Prison. She thanked Mrs Kemp and Mr Brathwaite.

“It is little piece of closure, but it is not what we wanted. The healing process has been very long and it has been three years since they were murdered. At least he is not on the street and he will be away for a while, and we thank God for that,” she said.

Hall was represented by Jethlyn Burrows. Prosecutors Erica Kemp and Neil Brathwaite appeared for the Crown.

CANDY JOHNSON, left, sister-in-law of Barry Johnson and Shirley Stubbs, the mother of Sheena Johnson, speak to the media after the 60-year imprisonment sentence of Devaughn Hall in the Supreme Court on Monday.

Photo: Denise Maycock/Tribune Staff

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

Photo: Vandyke Hepburn

PAGE 6, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

CAT Island - with the Arthur’s Town and New Bight airports marked.

Cat Island airport’s future in balance from page one Addressing the Sky Bahamas statement, Mr D’Aguilar told The Tribune the government was still weighing its options with the struggling property.

He pointed to a 2013 Christie administration report, which assessed the economic viability of all 28 Family Island airports and recommended the Arthur’s Town airport not be refurbished or repaired.

Mr D’Aguilar said the

report concluded the airport be permanently closed and the New Bight airport be operated as the primary airport for the island.

“The report pointed out that it would be best, financially, to upgrade the New Bight facility which is about 45 minutes away and use it to service the entire island,” he said.

“The report said it wasn’t worth doing the repairs (at Arthur’s Town) because, for one, its location and two, because of the lack of projects around it which warranted such a grand investment. It graded all 28 airports. Arthur’s Town was the least important because it lacked need.”

Mr D’Aguilar continued: “And so, the government hasn’t made a decision what to do, it is contemplating whether to take the advice of that report, fix the airport or explore if we can convert it into a fix based operation and have a private company take it over.

“But certainly, there isn’t sufficient funding to address the problems with the runway in this budget.

“There are just simply too many problems and not enough money.

“And given the priority of this government to focus on airports that will yield substantial investments, such as Exuma and North Eleuthera, it is truly hard to say.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, September 25, 2018, PAGE 7

Victim: I pray for Labour Day driver - it was an accident from page one celebration of professionals who help people recuperate from serious injuries and illnesses, she revealed that she has suffered a fractured hip, a fractured upper arm, a damaged urethra, ulnar nerve injury and a dislocated knee.

Despite all this, she sympathises with the driver of the Ford F150 truck, saying she hopes the young man can live a life without great feelings of guilt even as police weigh charges against him.

“Because of who I am, I am not angry,” she said.

“I pray everyday for the young man and I pray that he would be healed from this because I think he would’ve suffered as much trauma as those of us who have been in the accident.

He’s still young and he has his whole life ahead of him.

I pray daily that God would intervene and give him some comfort that he would look forward to day after day.

She continued: “It’s not easy because I’m a mother of three sons and God forbid I wouldn’t want anything like that to happen to them. And if it did I would want people to feel that same way about me.

This was an accident and it was real tragic. You don’t want to kill him, you don’t want to destroy him. It is a nightmare. I’ve suffered from nightmares myself so I can’t imagine what he went through as the person who was perhaps at the wheel.”

Ms Gibson recalled the moment the truck raced towards her, saying she blacked-out several times in the aftermath.

“I know the Lord and my faith was grounded and I

ANABEL Gibson speaking at the Public Hospitals Authority event yesterday. heard my name screamed out to be aware that a truck was coming down the hill or coming towards me,” she said.

“I looked over and saw that truck and the only thing I could do was take my hands, raise it towards the heavens and scream ‘Jesus!’ And after that for a minute or two I might have blacked, but I caught myself quickly. I had a sister there, I had a mother there, I had a daughter there, and all of them received injuries. They were not like me. They were able to be treated and go home. That day I told someone it made me feel like when Mary and Joseph were going pointto-point asking if they could get a room in the inn because at that time I was on the streets begging for help, asking people to move me, turn me over, sprinkle some water in my face so I could feel comfortable.

“I remember,” she said,

“these gentlemen came and put me on the stretcher.

They were running from ambulance to ambulance.

All they were hearing is ‘it’s full, it’s full’. I remember someone saying, who does that gray van belong to, they said Road Traffic. They said man get her in there. I remember them slithering me up on the side, saying move the chairs on the side there. I know nothing from that point until I got to the hospital. I don’t know if I fell off to sleep. I don’t know if I blacked out.

When I realised what was happening to me again, I remember hearing the talk over me again, breathe in, hold your breath, breathe out. I realised then I was in a CTC scan machine.”

Nonetheless, Ms Gibson insisted a distinction must be made between the actions of the driver of the vehicle and people who carry “guns, knives to stab and kill”.

“This didn’t happen in this case,” she said. “We say we’re a Christian nation. At the same time if a person does something, I guess they have to be made responsible for it so I could see responsibility coming.

There are lots of forms of responsibility for him. He’s very young…I don’t think he set out to do it.”

The four women who died during the accident were Dianne Elizabeth Ferguson, 55, Kathleen Augusta Fernander, 51, Tabitha Charlene Haye, 41, and Tami Patrice Gibson, 48.

The accident took place in the area of East Street and Shirley Street. In total, 24 people were injured.

The incident forced the end of the parade, the annual celebration of the achievements of workers in the country.

ATTENDEES as the Public Hospitals Authority opened its Rehabilitative week.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

PAGE 8, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

CHEF ACCUSED OF DEFRAUDING 15 PEOPLE OF $8,000 CASH

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

LATOYA Lesha Seymour. Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

Memorial Service For

Shaun Martin, 58 of Paradise Island will he held on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at New Way Native Baptis Church at 12:00 noon. Officaiting wiill be Pastor.

Richard Hanna.

Pre-cremation held.

THE TRIBUNE

was

He is survived by his Wife: Audra Brown-Martin; Children: Zico and Tye Martin; Adopted Son: Reginald King Jr.; Siblings: Carl, Bret, Lee, Victor, Kelly Martin and Kristie Jewitt; Mother-in-law: Irene Sturrup; 4 Brothers-in-Law: Clayton Brown, Kevin Brown, Shane Brown of Atlanta Georgia, Jarred Brown; 2 Sister-in-Law: Muriel Moxey and Cassandra Matthews.

A 44-YEAR-OLD female chef was sentenced to two years and two months in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to defrauding 15 people of over $8,000 in cash within the last month.

Latoya Lesha Seymour was sentenced by Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle-Davis concerning the $8,440 she fraudulently obtained from various

people between September 5 and 19. She was charged with 14 counts of fraud for her actions.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Nathan Bain, aka Jason Cartwright, Jamaal Bain and Jamaal Davis were each sentenced to one year in prison after pleading guilty to fraudulently obtaining cash, Bahamian passports, and National Insurance Board (NIB) smart cards from various individuals between June and September this year.

NATHAN Bain.

MINNIS HAILS BAHAMAS’ ROLE IN FIGHTING SA APARTHEID PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis flagged the country’s historic role in the fight against apartheid yesterday during his remarks at the United Nations’ Nelson Mandela Peace Summit in New York.

Speaking to world dignitaries, Dr Minnis said amid global wars, conflicts, violence, injustice, hunger and bitter hatreds, the world finds hope in the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of a noble soul – Nelson Mandela, whose witness to reconciliation and peace is an eternal wellspring for humanity.

In his reflection, the prime minister said the most enduring witness and testimony humankind can

offer, is the same manner of courage from a man of grace and nobility who was prepared to give his very life in the service of humanity.

“In 1985,” Dr Minnis said, “the Eighth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was held in The Bahamas, hosted by the late Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling, a leading figure in the struggle for equality and majority rule in The Bahamas.

“The Meeting produced the Commonwealth Agreement on South Africa, also known as the Nassau Accord.

The Nassau Accord pressed for the then government of South Africa

to enter into negotiations with the black majority to end apartheid.

“The Accord also called on South Africa to end the occupation of Namibia,” he continued.

“The struggle for peace and justice is universal.”

Dr Minnis went on to quote from a 2014 letter from Sir Arthur Foulkes to the students of The Bahamas on the attainment of majority rule and the second emancipation of The Bahamas in 1967.

“That event removed the last psychological shackles from the minds of many; it shattered false notions of superiority or inferiority; it created the foundation upon which to build a

society with opportunity for all; it unleashed the hitherto brutally-suppressed but powerful entrepreneurial instincts of a people…”

Sir Arthur’s letter continued: “It freed many Bahamians from the fear of one another because of differences of colour or ethnic origin.”

Dr Minnis added: “As we reflect on the centenary anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth, and the 70th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, the most enduring witness and testimony we may offer, is the manner of courage of a man of nobility and grace, who was prepared to give his very life in the service of humanity.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, September 25, 2018, PAGE 9

Going above and beyond to help people hear again THE Bahamas is a small country filled with incredible people and it never ceases to amaze me when I have the good fortune to meet one of them. In this case, it was a Bahamian woman who is a trailblazer in medicine and continues to work hard to improve the lives of Bahamians suffering from hearing issues.

Dr Kim Scriven led a team of local and international experts who worked together to conduct the first successful cochlear implant in The Bahamas.

The surgery was performed at Doctor’s Hospital on July 4, 2015, through a collaborative effort with world-renowned surgeon Dr Brian McKinnon.

Scriven was the coordinator carrying out intraoperative testing of the implant, and both were assisted by Drs Robert Ramsingh and Walter Gibson (ENT), Dr Sy Pierre (anaesthesiologist) and Ranjeeta Ambett (ENT specialist).

The fortunate patient was Wesley Paul, who was born with normal hearing but at the age of 31, suddenly lost his hearing. Paul learned about Dr Scriven’s hearLife Clinic and paid a visit with high hopes of returning to some sense of normalcy.

Some eight months later, thanks to the generosity of the clinic, Doctors Hospital and contributing surgeons and physicians, this young man became the first person in The Bahamas to receive a cochlear implant.

By partnering with one of the world’s leading manufacturers of implants, Med-El Electronics, she was able to bring world class treatment for specific types of hearing loss and offer the best possible solutions to individuals affected by hearing loss. Med-El Electronics, headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria, is a cutting edge, technologically superior company which manufactures implants that can be found in more than 100 countries around the world.

“It was such an awesome feeling, a feeling of accomplishment to know the vision that Dr Barry Rassin and I discussed 15 years ago, that I was able to bring that to fruition,” Kim said.

“It speaks volumes to his commitment and the commitment of Doctor’s Hospital in putting in place the necessary infrastructure in place to support such a programme. Beyond that, I thank Med-El, for believing in this little country - a mere dot on the map. We had the supporting facility and personnel here to represent their worldrenowned brand and hence establish the first clinic outside of the Americas and in the Caribbean. It is such a huge compliment and I feel honoured to have that privilege.”

She is the head of audiology and local operations at hearLife Clinic on Blake Road, which was the third of Med-El’s international subsidiaries to be established. Others are in Dubai, Canada and Italy. Her goal was to ensure the local office was provided access to cutting edge technology which was safe and affordable with world reknowned surgeons and highly trained staff. It is the only medical

Face to Face

By FELICITY DARVILLE

facility in The Bahamas to receive the ISO 9001:2008 certification, which signifies that it is operating according to the world’s most recognised standards for quality management.

“Our focus was and still is medical tourism,” she said.

“There are people in the Caribbean and other areas who need the cochlear implant and middle ear implant and they can come to The Bahamas to receive first class treatment, activation and care and then return to their country.”

Countless Bahamians have benefitted from Kim’s commitment to improve the hearing conditions of her fellow citizens. One of them, popular youth pastor Dave Burrows, recently found himself unable to hear out of one ear; he could only hear a piercingly loud ring due in part to tinnitus. Dr Scriven assisted him with an implant that has allowed him to continue ministering.

HearLife, now in its third year, has completed six successful implant surgeries and she aims to get to the point where her team can perform that number in a single year.

Through a partnership with the Rotary Club of East Nassau and the support of Michele Rassin, Kim leads a programme that provides free hearing aids along with free fitting and follow-up services to kids whose parents could not afford these much-needed devices.

“My decision to go into audiology came as a result of my exposure to what was necessary here in The Bahamas,” Kim shared.

She initially obtained a bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing science in 1984 from Middle Tennassee State University and returned to work for the Ministry of Education as a speech therapist.

“I realised that there was no one testing (her patients) and so I started providing that service at Princess Margaret Hospital for ENT doctors, but I was limited by not being able to give parents the results and the advice they needed,” she said.

“So I decided to go back and acquire all the knowledge I could so that I could be in a position to provide the kind of service our people needed in the area of audiology. It was a step in my life journey to be able to help those along the way who were not born with all their senses intact.”

Kim enrolled in the doctoral programme at the University of Florida where she earned the title of Doctor of Audiology (AuD) in 2012, all while providing services through her private practice and government clinics. Some

of the services included: annual hearing screenings for public and private schools and hospitals; diagnostic assessments for general population; annual screenings for EMS, airport personnel, armed forces (police and defence forces); hearing conservation programs for corporations and industries throughout The Bahamas; and hearing screenings for maritime students.

Soon after completing her doctorate, she was invited to join Med-El Electronics. Her mandate was to start up the first comprehensive otology and hearing implant clinic in The Bahamas for people with mild to profound hearing loss and congenital malformations which significantly impacts one’s ability to communicate.

This local pioneer in medicine also collaborated with one of the top manufacturers of hearing aids in the United States to introduce the latest technology in hearing aids used in the iPod, iPad and iPhone. She holds the ASHA certificate of clinical competence

which represents the highest level of excellence in the field of audiology (CCC-A). She is also a lifelong Fellow of the American Academy Audiology (AAA), which recognises her continuous dedication to learning and advancement.

She is a member of several scientific and professional associations including the American Academy of Audiology, the Health Professional Council as well as the Bahamas Speech Hearing and Language Association.

In November 2013, Kim received the Paul Harris Fellow Award from the Rotary Club of East Nassau for dedicated community service. She was nominated as one of the Leading Ladies by The Red Dress Soiree for her untiring efforts in the field of hearing services. This year, she is set to receive an award from her high school, St Augustine’s College for “Alumni Achievement in Medicine”.

Tonight, SAC’s Alumni association holds its

DR KIM SCRIVEN, top, and above left testing and advising Wesley Paul, the first patient receiving the cochlear implant. Pictured above is the surgery on Mr Paul. general meeting at St Fran- which she played in college years, was instrumental in cis Cathedral to finalise the and for the national team at the success of her establishLighthouse Awards and home. ment of hearLife, pushing Gala, set for November 24, The friendships she made her from the conception where Kim will receive her at SAC have also been a through the planning to the award along with 11 other bedrock in life, as there is a opening of its doors five honourees. group of about ten of who years later.

Her time at St Augus- have remained close and Kim, a divorced mothertine’s College, she says, is plan to do so “until death”. of-three, is putting that one that helped to shape She is also thankful for the same kind of energy into and carve her destiny as a support of other friends and her own children. Her son leader in medicine in The family who have pushed her Jamaal is a certified boat Bahamas. She graduated to achieve all she has. captain, working in the from SAC in 1980, taking Kim attributes much of United States as a third with her the most outstand- her success to her “pillars mate on an oil tanker. ing athlete award. She was of strength” in life – her Her daughters are both an all-around athlete, par- parents. She was born in in university - Nia is in a ticipating in basketball, Nassau to Joseph and pre-med programme with softball, volleyball, track Sheila Johnson. aspirations of becoming a and field.

Her mother, who once surgeon, while Taja is stud“I ran with Maryann worked as a switchboard ying engineering.

Higgs and Oralee Fowler operator, retired early to “When you have a pasand we were an awesome become a homemaker and sion for something, for me team,” she said. put all her efforts into rais- its about service and pro“We could have been the ing Kim and her siblings. viding the best care you golden girls but back then, She did an “excellent job” can,” Kim said. track and field is not what it and it is because of this “You don’t look for accois today.” focus, Kim believes, that lades, but persons realise In any event, she was she was able to continue in when you go above and able to secure a scholar- her academic pursuits even beyond to make sure their ship to Middle Tennessee through “difficult times”. quality of life is the best it through the school, and Her father, who worked can be while they are here continued in volleyball, at Premier Imports for 50 on earth.”

DR KIM SCRIVEN, her parents Joseph and Sheila Johnson, and her sisters Tiffany and Lavelle Johnson.

SHARON CLARKE, speech language pathologist, Dr Kim Scriven, head of hearLIFE Clinic, and Vandessa Astwood, office manager proudly holding the office’s ISO certification.

PAGE 10, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Disney urged not to kill Eleuthera ‘golden goose’

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net ONE Eleuthera Foundation (OEF) CEO Shaun Ingraham characterised Disney’s proposal for Lighthouse Point as “killing the golden goose” as he defended the non-governmental organisation’s proposal for “responsible development”.

Mr Ingraham insisted the “high-volume high impact project” would defile the privately-owned 700-acre peninsula located at the southern tip of Eleuthera, adding there was a “commonsense feeling” that private cruise tourism was not a good economic deal for the country.

“Hear us out and resist the urge to assume that allowing a seventh-private cruise port to be built in The Bahamas is a good thing simply because it’s Disney,” Mr Ingraham said.

“I think we all know, or at least have a commonsense feeling, that the private cruise port model of tourism is not a good economic deal for The Bahamas.

“Their core business model is to capture and keep all revenue from the private port and to limit passengers’ ability to spend elsewhere.

“Our core business model is to empower Bahamians not only through employment but also through real ownership interests and opportunities for growth and advancement.”

The OEF statement comes as Disney Cruise Line president Jeff Vahle stressed the

THE VIEW at Lighthouse Point. mega-operator’s plan will only develop 20 percent of the property, with 270 acres set aside for conservation and preservation.

In an op-ed for The Tribune, Mr Vahle said Disney’s plan would create up to 150 permanent jobs for Bahamians, adding guests were expected in port three to five days a week year-round.

In a press release over the weekend, the OEF noted the organisation’s longstanding push to improve the economic viability of Eleuthera has

Photo: Barefoot Marketing been mischaracterised by the press.

It further claimed recent media reports have created the perception it is exclusively working to block Disney Cruise Line’s acquisition of Lighthouse Point, calling such statements “contrary” to its true purpose.

Mr. Ingraham said: “If you read the papers lately, where we’re simply lumped in with ‘the environmental groups’, you are liable to get the incorrect impression One Eleuthera simply wants to protect the area

from Disney and call it a day.

“I cannot state strongly enough that we are not attempting in any way to stifle economic growth. On the contrary, our plan for responsible development around Lighthouse Point and the creation of 190 fulltime jobs leverages the area’s unique beauty because it is the golden goose.

“It makes no sense to defile the area with a highvolume high impact project; that would be killing the golden goose.

“Protecting Lighthouse

Point happens to be the right thing to do.”

Mr Ingraham insisted the organisation was “unequivocally formed” in view of creating jobs and an economy to support them.

“We recognise Eleuthera has a real and tangible opportunity to build an economy based on our unique and rich cultural and heritage assets, and we have a proven track record of substantial financial investment and job creation,” he said.

“One of our core initiatives, the Centre for

Training and Innovation (CTI), is aimed at better preparing our youth for the job market. We did not simply ignore or overlook the fact that in 2015 roughly 70 per cent of our high school graduates in Eleuthera failed to meet the requirements to graduate with a diploma.

“We rolled up our sleeves and did something about it.

“Today, CTI offers professional development courses and certificates in areas of business, construction and hospitality.

“We are currently developing additional courses.

It’s not good enough to create menial jobs for our youth with little opportunity for growth and advancement. We’re not doing anyone any favours trying to develop an economy tailored to untrained workers.

“Instead, we want to create careers and growth opportunities that will break down the cycle of poverty we see far too much of,” the release added.

OEF said to date, it has invested nearly 20 million dollars in various job-oriented projects and the fruits of those efforts are apparent throughout the island.

The release noted that the OEF is in the process of setting up a development fund to be made available to local entrepreneurs.

“We’ve also incubated a credit union to assist in small business creation,” the statement read.

“We want the people of Eleuthera to have the opportunity to take on ownership and entrepreneurial responsibilities within our special economy.”

FNM TO BREAK RULE ON CONVENTION

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE its constitutional rule mandating conventions be held every two years, the Free National Movement will not convene a session until mid-2019.

Free National Movement Chairman Carl Culmer confirmed this yesterday, adding the approval to put on the party event is controlled by the Central Council.

According to the party’s constitution a convention “shall be held at least once in every two years at such time and place as the Central Council shall appoint”.

The last convention was in July 2016.

Asked if there was any particular reason why the party was waiting until 2019, in contravention of its constitution, Mr Culmer said: “Where are we not adhering to it? You say we aren’t adhering, I disagree with you.

“But the council has the ultimate power outside the convention and they can say whether we have a convention or not and give a reason to the council why or why not or why bring it forth.

“The council felt that next year would be a better year.”

At such time, he said all posts from the leader to the chaplain will be up for challenge, adding: “The FNM don’t hide nothing, everything is out in the open.

When we have a convention every position that supposed to be voted on will be available.”

At the end of the FNM’s three-day convention in July 2016, then-Opposition leader now Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis survived the second attempt in two years to thwart his leadership.

He emerged successful after former MP Loretta Butler-Turner and Dr Duane Sands withdrew from the leadership race early ahead of the ballot count, citing failures in the

delegate selection process and other perceived slights.

Dr Minnis delivered a sometimes self-deprecating speech in which he said he has offered significant concessions to Mrs ButlerTurner and Dr Sands.

“Tonight we offer the olive branch once again to our sister Loretta Butler Tuner, who I’m certain will be our candidate in Long Island with my full support,” Dr Minnis said at the time.

“We have undergone a lot over the last few years,” he added. “Our internal politics have been made bare for all the world to see and it’s not been pretty, but through it all we have maintained our integrity and focused on the points that unite us.”

Dr Minnis’s words to Mrs Butler-Turner drew a fair, if tepid response from the crowd.

Regarding Dr Sands, he said: “My medical colleague and political colleague, we work close together in the hospital and I must say that on many occasions when I ran into surgical difficulties in areas that are outside my domain, Sands was there for me.

Dr Minnis continued: “Each of these worthy leaders are qualified and possess the experience to rescue this nation and to contribute mightily to its future success. It is our hope that they will accept our offer to continue being a valuable part of this leadership team.

We have made significant offers to both to demonstrate our commitment to them and we earnestly hope they accept.”

In December, less than five months after the convention, Mrs Butler Turner and six other Members of Parliament submitted a letter of no confidence in Dr Minnis, adding they voted to be led by the former Long Island MP. These attempts proved unsuccessful to keep Dr Minnis from elevation to prime minister of the country in the May 2017 general election.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, September 25, 2018, PAGE 11

Talks with physicians after demonstration outside hospital

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net DISCUSSIONS are underway between the Public Hospital Authority and junior physicians following last week’s demonstration outside of the Princess Margaret Hospital, according to managing director Catherine Weech.

Mrs Weech said officials met with junior doctors yesterday as a part of efforts to bring them to the table and address their concerns.

She spoke with reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for PHA’s Rehabilitative Service Week.

While she didn’t reveal any details, Mrs Weech underscored the meeting was cordial, collaborative and engaging.

She insisted the governing body remained focused on addressing all issues moving forward.

When asked if the PHA’s financial standing would limit the organisation’s ability to ease tensions with the various unions, the managing director admitted she was unsure how the process would play out.

Mrs Weech told reporters her handling of the crisis involved working with the various practitioners to present PHA’s position, while allowing the policy makers to guide both sides accordingly.

She added: “I hope that

ONE of the protests outside Princess Margaret Hospital last week. we would all see the value in coming to the table because I believe that they understand that they are valuable to our healthcare delivery system and that whatever progress that we make, we must make as a team.”

Last Wednesday, the Bahamas Doctors Union staged a walk-out at Princess Margaret Hospital.

The sources of contention included the PHA’s refusal to honour maternity benefits, overtime pay, holiday pay, work duration

agreements, licensing and registration protocols and address several longstanding adverse working conditions.

The BDU was supported by nurses union President Amancha Williams. The PHA is also facing strike threats from its nurses.

The following day, the Consultant Physicians Staff Association (CPSA) members temporarily vacated their posts to stand in solidarity with the BDU and BNU.

Photo: Riel Major Earlier this month, CPSA President Dr Locksley Munroe revealed his union was seeking a strike certificate after failing to finalise an industrial agreement with the PHA despite more than two years of negotiations.

Mrs Weech addressed the status of negotiations with each of these organizations on Friday.

Regarding the BDU, she said the PHA is “of the opinion that there are no outstanding matters related

to maternity benefits”.

She added the PHA met with the incoming Board on August 24th, and discussed maternity benefits, holiday pay, and length of time given on new contracts with junior doctors.

Mrs Weech also said the PHA extended an invitation to the BDU for a follow-up meeting to discuss any further matters of concern, noting the offer still stands.

She noted the PHA has negotiated with the CPSA

over the past nine months and has “agreed to all the non-financial articles with that Association”.

The PHA Managing Director added financial terms are currently being negotiated, with the last meeting held on July 6th.

According to Mrs Weech, “conflicting schedules” have caused the deferment of the last agreed meeting date.

There was no indication

by Mrs Weech yesterday if or when talks will continue.

MINISTER ELECTED TO PRESIDENT ROLE FOR PAHO MEETING MINISTER of Health Dr Duane Sands has been elected as president for the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) 56th Directing Council.

Dr Sands will preside over the council meeting, which runs until September 27, where ministries of health from throughout the region will discuss plans

to reduce the shortage in health personnel, lower the number of deaths from cervical cancer, and improve the health of women, children and adolescents.

Dr Sands thanked the council for the “distinguished honour of representing The Bahamas as president” and expressed his hope that

“the meeting will be useful in enabling countries to share experiences and gain consensus”. He also highlighted the importance of continuing work towards

achieving universal health by 2030.

Dr Sands succeeds Octavio Sanchez Midence, Minister of Health of Honduras.

PAGE 12, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

PROSECUTOR: JAIL COSBY FOR UP TO TEN YEARS NORRISTOWN, Pa Associated Press

DECLARING Bill Cosby doesn’t deserve a free pass because of his advanced age, prosecutors yesterday asked a judge to sentence the comedian to five to ten years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, while the defense argued that he is too old and helpless to do time behind bars.

“What does an 81-yearold man do in prison?” defense attorney Joseph Green asked on Day 1 of the sentencing hearing for Cosby, who is legally blind and dependent on others.

“How does he fight off the people who are trying to extort him, or walk to the mess hall?”

Green suggested that Cosby instead receive something akin to house arrest.

Judge Steven O’Neill is expected to sentence Cosby today.

ROSENSTEIN TO FACE TRUMP WITH JOB IN BALANCE

THE TRIBUNE

Republicans fight to save Kavanaugh nomination WASHINGTON Associated Press REPUBLICANS thundered into an all-out campaign to save Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination yesterday as a second woman accused him of a long-ago sexual assault. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell accused Democrats of a “smear campaign,” Kavanaugh himself complained of “smears, pure and simple” and President Donald Trump dismissed allegations against his nominee as “totally political”.

McConnell said the Senate would vote soon on confirmation of the 53-year old appellate court judge.

Kavanaugh wrote to leaders of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, “I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from the process. ... The coordinated effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out.”

Minutes later, McConnell angrily declared on the Senate floor that Democrats

have thrown “all the mud they could manufacture” at Kavanaugh.

He said a hearing on Kavanaugh’s first accuser’s claims would occur as scheduled Thursday and the full Senate would vote on his nomination shortly thereafter, though he did not set a date.

Hours earlier, Trump led the defense of his embattled nominee against the latest allegation of sexual misconduct, calling the accusations against him “totally political”.

The combative tone by Kavanaugh and his GOP supporters came a day after a second allegation emerged. That accusation, in a report by The New Yorker magazine, pushed the White House and Senate Republicans onto the defensive and fueled calls from Democrats for further investigation.

Sen Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called for the “immediate postponement”

of any further action on Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Trump, at the United Nations for his second General Assembly meeting, called the allegations unfair and unsubstantiated, made by accusers who come “out of the woodwork’.

He also questioned the political motivations of the attorneys representing the women, saying “you should look into the lawyers doing the representation”.

On Kavanaugh, Trump stressed: “I am with him all the way.”

The new accusation landed late Sunday in a report from The New Yorker, just a few hours after negotiators had reached an agreement to hold an extraordinary public hearing Thursday for Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses him of sexually assaulting her at a party when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh denies the accusation.

Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway told CBS that the accusations

against Kavanaugh sound like “a vast left-wing conspiracy”, using rhetoric that echoed Hillary Clinton’s 1998 description of allegations that her husband, President Bill Clinton, had had affairs.

Trump is suggesting the timing of the New Yorker article is further evidence of what he has been saying privately for days: that the Democrats and media are conspiring to undermine his pick.

The second claim against Kavanaugh dates to the 1983-84 academic year, which was his first at Yale University. Deborah Ramirez described the incident after being contacted by The New Yorker magazine. She recalled that Kavanaugh exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee said they would investigate Ramirez’s accusation. Taylor

Foy, a spokesman, complained that Democrats had “actively withheld information” from the Republicans until now.

The New Yorker said the allegation came to the attention of Democratic senators through a civil rights lawyer.

Ramirez was reluctant at first to speak publicly “partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident”, The New Yorker reported.

After “six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections” to speak publicly, the report said.

Joining the maelstrom, Michael Avenatti, the attorney representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in her legal fight with Trump, claimed to represent a woman with information about high school-era parties attended by Kavanaugh and urged the Senate to investigate.

WASHINGTON Associated Press THE White House delayed until at least Thursday a decision on the fate of Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department official overseeing the Trump-Russia investigation, following chaotic hours of breathless and sometimes conflicting reports anticipating his imminent departure.

His future hanging in the balance over revelations that he had discussed possibly secretly recording the president, Rosenstein expected to be fired as he headed for the White House yesterday for what was later described as a prescheduled meeting.

Instead, the White House said that Rosenstein and Trump would meet on Thursday after the president’s return to Washington, suggesting the deputy attorney general may be in his job for at least several more days. The meeting is set for the same day as an extraordinary Senate committee hearing that is to feature Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school.

OFFICER WHO SHOT BLACK NEIGHBOUR FIRED DALLAS Associated Press A WHITE Dallas police officer who fatally shot her black neighbour inside his own apartment was fired yesterday, the same day the man was being buried in his Caribbean homeland.

Police Chief U Renee Hall dismissed Officer Amber Guyger during a hearing yesterday, according to a statement posted on Twitter. Guyger is charged with manslaughter in the Sept 6 shooting that left 26-yearold Botham Jean dead, and she was fired because of her arrest, according to Dallas police.

Court records show Guyger said she thought she had encountered a burglar inside her own home.

She turned herself in three days later, and is currently out on bond.

A statement from police said an internal investigation concluded that on Sept. 9, Guyger “engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for Manslaughter”.

One of the family’s attorneys, Lee Merritt, said Jean was being buried Monday in St Lucia.

There are conflicting narratives over what led up to the shooting.

DAVID Covington jumps from a porch railing to his canoe along with Maura Walbourne and her sister Katie Walborne in Conway, South Carolina, on. The three paddled a canoe to Covington’s home on Long Avenue on Sunday to find it flooded and the floor boards floating.

Photo: Jason Lee/The Sun News via AP

TEN DAYS AFTER HURRICANE, FRESH CHAOS IN SOUTH CAROLINA YAUHANNAH, South Carolina Associated Press MORE than a week ago, pastor Willie Lowrimore and some of his congregants stacked sandbags around their South Carolina church to protect it from the fury of Hurricane Florence.

They moved the pews to higher ground and watched anxiously for days as the nearly black, reeking water from the swollen Waccamaw River rose, even though the hurricane was long gone. Finally, before dawn yesterday, the water seeped around and over the sandbags, flooding the sanctuary.

“I’m going to go one day at a time,” Lowrimore

said as he sat in a rocking chair listening to the river rush by, ruining the church he built almost 20 years ago. “Put it in the Lord’s hands. My hands aren’t big enough.”

Ten days after Florence came ashore, the storm caused fresh chaos Monday in Yauhannah and elsewhere across South Carolina, where rivers kept rising and thousands more people were told to be ready to evacuate.

Authorities urged up to 8,000 people in Georgetown County, on the South Carolina coast, to be prepared to flee from potential flood zones. A “record event” of up to 10 feet (3 meters) of flooding was expected to begin Tuesday

near parts of the Pee Dee and Waccamaw rivers, county spokeswoman Jackie Broach-Akers said.

Places along the waterfront in Georgetown were predicted to flood for the first time since record keeping began before the American Revolution.

“We are still getting phone calls from people who don’t know what is going on,” said Georgetown County emergency management director Sam Hodge.

In North Carolina, where Florence made landfall, Gov. Roy Cooper said the state was moving from an emergency response mode to full-time recovery from the storm. “Florence is gone, but the storm’s devastation is still with us,” Cooper said.

About 400 roads across the state remained closed due to the storm that has claimed at least 46 lives since slamming into the coast on September 14.

But there was some good news: Interstate 95 was reopened to all traffic Sunday night for the first time since the floods, and Cooper announced Monday that a previously closed portion of Interstate 40 had reopened sooner than expected.

Power outages and the number of people in shelters were also declining.

Around 5,000 people were without power, down from a peak of about 800,000.

About 2,200 people were in shelters, compared with a high of around 20,000, the governor said.

On Monday, Republican education leaders in North Carolina announced planned legislation to assure teachers at still-shuttered schools they will get paid without using vacation time. The proposal was part of broader disaster funding that the General Assembly will consider in an anticipated special session.

The full impact of Hurricane Florence on North Carolina’s public high schools and grade schools was still unclear.

North Carolina Public Schools spokesman Drew Elliot said the unofficial estimate was that 1.2 million of more than 1.5 million public school students in the state missed classes because of the storm.

TRUMP SAYS NO TO PUERTO RICO STATEHOOD BECAUSE OF MAYOR FEUD WASHINGTON Associated Press

PRESIDENT Donald Trump yesterday declared himself an “absolute no” on statehood for Puerto Rico as long as critics such as San Juan’s mayor remain in office, the latest broadside in his feud with members of the US territory’s leadership.

Trump lobbed fresh broadsides at San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a critic of his administration’s response to

hurricanes on the island last year, during a radio interview with Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera that aired yesterday.

“With the mayor of San Juan as bad as she is and as incompetent as she is, Puerto Rico shouldn’t be talking about statehood until they get some people that really know what they’re doing,” Trump said in an interview with Rivera’s show on Cleveland’s WTAM radio.

Trump said that when “you have good

leadership”, statehood for Puerto Rico could be “something they talk about.

With people like that involved in Puerto Rico, I would be an absolute no”.

Gov Ricardo Rossello, an advocate of statehood for the island, said Trump’s remarks had trivialised the statehood process because of political differences.

“The president said he is not in favor of statehood for the people of Puerto Rico based on a personal feud with a local mayor. This is an insensitive, disrespectful

comment to over three million Americans who live in the US territory of Puerto Rico,” Rossello said.

He also questioned how the president of the United States could be at the UN General Assembly promoting democracy around the world while “in his own home there is the oldest and most populated colonial system in the world”.

Cruz responded on Twitter: “Trump is again accusing me of telling the truth. Now he says there will be no statehood because of me.”

Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico’s non-voting representative in Congress, tweeted: “Equality 4 Puerto Ricans shouldn’t be held up by one bad mayor who’s leaving office in 2020 & do not represent the people who voted twice for statehood.”

Trump’s position on statehood for the island puts him at odds with the Republican Party’s 2016 platform during its national convention, in which it declared support for Puerto Rican statehood.

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DR Wendy Stuart welcoming participants during one of the Walk to Wendy events and, below, as pictured in a tribute post online.

Tributes paid as Dr Wendy Stuart dies

By RIEL MAJOR AFTER fighting with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) for more than eight years, beloved former dentist Dr Wendy Stuart passed away on Saturday night.

Dr Stuart, mother-of-two and the daughter of the late Bahamian singer Wendell Stuart, was diagnosed in 2009 after she began experiencing issues controlling her motor skills.

ALS is an incurable and rare progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord.

At the time, doctors gave Dr Stuart two years to live.

She died at the age of 52.

In a 2015 interview with The Tribune, Dr Stuart characterised the debilitating and incurable illness that severely affected her independence and quality of life, as “spilt milk”.

At the time she was about to lose her insurance coverage and loved ones were racing against the clock to raise funds to continue her constant medical care.

Their efforts led to the creation of the popular walk-a-thon ‘Walk to Wendy’, organised by the New Providence Community Church along with her colleagues and friends.

“You know how they say you don’t pass anything until you die,” she said in 2015, speaking in short bursts, timed with her breathing to compensate for a tracheostomy tube in her neck.

“Right before I had this diagnosis, I had a physical and I was in perfect health.

No cholesterol, no diabetes, no heart problems and then this happened. I thought I was living healthy by eating right and exercising and doing everything right and then this happens. So you don’t know, life is funny, it happens when you’re having a good time, life just happens.”

Dr Stuart is survived by her sons Whitney Thomas and Corey Maximus, and her mother Marjorie Stuart.

Despite the lack of a formal support system for patients with the disease, Dr Stuart in 2015 said she was extremely grateful for her doctor Kevin Moss, her primary physician, and Cyprian Strachan, whom her mother referred to as an adopted brother. She also thanked members at St Gregory’s Anglican Church and New Providence Community Church, the Dental Council and the Dental Association, and her best friend Kathy Johnston, who has remained by her side for more than 15 years.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Ms Johnston wrote: “Feeling the loss of an incredible friend and counsellor...Wendy Stuart.

Know you are in a better place but I will miss you so much.

“Great fight girlfriend! I met you the year I arrived in this beautiful country and we had so many great times together. I love you Wendy!. RIP.” Over the weekend, tributes were posted to the Parish of St Gregory The Great’s Facebook page expressing sorrow and great appreciation for the late dentist.