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VOLUME:117 No.218, OCTOBER 8TH, 2020

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CLASSIFIED TRADER: CARS, CARS, CARS & MORE CARS

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HERE WE GO AGAIN

PM piles on the pain in desperate bid to halt runaway virus

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net RESIDENTS in New Providence and Abaco will be placed under strict movement restrictions, featuring a 7pm daily curfew and full weekend lockdowns until the COVID-19 situation sees improvement, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, pictured, announced yesterday.

The 7pm curfew will begin tomorrow and last throughout the holiday weekend, ending Tuesday at 5am.

Following this, every weekend both islands will go into full lockdown mode – Fridays at 7pm to Mondays 5am –- and every day the curfew will be 7pm instead of the 10pm curfew that has been in effect for several weeks.

As a part of government’s enforcement efforts, Dr Minnis said all fines for breaching health protocols, except for the mask violations, will be doubled.

He said to encourage

compliance with public health protection measures, there will be an amendment to the Emergency Powers Order that causes businesses to be closed for 14 days on their second violation of the protocols.

Dr Minnis explained that a business will be fined for the first violation, but on a second offence the business would be ordered shut.

During these weekend 24-hour lockdowns, only essential services, including the uniformed branches, customs and immigration departments, public health services, sanitation services and essential utility services will be permitted to operate.

No social gatherings will be allowed, Dr Minnis said, adding this will be strictly enforced in order to reduce and control the spread of COVID-19. There is now a confidential hotline for citizens to report people hosting social gatherings.

SEE PAGE FOUR

SHOW ME THE MONEY SCORES of Atlantis employees and members of an activist group chanted “Minnis got to go” as they protested near Parliament Square and marched for workers to receive their severance pay from the resort. See page two for the full story.

DAVIS

FOODSTORES

HOTELS

ALL WE’RE DOING IS PRESSING PAUSE BUTTON

IT’S CRAZY NOW AND WILL BE ‘TIL FRIDAY NIGHT

WE CAN’T KEEP ISSUING THESE MIXED MESSAGES

ABACO

DISMAY AS MEASURES DELAY REBUILDS

GYMS

FOR SOME OF US, THIS IS GOING TO BE GAME OVER

NHI UNVEILS NEXT STAGE AMBITION

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

THE National Health Insurance Authority has announced plans to expand its primary care services.

“I am pleased to announce that today, the National Health Insurance Authority sets out to expand our primary care services, both in quality and quantity,” said Dr Robin

DR ROBIN ROBERTS Roberts, chairman of the NHI Authority, during a virtual press conference yesterday. “In my over 30

years’ experience of practising medicine in The Bahamas, this promises to be the most transformative initiative in the history of our health care system.

“Since the launch of NHI Bahamas in April 2017, nearly 90,000 beneficiaries are enrolled in the programme with high levels of satisfaction reported by persons who are currently receiving primary care services.”

SEE PAGE THREE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

FRONT PORCH

THE TRAGICOMEDY OF TRUMP’S AMERICA

PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Thursday, October 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE ATLANTIS employees and members of an activist group protest yesterday.

Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

Show me the money

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

SCORES of Atlantis employees and members of an activist group chanted “Minnis got to go” as they protested near Parliament Square and marched for workers to receive their severance pay from the resort.

Police reported one protester was arrested for alleged idle assembly and inciting a riot. The group was expected to march over the Sidney Poitier Bridge to Paradise Island yesterday morning, but were blocked.

They then tried to take their protest to the House of Assembly.

At one point, the group was lined up near a bank on Bay and Parliament Streets behind barricades, as police tried to direct the crowd away.

Operation Sovereign Bahamas managing director Adrian Francis, whose group organised the protest, had told The Tribune earlier that they were stopped from going over the bridge and had unsuccessfully attempted to go to Parliament Square on their first attempt. So, the group gathered at a park across from the bridge. Police were present watching them and two police buses were at the scene.

He said Atlantis workers wanted their money now.

“Atlantis is not going to open before March of next year,” he predicted.

“Nobody is going to travel during the (US) presidential election. All the winter travel has already been planned and gone. The Bahamas is a (COVID-19) hotspot - nobody’s coming here right now. So these people are gonna be out of a job for a year to wait on the government to tell them what to do? Man, the devil is a liar.”

After being denied the right to walk to Parliament Square, the protestors got in cars and drove there instead, hoping to speak with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

“We were at Parliament and they rushed Dr Minnis out of Parliament and they rushed him in his car,” Mr Francis said.

Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle said police are not trying to stifle protests, but said that demonstrators needed a specific permit or approval to protest at Parliament Square.

He said the process required permission from the Speaker of the House of Assembly if protestors want to go into Parliament Square, and the Speaker would send him a note advising he had given permission. He added: “If they want to go in Rawson Square, you need permission from the secretary of the Cabinet.”

Meanwhile, many Atlantis workers voiced their frustration over not getting their severance pay - particularly those who have been employees at the mega-resort for years.

One 60-year-old employee explained she had been working for the hotel for 30 years. Now, the employee said she has been sleeping inside her car for four to five months and her children are hungry.

Another worker, Elizabeth Saunders, 43, said the workers are “tired” and have had “enough”. She has been at the hotel for the past 13 years.

“It’s been a fight. They don’t pay us our money and we need it now. I have five children to feed and I need my money.

“I had enough. You work and it’s like you can’t see your money...they give us the run around, we tired we had enough.”

Dave Beckford has been an employee for 25 years as a gardener in the landscaping department. Through the “grace of God” he has been getting by, but most workers are only getting $150 a week in assistance from the government.

“The money they gave us is our health and welfare fund and the monies that we’ve been getting from the government. How do you expect us to live off $150?

“The law is clear after 12 weeks, three months, the Act says that the employer must return the employee back to work or pay them off but what the government did is meet with the hotel owners and then suspend section 28 C. So basically, you are taking my rights away.”

The government has suspended the Employment Act provisions that mandate employers must pay full severance/redundancy to workers who have been furloughed, or sent home, after 90 days/13 weeks or otherwise recall them to work.

This provision is suspended until 30 days after the government’s COVID-19 emergency powers orders —currently in effect until the end of October—cease.

A room attendant at The Reef said she is sick and tired of the double talk. She has now been out of a job for seven and a half months.

Her husband also works at Atlantis and he is out of a job as well.

“All I want is what is mines. It’s my money and I want it now,” she said.

“They just keep promising us that they’re gonna do something for us, but are not getting anything. The $150 every two weeks is not going to kick it.”

She planned to use the severance pay to start her own small business as she vowed she is finished with Atlantis.

Atlantis temporarily laid off staff in March for an initial period of four weeks in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However the resort’s closure has been protracted due to skyrocketing cases of the virus in The Bahamas and the United States, the country’s main tourist market.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 8, 2020, PAGE 3

NHI unveils next stage ambition from page one “While we have been hearing positive feedback about NHI so far, the government of The Bahamas seeks to continue its efforts to deliver on the triple goal of healthcare: to better the patient experience, to improve the health conditions of our people, and to get the best quality services and value for the money we spend on health,” Dr Roberts said.

“This next phase of NHI will bring together the public and private healthcare delivery networks under a common and comprehensive model of care that improves quality, consistency of experience, and access to primary healthcare services without any cost at the point of service.

“NHI has already made significant progress in this objective. The Primary Care Transformation Initiative, when implemented, will complete the process.”

A timeline for the new initiative was not announced as officials are still in the consultation phase before final recommendations are presented to the government.

However, Dr Roberts said a revised standard healthcare benefit will be available for all Bahamians who enrol with the Primary Care Transformation Initiative for no additional copays or deductibles, ensuring high quality primary healthcare is delivered throughout the nation.

“The revised standard healthcare benefit is a package of services that encompasses primary healthcare coverage and includes all primary healthcare physician visits as into this care will be specific paediatric and maternity coverage which covers all evidenced-based best practices for antenatal and newborn care, including all lab tests, imaging and immunizations associated with best outcomes,” he continued.

“This public private integration allows those in private health insurance to access the standard healthcare benefit without paying co-pays or deductibles. A most integral part of our NHI primary care services is our single primary care electronic health record (EHR). This allows for telemedicine services and a patient portal that allows patients to access their records and book appointments online.”

The National Health Insurance Authority released a policy paper, entitled “Primary Care Transformative Initiative”, which outlines the proposed policy framework.

Dr Roberts said under the new proposal, NHI promises to be affordable, realistic, and sustainable, with a goal to act as a catalyst for change in the way Bahamians experience health care.

The Primary Care Transformative Initiative is said to benefit Bahamians in the following ways: Accessibility: The PCTI

DR ROBIN ROBERTS will allow access for every Bahamian to a dedicated primary healthcare physician, building a digitally enabled patient-physician relationship with a focus on preventative medicine and health education.

Quality: Both public and private clinics will be required to adhere to a high standard of quality in healthcare through provider agreements, with patient centric funding and

THREE MONTHS IN JAIL FOR STORE BREAK-IN AND THEFT

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A SPANISH Wells man was sentenced to three months in prison for breaking into his father’s shop and for stealing an assortment of vodka from another business last week.

Adrian Pinder, 50, was charged with one count of shop breaking and two counts of stealing from a shop after he was accused of breaking into Spanish Wells Food Fair on October 1. Pinder was further accused of stealing an assortment of vodka from Wreckers Restaurant and Bar on October 2.

During his hearing before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes, Pinder admitted to committing all three offences.

The court was told that around 8.33pm last Thursday, Pinder’s father told police his son had broken into his store and caused damage to his door. The prosecution also said the next day, the manager of Wreckers Restaurant and Bar reported that they had seen video surveillance of Pinder stealing $236 worth

of vodka from their establishment. The accused was subsequently arrested. In an interview with police a short time later, he admitted to the offences.

During the hearing, Pinder told the magistrate he had a drinking problem and went on binges from time to time. He claimed his father had thrown out some of his liquor, so he broke into his store out of anger.

He also claimed he was having marital problems and would drink to “take away the bad feelings”.

As a result, Magistrate Forbes accepted his guilty pleas and sentenced him to three months in prison. He also said he would make a note so Pinder could receive drug and alcohol counselling while in custody.

Yesterday, a man who threatened to kill his exwife before stealing her car battery was also sentenced to a year behind bars.

Aristotle Smith, 34, appeared before Magistrate Samuel McKinney charged with one count each of threats of death and stealing.

He pleaded guilty to both offences yesterday.

The court was told that

Smith’s ex-wife was at her residence on October 4 when Smith came there and threatened to kill her.

The prosecution said the woman told police she also observed Smith stealing her $140 car battery at the time of the incident.

When given an opportunity to speak during the hearing, Smith told the magistrate that he was battling a “monster” drug addiction that he had developed from the age of 14.

He also revealed that the last time he was in court, another magistrate had ordered him to attend drug counselling.

He said he did not get the chance to start the rehabilitation programme yet.

In response, Magistrate McKinney noted that the accused had spent a year in prison for crimes of a similar nature. As a result, he sentenced Smith to one year at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services and ordered him to compensate his ex-wife $140 for her stolen car battery. Magistrate McKinney also said he would make a note so Smith could receive counseling and treatment while on remand.

MAN ACCUSED OF STEALING POUCH

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 30-YEAR-OLD man was remanded to prison after he was accused of trying to steal a woman’s money pouch.

Louben Pierre appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes after he was accused of attempting to steal Lana Gordon’s black pouch on October 5. According to the prosecution, Ms Gordon had $85 cash in

the pouch.

During his arraignment, Pierre denied the charge and the matter was adjourned to December 7 for trial.

In the meantime, the defendant was remanded into custody.

He has a right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.

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high quality data infrastructure enabled through the EHR. Affordability: The PCTI is an important step to protect those who have pre-existing conditions and were previously unable to obtain insurance for primary care coverage. This model allows for private insurers to keep premiums low by limiting an insurer’s exposure to feefor-service events and fairly

compensates physicians through a negotiated capitation arrangement based on multiple factors, including patient risk.

Economically: Through integration of the primary care system, the PCTI is expected to save taxpayers more than $55m over the next five years by removing duplication and inefficiency from the system. This will create fiscal room for needed investment into

our communities. Further, without having to impose new taxes or funding mechanisms like an employer mandate, the PCTI will keep our business community competitive.

The NHI Authority also launched its electronic health records system which, the authority said will be handled with the strictest confidentiality, giving those enrolled access to their records.

PAGE 4, Thursday, October 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Here we go again from page one and control the spread of COVID-19. There is now a confidential hotline for citizens to report people hosting social gatherings.

The hotline number is 702-9967.

Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday, the prime minister said there are urgent challenges on both islands. Despite this, he said the opening date for the tourism sector remains set at November 1, adding that officials have set specific goals for the next 14 days.

“We face urgent challenges here on New Providence and Abaco,” Dr Minnis said.

He spoke as many of his Cabinet ministers were absent from the sitting because they are in quarantine after coming into contact with Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira who tested positive for the disease this week.

“The persistently high case numbers – particularly on New Providence – have placed immense strain on our healthcare system and our medical professionals.

“Our hospitals are full. Medical teams have been pushed to their capacity. If there is further deterioration in the COVID-19 situation on our most populated island, we risk a collapse of the healthcare system.

“My government uses science and data and listens carefully to the recommendations of experts to guide our policies. We also consult with various stakeholders to get their feedback and to discuss the policies we are considering.

“This is the worst crisis The Bahamas has faced in its modern history. We are living in an unprecedented global emergency. Each day is an emergency and we have to constantly make adjustments, day in and day out, sometimes, on an hourly basis. This is going to be our reality for some time.

“Anyone who tells you otherwise does not

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS CLOSED FOR CLEANING SEVERAL government ministries, departments and agencies have been closed for deep cleaning after staff members tested positive for COVID-19.

The Ministry of the Public Service and National Insurance and the Public Service Commission closed its offices at the Meeting and Augusta Streets Complex for cleaning and sanitation yesterday. It will reopen for business today.

The National Sports Authority also closed for cleaning and sanitizing yesterday. The NSA will resume its services on Wednesday, October 14.

The Department of Inland Revenue

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis in Parliament yesterday. understand this moment in livelihoods.

“Health officials are sethistory.”

He continued: “Today, ting a goal with targets the current situation in and timelines that would New Providence and Abaco measure the impact of the requires new restrictions in restrictive measures and order to reduce infections the likely success of mitiand, most importantly, to gating the transmission of save lives. Sadly, we are COVID-19 in New Provinow averaging one death dence and Abaco over the next 14 days,” Dr Minnis per day.

“In deciding on these also told Parliament.

“The ultimate measure restrictions, we have balanced the need of our of success would mean that people to make a living, the number of new cases is along with the serious no longer increasing, hospipublic health concerns of talisations are decreasing, the moment. Nobody likes a reduction in the need for or wants complete shut- ICU care and a decrease in the number of COVID-19 downs or full restrictions.

“We seek to implement related deaths.

“The success of these what is reasonable and necessary for a period of measures will inform whether time in order to reduce more restrictive measures are sickness and death. When needed or if measures can be these goals are achieved relaxed. The measures I have and cases are reduced, we outlined have no effect on remove these measures so air travel. There has been no that people may get back change to the current travel to a greater level of nor- regime.

“The opening of the malcy in their lives and

on Carmichael Road has also closed its offices until further notice.

All services are available remotely from www.vat.revenue.gov.bs.

“For the convenience of the public, taxpayers can log into their accounts and through the accounts dashboard request services. All other non-account holders can reach the Department via telephone at 225-7280 or taxinquiries@bahamas. gov.bs,” a statement from the Cabinet Office said.

The South Beach Post Office has also closed for cleaning. Services there will resume on October 20.

international tourism sector remains set for November 1, 2020.”

Further restrictions mean the only other movement during weekend lockdowns beside essential services, will be for one hour of worship services on Saturdays and Sundays between the hours of 7am and 1pm.

Food stores, pharmacies, gas stations, construction sites or laundromats are not permitted to operate during the full 24-hour weekend curfews.

Dr Minnis said food distribution by the National Food Distribution Task Force will be tailored to take place during weekdays.

Beaches and parks in Abaco and New Providence will also be closed beginning Friday and only virtual learning is permitted for students on both islands.

Sea and airports will continue to operate and there will be no interruption to flights.

Additionally, during the week, religious services may continue based on the Bahamas Christian Council guidelines approved by the Ministry of Health.

Churches may also open for individual/private prayer during the week.

However, other restrictions regarding funerals and weddings will be enforced.

Dr Minnis said health officials have recommended reverting to previous protocols.

As such, in addition to the officiant and the

undertakers, 10 people will be permitted to attend a funeral, which may now only take place at the graveside. Wakes and repasts will not be permitted.

As far as weddings are concerned only ten people will be permitted at a wedding, while wedding receptions will not be permitted.

Exercise is permitted in a person’s neighbourhood Monday to Friday, between 5am and 7pm, but exercise on the weekend may take place only within a person’s yard.

Gyms will once again be closed.

Consistent with the international guests using these facilities, Bahamians and residents seeking to book at hotels in New Providence and Abaco will be required to have negative COVID19 RT PCR tests.

And there will be no indoor or outdoor dining in New Providence and Abaco for now.

Where take away services are being provided, enforcement monitors will ensure that there is no congregating either indoors or outdoors by patrons. However, hotels will be allowed to offer outdoor dining to guests.

As it pertains to retail sales, this will only be allowed by kerbside except for food stores. For all other retail, customers are not permitted to enter stores, while gas stations are not permitted to provide in-store services.

As he closed his address to the House of Assembly, the prime minister made an appeal to social media influencers to rally support of the COVID-19 protocols.

“Let me close by making a strong appeal to social media influencers, to social media gurus, to do all you can to encourage adherence to the proper health guidelines and preventative measures and to encourage the spirit of ‘we are in this fight together’.

“I say to the social media gurus and those who live on social media, spread the message of unity. Create songs of unity, song of encouragement, song of remembrance that there should be no gathering.

“I say to the young entrepreneurs out there (that) this is your opportunity to do your part. Create t-shirts with slogans and messages.

Let’s fight COVID together.

“United against COVID and every Friday I encourage all Bahamians throughout the length and breadth of the country to wear t-shirts with the slogan ‘anti-COVID’, or ‘let’s fight COVID’.

“Let’s declare Fridays anti-COVID t-shirt day.

The message must be loud and clear so that everyone understands that we are at war. The world is at war.

“We are all at war against COVID, a virus that we cannot see and a virus that does grave danger and causes death,” Dr Minnis said.

that many Abaco residents are still living in homes or structures without electricity and consistent running water.

This has forced many to rely on grocery stores and restaurants for their daily food due to limited resources.

“These people are still at the mercies of going to the food stores every single day in order to be able to eat in the night. They still have to go to the gas stations every night in order to put gas inside their generator,” Mrs Clarke told The Tribune.

“So it’s like the gas stations and the food stores are always packed simply because people are eating and trying to survive by the day. We can’t go three days without being able to get the necessities that we need to survive and it’s bull**** to say that we can go to the food store between today and Friday.

“Because whatever it is you buy today you need that for tonight. Whatever you buy in the morning, you need that for that night so come Saturday morning, what are people supposed to feed their children?

They have no refrigerators to keep food and coolers can only keep it for so long.”

Her comments came hours after Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis set out new restrictions for Abaco and New Providence, including a weekend lockdown and stricter curfew hours because of rising COVID cases in the community.

During the 24-hour weekend lockdowns, food stores, pharmacies, gas stations, construction sites and laundromats are prohibited from opening.

No social gatherings will be permitted but one hour of church worship is allowed.

However, some say the new restrictions could have been avoided if law enforcement officers on Abaco had been enforcing the current COVID-19 orders.

Roscoe Thompson, chairman of the Marsh Harbour/Spring City Town Council, said while he agrees that everyone must play their part in helping to defeat the virus, he also believes police also should have been doing more.

“Yes, the people have to take responsibility in wearing masks but the unfortunate thing over here is, but the catch 22, is the police aren’t doing their job,” he told this newspaper yesterday.

“When they shut down Freeport for two weeks, the police were everywhere but here, just in the evening they do their roadblock at 10.30 but during the day, you have 40 to 50 people hanging out at one bar and no one wearing a mask.

“I don’t have a problem with the curfews…and I don’t blame the police but they’re not taking their responsibility for their part in all of this.”

Dale Hill, another resident, also cited lack of policing as the reason why cases on Abaco are on the rise.

Mr Hill said he believes government officials should have just placed more restrictions on bars and local hang outs, which often attract large gatherings, instead of on all establishments in the community.

“A weekend lockdown is

only going to lengthen the lines,” he said. “The only thing you could do is let life go on as normal and just practice the normal rules but the bars that have been over here have been open all hours of the night. That’s been the biggest issue here.”

In addition to these concerns, parents there are also worried how their students will continue their studies at home without learning devices and consistent electricity.

Before the Prime Minister’s announcement, several private institutions had already resumed in school operations, with limited numbers of students in classrooms. However, now, all schools will have to resort to virtual learning methods.

“Months ago, when we were getting to go back into the school year, I said why isn’t Social Services spearheaded by the government is not appealing to residents that have kids to come in and register so that they can know exactly what the situation is on the island before it’s time for school to start,” Mrs Clarke told The Tribune.

“People don’t have these devices and I’m sure people will say all students have cell phones but you can’t expect them to learn off a cell phone and honestly, power here is not consistent. It’s almost non-existent.”

It is not clear when the restrictions will be lifted for Abaco and New Providence, with Dr Minnis only saying the matter would all depend on an improvement of the current COVID situation on those islands. The new rules go into effect Friday at 7pm.

LOCKDOWN ‘DEVASTATING’ FOR ABACO

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net ABACO residents yesterday blasted the government’s decision to reimpose a weekend lockdown for the island due to high COVID-19 cases there, saying the new restrictions will be “devastating” for the economy and rebuilding efforts.

“Honestly, I am almost

to tears,” said one resident, who only wanted to be identified as Mrs Clarke.

“Like seriously, that’s how hurt I am about this entire thing. I am all anti-COVID, trust me. I wear my mask, I walk around with hand sanitizer as well as a bottle of alcohol.

“But still at the end of the day, we’re still in the process of rebuilding… the weekend is when we go to our home and try to get work done because

some of us are at the mercies of waiting for skilled professionals to come to our homes to help us get work done on their time off.”

Her comments were echoed by many residents yesterday, who said the issue is not the stricter curfew hours, but rather the weekend lockdowns, which will hamper Dorian restoration efforts.

The situation is also compounded by the fact

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 8, 2020, PAGE 5

DAVIS: ALL WE’RE DOING IS PRESSING THE PAUSE BUTTON

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Leader Philip “Brave” Davis said yesterday the government’s planned holiday and weekend lockdown is not the answer to the country’s COVID-19 crisis.

The move, he said, is only pressing pause on the surmounting issues the nation faces due to the virus.

On Tuesday, Mr Davis called for a comprehensive plan to fight COVID-19 and its affects on the country.

He reiterated those remarks yesterday.

“I am troubled because our healthcare system is near collapse. It is near collapse because we still don’t have enough testing. We still don’t have enough tracing,” Mr Davis said on the Senate steps following the House of Assembly meeting where moments before Prime Minister Dr Minnis had announced new restrictions for New Providence and Abaco.

“We did not use the more than six months since this pandemic began to add hospital and clinic capacity,” Mr Davis said.

“All a lockdown does is press pause. On Tuesday morning we are back where we have started.

“Instead we need a plan to stop the spread of COVID, not a lockdown, but a plan and if the plan includes a lockdown the other aspects of the plan have to be made known.

“We need widespread testing and it needs to be free. We need results returned quickly after testing so people know if they have to be isolated.

“We need a government that understands that this is an airborne virus and that outdoors is safer than indoors. We need to make workplaces safer and we need to support people instead of punishing them.

“This is no time to, as it were, for petty political games and rhetoric, but rather a time to understand and plan for what we have to do. It’s only through testing will we make the invisible virus visible and that has not been happening enough.”

In a statement released after his press conference, Mr Davis faulted the Minnis administration for opening the country’s borders on July 1 “without

enough testing and tracing capacity in place” and no requirement for Bahamians returning from virus hotspots after less than 72 hours to be tested.

“As a result of these policy failures, thousands of Bahamians have contracted COVID, visitors are being warned to stay away and our healthcare system and economy are in collapse. The prime minister’s response to this crisis is yet another lockdown. A lockdown is not a plan,” Mr Davis said.

On Tuesday, Mr Davis said lockdowns have been a “useless tool” in the hands of the Minnis administration, as he urged officials to allow free COVID-19 testing for all Bahamians.

While he said the government needed a feasible action plan that includes free testing for every Bahamian, he said the party would not stand behind another complete lockdown of New Providence in the absence of complete data to support why the move is being considered.

PLP Deputy Leader Chester Cooper has also said that local businesses could not afford another lockdown.

81 NEW CASES CONFIRMED AND MOST IN NEW PROVIDENCE EIGHT-ONE additional COVID-19 cases were confirmed yesterday, according to the Ministry of Health.

This brings the number of confirmed cases in the country to 4,713.

The new cases include 77 in New Providence, two in Grand Bahama and two with locations pending.

There have been 3,545 confirmed cases

of COVID-19 in New Providence, 652 in Grand Bahama, 157 in Abaco, 54 in Bimini, 32 in Exuma, 25 in Eleuthera, 19 in Inagua, 15 in the Berry Islands, 12 in Long Island, nine in Andros and Cat Island, seven in Acklins, five in Crooked Island and three in Mayaguana.

There are 169 confirmed cases with locations pending.

RUPERT ROBERTS: IT’S FOR SOME OF US, THIS IS CRAZY NOW AND WILL GOING TO BE GAME OVER BE ‘TIL FRIDAY NIGHT

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

SUPER Value owner Rupert Roberts says while the new COVID-19 restrictions will affect sales, store executives will not “second guess” the recommendations made by health officials to curb the spread of the disease.

However, he said his staff will likely “catch hell” due to the influx of shoppers expected from reduced shopping days. He also hopes to be granted permission for staff to restock shelves during the weekend lockdown.

Mr Roberts told The Tribune yesterday that while it’s frustrating that more restrictions have to be imposed, Bahamians must learn to abide by the rules.

“What I see is absolutely disgusting — disregard for the sanitisation, the masks and the social distancing,” he said. “I just don’t understand it and it’s very frustrating. They think they know more about COVID than the Prime Minister, the doctor and anyone and there’s only one way to stop them and that’s brutality.

“And I guess the government is now beginning to realise that they have to be brutal about it …I don’t think the lockdown’s good but medical people do and we’re going to support the medical.

“I’m not going to second guess medical. They tell us what to do to keep the country safe and we’ll just obey. We have opinions but

RUPERT ROBERTS when they make the decisions we abide by it 100 percent.”

Mr Roberts said ahead of the Prime Minister’s announcement, Bahamians had started to panic shop. When The Tribune contacted Mr Roberts yesterday morning, he said lines were already getting longer at several of the supermarket chain’s locations.

He admitted that while the new restrictions will put a strain on employees, they are committed to serving the public to ensure that their food needs are met during the lockdown.

“Simply put, we’re going to catch hell,” he said.

“That means Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, we’re

going to have a strain on our staff to do six days’ business in three days and I imagine that we’re going to have the lines again and we have to police that.

“When that gets out of control, you have to call the public authority and ask for either extended hours or law enforcement to come and enforce the six foot (regulations) and sometimes the (customers have to) wait outside in the heat.

“But, we’re going to do the best we can to get the cooperation…We work with, we will improvise and we’ll figure out a way to serve the public in the guidelines they give us.”

Starting this Friday at 7pm, a 24-hour curfew will be enforced each day throughout the holiday weekend until Tuesday at 5am. During the 24-hour weekend lockdowns, food stores, pharmacies, gas stations, construction sites and laundromats are prohibited from opening.

However, Mr Roberts said he will be requesting permission from the competent authority for workers to be able to visit the stores to restock items.

“We are going to request from the competent authority to ask for stock up on Saturday because if we don’t stock up on (Saturday), we’ll just open to empty shelves. It’s no point opening on Tuesday and we’ll have to open Wednesday. So, we’ll just have to ask for permission for the warehouse and the store to restock on Saturday.”

ONE local gym owner says he doubts his business will recover after Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced in Parliament that gyms will have to once again have to close their doors due to new COVID19 restrictions.

Charles Johnson, owner of Out Da Box Fitness, says he is done and will have no choice but to close up shop. Dr Minnis made the announcement in Parliament yesterday just after putting the country back on weekend lockdowns in a bid to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Gyms were only allowed to open in late September after being closed for most of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Johnson, whose gym just reopened on Monday, is upset about the turn around and is calling on those who are responsible for keeping COVID-19 lawbreakers in check, to do their jobs.

“What a roller coaster ride,” Mr Johnson said. “I think I am not going to be able to come back after this to open again. This will be it for me. People are still paying rent. They had to make sure it was paid up before they started operating again. We went and we did all this stuff; put in all these protocols; set up the hand sanitizers again and clean up your gym. We did all of that on the weekend, opened on Monday and two

days later we are closed.

I’m out of money. I’m in a pickle.

“What I am most disappointed with is that the people who are supposed to be policing all these people who are breaking the COVID laws, have not been effectively doing their jobs. And, they are getting paid. They have not experienced any financial hardship. Clearly these people are not doing their jobs.”

Mr Johnson is in agreement with measures being put in place to fight against the coronavirus, however, he thinks these restrictions should have been put in place months ago.

“All I know is that it is so unfortunate what was said today,” he continued. “I basically just reopened on Monday past and for this to happen, it’s crazy. I think that everybody appreciates what the government is doing in trying to get a handle on this thing, but a lot of the measures they are putting in place now are measures that should have been put in place many months ago. The whole idea of closing us back down while others are allowed to open, it’s crazy.

“Allow us to operate at least three days a week in small numbers. We should be allowed to operate in some fashion. He acknowledged in his presentation that he knows he opened us back up for a short period and to do this to us again and he said he would try to get us to open back up as

soon as possible, but if you are still allowing certain other businesses to be open then allow us to continue to be open but in small numbers. If beauty salons and other businesses are still open, then why can’t we be open in a controlled environment? I made sure that I (have) just eight people per class in a 3,000 square foot place.”

During a previous interview in September, Mr Johnson told The Tribune that even though gyms in the country were shut down for months, luxury gated communities that have gym facilities were reportedly allowed to operate. He complained about the perceived double standard at the time.

“Now we are going to be dealing with onedge landlords who need commitment from their tenants,” he said yesterday. “So that is what we are dealing with now. The landlords should be rightfully concerned because they have a budget for their money also.

“I feel I cannot open again after this. If we knew we could open again in two weeks or in ten days then we could plan better, but still there is no timeline.

They can’t say, ‘hey guys you will open up in three weeks once we see the numbers trending in a certain way.’ It’s just unfair.”

Mr Johnson said he spoke with many gym owners and they are very disheartened about the industry being closed once again.

PAGE 6, Thursday, October 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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Paying now for missed opportunities earlier PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has made his move – and once again we prepare for a diet of curfews and lockdowns.

The clampdown is harsh – with a 7pm curfew and, because Dr Minnis can’t see a holiday weekend coming without thinking about lockdowns, we’re all going to be shut down until Tuesday morning.

There are other measures too – doubling fines for breaching health protocols, a hotline for reporting social gatherings, and so on. All this while the date for reopening the country’s tourism sector remains unmoved from November 1.

With the lockdown starting on Friday at 7pm, we can expect the stores will be crowded until then as people stock up. At least this time, there has been some warning, unlike in August when Dr Minnis broke the bond of trust with the people by shutting the country down without advance notice, leaving people whose cupboards were bare wondering how they would be able to eat or drink.

That prompted a swift U-turn, with the country suddenly opening up more than it had previously – and looking back now, it feels as if that moment was a crucial one for the country.

Perhaps chastened by the response from people worrying about how they could survive without warning of a lockdown, Dr Minnis rowed too far back.

Perhaps if he hadn’t overreached then, we might have had a stiff lockdown that could have stifled the wave of cases we are still experiencing today. Yesterday saw another 81 cases confirmed, 77 of those in New Providence.

The other islands watch on as this new lockdown hits New Providence and Abaco, and perhaps Family Islanders are wondering why it is they can get their house in order, but the capital and Abaco cannot.

Mixed messages haven’t helped, certainly, but there is also a question of discipline. Discipline on the part of people following the rules – and discipline in terms of those rules being enforced.

It’s all well and good doubling fines, but that doesn’t help much if there’s not enough boots on the ground to apply those fines and to stop gatherings.

The tourism industry too will be suffering from those mixed messages – as they try to figure out how to sell people a holiday to come and visit in just three weeks’ time while at the same time trying to convince visitors that the

newly introduced lockdowns won’t be a problem.

Meanwhile, Dr Minnis is urging entrepreneurs to create T-shirts saying let’s fight COVID together – a tricky thing to do with their businesses in lockdown and no way to sell them on the streets.

But let’s be clear about this: Dr Minnis is right when he says “this is the worst crisis The Bahamas has faced in its modern history. We are living in an unprecedented global emergency. Each day is an emergency and we have to constantly make adjustments, day in and day out, sometimes on an hourly basis.

This is going to be our reality for some time. Anyone who tells you otherwise does not understand this moment in history.”

We might have gripes about the manner in which the government is sailing these choppy seas, we might wish it was doing better at managing this crisis, we might wish it was being more creative in ways to get life back to some semblance of normality.

But we do have to beat this virus. Our cases are far higher than they should be – and while there might have been missed opportunities in the past, that doesn’t mean we can shirk the needs of the present.

Follow the rules. Stay away from gatherings. Wash your hands. Wear a mask.

Keep your distance.

We keep running out of chances – let’s not wait until our last one.

Kite flying THE NHI has announced it plans to expand services.

Sounds good, but don’t expect it in a hurry. It really only exists in a policy paper so far, and a piece of paper is not a promise something will definitely happen.

Indeed, in the middle of a pandemic when the nation is short of money, it’s a particularly expert piece of kite flying. It looks good, but it’s not landing any time soon.

We wish the plan the best of luck.

More Bahamians deserve to have healthcare than currently do, but of course there are hurdles to cross before they get it.

The key phrase in our story today to take note of is that a timeline for the initiative was not announced.

Consultation is under way. We hope it moves faster than the consultation on legalising marijuana.

Open letter to the PM EDITOR, The Tribune.

ONCE again, sir, you have not failed to disappoint me. Since March 2020, what you have really accomplished is not only a surge in COVID-19 cases, but also bringing the national economy to its knees.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

In July you allowed people to travel without tests, which has caused the surge in cases. Not even an apology for your mistake.

You were worried about the political costs? Really, sir, this ship has sailed at least for you personally.

Even the WHO has admitted that lockdowns are not sustainable. Yet, it has become obvious that this is your answer to everything. No real plan whatsoever, just take the “easy” way out for you.

Easy only for you and your colleagues, since you collect your full salary and benefits. Not to mention your “army of civil servants” that are getting paid while “working from home”.

Can you explain to me, sir, how “working from home” really works?

Government buildings routinely close down for sanitation. Not even mention PMH. You cannot even keep your own offices clean, and yet you expect the whole country to do so?

Yes, a lot of people do not listen. Granted, but at the same time you have law enforcement agencies, do you not? Just because you cannot control certain people you punish the whole nation. Just wondering, what is your solution to crime? Put everyone in jail?

It looks, sir, that what you have to offer is lockdowns, travel restrictions, and soup kitchens. I sincerely hope you can prove me wrong.

HARRY JOHNSON Nassau, October 7, 2020.

Spare us the drivel EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE humble Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel gave the world guidance about the inaccurate retelling of history that could serve as a balm for those choking on still more hogwash from Kevin Evans.

Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, cautioned that in storytelling, some things are made true that never happened. Fact meets fiction at the intersection of Evan’s biases and prejudice.

Evan’s fealty to historical fact rests on quicksand, especially when it relates to issues of race.

Evans took an academic synopsis of Bahamians who went to the US to perform short term agriculture contracts over a 20-year period and stretched it to imply that they assimilated the uncouth aspects of white redneck culture and brought that back to the Bahamas. That is supposedly the origin of our crime problem today.

Evans is never one for context, but it is so important in the telling of history.

The contracts started less than two years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor which dragged the US into World War II. Its able-bodied men, including blacks, who were sent abroad to fight for their country leaving fruits and vegetables, some destined to feed the troops, spoiling on the branches and vines.

In 1942 the US signed the Farm Labour Agreement which was known as the Bracero Programme.

Though it was only to last until the end of the war, the programme continued until 1964 and was the largest guest-worker programne in US history. Bracero is a Spanish term for manual labourer.

After the war when American farm workers walked off the job to protest poor wages and working conditions, farmers petitioned for and got more braceros.

Almost five million “contracts” were issued to foreign labourers, the vast majority came from Mexico.

Canada supplied 119,223 labourers on contract. Bahamians got 49,218 contracts with most assigned to picking oranges in Central Florida. Another 161,787 joined from the rest of the Caribbean.

Most braceros were men and the “Yankee” dollars they sent back home was

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net a vital source of foreign exchange.

What’s more, although Bracero officially ended in the 1960s, a variant called the Temporary Foreign Worker Visa Programme still exists today, although Donald Trump’s xenophobia has scaled it back.

Evans implies that Bahamian contractors were sponges absorbing the redneck culture they saw around them. This is hard to accept at face value when history shows that the typical poor white labourer (called by the derogatory term “redneck”) thought himself superior to blacks and would not have mingled in the South.

And it presupposes that Bahamians braceros, hardened by their own home-grown racism couldn’t tell a mare from a stallion when on foreign soil.

Nonetheless in Evan’s version of history they appropriated redneck behaviour. But these Bahamians came back home and with vigor cast their lot with the burgeoning PLP further propelling the majority rule movement that ended racism here.

Exposing Bahamians to Jim Crow laws in the US would not have triggered self-esteem crises. If anything, it was the Bahamians who projected confidence leaving a positive lasting impression on the people they encountered.

Up and down the spectrum the evidence is clear that Bahamians comported themselves with dignity under arduous conditions.

Signs saying “No dogs, Negroes or Mexicans” were common.

The loutish behaviour we witness now among some of our young people is not a pathology that stretches back to the contract days.

Rather it has more to do with Hollywood influences, our own declining social standards, and especially the havoc of the drug years.

Locals on “the contract” followed a long line of Bahamians who had, in essence, founded and built the City of Miami.

They knew about their forerunners and some had family in Miami since the late 1820s, long before Miami became a city. Historians have documented the fact that Bahamians at the

start of 1900s had a more profound impact on American life at that time than any group of foreign black people from anywhere in the world, save and except for the African slaves.

Long before the Cubans ran to Miami in the 1960s and then in 1980, it was Bahamians who transformed Miami, not the other way around.

In street parlance, “Bahamians ran things”. Without Bahamians the investors like Henry Flagler who plowed money into Miami would have gone back to New York after the first hurricane.

Bahamians were involved in business, sports, politics and culture. Mariah Brown, a woman from Upper Bogue, Eleuthera, built the first black-owned home in Miami in 1890. Miami designated it a cultural heritage site.

Father Theodore Gibson, the son of Bahamians, cast such an important shadow over Miami that he was at the time the most powerful black man in all of South Florida.

Coconut Grove and Homestead prospered because of Bahamians.

Many rest at the iconic Coconut Grove Bahamian Cemetery. And for the last 38 years, a crowd as big as the entire population of the Bahamas has flocked to Coconut Grove for the annual Goombay Festival.

Bahamians undertook stealth boat missions to Florida to rescue those fleeing segregation, including a group of black Seminole Indians, stranded on a cay there and who ended up in Andros.

Migration was a two-way street. Thousands of black Americans, not just from Florida, came here and helped make us strong.

The late Bahamian educator and suffragette Muriel Eneas, originally from Savannah, Georgia (wife of Bain Town sage Dr. Cleveland Eneas) comes to mind.

She and countless others transcended redneck bigotry over there and brought class and dignity. Today we are probably the most genetically American country in Caricom, with both black and white cousins stateside.

We are all mixed up here, but “redneck” is not an ingredient in our conch salad.

THE GRADUATE Nassau, Sept 29, 2020.

THE TRIBUNE

ROTARY IN ACTION

Thursday, October 8, 2020, PAGE 7

Man who hit girlfriend told to keep the peace

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A MAN who assaulted his girlfriend during a domestic dispute last month was bound over to keep the peace for a year.

Joseph Saunders, 37, was accused of hitting his girlfriend in her neck on October 2.

The court heard the woman told police she was in the Kemp Road area with Saunders when he slapped her twice about the neck. As a result of her complaint, the defendant was arrested. In an interview at Wulff Road Police

MEMBERS of the Rotary Club of Nassau istributed over 1,500 reusable masks to Bain and Grants Town residents on Saturday, October 3.

The masks were donated by Rotary District 6950 and the Seminole Lake Rotary Club in Florida.

“Our club gave free face masks to the community in an effort to promote public safety during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said Stephen Dean, president of the Rotary Club of Nassau.

“We all have a role to play in the fight

against COVID-19 so we encourage people to take their health seriously and wear masks as advised to stop the propagation of this dreadful disease in our communities.”

Further distributions are planned.

In addition to the masks, Rotarians distributed children and adult books to members of the community to assist them in enhancing their reading skills. Rotary International commemorates Basic Education and Literacy Month each September.

Station, Saunders admitted to the offence.

During the hearing before Magistrate Samuel McKinney, Saunders pleaded guilty. He also told the magistrate the incident only occurred because he and his girlfriend had a “little misunderstanding”.

He claimed during the disagreement, he ended up “scratching” her on her neck in the heat of the moment.

Yesterday, Saunders’ girlfriend attended the arraignment and attempted to drop the charges. Still, Magistrate McKinney said he would not allow her to withdraw the assault charge

since the defendant pleaded guilty.

He explained the court did not take domestic disputes lightly as there was a possibility for the abuse to continue even after the charges were dropped.

Noting the recent increase in domestic violence in the country, Magistrate McKinney also told the woman that domestic situations could prove fatal if not adequately addressed.

As a result, Saunders was bound to keep the peace for 12 months. If he fails to be of good behaviour during that time frame, he will spend three months in prison.

BIRTHDAY PARTY ENDS IN COURT

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN who denied behaving in a disorderly manner and using profanity while celebrating her birthday at home was granted bail before her trial.

Chanice Bethel, 28, was

accused of acting in a disorderly manner and using obscenities to the annoyance of a police inspector on September 28.

She denied both charges during a hearing before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes yesterday.

Bell claimed she was at home singing “F it up

because it’s my birthday” and an officer “came inside her house and locked her up”.

As a result of her not guilty pleas, Magistrate Forbes adjourned the matter to December 17 for trial.

Bell was granted $1,000 bail in the interim.

IMMIGRATION OFFICER CHARGED

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

AN immigration officer was charged with obstructing justice yesterday.

Sharez Wallace, 26, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes charged with obstruction, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer.

The prosecution alleged that Wallace assaulted and resisted the lawful arrest of Corporal 2012 Newton on October 6.

It is also claimed the accused obstructed the officer while he was executing his duties that day.

During the hearing she denied the allegations and the matter was adjourned to December 17 for trial.

Wallace was granted $1,000 bail until that time.

CLUB PLAYS PART IN ASSISTING COMMUNITY THE Rotary Club of New Providence (RCNP) has had to adapt this year because of COVID-19, with its new year seeing the club face a new normal.

The club was not able to hold its customary “Change Over” festivities in June ahead of the new year beginning on July 1. The change sees the president’s badges placed on the new president, with James “Sam” Anderson taking up the role this year.

He was inducted in virtual ceremony on June 30. He is the 31st president of RCNP, having been a member for 14 years.

The Rotaract Club of BTVI has also been in action, working with Great Commission Ministries in July and donating 30 plus bags of groceries for families in need and with RNCP members helping in the preparation of lunch.

On August 20, the club and the Bahamas Association for the Physically

Disabled joined forces to deliver 14 wheelchairs to Nurse Naomi Christie Centre for Older Persons, Twilight Senior Citizen Home and A & A Comfort Care.

A wheelchair was also donated to a young paralysed lady that often sits on the outskirts of Cost Right and whose chair had prior damage. There was also a request made to the club to see if members could assist a seven-year-old paraplegic boy with a chair, and on September 7, the presentation was made.

Also on September 7, the club delivered food vouchers to two senior Rotarians.

The club also volunteered three days at the “Lend A Hand” feeding initiative on September 2, 3, and 10.

On Saturday, September 19, the club prepared and served hot breakfast to more than 175 people on Cynthia “Mother Pratt” Pratt’s park.

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CHOICE FOR THE FAMILY WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JOYFM1019

PAGE 8, Thursday, October 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

THE denouement of person, opposed to racism Donald Trump’s shambolic and white supremacy, a and dangerous presidency champion of LGBTQ rights intensified with the onset of and decent in her public the COVID-19 pandemic and private life. and the resulting calamiOn the day her flagtous economic fallout, draped casket was received twin crises managed more at the US Supreme Court, adroitly and seriously by America’s highest temple the Chinese rather than the of justice, her former American Government. clerks solemnly lined the Trump’s catastrophic fail- front steps at the entrance ure to confront the scourge of the neoclassical white is one of the most monu- marble edifice as honorary mental failures ever by an pallbearers.

American President despite Dressed in black, against his self-congratulatory rants the gleaming white strucand sycophantic enabling ture, the clerks resembled by supporters and a Repub- a Greek chorus. In the lican establishment cowed ancient Greek trageby his vicious bullying. dies, comedies and satyr The likely end of Trump’s plays, the chorus serves presidency was displayed as “a homogeneous, nonin grand relief in two series individualized group of of events or melodramas in performers, who comment what may literally and figu- with a collective voice on ratively be the autumn of the dramatic action.” his presidency.

The first series of events were the death of Supreme The chorus, usually Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the rapid masked, as were the clerks nomination of Federal because of the pandemic, Judge Amy Coney Barrett offer the audience information needed to follow the to replace the former.

The second series, still performance. Before and unfolding, is Trump’s following her death, Bader personal health battle Ginsburg’s former clerks and accompanying far- and other admires provided cical, dangerous and a near encyclopedia of eulomaniacal selfishness after gies for their late mentor.

Her former clerks also being infected by a virus which penetrated the sealed reminded the nation of bubble and bulletproof pro- the values and legacy of tections of the American Justice Ginsburg and her respect for the rule of law, presidency.

Justice Bader Gins- the American Constitution burg, a devotee of opera and her lifelong quest for justice, much and theatre, which appreciated ‘The deadbeat, who of has been the power thrashed and of coun- has paid little to dangerously terpoint or no income taxes, undermined contrapuntal who continues to by Trump movements in the arts hide his tax returns and his enablers during and in law. and who scorned the past four In life and Obamacare, is years. in death, When she proved getting the best Trump the ultimate health care in the appeared at counterpoint world, thanks to the Supreme to Donald American taxpayers, Court to pay Trump.

She was though he wants the his respects to Bader a woman of Supreme Court to Ginsburg, high intellect, upend Obamacare.’ whose casket unimpeachwas on a caisable integrity, son as she deeply empathetic and compassionate, lay in state, he was wildly committed to the dignity of booed and mocked by many all, humble, secure in her of the public mourners who

The tragicomedy and farce of Trump’s America

EULOGIES

came to pay tribute to the deceased icon and champion of equality who gave most of her life to public service.

Within hours of Ginsburg’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi has often sneeringly derided as Darth Vader, offered his latest grand hypocrisy.

On March 16, 2016, seven months plus before that year’s US presidential election, then President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to serve on the Supreme Court, replacing Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.

McConnell refused to hold hearings, insisting such a nomination should not come in an election year and that the next President should chose the

replacement. Then presidential candidate Donald Trump happily agreed with McConnell.

But unsurprisingly, the two men quickly agreed to push through a Supreme Court nominee mere weeks before the November 3 poll.

Donald Trump’s presidency is now much more than grand hypocrisy as cavernous as the Grand Canyon. It is more than earth-shattering irony.

America is in the bowels of deep tragicomedy, farce and parody.

The festive White House ceremony celebrating the nomination of Mrs. Coney Barrett may have been a super spreader event of the COVID-19 virus. Gathered there were the political high priests and priestesses of white privilege, gloating at the prospect of packing the Supreme Court with an ideological confrere.

BRIMMING

Unmasked and not physically distant, the assembled elite, with the extraordinary powers of the American government in their possession, were brimming with hubris, even as a virus they could not see and which many did not take seriously enough, was about to upend and paralyze the work of the most powerful office complex in the world.

Where, when and how Donald Trump became infected by a virus he may have been bound to catch because of his recklessness, is unknown to the public.

People of goodwill, including Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, all want Trump and all those affected by the virus, to recover. One imagines Trump would not have been as kind or solicitous as Biden had the latter tested positive. Nor would Trump have likely pulled negative ads as did the Biden campaign.

Meanwhile, the public melodrama that was about to unfold, commencing with Trump’s flight for medical care to the Walter Reed National Military Center, continues to unfold like a reality TV show from which, unlike The Apprentice, Trump is the star but is not benefitting.

The Walter Reed medical campus, the largest such complex in the United States, is named in honour of Major Walter Reed, MD. (1851-1902). Reed was a US Army physician, pathologist and bacteriologist who specialized in, of all fields

PRESIDENT Donald Trump walks out of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to return to the White House on Monday after receiving treatments for COVID-19.

Photo: Evan Vucci/AP – epidemiology.

A man of science, Reed confirmed the theory of Carlos Finlay, a Cuban doctor, that yellow fever was transmitted by a specific mosquito species rather than direct contact with fomites. Reed was renowned for his humanitarianism.

The Walter Reed center is resident in Bethesda, Maryland, which was named after the Pool of Bethesda from the Gospel of John. The Biblical Pool of Bethesda, which means House of Kindness in Hebrew, was a place of healing.

Walter Reed neighbors the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the workplace of the renowned Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, whom Trump has at times sidelined and undermined with his crazy theories about COVID-19.

But even with all of the aforementioned irony, Trump is now in full-blown tragicomedy, farce and parody.

The deadbeat, who has paid little to no income taxes, who continues to hide his tax returns and who scorned Obamacare, is getting the best health care in the world, thanks to American taxpayers, though he wants the Supreme Court to upend Obamacare.

The immigrant-bashing President was in a facility with recent immigrants, with myriad medical expertise, helping to care for American soldiers and also likely Trump.

The Commander-in-Chief, who reportedly described US soldiers as “losers” and “suckers” is being kept alive and protected by those who are sacrificing and putting their lives at risk to help others, including Trump.

The shallow intellect who has denied science was cared for at a leading military medical facility, renowned for its medical breakthroughs, and which is adjacent to the National Institutes of Health, one of the best medical centres in the world. His doctors have also consulted with experts at the renowned Johns Hopkins University.

EXPERIMENTAL

As the newsmagazine Politico noted: “The President vainly posted a social media video of him returning to the White House to

recover from COVID-19, telling people not to fear a disease that caused him to be hospitalised and pumped with experimental therapies by some of the nation’s top doctors.”

The great tragedy is not primarily what Trump has done to himself and his colleagues. The greater tragedy is the hundreds of thousands who have died in America and who will die and the millions infected, the vast majority of whom will never remotely enjoy his level of care.

Newsweek reported on Monday: “Kara Goucher is a distance runner who competed for Team USA at both the 2008 Beijing Summer Games and then again at the 2012 London Games. … In Beijing, she ran the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races, finishing ninth and 10th overall, respectively. In 2012, she competed in the marathon, finishing 11th overall. “‘Today my 95 (96 next week) year old grandpa was diagnosed with Covid. We have not been able to see or touch him for 7 months.

He is a father to me, helping raise me and my sisters after our dad died and introduced me to running.

His life is worthy. Please, please wear a mask’, she wrote on Sept. 24.”

As he was leaving Walter Reed, Trump tweeted: “I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.

We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”

Goucher responded: “As my grandfather lies in a bed struggling to take his last breaths due to COVID, I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything more offensive or tone-deaf in my life.”

This is more than tonedeaf or offensive. This is tragedy unleashed upon the American people, aided and abetted by sycophants, the Republican Party, white supremacists and others who have full-throatedly supported or acquiesced to a reality TV star cum lout who has pushed America into a hellish nightmare in service of his maniacal pathologies and concatenation of grandiose lies.

Next week: The Exceptionalism of the American COVID-19 Disaster

THE TRIBUNE

Even for Trump this is all starting to look completely ridiculous NO ONE in Washington has ever witnessed anything like what is happening with and to Donald Trump these days. The US President, long suspected of sociopathic behaviour and tendencies by mental health professionals, seems to be lurching out of control in an increasingly desperate attempt to cling to office.

Political commentators, having read niece Mary Trump’s and other memoirs, opine about hearing Trump’s father’s voice reminding him that there are only “losers and killers” and the President’s many critics accuse him anew of trying not to displease his long-dead father.

Other recent Presidents, notably George W Bush, have seen their relationship with their father become the subject of much speculative scrutiny. It was the same with Bill Clinton and his mother, and with Barack Obama and each of his parents.

But those cases were nothing like this. Those Presidents did not invite the kind of unwelcome attention Trump has long attracted with his bizarre behaviour.

It’s all playing out against the background of his having contracted the coronavirus and spending last weekend at the military hospital in suburban Maryland where Presidents go for treatment.

Even while hospitalised, Trump insisted on having the Secret Service drive him around so he could wave to some of his supporters who lined the streets outside the hospital compound.

He had clearly ignored the advice of his physicians and risked the health of those who serve him. Trump’s behaviour was blatantly irresponsible and served to blunt some of the genuine sympathy many people felt for his illness.

And it appears that Trump’s illness might be serious, but you’d never know it from the medical information shared so far by his doctors. There’s no hard evidence that the President may actually be quite ill with the virus, but several TV medical experts think the treatment he is receiving suggests exactly that.

Since Trump and the White House have already been caught in nearly

20,000 public lies, no one really believes anything his spokeswoman or anyone else has to say about his medical condition.

The Secret Service, meanwhile, is suffering a depletion in its ranks due to COVID-19. Complaints about the President’s careless behaviour are beginning to seep out from around the edges of the curtain of stolid, unques‘The coronavirus has tioned loyalty to the Cominfected virtually mander in every facet of the US Chief which presidential election, has been a Secret now mercifully less than Service a month away. Trump’s hallmark own health, and that since the Service was of his wife and many directed to of his closest advisers, protect the is clearly at risk.’

American chief At executive after the President William beginMcKinley was assassining of nated in Buffalo in 1901. this year, he was The coronavirus has still riding a hot economy to infected virtually every robust ratings and he looked facet of the US presiden- like a formidable candidate tial election, now mercifully to win a second term in less than a month away. office. The virus has thrown Trump’s own health, and a haymaker punch at his that of his wife and many chances, but how different of his closest advisers, is might things be if instead of clearly at risk. Many White trying to lie about the seriHouse staffers have now ousness of the virus, he had moved to work from the actually led the nation by safety of their own homes. telling the truth and honAnd most significantly, ouring the science of the federal relief for the mil- medical professionals who lions of virus victims is staff the CDC and other fedstalled by petulant presi- eral health agencies? dential fiat.

This man is truly a figure “I’ve told Congress to wait out of a Shakespearean until I’m re-elected and then play. He carries within we’ll pass a good relief bill,” himself both the charisma Trump said after returning and brilliance of the gifted prematurely to the White demagogue and the seeds House to resume his political of his own self-destruction. campaign for re-election.

Since the beginning of his Trump suggested the presidency, he has indulged Senate focus on confirm- in obviously false stateing his nominee to the US ments and actions that Supreme Court. Judge have the predictable effect Amy Coney Barrett, her- of turning off some of the self a summer victim of the very voters whose support virus, may now be immune he enjoyed in 2016 and to the ravages that have will need again next month beset many others at last – people like seniors and weekend’s careless, foolish suburban women. outdoor, largely mask-free For decades, Trump’s ceremony that served as life played out on the socithe stage for Trump’s grand ety pages and in the gossip announcement of her nom- columns of the New York ination. Or not. But at least tabloid newspapers. This a couple of Republican sen- was obviously a man of specators who did attend and tacular indulgence, most serve on the critical Senate clearly evidenced by his conJudiciary Committee are sistent proclivity to do and now quarantining after say exactly what he pleased. contracting COVID-19.

Many observers felt he Trump really does make would hate the presidency, it easy to second-guess him. since American chief

Waiting in the wings WHILE Trump is suffering in the polls and more generally in the court of public opinion, his three most prominent cabinet members are taking different paths as they try to successfully navigate the chaos.

Attorney General William Barr, enabler in chief to Trump, appears to have no abiding personal political ambitions, so he smugly posed for pictures and sat down with the Washington Post for a big weekend feature. Asked to assess his performance since becoming Attorney General for the second time on Valentine’s Day last year, Barr said: “I’d give myself high grades. But since we all have foibles, I’m not quite sure it’s an A-plus.”

Both Vice-President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plan to run for President in 2024, either at the end of Trump’s second term or against a President Joe Biden whose tenure will be blighted with the public health, social, economic and political consequences of the present, disastrous administration.

Pence has fashioned

himself as the ultimate loyalist and, for most voters, that’s basically what they have learned about him.

He is doggedly, unflinchingly loyal to the President and to Pence’s strongly-held religious faith. Pence’s open faith allegiance and close ties to religious and evangelistic conservatives have essentially served as his dowry in the political marriage he has forged with Trump.

Pompeo, both at the CIA and at the State Department, has been clever in padding his resume while earning and maintaining Trump’s confidence. He has frequently visited domestic GOP strongholds as Secretary of State, often at the end of overseas trips. The domestic side trips can only burnish his credentials for a future run at the presidency.

Pompeo may also rival Pence in religious conservatism. He proudly quotes a New York Times story that said “no Secretary of State in recent decades has been as open and fervent as Mr. Pompeo about discussing Christianity and foreign policy in the same breath.”

It’s hard to know what the

political landscape will look like in four years. But we know who two of the protagonists are likely to be.

The Vatican denied Pompeo’s request for an audience with Pope Francis this week, saying the pope would not see Pompeo in the midst of the ongoing American election.

“Yes, he asked,” Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told The Associated Press as Pompeo is in Europe for a weeklong visit.

“But the pope had already said clearly that political figures are not received in election periods. That is the reason.”

Pompeo will still meet with Parolin and other top Vatican officials during the visit, but the refusal was seen by some as the latest example of a political rift between the United States and the Vatican. During a religious freedom conference this week, Pompeo issued a strong denouncement of a deal the Catholic Church signed two years ago with China related to the appointment of bishops, which it is considering extending.

Thursday, October 8, 2020, PAGE 9

STATESIDE

with Charlie Harper

executives are expected to act and speak with circumspection, since they are the leaders of the free world and all.

But no. Trump took office

and has only intermittently ceased indulging in doing and saying what he pleased.

Since he’s no longer a tabloid staple nor a reality TV star, people actually care

and pay attention to what he does and says.

It’s undone his presidency, and maybe it’s undoing his health and life too, right before our eyes.

PAGE 10, Thursday, October 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Pence, Harris spar over COVID-19 in vice presidential debate SALT LAKE CITY Associated Press VICE President Mike Pence defended the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 Americans last night, while his Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris, condemned “the greatest failure of any presidential administration” during a largely civil debate dominated by the coronavirus.

With the virus sweeping through the highest levels of government and Trump just days out of the hospital, Pence acknowledged that “our nation’s gone through a very challenging time this year”.

But he added, “I want the American people to know, from the very first day, President Trump has put the health of America first.” He promised millions of doses of a yet-to-be-announced treatment before the end of the year.

Harris assailed Trump’s consistent downplaying of the pandemic’s threat, insisting she would not take a vaccine if the Republican president endorsed it without the backing of medical professionals.

“Frankly this administration has forfeited their right to reelection based on this,” she charged.

Less than four weeks before Election Day, Republicans hoped the debate might give the Trump-Pence ticket a final opportunity to help reset a contest that could be slipping away. His poll numbers sagging, the president, with Pence at his side, is struggling to stabilise the nation in the midst of multiple crises as more than a dozen senior officials across the White House, the Pentagon and inside his campaign

US SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS have been infected by the virus he claimed would disappear.

There were heated exchanges at times, but overall the debate was a far more respectful affair than the opening presidential debate eight days earlier when Trump was the aggressor, butting in and almost yelling. Pence interrupted at times, too, but nothing like Trump had.

The prime-time meeting in Salt Lake City elevated two candidates with presidential aspirations of their own who may be asked to step into the presidency even before the end of the next term. Health questions loom over President Donald Trump, 74, who is recovering from the coronavirus, and 77-year-old Joe Biden, who would be the oldest US president ever.

Republicans desperately want to cast the race as a choice between two

candidates fighting to move the country in vastly different directions. Biden and Harris, they say, would pursue a far-left agenda bordering on socialism; the Democrats say Trump’s administration will stoke racial and other divides, torpedo health care for people who aren’t wealthy and otherwise undercut national strength.

But so long as the coronavirus is ravaging the White House and killing several hundred Americans each day, the election will almost certainly be a referendum on the Trump administration’s inability to control the pandemic, which Republicans have sought to downplay or ignore altogether for several months.

Pence’s message last night was undercut by the mere fact that the candidates and moderator were separated by plexiglass shields,

US VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE seated more than 12 feet apart and facing a crowd of masked audience members who faced expulsion if they removed their face coverings. The candidates on stage revealed test results earlier in the day proving they were not infected.

Before Harris said a word, she made history by becoming the first Black woman to stand on a vice presidential debate stage.

The night offered her a prime opportunity to energise would-be voters who have shown only modest excitement about Biden, a lifelong politician with a mixed record on race and criminal justice, particularly in his early years in the Senate.

Harris, 55, is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. She is also a former prosecutor whose pointed questioning of Trump’s appointees and court nominees helped

make her a Democratic star.

Pence is a 61-year-old former Indiana governor and ex-radio host, an evangelical Christian known for his folksy charm and unwavering loyalty to Trump.

And while he is Trump’s biggest public defender, the vice president does not share the president’s brash tone or undisciplined style.

The candidates also clashed on taxes -- or specifically, Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns four years after repeatedly promising to do so. The New York Times reported last month that the president pays very little personal income tax but owes hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

“It’d be really good to know who the president owes money to,” Harris said.

“The one thing we know about Joe, he puts it all

out there. He is honest, he is forthright,” she added.

“Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been about covering up everything.”

Pence defended Trump as a job creator who has paid more than his fair share of taxes and shifted toward Biden: “On Day One, Joe Biden’s going to raise your taxes.”

While the debate covered a range of topics, the virus was at the forefront.

Trump released a video just three hours before the debate calling his diagnosis “a blessing in disguise” because it shed light on an experimental antibody combination that he credited for his improved condition — though neither he nor his doctors have a way of knowing whether the drug had that effect.

Pence serves as chair of the president’s coronavirus task force, which has failed to implement a comprehensive national strategy even as Trump himself recovers from the disease and the national death toll surges past 210,000 with no end in sight.

The candidates appeared on stage exactly 12.25 feet (3.7 meters) apart and separated by plexiglass barriers.

Both candidates released updated coronavirus test results ahead of the debate proving they were negative as of Tuesday.

Critics suggested that Pence should not be at the debate at all.

The vice president attended an event last week at the White House with Trump and others who have since tested positive, but Pence’s staff and doctors insist he does not need to quarantine under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

VP Debate Takeaways: Pandemic looms over a more civil fight WASHINGTON Associated Press IN NORMAL times, vice presidential debates don’t matter much. But in an election year as wild as 2020, everything is magnified.

Vice President Mike Pence yesterday faced considerable pressure to boost coronavirus-stricken President Donald Trump’s flagging reelection hopes as he trails in national and battleground state polls.

California Sen Kamala Harris stepped on stage having to balance her role as Joe Biden’s validator with her own historic presence as the first Black woman on a major party national ticket.

The candidates were separated by plexiglass out of concern for spread of the coronavirus from cases emanating from the White House.

Here are key early takeaways from the only vice presidential debate ahead of the Nov 3 Election Day. PANDEMIC, UNABATED The Trump campaign wants voters to focus on anything but the pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 people across the country and infected at least 7.5 million more. But that subject dominated from the outset, with Trump and a growing list of White House aides, campaign staff and allies now sidelined with COVID-19.

Harris immediately put Pence on the defensive, calling Trump’s pandemic response “the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country.” Trump and Pence “still don’t have a plan”, she said.

Pence shot back that much of Biden’s proposed coronavirus response is action the federal government already is taking. More clearly than Trump perhaps ever has done, Pence expressed sympathy for all those affected by the pandemic, and he accused Harris of “playing politics with people’s lives”.

In fact, Biden’s plan does have elements that Trump’s doesn’t. Biden has called for the president to issue a

A DISTRACTION for viewers at one point as a fly became stuck on Vice President Mike Pence's head for a prolonged period during the debate.

mask mandate on federal property and has urged governors and mayors to do the same. He has called for using other federal spending and regulatory power. But Harris skipped those details.

RACIAL POLITICS One spoke proudly of joining racial justice protests; the other denied the existence of systemic racism.

Harris, the first Black woman on a presidential ticket, spoke passionately about “people around our country of every race, of every age, of every gender” who “marched, shoulder to shoulder, arm and arm, fighting for us to finally achieve that ideal of equal justice under law”.

Still, she said, “We are never going to condone violence.”

Pence, in contrast, proclaimed his trust for the justice system and put the focus on incidents of violence, saying there was “no excuse for the rioting and looting.”

And he argued that the idea that “America’s systemically racist” and that law enforcement has an implicit bias against minorities “is a great insult to the men and women” who

serve in law enforcement.

SUPREME COURT ARGUMENT Perhaps Pence’s most aggressive line of attack on Harris was pressing her for an answer on whether a Biden administration would “pack” the Supreme Court by adding liberal justices if they win the election. Harris didn’t take the bait, just as Biden hasn’t in recent weeks.

Pence clearly sees the court vacancy as a winning issue for the Republican ticket. He hailed Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett, who would succeed the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg if she’s confirmed, as expected, before the election. At least twice, he spoke directly to voters warning that Biden and Democrats would expand the court if they “don’t get their way” on blocking Barrett.

Harris seemingly missed an opportunity to remind Pence and the audience that the court’s Republican lean comes because the GOP-led Senate in 2016 refused to consider President Barack Obama’s nominee in the spring of 2016, carrying over a vacancy that Trump filled in 2017.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 8, 2020, PAGE 11

THE

RELIGION SECTION C

RELIGIOUS NEWS, STORIES AND CHURCH EVENTS

Parents cloaking criminals “must do the Christian thing”

BY JEFFARAH GIBSON | TRIBUNE FEATURES WRITER | JGIBSON@TRIBUNEMEDIA.NET

I

N order for the country to get a grip on crime, a collective effort not only by enforcers of the law must exist, but those in the communities and those closest to perpetrators.

According to prominent pastor Bishop Simeon Hall, pictured, pastor emeritus at New Covenant Baptist Church, parents and relatives of the faith must do the Christian thing by not condoning or cloaking those in their families they know have committed criminal acts.

Coming forward and turning loved ones is not only the right thing to do but the God-honoring thing to do, the bishop said.

Bishop Hall’s comments come after the unfortunate killing of a seven-year-old boy and double homicide of a mother and daughter in Nassau Village weeks ago that occurred days apart.

On Saturday, a four-yearold boy in Eleuthera died in his father’s arms after being shot. His father also died in this incident.

“Apathy and indifference to crime remain the major reasons for the prevalence of criminality in our country.

Murder, rape and robbery all occur with the complicity of ‘good people’ who cloak criminal family members.

Too many criminals, known to the police, are the ‘good sons’ of sainted mothers and fathers in our churches,” he said.

While it is natural for people to want to protect their family members and not turn them over to the police Bishop Hall urges relatives to ask God for the strength to not do the emotional thing in hiding the sins and transgressions of their loved ones but the moral thing, the Christian thing.

Bishop Hall said not doing so is likened to “sparing the rod and spoiling the child”.

“Parents who know of the criminal behavior of their children must ask God for strength to turn in their sons or daughters guilty of criminal offences or more than likely, be prepared to bury them.

Nothing accommodates crime as much as “sanctified silence”, the outspoken Bishop said.

“It is painful for a parent to turn in their child guilty of a crime. But it would be twice as painful to call one of the funeral homes to arrange their funeral,” he said.

Only when families exhibit bravery in coming forward as those guilty of crimes are sometimes harbored right in the homes of Christian folks will the country see changes, he said.

“Too many criminals carry out their lawlessness impervious to the pain they bring to their parents and other family members. But their acts are sustained by the silence of family members who often benefit from their crimes committed.

“Family members who know of and benefit from crime have blood on their hands.”

Women Of Destiny

BY ALESHA CADET | TRIBUNE FEATURES WRITER | ACADET@TRIBUNEMEDIA.NET THE annual Women Of Destiny conference has gone on despite the global pandemic - although it has taken a very different approach to the other conferences hosted by Rhema International Family Development Centre since September 1998 “This is an event that we look forward to every year. It’s hard to describe how one feels but there’s a pleasing feeling of satisfaction to know that you are doing what the Lord is leading you to do that will help somebody,” said Deacon Valerie Newbold, Women Of Destiny ministry secretary and Rhema International Family Development Centre office administrator.

Held via a Zoom virtual platform under the theme “When Women pray”, this year’s conference featured guests such as Prophetess Dorothy Mcphee, senior pastor of World Changers Ministries International; liturgical dance performance by Dr Ann Higgins from the Creative Christian Arts Ministries International; speaker Dr Judy McIntosh-Smith of the Southside Christian Church International; guest soloist Simone Bowe; speaker Bishop Jacqueline McCullough of the International Gathering at Beth Rapha in Pomona, NY; soloist Attorney Chanta Tazi Clare; closing speaker Apostle Rosetta V Clare of the Rhema International

Family Development Centre; and a performance by the Rhema’s liturgical dance team.

“Everyone was invited to attend from the comforts of their homes. Apostle Rosetta V Clare who is the director of this ministry, puts the conference before the Lord far in advance to receive directions for each speaker, the theme, and every part of the event. We have been using Zoom since March 2020 for all of our services and even though churches have been given permission to go back in the building, our Apostles decided that we will wait.

It has been proven that our services reach more people around the world and therefore our conference will be attended by more people from around the world,” said Deacon Newbold.

She said the inspiration behind its theme came about due to the trying times of the world. “At this time, women are discouraged, feeling hopeless, their joy seems to be gone, and they are lost wondering which way to turn.

But ‘When Women Pray’, things happen; hope is felt, they know that a change is coming, and their situation is turning around.

You may not have all that you want and need but you can still live and provide, it’s not over,” said Deacon Newbold.

Deacon Newbold further expressed that the conference is a women’s ministry

for women but men are also invited. She said the Rhema team members are concerned about local families, as most homes are headed by a woman.

“Most homes are in trouble and the woman is the one who is hurting. The benefits to those who tune in to our conference will be reminded and introduced to others of what happens ‘’When Women Pray’. Persons tuned in by telephone, a laptop computer, desktop computer, tablet, or other device with Zoom downloaded on the device. The overall goal of the event was to encourage women to pray their way through not to get discouraged, and pray before an action, whatever that action may be,” said Deacon Newbold.

The Rhema International Family Development Center began in November 1990 and was founded

by Apostle Dr Eugene and Prophet Dr Rosetta V Clare. This coming November, the organisation will celebrate 30 years in existence. The church, located on Prince Charles Drive, is presently under construction and members welcome financial or material donations for the completion of the building.

“We have a small but growing congregation, complete with all ministries that most churches have.

One of those ministries is the Women’s Ministry which started in 1998,” said Deacon Newbold.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

PAGE 12, Thursday, October 8, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Private Funeral Service For Avon Yvette Saunders, 55 of Buccaneer, South Bimini and formerly off Bailey Town, Bimini, Bahamas will be held on Saturday, October 10th, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. at Our Lady’s & St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Bimini, Bahamas. Officiating will be Rev. Fr. Dave Thomas. Interment will follow in Our Lady’s & St. Stephen’s Anglican Church Cemetery, Bimini, Bahamas.

She was predeceased by her father: Willis.

Death Notice For

Mr. Mozambique Ackley Russell, 67 of #90 Fidget Court, Freeport, Grand Bahama and formerly of Lowe Sound, Andros died at the Rand Memorial Hospital, Freeport, Grand Bahama on Monday, August 24th, 2020.

Arrangements for Mr. Russell’s funeral service are being finalized and details will be announced at a later date.

Cherished memories will forever live in the hearts of her family and friends, mother: Laverne Death Notice For Saunders; Children: Tranisca and Travon Sands; Grandchildren: Traquan, Jayce, Cinnova Sands and Alani Roberts; Siblings: Dion (Faye), Doyle, Robert and Jevon Saunders, Trinise (Keith) Knowles, Chandra (Anwar) Stubbs; Uncles: Granville, Dorral & Harding Weech; Aunts: Angela Saunders, Ivy Brown and Franka Saunders; Nephews: Keanu Knowles, Deon & of #11 Beachway, Freeport, Grand Bahama and Dequito Dean, Dario, Jevon Jr., Jerard, Jameyro, Avont, Javon, Jahree, formerly of Gregory Town, Eleuthera died at Jahvion and Jahvez Saunders; Nieces: T’Keyah, Keinay and Keiniah the Cat Cay, Bahamas on Tuesday, September Knowles, Donica, Yvaughnia, Doylevondrea, Jenesia and Jervqua 22nd, 2020.

Saunders Sherell Rolle and Elle Stubbs; Godparents: Alvin Sherman, Dressler Sherman and Rosita Smith-Duvalier; Godchildren: Parish, Arrangements for Mr. Thompson’s funeral service are being finalized Patrell, Jonisha, Jere, Canaan, Laverne, Ethan, Omari, Tanaria and and details will be announced at a later date.

Quaran. Cousins: Lyle, Duane, Laurise, Rhonda and Audra Saunders, Troy, Inga and Resha Brown, Levar and Lloyd Jr. Cash and Lloydra Death Notice For Bowleg, Marvin, Kyle, Gwen, Stephen, Ian, Chante, Havier, Danier, Danie, Kirk, Micah and Cyprian Weech, Omar Saunders, Kairo, Kadre, and Kaityre Pinder, Wellington, Jacintha, Rico, Montressor, Laketah, Yannique, Gregory, Charles, Leondre, Sherrilyn, Troy, Lebraun, Samana, Ivy, Tonya, Lionel, Reginald, Burntle, Brunell, Alfreda, Valerie, Audrey, Melva, Albert, Clyde, Hasten, Ronnie of #473 Granfell Avenue, Freeport, Grand and Floyd Charlton; Other Relatives and Friends: Pastor Chris & Bahama and formerly of Water Cay died at Sheena Saunders and Family, Billy Joe Rolle and Family, Lloyd & the Rand Memorial Hospital, Freeport, Grand Brenda Edgecombe and Family, Osborne Davis and family, Corranne Bahama on Thursday, September 24th, 2020.

Hanna (Cotton), Zina (close friend) Steve Rolle and Family, Noel & Simone McNeil and Family, Robert & Lisa Saunders and Family, John & Cheryl Saunders and Family, Lincoln Rolle and Family, Oleo Arrangements for Mr. Hield’s funeral service are being finalized and Saunders and Family, Christopher Saunders and Family, Sandra Cash details will be announced at a later date.

MISSION To provide consistent, sympathetic, caring and professional, “Service with Excellence” serving the Commonwealth and Family, STATEMENT: Evelyn Saunders and Family.

Phyllis, Italia, Stephen, of the Bahamas and worldwide, with the highest level of consideration comfortNotice to our client families.

Maureen, Lavette, Phaedra, Cicely, Yolanda, Greg, Ross, Louise, to the personal desires and financial Death For Clinton, Stephen, Don, Roger, Marva, Nedda, Lauren, Gwen, Verlene, Alexandrea, Clara, Mary, Coleman, Zina, Dina, Keppie, Tanya, Dwight & Dina, Marcia, Josette, Wallen, Crucial, Marlon, Indira, Al, Corrine, Phyllis, Cecil, Lashan & Lester, Shirley & Tarts, Donald, Charmaine & Bob, Nicholas, Sharon & Crystal, The ATL Ferries Staff and the entire of #21 Indianna Lane, Freeport, Grand Bahama community of North and South Bimini. and formerly of Nassau, New Providence died at his residence on Thursday, October 1st, 2020.

Viewing will be held in the Celestial Suite at Restview Memorial Mortuary and Crematorium Ltd., Robinson and Soldier Roads on Arrangements for Mr. Stewart’s funeral service Friday from 10: 00 am to 4:00 pm. are being finalized and details will be announced at a later date.

Mr. Daniel Whitfield Thompson, 67

Mr. Franklyn Walter Hield, 64

Mr. Valentino Seibert Stewart, 39

Death Notice For

Mr. Kevin Colebrooke, 31 of 69P Frobisher Drive, Freeport, Grand Bahama died at his residence on Sunday, October 4th, 2020.

He was predeceased by his father, Kevin Colebrooke Sr. He is survived by his mother: Charlene Bullard-Hepburn; stepfather: Prince Hepburn; children: Sarah and Kevin Rolle, Zion Saunders and Savannah Rolle; sister: Juelesa Russell; brothers: Ricardo Bethel, Kendrick Colebrooke Kevaughn Bullard; grandfather: Henry Colebrooke; nieces: Alexis Berhel, Destiny Culmer and Nashay Martin; nephews: Richardo Bethel Jr. and Nashon Martin; aunts: Olivia and Carnetta Whymns, Kathleen Minnis, Teresita Smith, Akila Colebrooke, Dianne Colebrooke, Dorothia Delaney, Donna Rolle, Cheryl “Sherry” Elliot and Jennimae and Tiny Dianne Colebrooke; uncles: Rupert and Norvil Whymns, Trevor, Sharon and Dwayne Colebrooke and a host of other relatives and friends.

Arrangements for Mr. Colebrooke’s funeral service are being finalized and details will be announced at a later date.

Death Notice For

Mrs. Meltina Davis, 85 of Moore’s Island, Abaco died at her residence on Tuesday, October 6th, 2020.

Arrangements for Mrs. Davis’ funeral service are being finalized and details will be announced at a later date.

Death Notice For

George Sylvester McPhee, 68 of #3 Bowe Cove Road died at his residence on Wednesday, October 10th, 2020.

He is survived by his wife: Wanda McPhee; Sons: Navarro McKenzie; Sisters: Judy Clarke & Wendy Hunter; Brothers: Andre and Anthony Clarke; Nieces: Latonya Armbrister, Sheniquwa Clarke, Samantha Rigby, Ashley and Ariel Hunter; Nephews: Dencil Tynes, Brendon, Dan, Anton, Bentley, Leonardo Brown & Jeremiah Clarke; including: Lindsey & Les and many other relatives and friends too numerous to mention.

Arrangements for the funeral service are being finalized and details will be announced at a future date.

Death Notice For

Doreen Louise McCardy Dean, 99 of Caraway Street and formerly Deadman’s Cay, Long Island, Bahamas died at the Princess Margaret Hospital on Thursday, October 1st, 2020.

She survived by her sons: Kenneth and Michael Dean; daughters: Daisy Dean Middleton, Barbara Dean, Yvonne Dean Wright, Janice Dean Saunders, grandchildren: Trevor, Felicia and Nathaniel Middleton, Janice Dean Mackey, Portia Dean McGregor, Kendolyn Dean, Reno, Alton and Darreen Wright, Dana Saunders Tapia, Nadia Villi and Perry Saunders Jr., Michael Jr., Kera and Lavardo Dean, Cornell Longley; nephews and nieces: Ralph and George McCardy, Unamas Nairn, Ruthlene Roker, Patricia Epps, Wanda Graham; other relatives and friends including: Rita Sweeting, Viola Taylor and Gladys Ferguson.

Arrangements for the funeral service are being finalized and details will be announced at a future date.

MISSION STATEMENT: To provide consistent, sympathetic, caring and professional, “Service with Excellence” serving the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and worldwide, with the highest level of consideration to the personal desires and financial comfort to our client families.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, Thursday 8, 2020, PAGE 13 ATLANTA Braves’ Dansby Swanson forces out Miami Marlins’ Corey Dickerson during the eighth inning in Game 2 of a baseball National League Division Series Wednesday, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

SAN Diego Padres starting pitcher Mike Clevinger. (AP)

CLEVINGER REPLACED ON PADRES PLAYOFF ROSTER WITH ELBOW ISSUE

By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Baseball Writer ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Mike Clevinger was replaced on San Diego’s playoff roster Wednesday because of his elbow injury, a move that would keep him from pitching again this postseason unless the Padres make it to the World Series.

That would also depend on if his ailing right elbow is healthy enough to get back on the mound in October after he went only two pitches into the second inning of the NL Division Series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

San Diego made the switch before Game 2 of the NLDS, adding Dan Altavilla to its 28-player roster. The right-hander was immediately available.

Trade Clevinger, who joined San Diego in a nine-player trade with Cleveland on Aug. 31, left his final regular season start Sept. 23 after one inning because of an elbow impingement. He was left off the roster for the wild-card round against St. Louis.

The Padres didn’t announce until Tuesday, hours before the start of the NLDS, that Clevinger was going to be on the 28-man roster and start Game 1.

Manager Jayce Tingler, speaking to reporters earlier Wednesday before Clevinger was taking off the active roster, said the pitcher had “a warriortype attitude and spirit” and wanted to be back on the mound for Game 1 after being cleared by doctors.

“We’re trying to win a championship, he wants to win a championship for the city of San Diego,” Tingler said. “So when you get clearance, there’s going to some discomfort, there’s going to be some pain. This thing is not going to be easy, and he knew that.”

Replaced Because he was replaced during the NLDS, Clevinger wouldn’t be eligible to be on the NL Championship Series roster if the Padres advance. He would be able to be on their World Series roster if they make it that far.

The herky-jerky righthander walked two and had a wild pitch in a scoreless first inning. His velocity was noticeably down when he threw two balls to start the second, and he left the game after a visit from Tingler and a trainer.

After the game, Clevinger said he started feeling discomfort facing his second batter of the game. When the first inning ended, he went into to the tunnel to try several ways to loosen up the elbow in what became an extended time as the Padres loaded the bases without scoring.

ANDERSON SHARP, MARKAKIS ALERT, BRAVES BLANK MIAMI, LEAD 2-0

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Rookie Ian Anderson pitched like an October veteran. Old pro Nick Markakis threw the best strike of the game.

And just like that, the Atlanta Braves are on the verge of something they haven’t done since the days of Chipper, the Big Three and Bobby Cox. Anderson blanked Miami into the sixth inning, Markakis made a nifty play in right field to help preserve the lead late, and the Braves threw another playoff shutout in a 2-0 victory Wednesday for a 2-0 lead in the NL Division Series.

The Braves have pitched three shutouts in four games during this year’s playoffs. They’re just the third team in MLB history to toss three shutouts in the first four games of a postseason, joining the 1966 Baltimore Orioles and the 1905 New York Giants.

Travis d’Arnaud and Dansby Swanson each homered for the second straight day, putting the Braves one win away from a sweep in the best-of-five matchup. Game 3 is Thursday in Houston.

“It’s hard to bunch hits together, pitching is too good,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Power, I think is something that plays in the postseason and was witnessed today.”

Atlanta hasn’t reached the NL Championship Series since 2001 when Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz played under Cox.

ATLANTA Braves’ Travis d’Arnaud (16) follows through on a home run during the fourth inning. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) The Braves have lost in the division series eight times since then, including in the last two seasons — a fact star slugger Freddie Freeman said put a chip on their shoulders entering this round.

Anderson scattered three hits and struck out eight over 5 2/3 innings.

The lanky right-hander who made his major league debut in late August added to his impressive outing last week in the wild-card series when he fanned nine in six scoreless frames against Cincinnati.

“It doesn’t seem like the moment ever matters to him,” Snitker said. “He just keeps pitching and trusting his stuff.”

Added d’Arnaud, his catcher: “He’s just always been like that. It’s something that should be noticed and put out there.”

Despite his calm demeanor, the 22-year-old Anderson admitted to some early-game jitters.

“I definitely had more nerves today,” he said. “I don’t know if was the different site and seeing all

the playoff stuff around the stadium or what ... but I was able to calm down and get in the groove of the game.”

The 36-year-old Markakis contributed after Anderson departed.

Corey Dickerson reached on an error by Swanson at shortstop to start the eighth, setting up Markakis’ heads-up play.

Jon Berti followed by slicing a high fly down the line that Markakis alertly plucked on one hop and, with Dickerson holding up to see if the ball would be caught, threw to Swanson for a forceout at second base in a close play.

“He’s a veteran outfielder and he’s one of the best in the business at what he does,” Swanson said. “And he really made a perfect play.”

Miami manager Don Mattingly didn’t fault Dickerson for being thrown out because he said Markakis could’ve dived to catch it.

“Corey’s in a tough spot there, and that ball just kind of bounced right up to (Markakis),” he said.

“That’s just a tough read in a tough situation.”

Will Smith retired the next two batters and Mark Melancon, Atlanta’s fifth pitcher of the game, closed the combined three-hitter for a save.

On a day when Atlanta got only four hits, Swanson and d’Arnaud provided the offense. Both players hit solo shots a day after the two hit multi-run homers in a huge seventh inning for the Braves in their Game 1 win.

Players from both teams behaved themselves a day after tempers flared in the opener when Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. was nailed by a 98 mph fastball.

Acuña had a quiet afternoon, going 0 for 4 and striking out all four times.

Swanson’s homer off Pablo Lopez put the Braves up 1-0 with two outs in the second inning.

There was one out in the fourth when d’Arnaud launched his soaring home run to left field, where it bounced off a metal sign high on the wall making a loud bang.

Cameras panned to Anderson in the dugout, and the pitcher smiled broadly as he watched the ball sail away.

D’Arnaud’s homer made him the first catcher for the Braves to hit multiple home runs in one postseason since Brian McCann also had two in 2005.

He’s made quite a comeback this season after bouncing around between three teams in a tough 2019.

The Marlins, who made the playoffs for the first time since 2003, bounded their way into this round

with high energy and plenty of smiles. They had little reason to grin on Wednesday when they couldn’t scratch a single run across, going 0-4 with runners in scoring position.

It’s put them cusp of losing the first playoff series in franchise history after entering this round 7-0 alltime in the postseason.

They had a chance to cut into the lead in the sixth inning when Berti singled with one out before Darren O’Day took over for Anderson with two outs and plunked Brian Anderson.

The veteran reliever than walked Garrett Cooper to load the bases, but the Marlins came away empty when Matt Joyce grounded out to end the inning.

Lopez didn’t pitch badly, allowing just three hits in and striking out seven in five innings.

But he was done in by the home runs in his postseason debut after not pitching since Sept. 24.

“Pablo was really good,” Mattingly said.

“With a lot of guys, and these guys have a lot of good hitters, you miss your spots and sometimes you can get away with it, and sometimes you don’t.”

• UP NEXT Atlanta’s Kyle Wright will make his postseason debut when he starts in Game 3 against rookie Sixto Sanchez.

Wright hasn’t pitched since Sept.

25 when he allowed two runs in a career-high 6 2/3 innings against the Red Sox. Sanchez started Game 2 of the wild-card round, striking out six in five scoreless innings.

PINDER’S HR HELPS RALLY A’S PAST ASTROS 9-7, TRAIL ALDS 2-1

By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chad Pinder tied the score with a three-run homer in the seventh inning, Sean Murphy hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth and the Oakland Athletics rallied past the Houston Astros 9-7 on Wednesday to avoid elimination in their AL Division Series.

Houston leads the best-of-five series 2-1 and can advance to its fourth straight AL Championship Series with a victory in Game 4 on Thursday.

The Astros wasted leads of 2-1 and 7-4, and the Athletics bounced back after giving up advantages of 1-0 and 4-2.

Houston’s bullpen had stifled Oakland in the first two games with seven shutout innings of one-hit relief, but Pinder ended that dominance.

Houston led 7-4 when Marcus Semien and Tommy La Stella had back-to-back singles off Josh James starting the seventh.

Pinder hit a first-pitch slider to the opposite field for Oakland’s fifth homer, a drive chased by right fielder Kyle Tucker until he ran out of room at the short wall.

La Stella, Mark Canha, Matt Olson and Semien also homered for the A’s, whose entire infield went deep. Teams outhomering opponents are 18-0 in the postseason.

unsuccessfully.

Yuli Gurriel popped out, Aedmys Díaz advanced the runners with a groundout, and pinch-hitter Josh Reddick struck out, smashing his bat on the ground and breaking it over a knee.

Houston took a 7-4 lead with five runs in the fifth, when the Astros sent 10 batters to the plate.

Díaz hit a tying, two-run homer off rookie starter Jesús Luzardo, and Brantley, Bregman and Tucker drove in runs. Houston was slowed when José Altuve was thrown out on a relay by Olson at first when he tried to go from first to third on Brantley’s single.

Both starters allowed up four runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings Luzardo and Houston’s José Urquidy.

OAKLAND Athletics’ Mark Canha (20) hits a solo home run off in front of Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado and umpire Jerry Meals (41) during the second inning of Game 3 of a baseball American League Division Series in Los Angeles, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) The teams have combined for 18 homers — including seven in Game 3 — in the neutral-site series at Dodger Stadium featuring all day games. After two straight days in the 90s, the temperature cooled to 81 degrees.

Loser Brooks Raley walked Robbie Grossman leading off the eighth, and Ramon Laureano doubled. Murphy’s sacrifice fly put Oakland ahead, Semien walked,

La Stella was hit on his right forearm, loading the bases and forcing La Stella from the game. Pinder, who went 3 for 4 with four RBIs, followed with another sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Winner Liam Hedricks pitched three innings of one-hit, scoreless relief.

Carlos Correa singled leading off the bottom of the eighth and Tucker reached on catcher’s interference

by Murphy, a call the A’s challenged

• GREINKE’S ARM Zack Greinke’s right arm is structurally sound and the Astros say they are hopeful he can pitch at some point in the postseason. The right-hander started Game 1 of the AL wild card series on Sept. 29, but was lifted after allowing one run and two hits and three walks in four innings. Greinke tailed off late in the season, posting a 5.73 ERA over his final seven starts; in that span, dating to Aug. 23, he gave up at least three runs in each outing. He off flat ground after the Astros’ win in Game 2 and manager Dusty Baker said he was told the session went “pretty good.”

PAGE 14, Thursday, October 8, 2020

LIONEL Messi

ARGENTINA COACH GLAD MESSI RESOLVED BARCELONA ISSUES BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni is hoping Lionel Messi’s decision to stay at Barcelona will benefit the national team when World Cup qualifying starts this week.

Messi pushed for a move away from the Spanish club this offseason only to change his mind after the club refused to let him leave for free, opting to stay instead of launching a potentially ugly legal battle against the club.

Focus Scaloni told a news conference on Wednesday that he played no part in the decision but was happy to see the issue resolved so that Messi could focus fully on his performances on the pitch.

“From afar we wanted it to be sorted, obviously we wanted him to play and to be in form,” Scaloni said. “It is positive that he has stayed because he has started to play, he knows the environment and that is the only thing I can say.”

Argentina will start its qualifying campaign against Ecuador on Thursday, as Messi begins another attempt at an elusive World Cup title.

Argentina lost the 2014 World Cup final to Germany and was ousted by eventual winner France in the round of 16 in 2018.

“I talked to Messi when the issue with Barcelona was sorted, he was serene and calm. Now that he came we had a long conversation. Leo is happy for being with the national team, and he is doing well at his club now,” Scaloni said. “We want to get to this World Cup for many reasons, and one of the main ones, obviously, is that Leo is able to play.”

NEYMAR DOUBTFUL FOR WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS WITH BACK PAIN

By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil striker Neymar left Wednesday’s training session early with back pains, which could force him to miss Friday’s opening World Cup qualifier against Bolivia.

Brazil’s team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar told journalists at the training ground in Teresopolis that Neymar had already started getting treatment but that it was too soon to say whether he’ll be fit for the game at the Neoquimica Arena in Sao Paulo.

“The next 24 hours will be important to see how he will recover,” Lasmar said.

Footage published by Brazil’s soccer confederation on social media showed Neymar putting his hands on his back and kneeling on the pitch.

Brazil has already lost two starters for the opening rounds of World Cup qualifying as goalkeeper Alisson and striker Gabriel Jesus are both injured.

CAMAVINGA, CAPUTO SET AGE MARKS FOR FRANCE, ITALY IN WINS

THE TRIBUNE

FRANCE’S Eduardo Camavinga controls the ball during the friendly international soccer match between France and Ukraine at the Stade deFrance in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

By CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports Writer

BERLIN (AP) — France and Italy celebrated notable achievements on opposite ends of the age spectrum on Wednesday as both teams earned big wins in friendly games.

The 17-year-old Eduardo Camavinga became France’s youngest scorer in more than 100 years after making his first start for the national team, netting the opening goal in a 7-1 rout of Ukraine in Paris.

The 33-year-old Francesco Caputo became the oldest player to score on his debut for Italy when he grabbed the second goal in a 6-0 win over Moldova in Florence.

The Sassuolo forward broke the record held by Leonardo Pavoletti, who was 30 when he scored in a European Championship qualifier against Liechtenstein last year.

Caputo almost got a second goal, too, but Moldova defender Veaceslav Posmac converted into his own net as he tried to clear.

Stephan El Shaarawy scored twice while Bryan Cristante and Domenico Berardi also netted their first international goals for Italy, which was 5-0 up at the break after a first-half onslaught.

Roberto Mancini fielded an experimental Italy side ahead of the Nations League matches against Poland and the Netherlands on Oct. 11 and 14.

At Stade de France, Olivier Giroud scored twice on his 100th appearance to

his first international goal.

Germany took the lead on three occasions but lacked the concentration to hold on for the win.

The game was overshadowed by fresh allegations of tax evasion by the German soccer federation and by the high number of coronavirus infections in Cologne.

Only 300 spectators were allowed to attend.

ITALY’S Francesco Caputo scores a goal during the international friendly soccer match between Italy and Moldova. (Marco Bucco/LaPresse via AP) take his tally to 42 goals, one more than French great Michel Platini and just nine behind France’s all-time top-scorer Thierry Henry.

Camavinga opened the scoring with an acrobatic left-footed strike from outside the box into the top corner. He became the second youngest player to score for France, at 17 years, 11 months. Maurice Gastiger was just six months younger when he scored against Switzerland

on March, 8, 1914.

Corentin Tolisso, Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann also netted for France, while Vitaliy Mykolenko scored an own goal for a Ukraine side depleted by coronavirus cases and injuries. Viktor Tsygankov scored the visitors’ consolation early in the second half.

• CARELESS GERMANY Germany coach Joachim

Löw left out many regulars for Turkey’s visit to an all-but-empty stadium in Cologne, but he was left disappointed when Kenan Karaman scored in the fourth minute of injury time to grab a 3-3 draw for the guests.

“Disappointed and fed up,” Löw said, despite Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder Florian Neuhaus scoring on his Germany debut and Benfica forward Luca Waldschmidt getting

• SPAIN HELD, LIECHTENSTEIN MILESTONE While the goals were raining in Paris, Florence and Cologne, there were none in Lisbon, where Portugal ended Spain’s 42-game scoring streak in a 0-0 draw. It was the first time Spain had failed to score since a 2-0 defeat to Italy at the 2016 European Championship.

Some 2,500 socially distanced fans attended the match as a test for Portuguese authorities evaluating the possibility of supporters in stadiums amid the pandemic.

Tiny Liechtenstein defeated Luxembourg 2-1 away to record two consecutive victories for the first time after a 2-0 win over San Marino on Sept. 8.

Frank de Boer’s first game in charge of the Netherlands ended in a 1-0 loss to Mexico. Raul Jimenez’ penalty was enough to decide the game in Amsterdam.

Poland enjoyed a 5-1 win over Finland in Gdansk.

Kamil Grosicki scored a hat trick as star forward Robert Lewandowski was given the night off.

MATCHDAY: EURO PLAYOFFS START – BELGIUM, ENGLAND FRIENDLIES A look at the pick of the soccer friendlies in Europe and European Championship playoffs on Thursday: • EUROS PLAYOFFS Playoffs that will decide the last four places in the 24-nation European Championship lineup will finally start. It’s almost seven months since they were postponed in March as the coronavirus pandemic spread. Eight games are played Thursday with winners advancing to finals on Nov. 12 in four separate brackets. The standout game is in the third-tier bracket: Norway vs. Serbia, pitting Erling Haaland of Borussia Dortmund against Dusan Tadic of Ajax. The winner will host Scotland or Israel next month. In the top tier, the winner of Bulgaria vs. Hungary will host the winner of Iceland vs. Romania. In the second-tier, Bosnia-Herzegovina faces Northern Ireland for the right to host Slovakia or Ireland.

One newcomer is sure to be at the tournament kicking off next June. The lowest-ranked bracket is Georgia vs. Belarus for the right to host North Macedonia or Kosovo, world soccer’s newest national team. UEFA has allowed fans to attend the games at up to 30% of stadium capacity if local public health rules allow.

• BELGIUM VS. IVORY COAST For the first time since a 6-1 win over Cyprus in November last year in a European qualifying game, Belgium fans are allowed back at their national arena. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, only 11,000 spectators will be admitted inside the King Baudouin stadium as Belgium takes on Ivory Coast in a

DORTMUND’S Erling Haaland is in the Norway squad. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

friendly match. Despite the limited number of seats available, the match against Ivory Coast, a nation sitting 60th in the FIFA rankings, did not draw much attention as tickets remained on sale as of Wednesday. Belgium, the No. 1 team in the rankings, was initially set to take on New Zealand, which had to cancel its trip due to the coronavirus pandemic. Unbeaten in its past 12 matches, Belgium will then travel

to England and Iceland during the international break for a couple of Nations League games.

• ENGLAND VS. WALES England players Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho will miss the game while they await the results of coronavirus tests after attending a party at the weekend. The trio’s arrival at the England training base was delayed this week as the Football

Association assessed if there was any risk to the squad as a result of the party held at Abraham’s house, which Chilwell and Sancho also attended. England manager Gareth Southgate said the players will not be available against Wales but couldn’t say whether they may return to play the Nations League match against Belgium on Sunday.

(Associated Press)

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 8, 2020, PAGE 15

MARLINS ON THE BRINK OF ELIMINATION

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net JAZZ Chisholm and the Miami Marlins are faced with elimination for the first time in the 2020 MLB playoffs.

The Marlins lost 2-0 to the Atlanta Braves yesterday in game two of the National League Division series at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. The Braves now have a 2-0 lead in the best of five series.

They also improved to an 8-4 advantage in 12 games against the Marlins this season.

Game three is set for this afternoon at 2:08pm local time and broadcast live on Fox Sports One. Chisholm has yet to make his postseason debut through four games thus far, dating back to the NL Wild Card round.

In a game that featured just seven total hits, the Braves got solo home runs from Dansby Swanson in the second inning and Travis d’Arnaud in the fourth inning. Both players also homered in game one of the series.

Marlins rookie Sixto Sanchez will get the start on the mound in game three against the Braves’ Kyle Wright.

“We don’t need to win three, we just need to win one. And that’s where it starts,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly told the Sun Sentinel, “We can’t think about winning three. You just have to think about winning one and the momentum turns and puts a little more pressure on them.”

ATLANTA Braves’ Dansby Swanson hits a home run during the second inning in game two against the Miami Marlins last night and, below, the Braves celebrate the win.

OFFER ALREADY ON THE TABLE RECKLEY AND JOHNSON IN AS WILSON WEIGHS NEXT MOVE INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASE

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WARDRICK Wilson’s recruitment has reopened since he signed on for a year of prep football and the former four star recruit had already received one official Division I offer.

Wilson received an offer from the Old Dominion Monarchs, a ConferenceUSA contender that won the Bahamas Bowl in 2016.

The Monarchs canceled football and all fall sports this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the football programme looks to return in fall 2021.

Wilson, a former Florida Gators signee, was unable to join the programme due to VISA and immigration issues after he originally committed in December 2018.

Now a member of the North Palm Beach Prep Pumas football programme, the 6’5” 320 pound offensive lineman is prepared to and sign with a collegiate programme this winter according to mentor Michael TUnsil.

“Wilson is playing a prep year to get back in shape after sitting out last season. Wilson will be a 5x4 when he signs with a D1 in December,” Tunsil said via Twitter, “ Wardrick Wilson has finally taken care of his immigration issues.Wilson has [his] green card/social security card in hand and is available to attend any D1 school as [an] NCAA full qualifier.”

BAHAMIAN baseball prospects continue to showcase their skills on the international stage.

Ryan Reckley and Paris Johnson were named to the All-Tournament Team for the 2020 WWBA Sophomore World Championships, September 24-28 at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Florida.

Both players were members of Elite Squad U16 McCoy squad that finished the event 2-2 and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Reckley, 16, averaged .333 with a double, two RBI, four stolen bases and scored three runs with an .833 OPS. The 5’10” 165 pound shortstop has also made All-Tournament Teams at the 2019 WWBA Freshman Championships, 2019 U14 PG Series Classic, U14 BCS National Championship, WWBA U14 East Memorial Day Classic and 2018 PGBA U14 Florida Fall Nationals.

Johnson, 15, is a 6’2” 200 pound outfielder and right handed pitcher. He hit .307

WARDRICK WILSON North Palm Beach Prep, is a college prep programme based in Port St. Lucie, Florida designed to give students a final year of preparation ahead of collegiate football.

“North Palm Beach Prep, is the premiere destination for student athletes seeking to excel to greater heights post high school graduation,” the organisation said in a release.

Schools in the SEC, Big Ten and ACC have also

reportedly inquired about Wilson’s recruitment should he not continue with the Gators.

Wilson moved to the United States in 2016 and quickly became a rising star on the football field as an offensive lineman.

He became noteworthy in the state at Miami’s Doral Charter Academy but transferred to Miami Norland before eventually finishing at Miami Carol City High.

league’s free agency period commenced.

The Sun fell one game short in their historic run toward a WNBA Championship in 2019, but Jones established herself as one of the premier players in the league with her standout season.

In addition to her aforementioned accolades, she finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting and was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week four times.

Jones finished the regular

season with starts in all 34 appearances, averaged 14.6 points, and posted career highs in steals (1.5 per game) and minutes played (28.8 per game). She also won her second rebounding title in four seasons.

Jones led the league in rebounds with 9.7 boards and blocked shots at a career-high 2.0 per game.

She also finished fourth in defensive rebounds with 6.4 per game. She grabbed 10 or more rebounds 16 times, including a season-high 22 rebounds on May 31.

JONQUEL RETURNS from page one

In the 2019 WNBA season, she was named to the All-WNBA Second Team, the All-Defensive Team and an All-Star for the second time, cited personal reasons and uncertainty around the pandemic.

The Sun advanced to the Eastern Conference final before they were eliminated by the Las Vegas Aces.

Jones signed a multiyear contract with the Sun in February as the

RYAN RECKLEY, left, and Paris Johnson. with a double, three RBI, three stolen bases, one run and a .785 OPS. He has also made AllTournament Teams at the 2019 WWBA Freshman World Championship and WWBA U14 East Memorial Day Classic.

Both players are products of the Maximum Development Sports Academy and are already garnering attention from MLB clubs in their respective international signing class.

In 2019 Reckley received the opportunity to showcase his skills against the top players in his class across the United States. He was named to

the roster of the Perfect Game 14u Select Baseball Festival.

The fourth edition of the event featured the top 44 prospects from the national prep classes of 2022 and 2023.

“Reckley is tightly wound with fast-twitch muscle, an element of his game that aids him on both sides of the ball,” his PG analysis said. “He’s a switch-hitter with present bat speed from either side, whipping the barrel while showing an advanced defensive skillset, all of which equate to a highly intriguing international sign come July 2 of 2021.”

SPORTS SECTION E

Jonquel returns

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

AFTER she opted out of the 2020 WNBA season, Jonquel Jones made her official return to the basketball court this week in the Russian Women’s Basketball Premier League.

Jones led UMMC Ekaterinburg Foxes with 35 points and 13 rebounds in an 84-72 win over Nika Syktykar in their season debut.

The veteran forward had a dominant shooting performance, 13-19 from the field (1-2 from three point range) and 6-7 from the free throw line. She also had two blocked shots on the defensive end of the floor.

Jones’ strong play early led the Foxes to a 58-48 lead at the half and a 62-48 lead headed into the fourth quarter. They eventually led by as much as 17 points in the final period.

UMMC will play their next Premier league game and make their home debut on October 19 in Ekaterinburg

when they face Spartak.

Jones is in her third season with UMMC Ekaterinburg.

Last season, the team captured Russian Premier League and the EuroLeague women’s championship.

They won their second consecutive and fifth EuroLeague title with a 91-67 win over Dynamo Kursk in Sopron, Hungary in April.

Jones appeared in eight games and averaged 19.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. She shot 60 percent from the field, 52 percent from three point range and 80 percent from the free throw line.

A stacked UMMC Ekaterinburg roster also included WNBA stars Brittney Griner and Cortney Vandersloot. The team recently added current WNBA Finals MVP Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm.

Jones, the Connecticut Sun star, opted out of the shortened WNBA season amid COVID-19 pandemic concerns.

SEE PAGE 15

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020

WILSON WEIGHS MOVE PAGE 15