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VOLUME:116 No.197, OCTOBER 7TH, 2019
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‘We’ll see you in court over land’
CURFEW CALL A ‘KNEE-JERK REACTION’ SAYS DAVIS
Shanty town move branded as xenophobic By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net RIGHTS Bahamas said yesterday it would not relent in taking legal action over the government’s decision to compulsorily acquire shanty town land, branding the move “xenophobic and petty”. The local human rights watchdog said if this means fighting tooth and nail throughout the courts and up to the Privy Council to prevent a “terrible abuse of power,” then it was fully prepared to do so. Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis
By TANEKA THOMPSON Tribune News Editor tmthompson@tribunemedia.net
announced in Parliament last week that he directed Attorney General Carl Bethel to begin the process towards taking over the land where unregulated migrant communities once stood. However, doing so is expected to be a lengthy process, according to Mr Bethel yesterday who confirmed that many things had to be done before a notice of intent for acquisition is issued. “Matters are sort of in abeyance because of the condition of Mr (Fred) Smith,” Mr Bethel told The Tribune yesterday. SEE PAGE FIVE
MIGRANTS TOLD TO STAY AWAY BECAUSE OF DISEASE FEARS By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net AMID clean-up efforts in storm ravaged Abaco, health and safety concerns remain prevalent and serious, according to the island’s hurricane relief and redevelopment coordinator, Algernon Cargill yesterday.
Mr Cargill expressed fears undocumented migrants living in poor conditions could spread communicable diseases, saying it is for this reason the push remains strong to discourage people from returning to the island or staying there at this time. SEE PAGE FIVE
HAITIAN migrants displaced from their homes in Abaco destroyed by Hurricane Dorian wait to get on a bus to receive aid from humanitarian organisations in Nassau yesterday. Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP
WHAT CAUSED POISONING OF 49 STUDENTS ON BUS JOURNEY? By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
TWO Central Andros High School students remain at the Princess Margaret Hospital for further monitoring following suspected carbon monoxide poisoning on a school bus Friday.
According to the Ministry of Health yesterday, the remaining 47 students, the bus driver and parents/ guardians have returned to Fresh Creek, Andros. The Tribune was told yesterday that the Ministry of Education has launched a separate investigation into this situation. On Friday morning,
the group fell ill and was treated at the Fresh Creek Andros Clinic. Several of them went in an out of consciousness and experienced confusion, chest pain, shortness of breath and dizziness – symptoms typical of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
SEE PAGE EIGHT
PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis has called Cabinet’s consideration of a possible curfew for Abaco in response to security concerns a “knee-jerk” reaction. Mr Davis, who will travel to Abaco today, said the nation’s leader should think carefully before restricting civil liberties and must canvass Abaco residents before a decision is made. “The call for a curfew in Abaco by the prime minister seems like a knee-jerk reaction and as usual the prime minister’s sudden concern for security shows once again that he is late to the table. “For weeks since the storm passed, the PLP has warned the prime minister about the security situation,” Mr Davis said in a statement. “The prime minister buried his head in the sand. The communities of the Abaco cays and Marsh Harbour cried out for help. The prime minister ignored them. “We told the prime minister how the marines and police officers sent there were being ill-treated and SEE PAGE THREE
Insight FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CRISIS CANNOT BE FOUGHT BY GOVT ALONE
SEE PAGE NINE
PAGE 2, Monday, October 7, 2019
THE TRIBUNE PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis takes a turn at stirring food during his visit to the World Central Kitchen operation yesterday.
PM joins kitchen to see feeding operation PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis visited the World Central Kitchen feeding centre in Freeport yesterday before heading to East End, Grand Bahama to assess recovery and reconstruction efforts. The feeding centre provides three hot meals per day to storm victims. Nutritionists are on hand to ensure that meals are healthy and balanced. Dr Minnis also took the time to help with preparations and ate breakfast at the centre.
WCK, headed by internationally renowned chef Jose Andrés, is serving 20,000 meals per day to those affected by Hurricane Dorian. The organisation has been working on the ground in Abaco and Grand Bahama since the passage of the storm. Dr Minnis and his wife, Patricia, arrived in Grand Bahama on Saturday to attend the funeral of his brother, Cecil Bosfield, who died in Florida in early September. Dr Minnis returns to Nassau yesterday.
THE TRIBUNE
Monday, October 7, 2019, PAGE 3
MALIK MOULTRIE
RICHARD JAMES CAPRON
JUANITA LOWE
LEROY LOWE
MICHAEL DAWKINS
JEFFREY DANIS
MYEISHA EDGECOMBE
JENDAYAI EDGECOMBE
Eight more named in hunt for lost POLICE have released the names and photos of eight more people – including a child – listed as missing on Abaco since Hurricane Dorian ravaged the island early last month. The missing are Juanita Lowe, 81, Leroy Lowe, 68, Jeffrey Danis, 39, Malik Moultrie, 23, all of Marsh Harbour; Myeisha Edgecombe, 8, Jendayai Edgecombe, 17, and Michael Dawkins, 55, of Dundas Town; and Ricardo Capron, 49,
of Treasure Cay. This came after police released the identities of nine people – including two children – on Thursday from Grand Bahama who are also missing Dorian victims. Three of the missing are residents of Emmanuel Way in High Rock, Grand Bahama. They are Henilee Audrinique Laurenzia Mackey, 18, Howard Charles Bevans, 28, and Monique Nicole Munnings, 46. Four people from
McCleans Town in East End, Grand Bahama are also listed as missing, according to police. They are eight-year-old Philip Livingston Thomas III, 31-year-old Philip Livingston Thomas Jr, sixyear-old Remeille Allicante Wave Thomas and 16-yearold Mateo Tamage Caden Bethel. Last Wednesday, police released the names and photos of five missing people from Grand Bahama due to the storm. The week before, the
names of six people missing from Grand Bahama and one from Abaco were released. Officials have said more than 400 people are reported as missing across Abaco and Grand Bahama due to Dorian. According to police, the official death toll stands at 61. However, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands has said the bodies of some victims may still be trapped under rubble or were washed out to sea.
CURFEW CALL A ‘KNEE-JERK REACTION’ SAYS DAVIS from page one underfed and that their command instructions were confused. Now the prime minister rushes in with cameras in tow with half-baked solutions. “...We think the prime minister should think carefully before restricting civil liberties. There should be consultations with the population of Abaco before any such drastic solution is implemented. “We also urge the prime minister to disclose fully the death toll from the hurricane. Further, he should ensure that the security and other personnel sent to Abaco are properly resourced and not left to fend for themselves,” Mr Davis said. Last week, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis told The Nassau Guardian that he is “not happy” about Abaco’s level of security. “We requested an additional 150 personnel,” Dr Minnis said on Wednesday. “We will again talk to the defence force. We have, I was told, 40, 50 individuals who may have retired. You know they force retirement early, at 55. So we will call all those individuals back so that they can assist with security. “Cabinet and I, we will have to decide whether…
once I survey and have a better understanding of the situation, we will make a determination as to whether we will institute a curfew. “There is no reason for people to be about moving in the darkness. “We need extra manpower. We need more personnel, no doubt.” This came after The Tribune reported about looting and other crime fears of Abaco residents post Hurricane Dorian, with one resident threatening to “shoot anyone dead” that attempted to enter her property. Others fear that the problem is festering and will
only worsen if authorities there on the ground don’t double down on measures to protect people from thieves. “Abaco don’t got no law right now,” the woman, who did not want to be named,
told The Tribune from her porch in Marsh Harbour. “I tell ya one thing, me and everyone else around here is armed and I’m sure if someone tries to come in here I’ll shoot them dead. I’ll shoot anyone dead.”
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PAGE 4, Monday, October 7, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
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Focus on the victims not on immigration IT WOULD seem some people need to be reminded that there was a hurricane that devastated our islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama a little over a month ago. After all, so many are busily arguing over immigration that one wouldn’t think we still don’t know the extent of the tragedy that befell those islands. We don’t know what the final death toll will be. We don’t know the cost of the damage. We don’t know how long it will be before the islands will be habitable again. And yet the national conversation is alive with people complaining about migrants – and by migrants, it is the Haitian community that is the main target. The law is the law, goes the refrain from far too many people who would complain if the government showed up tomorrow demanding final payment for their unpaid property tax or imposed a fine for driving while using a phone. The law is the law, true, but it’s the law to pay required duties on imported materials, for example, and yet – quite rightly – the government has passed exigency orders so people do not need to bear excessive costs as they try to rebuild. The government can change laws or pass temporary exemptions if it wishes. Too many are using this as a way of abusing people affected by the storm – and people don’t even need to be Haitian to be the target of such abuse, they just need to live nearby. For those saying get rid of all those living in shanty towns, a reminder that only about 20 percent of residents of shanty towns were undocumented according to a survey last year. So four in five people from there have some form of legal status – be it being Bahamian or having a work or spousal permit. Many have some form of property rights for areas within the shanty towns. Why would we wish to trample
on those who have a right to be in the country? We should pick our words carefully in such an atmosphere. Algernon Cargill is quoted in today’s Tribune talking about how undocumented migrants should not return to Abaco because living in poor conditions could help to spread disease. He said: “We have discouraged persons who don’t have a legal claim for returning because those who live in the migrant communities like the Farm and other places, they have to recognise that these areas are unsafe...” The same warning then should hold true for those who do have a legal claim for returning. If a community is unsafe, just say that area is unsafe. A piece of paper won’t be the difference between a disease spreading or not. At the same time, immigration officials were pictured on Friday in shanty towns in Abaco. Doing what? We do not know - the government has not deigned to tell the public what its officers were doing. We also do not know how many migrants have been deported recently - with our calls on the subject unanswered, so we cannot tell you if the government is taking migrants out of the country or whether this is all just talk on their part. We must not let public policy get swept up in xenophobia. Politicians would do well not to pander to such attitudes. We need to concentrate on the tragedy itself. The immigration laws haven’t changed since the storm – so why so much talk all of a sudden? It feels like some people are using this moment to advance an agenda that’s nothing to do with the storm itself. What we really need to do is very simple. Better still, it’s to the benefit of Bahamians. What is that thing? It’s this: help the victims. There’s nothing more important than that.
Effects of inflation EDITOR, The Tribune. INFLATION is the rate at which prices of goods and services rise and therefore the purchasing power of the currency is decreasing. I will argue that inflation has done more harm than good and is by design. People with assets like gold, property or stocks benefit from inflation because that increases the value of their assets. Those who hold cash, which is the vast majority, dislike inflation because their cost of living increases and their cash gets to purchase less. From 1800 to 1900 the world experienced deflation and an increase standard of living. According to inflation calculator what cost $1000 in 1800 would cost $489.40 in 1900 or $2043.30 in 1800 would have the same purchasing power of $1000 in 1900. This is a deflation of 51% and an increase in purchasing power of 104%. It was a time of prosperity. It is a myth that an economy must experience inflation to have growth and prosperity. This system of an
economy based on debt was started with the creation of central banks. It became global when the US Central Bank, called the Federal Reserve, was created in 1913 Central banks affect the money supply by buying or selling government securities. To increase the amount of money in circulation central banks purchase securities from commercial banks and institutions. This freed up bank assets and they have more money to lend. The opposite is done to take out money out of the system. As no money is pegged to a gold standard central banks can increase the amount of money in circulation as required. This in my opinion is the main cause of inflation. Banks only have to have a fraction of what they lend usually around 1/10. The amount of money in the system is always increasing through loans from commercial banks. A bank can lend up to ten times what it has using the central bank system. The borrower and his asset is the collateral. The central bank print the money for the commercial bank to lend hence money
is created primarily by debt. Since borrowing increases the money supply and therefore increases inflation. Remember the barrower must pay back with interest since the money he barrows will value less by the time he pays it back and the lender has to make a profit. This system hurt the poor since they have no tangible assets that will appreciate. The rich benefit from this system because they have assets and are therefore getting richer. Consequently, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The present global monetary system must change or the gap between the rich and poor will increase to a point that it can cause social upheaval. The Bahamas uses the central banking system. Only three countries don’t use it - Cuba, North Korea and Iran. This system was design by the wealthy to benefit them. What can a regular person do – gain knowledge and use it. BRIAN E PLUMMER Nassau, September 24, 2019.
What to do next EDITOR. The Tribune.
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.” – Genesis 1:31 You and I enjoy democracy and everything that goes with it because there were women like Georgiana K. Symonette (my Grandmother), Mary Ingraham, Bertha Isaacs, Eugenia Lockhart and hundreds of others who sacrificed so that the equality and dignity of women and black men, would be recognised by their enfranchisement. I remember bursting with pride and thinking, “I want to be like her”, the day I witnessed my Grandmother stand up to the campaign general of the most powerful man in the country – Stafford Sands. Each of us has a story of the men and women in that generation who inspired us. How will the next generation feel about us? Are we prepared to recognise the complexity and the immense opportunity that exists post Hurricane Dorian? Are we prepared to fight against xenophobia and hatred? Are we prepared to honour the people of Haitian descent who have served and are still serving nobly in Parliament (including Stephen Dillett, who in 1833, became the first black man in our history, to win an election) and many other arenas of our national life? Are we prepared for advocate for the greatness of The Bahamas and Bahamians – we have a record of rising to the occasion. As well as the ladies named above, think of Clarence Bain, Sidney Poitier, Roxy Roker, Aisha Bowe, Pauline Davis, Desiree Cox, Shaunae Miller, Stephen Gardiner and thousands of others of Bahamian descent – all over the world. Shanty towns have existed in The Mudd and Pigeon Pea (and elsewhere) for decades. Our brothers and sisters from Haiti, and many Bahamians, live there – in plain sight. Every day, they do what we do, go to work, school, the grocery store, the clinic, church, etc. We should not be surprised by the size and
LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net magnitude of Hurricane Dorian. With eyes wide open, we continue to contribute to climate change knowing that an outcome is larger and more intense hurricanes. The government while speaking internationally about climate change, is making decisions to increase our carbon footprint and destroy the environment. Many of us continue to be bystanders. In so doing, have we condoned the actions of government – no matter the political party? Have the chickens come home to roost? On the one hand, we ask ourselves, “How could it be fair to round up and deport people who have been for 10, 15, 20 years living and working amongst us”? On the other hand, if we overstayed our visa in the UK or US, we would be deported and probably never able to travel to US or UK again. Why should illegal persons in The Bahamas be treated differently? Also, the resources of The Bahamas cannot accommodate millions of immigrants, Haitian or otherwise. Clearly, the laws of The Bahamas apply to everyone within her borders. Dare we ask whether The Bahamas is implementing one immigration policy for Haitians and another for every other nationality? Is The Bahamas’ immigration policy (as implemented) racist? So what are we to do? Here are some ideas, by no means exhaustive, that could be considered low hanging fruit: The people who, by the government, after Hurricane Dorian, were brought and admitted to the shelters in Nassau, for the immediate future will not be deported. They will be processed to determine their status before Hurricane Dorian and if shown to have status, their “papers” and “status” will be restored to the status that existed pre Hurricane Dorian. Others, of all nationalities, illegally in The Bahamas will be repatriated. Civil society, especially academia, will create safe spaces to discuss this pressing
national issue, rather than sweep it under the carpet – again. These civil exchanges will build consensus for immigration policy. Government will invoke the assistance of international and national security agencies, for a Defence Force base, migrant processing agency, courts and proper utilities, infrastructure, including technological support, on Inagua. This will assist with early interception, interdiction, processing and repatriation of illegal immigrants. Constructing and operating these facilities will create jobs. The electrical supply should be clean energy, generated from wind, wave or sun – again new jobs. There shall be enough clean energy supply to operate the infrastructure including the Defence Force base, courts, houses, offices, schools and clinics. There is enough land in Inagua to create the foundations, including infrastructure, of a new city by December 2020. The Department of Public Prosecutions will expedite the prosecution of those in the business of human trafficking. This will also create more jobs and demonstrate to the world our respect for the rule of law and the efficiency of our justice system. The proposed safe spaces for discourse will create the opportunity for scores of workable ideas to be sourced and implemented. We are The Bahamas. Have we become bystanders? Have we delegated our ultimate power to make decisions about ourselves and future generations? Is civil society prepared to participate in governance? “There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.” - Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224 ALLYSON MAYNARD GIBSON, QC, Nassau, October 6, 2019.
THE TRIBUNE
Monday, October 7, 2019, PAGE 5
‘We’ll see you in court over land’
from page one Mr Smith survived a near fatal paragliding accident in Italy that required fivehour surgery last month. He had been paragliding in the Dolomite Mountains of the Italian Alps, when an accident led to him dislocating and shattering his left ankle, breaking his left tibia, dislocating and slicing his right ankle and breaking two vertebrae. Mr Bethel continued: “We are speaking with a representative, his counsel over here, seeking to clear away what we call interlocutory matters. There are some applications for discovery documents and things like that so we’re trying to in a sense get the nod to go ahead and have those matters heard in Smith’s absence, which you know he is lead counsel so it depends on what he says. “This is the shanty town case and so there are some interlocutory matters that need to be cleared out so that we can set it down for a date for trial. That’s what we’re trying to do.” Mr Bethel said he had no idea how many people stood to be compensated under laws that uphold squatter’s rights nor could he say how much of the shanty town land was privately owned. “We can’t just wave a wand to do that. It takes a lot of review and investigation. People have to come forward (and) state their position,” he said. “We are not at that stage yet. That stage will happen after the notice of intent for acquisition is issued and that can’t be issued until the land is properly surveyed. “Once the land is properly surveyed and we have a proper plan as we call it, then notice would go out in newspapers and we post it at the administrator’s office and on the land. We aren’t at that stage because we
HOMES in ruins in The Mudd after Hurricane Dorian. still have to get the land neighbourhoods are unsanitary. All of these issues exist surveyed.” In a statement to The in Over-the-Hill communiTribune yesterday, Rights ties in Nassau, yet no one is Bahamas said the govern- proposing that the government could not just use ment compulsorily acquire Hurricane Dorian as an the land from the Bahamiexcuse to take away prop- ans who live there. “These communities have erty rights of people who once called those unregu- been there for decades and many of the occupants have lated villages home. “They cannot be dis- possessory rights under the criminated against under law. The government can’t the law,” Rights Bahamas just use Dorian as an excuse said. “Their homes, their to take away their proppossessions cannot just be erty rights and discriminate taken away from them. It against people because of is unconstitutional to target their ethnic heritage. “Clearly, the small minded, them just because they are different, because they are petty and xenophobic thinkpoor, or because some of ing behind this declaration is them allegedly didn’t build pursuant to an already existto code, or because their ing agenda to exterminate
communities of Haitian ethnicity, which is currently challenged by an ongoing court action. The government was blocked from taking away these people’s property rights by the court, so now they are seeking to use Dorian as an excuse to do it through the back door. This is totally illegal and utterly reprehensible. “The storm might have destroyed people’s homes, but it did not abolish their property rights. The government has no legal right to dispossess these people. “Just like every other community, they have a right to go back to rebuild. Of course, the rebuilding must be to code, but the
process of considering their applications must be on the same basis that other applications are to be considered for every other person in every other community that was destroyed by Dorian.” Following the monster storm’s passage, the Minnis administration issued a sixmonth prohibition ban for all Abaco shanty towns. However, Rights Bahamas said the order should not have only been directed at those areas. “It should have been a prohibition order in respect of all communities, not just the Haitian-Bahamian ones. Numerous international organisations and media houses have taken note of
Photo: Fernando Llano/AP the government’s barbaric targeting of these defenceless victims of the storm. “The country’s name is being dragged through the mud yet again over the issue of immigration enforcement. When will we learn? “Rights Bahamas will take legal action over this abuse. We will sue the government in defence of people’s constitutional rights. We are committed to fighting tooth and nail, through the courts and up to the Privy Council if necessary, to prevent this terrible abuse of power from ever becoming a reality,” the organisation said yesterday.
MIGRANTS TOLD TO STAY AWAY BECAUSE OF DISEASE FEARS from page one
“We do not need for this situation to spiral out of control,” Mr Cargill told The Tribune yesterday. This came after photos circulated on social media over the weekend of the Department of Immigration conducting an operation in Abaco shanty towns. It is unclear what officials were doing there but it triggered harsh criticisms on social media. Locally, Rights Bahamas castigated the Minnis administration, saying it was “unconscionable” that immigration had taken advantage of the vulnerability of people who lost everything, including loved ones, due to Hurricane Dorian. The organisation said it was heaping further misery upon their head. Mr Cargill said: “I’d like to point out that there is practically no social services in Abaco, the educational system is closed, there is very little economic activity in Abaco and the government continues to encourage all undocumented persons and documented persons who may need some form of assistance to come to Nassau to one of the shelters in order for us to provide them with the basic care and social services that they would need in order for them to rebuild their lives. “In terms of the Abaco resettlement, we have discouraged persons who don’t have a legal claim for returning because those who live in the migrant communities like the Farm and other places, they have
to recognise that these areas are unsafe as determined by international organisations. We have to watch the spread of communicable diseases and for these reasons the undocumented persons remaining in Abaco in these shanty towns only will propagate the probability for the spread of diseases because from what I understand the drinking water in those areas are not safe. We do not need for this situation to spiral out of control.” Mr Cargill said it could be “a while” before the clean-up effort is complete. “It should be important to note that Abaco is just starting its period of recovery and I would say just about all of the businesses in the storm affected areas are closed. “For that reason, because there is no economic activity, no social services, no schools, very limited healthcare, it’s strongly recommended that undocumented persons not return to Abaco because they will not only be a burden on the state but they will also, because of the conditions they live in, spread communicable diseases in the community.” He said emergency shelters in New Providence were best suited for the needs of all, including those with no legal right to be in the country. “The shelters are there. They get more protection not only from immigration but from a health and safety perspective. If you come to Abaco, what are you going to do? There is nothing to do. Abaco is not the place to look for opportunity right now.
“The conditions in Abaco are not yet at the level where persons without a real need to be there should be there.” For its part, Rights Bahamas released a statement responding to the photos of immigration officials in Abaco shanty towns on Friday, saying indiscriminate raids and round-ups are contrary to the law and violate the Constitution of The Bahamas. According to reports, no information was given on the Abaco operation but 30 Haitian migrants were detained on New
Providence. Ten were later released with 20 said to remain in custody on Friday and expected to face charges in court, according to a local daily. “At a time when the international community and media are taking The Bahamas to task for its barbaric treatment of migrants in the aftermath of a humanitarian crisis, it is unthinkable that the authorities would behave in such a callous, inhumane and shameful manner,” Rights Bahamas said. “Every single person whose freedom of
movement, right to freedom from discrimination and right to due process were violated in this exercise have recourse to the justice, and Rights Bahamas stands ready to defend them in a court of law,” Rights Bahamas said yesterday. The Bahamas government was taken to task on social media about the immigration operations in Abaco on Friday. “I know the law has to be implemented, but please, have a heart... cut them some slack. They are humans, in fact, we are all humans,” one Facebook
user commented under an article about the operation. Another said: “Wicked Bahamians. Taking aid money and refusing to count the Haitian casualties after the hurricane. If the Haitians are less than human then so are you.” “These people need a chance of survival in life, they need the respect as human beings,” another post read. Several calls to officials, including Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson, went unanswered up to press time yesterday.
PAGE 6, Monday, October 7, 2019
MOBILE city containers being offloaded in Abaco on Friday.
THE TRIBUNE
CONTAINER CITY DELIVERED BY RBDF
Photo: RBDF Marine Seaman Wellington
SEVENTEEN containers arrived on the Royal Bahamas Defence Force auxiliary craft Lawrence Major, and were offloaded and set up on Abaco on Friday. The mobile base city (MBC) will provide necessary support for RBDF disaster relief teams as they assist with recovery efforts on that island. This equipment functions as a mobile base camp, complete with dry food storage, freezer,
water treatment plant, and accommodations. The mobile base container was previously deployed in Crooked Island during the aftermath of Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, in North Andros after Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and more recently on the Caribbean island of Dominica after Hurricane Maria had devastated that island in 2017. The container city will support the efforts of RBDF troops on the ground.
‘We understand East End urgency’ By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net STATE Minister for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson said the government understands the urgent need for clean-up in East End. Grand Bahama and Abaco were severely affected by Hurricane Dorian in early September which caused widespread destruction of homes and property on both islands. The official death toll stands at 61 however that figure is expected to grow as more bodies are recovered. The Tribune visited East End last week and residents said more should have been done in the community a month after the storm. Asked when government would commence clean-up in the East End
communities, Mr Thompson said on Friday: “We understand and we know that clean-up needs to occur…urgently. “We are very pleased that we have the new minister who has responsibility for the clean-up, disaster recovery, and disaster reconstruction.” Iram Lewis, MP for Central Grand Bahama, was appointed state minister of disaster preparedness, management and reconstruction, a new ministry created in the the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. According to Mr Thompson, “Now they are putting together those plans with respect to clean-up and we expect that the new minister who is in the process of building his team at NEMA, and is going to as soon as possible get on the ground in East End and
going to be able to bring immediate assistance to those persons in East End. “We have confidence with putting in place this new ministry and the technical assistance that is needed that we will then begin to see the clean up and reconstruction of that area in East End.” He said with the massive clean-up that is required, officials expect to see an increase in jobs for Bahamians in both the clean-up and reconstruction phase. “While we have seen, unfortunately, some businesses have to let go persons on one end, I believe we will also see that there is going to be an uptick in construction, clean-up, and in those areas like East End that is going to really need the cleanup,” he said.
“I believe that with the addition of Mr Lewis, he will be able to organise and not be limited by red tape, and provide assistance for those on the ground, particularly in East End.” The minister was also asked about certain major developments on Grand Bahama. The government, he said, is pleased about the signing of a heads of agreement with Carnival Cruise Lines, which is proposing to build a $100m cruise port in East Grand Bahama. “That again showed the confidence that Carnival had with respect to Grand Bahama. We have also seen continual dedication of Royal Caribbean who weeks after the storm continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Grand Bahama,” said Mr Thompson.
He said the government attended meetings with RCI and ITM last week, and talks are progressing regarding the purchase of Grand Lucayan Resort for $65m, and the redevelopment of Freeport Harbour. “Those talks continue to go very smoothly, and they have again said to us not only do we want to continue with development but actually want to accelerate the talks so that we can move forward to closing,” he said. “In some other instances, we seen the same amount of investor confidence.... with other investments,” he added. Mr Thompson believes that post-Dorian rebuilding would be critical in attracting new investors. “There are some things we are continuing to
work on to make sure we rebuild with resilience, and that is one of the things we have to show to the investment community,” he said. “Our tech hub committee is focused on not seeing hurricanes as an obstacle, but as an opportunity. We have a number of businesses and residents that need to rebuild, and so our opportunity is to assist encourage, and push businesses to rebuild with the latest technology, and assist residents when they think about rebuilding, about rebuilding smart homes. “East End provides a huge opportunity for us because it is almost like a blank slate where you really could look at building a smart city and renewable energy for power supply,” Mr Thompson said.
TRUST WARNS OF ‘CATASTROPHIC’ EFFECT OF STORM ON LANDSCAPE HURRICANE Dorian caused coastal erosion and “catastrophic” impact to mangrove and pine forests in at least one national park, according to the Bahamas National Trust. There are also fears that endangered bird populations will face a food shortage due to the food shortage caused by forest destruction. BNT recently began assessing the full environmental impact of Hurricane Dorian. The agency, along with its partners, began
mobilising teams of local and international scientists, to conduct assessments of the marine and terrestrial environments on Grand Bahama and Abaco in the wake of the mega-storm. BNT plans to create marine, terrestrial, and oil spill contingency task forces to address the many environmental concerns arising from the storm. “Up until now, like much of the country, the BNT’s focus has been on supporting efforts to address the humanitarian crisis in the
wake of Dorian,” says BNT Executive Director Eric Carey. “Now that things on the humanitarian front appear to be stabilising, we will turn our full attention to the environment. “Since Dorian hit, we have conducted several high-level assessments. We will now shift to evaluating scientifically, what Dorian has really done to the environment. We know that it has taken a tremendous hit.” Early assessments show that national parks on both
Abaco and Grand Bahama have been affected, with more severe damage evident in the parks on Grand Bahama. Photos of Lucayan National Park indicate severe coastal erosion to the iconic Gold Rock Beach, catastrophic impact to the mangrove and pine forests in the park, as well as crippling damage to park infrastructure, BNT said. Although the waters have now receded, the damage produced by Dorian’s 20-foot storm surge
remains, BNT said. Saltwater was pushed very far inland into pine and coppice forests, disrupting the delicate balance of freshwater that these trees need to survive. BNT fears that the salt intrusion will result in the loss of large areas of forests, leading to a higher than normal incidence of forest fires, and a further loss of associated wildlife. “What we have seen so far has been heartbreaking,” says Lakeshia Anderson, BNT’s director of parks, “we are anxious to get our teams on the ground to see what’s happening. “Our focus is on assessing the true impact, recovery, and planning for the future. In Hurricane Dorian’s wake, the BNT will have the chance to study the impact of mega-storms and the potential for mitigation and environmental recovery after such extreme events.” BNT will also conduct comprehensive assessments to determine the impact of Dorian on wildlife. Populations of endangered birds, such as the Bahama Parrot, Bahama Nuthatch, Bahama Warbler and Bahama Swallow are of paramount concern. Grand Bahama and Abaco are the only places on earth where some of these birds exist, BNT said.
Birds can be severely impacted by these storms. Since most eat fruit and nectar, they are especially susceptible to starvation due to food loss, BNT said. BNT is also continuing to monitor the clean-up and recovery efforts related to the oil spill at the Equinor facility on Grand Bahama. It is still trying to obtain a clear understanding of, the full damage caused, and the progress of recovery efforts to date. “The Equinor incident is one we are keeping a close watch on,” said BNT Director of Science and Policy Shelley Cant-Woodside. “As the clean-up process continues, there are opportunities to learn from what happened. We need to ensure that we do all we can to prevent such an incident from occurring again while keeping a keen eye on the clean-up process to ensure it is carried out to the highest standards to prevent any long-term damage.” BNT is a member of the National Oil Spill Contingency Advisory Committee (NOSCAC), which is responsible for handling the response to the oil spill. Once these assessments have been completed, the results will be used to guide further restoration and recovery efforts, BNT said.
EQUISOFT DONATES $30,000 TO AID RANFURLY HOMES IN a show of support after the devastation of Hurricane Dorian, Equisoft, a software solutions partner of Family Guardian Insurance, donated $30,000 to the Ranfurly Homes For Children. The donation is meant to cover the 24-hour nursing care required by four of its newly displaced residents from Grand Bahama who have significant health issues. These issues range from cerebral palsy to diabetes, high blood pressure and congenital heart disorders. These children are four of 25 displaced children from the children’s homes in Grand Bahama and Abaco who were welcomed by The Ranfurly Homes in New Providence. This donation was very timely and well received as Ranfurly is a private, non-affiliated children’s home that is supported
by private donations, fundraising events and a government grant. “Equisoft reached out to us and asked how best they could help,” said Ramona Neely, vice president, home service sales at Family Guardian Insurance. “They wanted to support our community and acted like a real partner who cares. We really value what they did.” Catherine ChisnallMitchell, board member at The Ranfurly Homes, said: “We at Ranfurly Homes for Children are deeply grateful to Equisoft and Family Guardian for this wonderful and generous gift of support which will go a long way to meeting the needs in this essential area of care. We at Ranfurly wish our children to not just survive the storms – but thrive in the sunshine and are enormously touched, inspired and appreciative of all the community effort to care for our youth.”
THE TRIBUNE
Monday, October 7, 2019, PAGE 7
Attorney: Shingles did not refer to payments By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net THE lead attorney for former Cabinet minister Shane Gibson on Friday questioned the validity of a businessman’s claims that the former parliamentarian used the code word “shingles” whenever he wanted to receive his alleged $80,000 in bribery payments. Keith Knight, QC, suggested that contrary to Jonathan Ash’s claims, the former labour and national insurance minister’s various references to “shingles” when speaking to Mr Ash were about exactly that — shingles. Mr Knight based his suggestions on a WhatsApp conversation between Mr Ash and Gibson, in which the former sent Gibson a picture of a pile of used shingles lying on the ground, just before he sent Gibson a voice note saying: “I drop the shingles off, eh.” Mr Ash maintained that he was referring to the bribery payments, and refuted suggestions by the Jamaican attorney that he literally dropped off a “bundle of shingles” for Gibson. He insisted that he dropped the “shingles” off to Deborah Bastian, a woman connected to Gibson, at her office at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Harrold Road to give to the former minister. As to the picture, Mr Ash, who owns two trucking companies, Ash Enterprises and Trucking Services and High Roller’s Trucking, suggested that he didn’t take the photo, but it was instead taken by one of his workers and sent to him. “It was hurricane, I was not responsible for building any houses, I was not responsible for fixing any roof,” he maintained. “I was responsible only to clean up the constituency. The shingles that are on the ground, was where my workers take them and rest them there, and they send the photos of them. That’s it.” Mr Ash was shown a printout of another part of his and Gibson’s WhatsApp messages, where Gibson asks: “…By the way, any shingles today?” Mr Ash maintained that in that message, Gibson was again asking about the bribery money.
FORMER MP Shane Gibson outside court previously. However, Mr Knight cellular phone to my celsubmitted to Mr Ash that lular phone. Mr Gibson he was lying when he said introduced himself to me Gibson used the words in and told me that he needed reference to any alleged some shingles which I knew payments. Mr Ash shot to be the street name for back with “were you there, cash.” Mr Ash said he recalled sir?” before explaining that Gibson’s message “had a lot saying that to police, adding that he stood by his to do with money”. “…Because I paid him,” statement. In any event, Mr Knight Mr Ash said. “The first payment was $25,000, in suggested that even though February, between the days Mr Ash claims he was of the 10th to the 14th. paying bribes to Gibson, Baha Mar Boulevard. Then directly or otherwise, he another payment, off Glad- still displayed “respect” and stone Road. He was in a “commitment” for the man, and asserted that Mr Ash blue F-150 truck.” However, Mr Ash’s state- was comfortable enough ments prompted Mr Knight with his client to ask him to remind him of his previ- for “assistance”. Mr Knight said his sugous testimony, where he said that it was in March of gestions were based on 2017 that he began paying the fact that in multiple Gibson directly. Mr Ash voice notes, Mr Ash refers was subsequently shown to Gibson as “general” his June 28, 2017 state- and “sir” which the attorment to police, in which he ney said are both signs of said: “During the month of respect. In another voice March 2017, Shane Gibson note, Mr Ash says: “Mr started calling me from his Gibson anything for you
man. I just trying to make it happen you know, big man.” Again, Mr Knight said such words were laced with and indicative of “respect” for Gibson on Mr Ash’s part, and further showed “commitment” to the former parliamentarian. Mr Ash confirmed as much, saying: “At that time I had respect for Mr Gibson.” However, when Mr Knight suggested that Mr Ash’s words exuded “commitment” to a “good man”, Mr Ash said: “Commitment to a man. I’d say that.” Mr Ash was also shown a number of photographs of Gibson’s most recent election campaign posters. Mr Ash confirmed that although he wasn’t the only person who erected Gibson’s billboards throughout the Golden Gates constituency, he did the work “free of charge” for the former minister.
Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff Then, in a voice note to When Mr Knight reiterated Gibson on April 11, 2017, the question, and stressed Mr Ash said: “You looking that he was asking it solely good, you looking good, in connection to Gibson, you looking good!” Mr Mr Ash replied: “I wouldn’t Knight said that voice note say that.” After some more was an “expression of hap- probing by the Jamaican piness” on Mr Ash’s part attorney, Mr Ash said: “If on how Gibson’s odds were he win, he win,” before looking as a candidate for finally conceding that he re-election. However, Mr wanted Gibson to win his Ash said he wasn’t paying seat. Gibson any bribes at that “You wanted him to win, time. a person to whom you were, Asked by Mr Knight if it according to you, paying was correct to say that him bribes?” Mr Knight asked. erecting the billboards was Mr Ash replied in the part of his “contribution” affirmative. to ensure Gibson would be Mr Ash was also shown re-elected as member of a picture of a scene that Parliament for the Golden took place during the ProGates community, Mr Ash gressive Liberal Party’s said: “He asked me to do convention in January 2017. him a favour and I did it…I Mr Ash identified himself didn’t think he was gone in the photo, saying he was win, but I did it.” wearing a “yellow tie”. When asked by Mr Mr Knight subsequently Knight if he wanted Gibson observed aloud that Mr to win his seat, Mr Ash said: Ash looked “very enthu“I didn’t have a problem siastic” in the photo, an if they win. I didn’t have a observation with which Mr problem if the PLP win.” Ash agreed.
DEFENCE: OFFICER SAID SHE WOULD DELETE PARTS OF STATEMENTS THAT DIDN’T MATCH By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net
A SENIOR police officer allegedly said she would delete whatever parts a businessman’s and a woman’s statements about allegations of bribery against former Cabinet minister Shane Gibson didn’t line up, a jury heard on Friday. Lead defence attorney Keith Knight, QC, said Assistant Superintendent Deborah Thompson told Jonathan Ash and Deborah Bastian she would be “cutting out a lot” of whatever the pair didn’t agree on concerning allegations against the former parliamentarian. In particular, Mr Knight said ASP Thompson indicated her intent to perform the various omissions because Mr Ash’s statement was “more detailed” than Ms Bastian’s. That came after Mr Knight quoted the police woman as saying she wanted to “clear up” whatever differences existed at the time between the
statements; Mr Ash had given two statements up to that point, while Ms Bastian had also given a statement, Mr Knight said. But according to the Jamaican attorney, ASP Thompson arranged a meeting on September 25, 2017 at the Central Detective Unit (CDU), to “iron out” the “ambiguities” in their statements, particularly as it related to the amount of money Mr Ash said he gave Ms Bastian to give to Gibson, which was $200,000. “Listen Mr Ash, you go through and give an overview or summary of what you told us transpired and if there’s anything you don’t agree with, with what he’s saying Ms Bastian, you let us know,” Mr Knight quoted ASP Thompson as saying. He was reading a transcript of a recording of the meeting in question. “Then I want you to explain to him what you (Ms Bastian) told us, and if there’s anything you don’t agree with, you let us know so we could clear this up,” Mr Knight further quoted
ASP Thompson as saying. Mr Knight also quoted ASP Thompson as saying: “We need to iron this out because ya’ll are giving two different accounts as to what transpired leading up to the meeting.” According to the evidence, ASP Thompson was referring to the meeting Mr Ash, Ms Bastian, and Gibson had at a “pink building” on Nassau Street that ultimately caused Mr Ash to make payments to Ms Bastian, allegedly on Gibson’s behalf, and later directly to Gibson, in exchange for him using his government position to ensure Mr Ash would be paid the $1m plus he was owed for hurricane cleanup work. Mr Knight suggested to Mr Ash that ASP Thompson arranged for that meeting with the express purpose of synchronising his and Ms Bastian’s statements to remediate the “ambiguity” surrounding them. However, Mr Ash said he could not recall whether ASP Thompson called
the meeting for that purpose. He acknowledged that there were differences between his statements and that of Ms Bastian, evidenced by him saying: “I said some stuff concerning what happened. Deborah Bastian said some stuff.” However, as he did during Thursday’s proceedings, Mr Ash said ASP Thompson called the meeting because “she wanted to know the truth” about what allegedly transpired. Mr Knight asked if Mr Ash was saying that ASP Thompson did not say those things, or whether he simply could not recall. In response, Mr Ash said it was the latter, adding: “That was a long time (ago), sir.” However, Mr Knight noted that Mr Ash, in giving previous testimony, could recall events that took place in January 2017, eight months prior to the meeting in question. To that, Mr Ash replied: “I can remember those times.” Mr Ash also said he couldn’t recall various other portions of the meeting,
particularly portions where he was quoted as saying certain things. For example, Mr Ash said he could not recall saying “today is a good day, today is a great day. I met Ms Bastian through Mr Butler.” Previously, Mr Ash said he met Ms Bastian after meeting with Jack Thompson, then the permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, about not being paid for Hurricane Matthew clean-up efforts. Mr Ash also said he could not recall saying of Ms Bastian: “I have no problems with her. During the period of the contract I noticed I wasn’t being paid, so I said to Ms Bastian, I mean I go to her sometimes for advice. I ask her one or two questions. I don’t hide that.” However, he said he “probably” did say that Ms Bastian is a “nice lady” during the meeting in question. Gibson is charged with 15 counts of bribery. It is alleged that between January 16 and 19, 2017, and being concerned with Ms Bastian, he had solicited
more than $200,000 from Mr Ash as an inducement to or a reward for him giving assistance or using his influence in approving outstanding payments owed to Mr Ash by the government. The Crown further asserts that on various dates between January 19-31, 2017, Gibson, still concerned with Ms Bastian, consequently accepted $100,000 worth of payments from Mr Ash. Then between January 30 and February 28 of that year, Gibson accepted several cash payments from Mr Ash totalling some $100,000. Between February 10 and March 27, 2017, Gibson solicited and accepted a total of $80,000 each from Ash, but this time he was not concerned with Bastian, the Crown maintains. The Crown claims Mr Ash initially made the payments to Gibson through Ms Bastian for the first set of payments totaling $200,000, but made them directly to Gibson for the remaining $80,000. Gibson has denied the allegations.
PAGE 8, Monday, October 7, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
What caused poisoning of 49 students on bus journey?
THE SCENE outside Princess Margaret Hospital on Friday. from page one They were then sent to the capital for additional treatment as a precautionary measure. What took place to ensure everyone was out of harm’s way was “nothing short of amazing,” Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said in a Facebook post on Saturday. “The clinic staff at Fresh Creek, Andros quickly and competently assessed and managed the clinical issues,” Dr Sands wrote. “They were assisted by personnel from all over Andros, including the US military at AUTEC. “Additional help and oxygen was provided. Families were kept informed. Air evacuation teams flew flight after flight until all 49 students, bus driver and family members could be thoroughly reviewed at
PMH. An army of EMTs ensured that they were safely transferred to and fro.” Once at Princess Margaret Hospital, Dr Sands said medical teams initiated PMH’s mass casualty protocol. “Staff emerged to quickly and expertly manage the needs of these youngsters. Patient advocate teams and Ministry of Education staff attended to the concerns and needs of all the families. By evening, it was clear that all were going to be OK. “While 11 students remained hospitalised, they were in good spirits. Today, another team at South Beach Clinic gave a final checkup and most, 46, are now safely back home. I am extremely proud and grateful for the professionalism and the compassion shown by all. “I can say confidently
that I, Minister Jeff Lloyd and the entire Cabinet are pleased with the manner in which this unfortunate event was managed. The prime minister monitored the situation throughout. Thank you all. “We might be down, Bahamas...but still we rise,” Dr Sands wrote. The ministry did not provide details regarding test results to confirm whether carbon monoxide was to blame for the incident. In an interview with The Tribune on Friday, one parent, who did not want to be named, claimed she was frustrated because at that point she had not seen her daughter because she was in observation. Sheree Neymour, another parent and mother of three of the students on the bus, said the situation could have been a lot worse, referring to the
TRAVIS DAVIS, 25, charged with four counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder on Friday. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
FIGHT OUTSIDE COURT AS MAN FACES CHARGES OF MURDER By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Cheif Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
HEATED tempers escalated into a fight outside the Nassau Street Court Complex between the family of a victim and friends of a man accused of several counts of murder and attempted murder on Friday. Travis Davis, 25, was charged with four counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder stemming from an incident that happened on September 6. However, before his formal arraignment before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt, the scene outside was contentious, with friends of Davis and relatives of a victim getting into a scuffle. As police escorted a shackled Davis into the courtroom, a woman was heard shouting at him while others told the accused to
keep his head up. As he continued his walk to the courtroom, Davis told police escorts: “They railroading me. I telling the judge y’all railroading me, all them murders?” Once he was inside court nine and the chief magistrate had asked him to confirm his identity, Davis said: “They lying on me.” “I asked you if that’s you?” the chief magistrate again asked, to which he said that it was. At one point the accused was tearful and was handed tissues to dry his face. Davis, of Labour Street, is accused of murdering Marcus Sweeting, Dwight Miller, Jimmy Augustine and Franklyn Rolle. The remaining seven counts are for allegedly attempting to murder Portia Smith, Alvin Saunders, Jarette Smith, Everette Richardson, Nester Mackey, Jerinique Roberts and Tavia
Brown. After the 11 charges were read against Davis, his lawyer asked Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt to direct the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services to grant his client protective custody, noting the incidents could be gang related. For this reason, the lawyer said, there could be incidents of retaliation against Davis while at the facility. However, the chief magistrate said she did not have the authority to instruct BDCS Commissioner Charles Murphy on how to house inmates. Davis was not required to enter a plea to any of the charges and a voluntary bill of indictment will be presented on December 11. He was remanded to the BDCS but has the right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.
MAN IN HOSPITAL AFTER STABBING NEW Providence police are investigating a stabbing incident which left a man with injuries on Saturday, October 5. Shortly after 9pm, a group of men were at Third Street, Coconut Grove, when an altercation occurred between them, resulting in one male being stabbed, police said. The
injured man was transported to hospital and is listed in stable condition. Police also said they arrested two people after they were found in possession of a quantity of dangerous drugs during anticrime operations conducted throughout New Providence over the weekend. The operations
targeted people involved in criminal activities, prolific offenders, those wanted for outstanding court warrants and liquor licenced premises operating outside the conditions of their licences. These operations were led by divisional commanders from southeastern, southwestern and eastern divisions.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2019
THE STORIES BEHIND THE NEWS
The fight against the climate crisis can’t be fought by the government alone
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly. By MALCOLM STRACHAN IN the wake of Hurricane Dorian, The Bahamas has become the latest example for climate change activists as they ramp up the fight. Stunned by the realisation of how vulnerable we actually are to the threat of climate change, the government, still dizzied by the severe impact of the storm, is trying to gain its balance. Prime Minister Minnis’ address at the UN General Assembly last week, however, was an encouraging step by our leadership that they too, recognise the importance of raising awareness. Particularly while we have the attention of many observers spanning the globe, it is important that we not only send the right message with our words, but also with our actions. And it is in this same vein that we must show we too are ready to join the fight. During his address, Prime Minister Minnis said: “I add my urgent plea to the cries and voices of many other leaders and citizens of the global commons, urging the nations of the world here assembled to treat the global climate emergency as the greatest challenge facing humanity. “It is a challenge that, if not treated with the greatest urgency, will continue to ravage small island states, such as The Bahamas, and will also have devastating impact on more developed states.” But what’s next? From where the prime minister sits, his address should serve as a springboard to commence a world tour where he meets with other world leaders to discuss the importance of a full-fisted response to climate change. Beginning right here at home, two of our biggest economic partners are the US and China – two of the countries with the most carbon dioxide emissions. One of the primary discussions the prime minister should be having with Presidents Trump and Xi Jin Ping is on what they’re doing to lower their carbon emissions in their respective countries. The reality is with the holdings of both Chinese and American companies being based in The Bahamas, there should at the very least be conversations about what needs to be done going forward. Particularly for the US, The Bahamas is usually a pit stop before storms head to
Florida or along the coast to unleash more destruction. That is just one part of it. Additionally, as economic partners, when foreign investors enter the country to do business, the government must have in tow an environmental policy that creates balance whereby companies investing in the Bahamian economy are doubling down and doing so for the environment as well. For instance, let’s take Carnival Cruises’ illegal dumping of 500,000 gallons of waste water in Bahamian waters. While the government’s goal in closing this deal was to drive the Grand Bahamian economy and show the world we’re open for business, how does this play into the preservation of our environment? Following the signing of the Carnival cruise port heads of agreement, Environment and Housing Minister Romauld Ferreira has tabled the Environmental Planning and Protection bill which “prohibits a person from discharging any hazardous waste into the environment, except with prescribed regulations”. Those in violation of the bill’s tenets may face fines of up to $500,000 and a maximum of five years in prison. Still, where this places us relative to Carnival’s previous transgressions is unclear. As far as we can see, it seems to be water under the bridge, and until we know what has been tabled in the heads of agreement, it is uncertain if we’ve gotten anything more than apology. At any rate, beyond Carnival, we still have much bigger fish to fry in terms of how we want to be perceived against the backdrop of the prime minister’s address. Here it is, we have an opportunity to be the poster child for climate change awareness after having suffered such trauma as a result of Hurricane Dorian. That being said, the tendency to sit back with arms folded waiting on your Member of Parliament or Jesus to fix all of our worries will not move the needle, though. This time will call for action from Bahamian citizens – the kind of action that we have historically been far too relaxed to take. That radical type of action has to become a new normal. The days of being unaware of the issues that affect you or dismissing them for the sake of supporting your political party need to be
eradicated. The citizenry has to become much more informed on these issues, as it is truly a matter of life and death. While we spew hatred about Haitians and the government wades it way through unchartered waters, the true threat is not sleeping. It is very much awake. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes more than 1300 scientists from around the world, predicts that global temperatures will rise 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. Based
on studies performed by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, global temperatures in 2018 were 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than average temperatures between 1951-1980. More disconcerting is that the period of 2015-2018 is the hottest on record. And to even further heighten our fears, July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded on the planet. Contextualising that and considering these trends, our weather conditions simultaneously provided the perfect breeding ground for Hurricane
Photo: Richard Drew/A{ Dorian and the most horrific experience for those that experienced its fury firsthand. Brothers and sisters, we are at a critical juncture as Bahamians. We can choose to say that climate change is a farce. We can choose to believe conspiracy theories about weather manipulation. We can even choose to believe that God wanted to wash away all the Haitian migrants. However, we would be fatally wrong on all fronts. This phenomenon is real, and we are squarely in its crosshairs. The question is what are
we going to do about it? As eight days in September came and went, the Global Climate Strike took place, as 7.6 million people from around the world participated in the biggest climate protest in history. All while we ranted about Haitians and lambasted each other’s political parties, people were taking action on something that we need to frontline. But what were we occupying our time with? Surely, if we don’t remove our buried heads from the sand, we will be an endangered species and our beautiful Bahama land may be a relic of the past.
PAGE 10 MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2019
INSIGHT
Controversy stalks Nobel Peace, Literature prizes
EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net
A BUST of the Nobel Prize founder, Alfred Nobel, on display at the Concert Hall during the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm STAVANGER, Norway Associated Press CONTROVERSY stalks the Nobel prizes for peace and literature in a way it
rarely does for science. The revamped panel at the Swedish Academy who will hand out the Nobel Literature prizes on Thursday for both 2018 and 2019
would relish arguments about the winners, rather than intrigue about the #MeToo scandal that forced the institution to suspend the prize last year.
And US President Donald Trump has done his part to kindle intrigue about the 2019 Peace Prize winner, by simultaneously seeming to pitch himself for the prize while also slamming the Norwegian panel that awards it. “Controversy is a natural effect of the Literature Prize,” says Mats Malm, the Swedish Academy’s new permanent secretary, appointed to head a reformed 18-person panel after two years of convulsions at the prestigious institution. “We want to contribute to the international discussion about literature and what it is supposed to be.” The literary science professor is leading an overhaul of the body, which was ripped apart in late 2017 and 2018 by sex assaults involving Jean-Claude Arnault, the husband of a former academy member and a once-notable figure on Sweden’s cultural scene. Arnault was convicted last year of two rapes in 2011 but not before accusations of abuse had led to an exodus of academy committee members, the ouster of then-Permanent Secretary Sara Danius and the absence of a Nobel Literature prize for the first time since 1943 at the height of the Second World War. With a threat hanging from the Nobel Foundation — the body behind the Nobel Prizes — that the Swedish Academy could be stripped of its right to award the prize, the academy brought in five external members to help adjudicate the two literature awards this year. At the same time, it ousted everyone involved in the scandal and it “no longer includes any members who are subject to conflicts of interest or criminal investigations”, according to the foundation. Across the border, the five-person Norwegian Nobel Institute that oversees the Peace Prize usually claims not to enjoy the controversy that accompanies its choices. But Geir Lundestad, the non-voting secretary of the committee from 1990 to 2014, says some members have traditionally thrived on the controversies that the highprofile prize inevitably brings. “I am not sure the differences between the two
Photo: Henrik Montgomery/AP committees are so big. The literature and peace prizes are more accessible to ordinary people than the prizes for medicine, physics and chemistry,” he says. “Some of the members enjoy the controversy that brings. It varies tremendously between members. But many recognise that some sort of controversy goes with the territory.” The Nobel committees never announce the names of candidates and nominations are not revealed for 50 years. Lundestad was in charge when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former US President Barack Obama within months of his inauguration in 2009 — a prize that has attracted the ire of Trump, his successor. Obama was there “for about 15 seconds” before he was awarded the prize, Trump told a press conference in February. Trump has been nominated for the Peace Prize by UScongressmen for opening a dialogue with North Korea. “I’ll probably never get it, but that’s OK,” Trump said. “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for.” Second-guessing the thinking of the secretive panel is rarely fruitful, but the committee is not immune from the charms of US presidents. As well as Obama, Theodore Roosevelt won it in 1906, Woodrow Wilson took the prize in 1920 and Jimmy Carter was chosen for the award in 2002. However, a better signal for this year’s award might be former US Vice President Al Gore, who won the Peace Prize alongside the International Panel on Climate Change in 2007. Gore at the time was the face of the climate movement, a mantle now sitting on the slender shoulders of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden. The teenage activist bolstered her profile last month, stepping onto the global stage at the UN to berate world leaders. “How dare you?” she kept saying to some of the world’s most powerful people, accusing them of ignoring the science behind climate change. “You are failing us.” Last month, Thunberg won the Right Livelihood award, often called the “Alternative Nobel”. British bookmakers have Thunberg as the hot
peace prize favorite this year, with Trump listed as a rank outsider behind several other world leaders, including two prime ministers, Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia and Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The panel could also choose to acknowledge the joint leadership of Greece’s Alexis Tsipras and North Macedonia’s Zoran Zaev. The two prime ministers put 30 years of acrimony between their neighboring countries behind them when they agreed that the former Yugoslav republic should officially be renamed from Macedonia to North Macedonia and Greece should drop its objections to its neighbor joining NATO. On the literature side, the British website Nicer Odds has solved the dilemma of having two winners announced this year by only taking bets on the 2019 winner. Among the favorites are Canadian poet Anne Carson, novelists Maryse Conde of Guadeloupe and Can Xue of China and Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, author of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which has been made into a hit TV series. The Nobel week begins Monday with the awards for physiology or medicine. The Physics Prize is handed out Tuesday, chemistry the following day, this year’s double-header Literature Prizes will be awarded Thursday and the Peace Prize will be announced on Friday. The economics prize — officially known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which is the only prize not created by the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite — will be awarded on Oct. 14. Nobel’s reason for having an institution in Norway hand out the Peace Prize while others are awarded in Sweden is unclear, but during his lifetime the two Scandinavian countries were in a union, which was dissolved in 1905. Nobel fame this year comes with a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma. The laureates get them at elegant ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10 — the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896.
INSIGHT
EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2019 PAGE 11
Why is it so hard to tell the story of climate change?
But that doesn’t mean advocates should necessarily give up on co-benefits. Maybe they just need to flip the script on its head
first place. If climate change is now becoming a meta-narrative against which all other stories play out, perhaps no one needs to argue that decarbonisation of the global economy will produce some health benefits or improve people’s wellbeing. Perhaps the best strategy is to simply say that climate change is a health risk, a risk to peace and prosperity, a risk to humanity’s survival – that the climate change story is our story as a species. This is not about mobilising the muscle of co-benefits to make the climate change narrative more robust or appealing. It’s about merging the cobenefits and climate change itself so thoroughly that they become one and the same.
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Over the past few years, one suggested solution around this communications roadblock has been to tell the story of what are called climate change co-benefits. The idea is simple and compelling: If the public won’t or can’t get behind climate action for climate’s sake, maybe they will if all the many nonenvironmental benefits of reducing carbon emissions are brought to the foreground. Hence, climate change as a threat to public health, to national security, to social mobility. Traditional co-benefits framing tells the story like this: If humanity does something about climate change – if we reduce carbon emissions through massive investments in renewable energy and retrofitting of inefficient buildings, if we improve resilience through investing in green infrastructure, nature-based solutions and all the rest – we will not only solve the climate change problem, we’ll also reduce economic inequality, improve public health, reduce threats to national sovereignty and geo-political stability, and generally make people’s lives better. These and many other
RETHINK WHICH BENEFIT DRIVES THE STORY
– to lead with and keep the focus on the nonclimate benefits of aggressive decarbonisation and adaptation efforts. Maybe “addressing climate change” should be treated as the co-benefit rather than the leading motivation for action that could materially help billions of people, today and in the future. Ultimately, the most effective long-term approach to getting diverse audiences to engage deeply with climate change may require that advocates stop treating it as a standalone problem that could benefit from being linked to other topics many people care more about. Instead, advocates may need to fundamentally rethink and alter the way they talk about and position climate change as an issue in the
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inequality, increasing access to affordable health care, improving people’s material and emotional lives – to the background. Leading with “if you really cared about your pet issue, then climate change should be your priority” is neither welcoming and inclusive nor likely to succeed in building a broad base of support for aggressive action on climate. Condescension rarely wins converts.
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than inspire despair and fatalism. The sad irony, of course, is that the story of climate change is in fact a deeply human one – we caused it, we will suffer from it and we alone can take action to avoid its worst consequences and prepare for the rest. But shifting climate change from a scientific reality to a social, economic and political reality has proven extremely difficult. This is still primarily an “environmental” issue in many people’s minds, and that is a real problem for building a broad-based social movement around climate change.
co-benefits of aggressive and proactive action on climate change are real, and they will very much improve the lives of billions of people living on this planet today and in the future. But is this the best way to talk about the issue in service of building a powerful social movement? The problem with the standard co-benefits narrative isn’t that it distracts too much from the core climate change challenge (it doesn’t), nor that it is somehow manipulative (it’s not) or simply not necessary (it is). We suggest the problem is that it still leaves too much of the focus on climate change as an environmental or scientific issue while relegating all the other things people often care more about – addressing rampant
e
By EZRA MARKOWITZ associate professor of environmental decisionmaking, University of Massachusetts Amherst and ADAM CORNER, research director at Climate Outreach and honorary research fellow in psychology, Cardiff University
al
THE story of climate change is one that people have struggled to tell convincingly for more than two decades. But it’s not for lack of trying. The problem is emphatically not a lack of facts and figures. The world’s best scientific minds have produced blockbuster report after blockbuster report, setting out in ever more terrifying detail just how much of an impact we humans have had on the Earth since the dawn of the industrial revolution. Many people believe anthropogenic climate change – rapid and far-reaching shifts in the climate caused by human activity – is now the story that will define the 21st century, whether anyone’s good at telling it or not. Nor is it merely a problem of delivery. The past decade has witnessed an explosion of climate change communication efforts spanning nearly every conceivable medium, channel and messenger. Documentaries, popular books and articles, interactive websites, immersive virtual reality, community events — all are being used in increasingly creative ways to communicate the story of climate change. Many of these efforts are beautifully designed and executed, visually and narratively engaging and careful to avoid common traps and shortcomings that have tripped up previous efforts. As communications specialists who have each spent more than a decade observing and studying how people, media and organisations talk and think about climate change, we’ve come to understand that the climate change communication problem runs much deeper: It’s baked into the nature of the issue itself. Climate change is abstract, uncertain, unfamiliar, impersonal, diffuse and seemingly distant, even as the frequency of climaterelated events continues to increase in many parts of the world. This is not to say that the well-documented and well-funded efforts to sow misinformation, doubt and denial aren’t also real challenges facing climate change communicators and advocates; of course they are. But even without explicit efforts to confuse and divide the public, climate change would still be a uniquely challenging issue to talk about in ways that motivate public engagement rather
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PAGE 12 MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2019
INSIGHT
EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net
Talk to your children about online dangers Police advice
By SERGEANT NATHALIE RANGER
SOCIAL media sites such as, Facebook, twitter, instagram, snapchat, and whatsapp increases communication, access to information and help in developing a sense of self, however, the thoughts of what your child might come across online can be worrying. Here is internet safety advice to make sure going online is a positive experience for you and your child. Just as we prepare our children for life in the real world, we should prepare them for life in the online world. Read on for tips that every parent should keep in mind. Using social media sites while underage Did you know that no one under the age of 13 is permitted to join Facebook? However, there is no real way for Facebook to truly enforce it, because anyone can lie about their year of birth. You should not allow your child to use social media until age 13 and until you are comfortable with him or her having an account. There are measures put in place, such as reporting an underage child, but ultimately, it should be the parent who has the say on when and if that account gets created. Create ground rules If your kids are old enough to be using the computer on their own, they are old enough to understand that there are rules they need to abide by. Breaking them should not have a lesser consequence than if they broke a rule in the offline world. The best way for families to agree
on ground rules is to create a contract that all parties must sign. Get to know what your child’s habits are You do not need to be a super sleuth and spy on your kid’s every online move, but it is important to be aware of the kind of sites they are frequenting and the people they are associating with. Get to know the friends they hang out with at school, and their online friends should not be any different. One of the contract rules should be that you have full access to their online friends and can take a look whenever you wish. Keep the computer in a central location It is much easier to keep tabs on any online activity when the computer is located in a high-traffic zone than if your child is using a computer in the privacy of their own room. Place the computer in a central location like your kitchen or family room so that everything is out in the open. Urge your kids to avoid questionnaires, free giveaways and contests A pop-up ad appears and tells kids they can win a free iPad by simply clicking the link. Anyone would be tempted by this kind of offer, but kids are particularly susceptible, so it is important to warn kids against falling for this kind of internet trick. Many of these scams are attempts to glean personal information. Inform kids that even if they are forwarded a fun questionnaire from a
friend, it is best to close the window and not participate. Monitor the pictures your child posts online In an ideal world, your child would never post a photo of herself online, but that might not be entirely realistic. If she wants to share photos with her friends via email or a social networking site, be sure you know exactly which pictures are being posted. Make sure the content of the photo is completely
innocuous and that no identifiable locales in the background are noticeable. Be a good example of how to use social media If you are tweeting and updating your Facebook page at a stop light and taking every opportunity to “just check something,” you are setting a poor precedent for social media usage that your child will surely follow. Always remember to ask yourself if you are setting a good example and demonstrating proper technology etiquette as well. Limit cell phone use Just as you would limit use of a computer, TV or gaming system, you can do the same with a cell phone. Set rules for the device, only allowing cell phone usage at certain hours in the evening or after homework has been completed. If you have teens of driving age,
the most important rule to enforce is that under no circumstances should cell phones ever be used while driving. Phones should be kept off so incoming text sounds are not a distraction or should be kept in the glove compartment, out of reach. Talk to kids about online dangers You may feel like you are scaring your kids when talking to them about the dangers of being online, but it is better for them to be scared than to be unaware. Having an open line of communication is crucial the minute your kids start using the internet more independently. Become a net-savvy parent The best safeguard against online dangers is being informed. Jump in and learn the basics of the
Internet—read articles, take a class, and talk to other parents. A good place to start with some basics is www.LearnTheNet.com. A good place to stay current with the latest in online technology is mashable. com. You do not have to be an expert to have a handle on your child’s online world. Kids have gained a mastery of technology so quickly and can easily pick up on the nuances that any new gadget has, far more easily that we can in some cases. It is every parent’s responsibility to know exactly which key features are included in the gadgets our kids are using. Let us keep our kids safe and let us create safer communities. • For more information, contact the National Crime Prevention Office at 302-8430, 302-8432, 302-8154.
THE TRIBUNE
Monday, October 7, 2019, PAGE 13
THE NEW Providence Ecology Park rapid attack fire truck is pictured in action.
Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
Landfill managers show off transformed facility By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net IN just six months, the new managers of New Providence landfill have raised the site to international standards and nearly eradicated the putrid smell and fly infestation that once defined the area. More importantly, Providence Advisors/WRDG Consortium and its partners say they have worked to reduce the chances of major fires erupting at the site. The last major landfill fire happened in 2018. Timothy Hodge, CEO and founder of Strata Sustainability, who is the project manager for the landfill, now known as New Providence Ecology Park, admitted that there have been small fires, but crews constantly work to ensure that these smaller fires do not become major incidents. Part of the strategy involves using a retardant on highly flammable types of waste such as tyres to
ensure fires do not rapidly spread whenever they ignite. These tyres are shredded for other uses, including sub grading the roads in the park, among other things. They’ve also ensured there are sufficient buffer spaces between the site and residential communities. Garbage is properly sorted as trucks and residents bringing in waste know exactly where they should dump it. Overall, Mr Hodge said there was a focus on recycling any materials that can be reused and repurposed. However it will be years before the site is ready to contribute to the country’s renewable energy needs, he said. Officials of the NPEP hosted a press conference and site tour on Friday benchmarking its six months of steady progress. NPEP Chairman Felix Stubbs said the progress had brought new life into a once troublesome landfill. He said: “We have cleaned and organised
the park. We have created roads and established specific treatment areas for various types of waste received. Safety and security are paramount within our operations. We have implemented controlled site access, 24-hour security patrols and traffic controls. “Our goal is to develop an aesthetically pleasing 160-acre ecology and industrial park. We aim to be a beacon for the region and drive the movement toward more sustainable, environmentally friendly waste management practices throughout the Bahamas.” Site officials plan to launch key initiatives that will reap economic social and environmental gains for generations to come. This includes a recycling facility that can process all recyclables gathered across the nation, including cans, bottles and metal. Additionally a large scale compositing operation, as well as a concrete/ demolition debris recovery operation are in the pipeline.
MINISTER of Environment and Housing Romauld Ferreira and Tall Pines MP Donald Saunders toured the New Providence Ecology Park on Friday to see changes at the landfill.
PAGE 14, Monday, October 7, 2019
THE TRIBUNE
POPE URGES BOLD ACTION TO PROTECT THE AMAZON VATICAN CITY Associated Press
POPE Francis urged bishops yesterday to boldly shake up the status quo as they chart ways to better care for the Amazon and its indigenous people amid threats from forest fires, development and what he called ideological “ashes of fear”. Francis opened a threeweek meeting on preserving the rainforest and ministering to its native people as he fended off attacks from conservatives who are opposed to his ecological agenda. Francis celebrated an opening Mass in St Peter’s Basilica with global attention newly focused on the forest fires that are devouring the Amazon, which scientists say is a crucial bulwark against global warming. On hand for the service were indigenous people from several tribes, some with their faces painted and wearing feathered headdresses, as well as more than 180 South American cardinals, bishops and priests, who donned green vestments like the pope. In his homily, Francis urged the Amazonian bishops to go boldly forward, urging they be “prudent” but not “timid” as they discern new ways to protect the environment and minister to the faithful. He drew a distinction between the “fire” of missionary zeal and fires that aim to carve out the rainforest for agricultural uses. “The fire set by interests that destroy, like the fire that recently devastated Amazonia, is not the fire of the Gospel,” he said. “The fire of God is warmth that attracts and gathers into unity. It is fed by sharing, not by profits.” He prayed that God’s “daring prudence” would inspire the bishops to bold action to protect the region. “If everything continues as it was, if we spend our days content that ‘this is the way things have always been done,’ then the gift vanishes, smothered by the ashes of fear and concern for defending the status quo,” he said. While the numbers of fires burning in the Amazon declined sharply last month, parts of the rainforest burned at a pace in July and August unseen since 2010.
IRAQI security forces fire tear gas to disperse anti-government protesters who set fires and close a street during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday. The spontaneous protests which started Tuesday in Baghdad and southern cities were sparked by endemic corruption and lack of jobs. Security forces responded with a harsh crackdown, with dozens killed. Twelve more anti-government demonstrators were killed yesterday, bringing the total in the past six days to more than 100 dead and thousands wounded. Photo: Hadi Mizban/AP
Second whistleblower over Trump’s Ukraine dealings WASHINGTON Associated Press A SECOND whistleblower has come forward with information about President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, adding to the impeachment peril engulfing the White House and potentially providing new leads to Democrats in their unfurling investigation of Trump’s conduct. Attorney Mark Zaid, who represents both whistleblowers, said the second person has spoken to the intelligence community’s internal watchdog and can corroborate information in the original whistleblower complaint. That document alleged that Trump pushed Ukraine’s president to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s family, prompting a White House cover-up. Crucially, the new whistleblower works in the intelligence field and has “firsthand knowledge” of key events, Zaid said.
The emergence of the second whistleblower threatened to undermine arguments from Trump and his allies to discredit the original complaint. They have called it politically motivated, claimed it was filed improperly and dismissed it as unreliable because it was based on second-hand or third-hand information. A rough transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, released by the White House, has already corroborated the complaint’s central claim that Trump sought to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. The push came even though there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the former vice president or his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. Text messages from State Department officials revealed other details, including that Ukraine was promised a visit with Trump if the government would
agree to investigate the 2016 election and Ukrainian gas company Burisma — the outline of a potential quid pro quo. Rep Jim Himes, D-Conn, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said word of a second whistleblower indicates a larger shift inside the government. “The president’s real problem is that his behavior has finally gotten to a place where people are saying, ‘Enough,’” Himes said. Democrats have zeroed in on the State Department in the opening phase of their impeachment investigation. The Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees have already interviewed Kurt Volker, a former special envoy to Ukraine who provided the text messages. At least two other witnesses are set for depositions this week: Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, and Marie Yovanovitch, who was abruptly ousted as the
US ambassador to Ukraine in May. Trump and his supporters deny that he did anything improper, but the White House has struggled to come up with a unified response. No administration officials appeared on the Sunday news shows to defend the president, while other Republicans focused mainly on attacking Democrats. A few Republicans suggested that Trump was only joking this past week when he publicly called on China to investigate the Bidens. Republican Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s most vocal backers, provided perhaps the strongest defence of the president. He said there was nothing wrong with Trump’s July conversation with Zelenskiy and that the accusation look like a “political setup”. As for Trump, he stayed at White House, where he tweeted and retweeted, with the Bidens a main target.
“The great Scam is being revealed!” Trump wrote at one point, continuing to paint himself as the victim of a “deep state” and hostile Democrats. He kept lashing out at Utah Sen Mitt Romney, one of the few Republicans who has publicly questioned Trump’s conduct. Romney tweeted recently that Trump’s “brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine” for an investigation of Biden is “wrong and appalling.” The July call raised questions about whether Trump held back near $400m in critical American military aid to Ukraine as leverage for a Burisma investigation. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma at the same time his father was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Ukraine. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden.
WITNESS WHO TESTIFIED IN CASE OF KILLER COP SHOT DEAD DALLAS Associated Press A MAN who was fatally shot has been identified as a key witness in the murder trial of a white Dallas police officer who killed her black neighbor, Dallas police said yesterday. Joshua Xavier Brown, 28, was found on Friday night in the parking lot of an apartment complex with multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said. Brown was pronounced dead at a hospital. Brown lived in the same apartment complex as Amber Guyger and Botham Jean and testified at Guyger’s trial, where she was convicted of murder on Tuesday. The Jean family attorney, Lee Merritt, posted a statement on Twitter that said he had spoken with Brown’s mother and “she is devastated”. “We need answers,” Merritt wrote. Homicide detectives are seeking the public’s help in identifying suspects and a motive in Brown’s death. Brown was a key witness in the trial of Guyger, who was charged in Jean’s slaying in September 2018. According to her trial testimony, she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own one floor below and shot him after pushing open his unlocked door and thinking he was a burglar. Brown said he was in a hallway on the fourth floor, where he and Jean lived. He said he heard what sounded
like “two people meeting by surprise” and then two gunshots. At times during his testimony, Brown became emotional and used his T-shirt and tissue to wipe his tears. He said he had met Jean, a 26-year-old accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St Lucia, for the first time earlier that day. Guyger, 31, was fired from the department soon after the shooting. She was sentenced Wednesday to ten years in prison. The shooting that killed Brown happened at a different apartment complex, according to a Dallas police news release. That statement said several witnesses flagged down officers who were responding to a call about the shooting. The witnesses directed police to the parking lot where a man was lying on the ground. Witnesses described hearing several gunshots, according to the news release, and saw a silver four-door sedan speeding off from the parking lot. No one else was shot. Merritt said Brown “deserves the justice he sought to ensure the Jean family”. Kimberly Leach, director of communications for the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, did not immediately reply to telephone and email requests from The Associated Press seeking comment about the case.
THE TRIBUNE
Monday, October 7, 2019, PAGE 15
‘The Bahamas’ own street philosopher’
To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394 NEW DEPUTY COMMANDER APPOINTED TO RBDF ROLE THE Cabinet Office has announced the appointment of Commander Dr Raymond E King as Deputy Commander of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. The appointment is effective from today. Dr King will assist Commander Tellis Bethel. The Deputy Commander will be responsible for the oversight of RBDF operations on Abaco and Grand Bahama following the passage of Hurricane Dorian. The appointment is pursuant to Section 164 (2) of the Defence Force Act, (Chapter 21) Statute law of The Bahamas. Dr King joined the Defence Force as a recruit in January 1987. He has served as Midshipman, Acting Sub-Lieutenant, Sub Lieutenant, Senior Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander and Commanding Officer of HMBS Nassau. He has also served as Administration and Human Resources Officer at the RBDF Coral Harbour Base. In 2018, he was seconded to the Port Department as Port Controller, where he served up to his new appointment. Dr King trained at the International Midshipman’s Course at the Britannia Royal Navy College, Dartmouth. He took an accounting course at the College of The Bahamas and received his associate’s and BA from Success Training College and Sojourner-Douglass College, respectively. In 2010, he obtained an MBA from Nova University, and in 2015 he obtained a Doctor of Education from St Thomas University in Florida. Dr King has also participated in many international courses. Lieutenant Commander Berne Wright will serve as the new Port Controller.