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VOLUME:114 No.222, OCTOBER 11TH, 2017

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BUSINESS: GOVT ‘WON’T SINK ECONOMY’ WITH CHRISTIE’S $1.3BN NHI

PLP ‘diverted $40m to buy last election’ Turnquest spells out suspicions on hurricane funds

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE Minnis Administration suspects the Christie Administration spent more than $40 million of hurricane relief funds in a failed bid to buy the election, Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest said yesterday.

He was responding to Exuma and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper who said in a statement over the weekend that Mr Turnquest

was irresponsible for saying the government cannot locate $42 million of the $150 million the Christie Administration borrowed following Hurricane Matthew last year. Mr Turnquest had made that revelation in Parliament last week.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Turnquest said: “The PLP government, we suspect, obtained a resolution to borrow $150 million on hurricane relief but instead diverted $40 million plus of SEE PAGE SIX

GOV’T BLOCKS HUGE CUSTOMS SHAKE-UP

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Deputy Prime Minister yesterday confirmed he has halted the transfer of more than 250 Customs officers due to the upheaval such a shake-up threatens to cause.

K P Turnquest told Tribune Business that the Government was “actively reviewing” the Comptroller’s strategic plan, which proposes transferring hundreds of officers - from the highest to the lowest ranks - to different islands and functions.

This newspaper has obtained the six-page September 19, 2017, memorandum from comptroller Charles Turner listing the personnel transfers, which impact superintendents all the way down to clerical assistants.

The re-organisation was set to affect 15 Customs superintendents, with one set to be transferred from Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) to Freeport, and another going in the opposite direction.

SEE BUSINESS SECTION

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CHURCHES WARN ‘NO LOTTERY’

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Christian Council President Bishop Delton Fernander said he was “shocked” that a second government minister has come out in support of the creation of a Bahamian national lottery, adding the council expected the Minnis administration to either tighten the existing legislation or repeal the law.

The council’s expectation of the government is based on the Free National Movement’s position back in 2013 while in opposition, against legal gaming in the country.

Bishop Fernander said the BCC is concerned the Minnis administration now wants to introduce another kind of gambling to the industry.

SEE PAGE SIX

INVESTIGATORS at the scene of the shooting last night.

Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune staff

WOMAN DIES IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN is dead after she was shot in the Peardale area off Wulff Road last night, police said.

Shortly after 8.30 pm, the woman was standing in front of an unoccupied building at Peardale off Wulff Road alongside two men when the occupants of a white “Japanese”

vehicle pulled up armed with a shotgun and shot them.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene while the two men were taken to the hospital in serious condition.

The deceased is the 109th person to be killed this year.

Before her shooting death, the country had gone six days without a report of a murder.

LAST CONTACT WITH MISSING AMERICAN COUPLE’S PLANE

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE LAST contact from Forrest Sanco, the American man who vanished with his wife while en route to Rum Cay for their honeymoon last month, was a signal to air traffic controllers that he was nearing his destination.

Mr Sanco officially closed his flight plan at 4:58pm on September 26.

It’s a piece of information that investigators hope will help to narrow the gap before the couple were officially reported as missing, according to Bahamas Air and Sea Rescue Association (BASRA) Operations Manager Chris Lloyd yesterday.

Moreover, according to Mr Lloyd, there were no “local reports or concerns raised” about the missing couple until Friday, October 6 – roughly 10 days after the couple was originally scheduled to turn up for their Rum Cay honeymoon.

A family member now trying to raise $10,000 through a Go Fund Me campaign to hire private crews and pilots to find the Argyle, Texas couple on Monday told the Tribune the pair travelled from Florida on board a Cessna 150-N3214X en route to the Bahamas on September 25.

LeeAnn Burger, 23, said her uncle and his wife Donna, claimed the pair landed in Grand Bahama on the same day, where they cleared customs and spent the night.

SEE PAGE TWO

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POSTAL CRISIS IS CRIPPLING BUSINESS

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net REDUCED operations at the General Post Office are negatively affecting businesses, Bahamas Chamber of Commerce CEO Edison Sumner said yesterday, adding the chamber sees “no end in sight” to the problem.

For months now workers at the General Post Office have been working shortened shifts at their office on East Hill Street. Bahamas Public Services Union President John Pinder has SEE PAGE SIX

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SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Wednesday, October 11, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

LAST CONTACT WITH MISSING AMERICAN COUPLE’S PLANE FROM PAGE ONE

Ms Burger said the couple reportedly left Grand Bahama en route to Rum Cay on September 26 where they had rented a home for the week.

However, she said, the pair never arrived, with last contact coming in North Eleuthera where the couple had stopped for fuel.

To help in the search for the couple a gofundme site was launched in the US which has already raised more than $9000 to help pay for a search aircraft which is believed to have been hired in San Salvador.

Mr Lloyd said his office were not made aware of the case until last Friday, when it received a request for assistance from the United States Embassy’s office here in the Bahamas.

The Tribune understands that it was at this time reports of the missing couple were disseminated to the United States Coast Guard and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF).

Mr Lloyd said a caretaker on Rum Cay was awaiting a “fly by” to meet the couple at the airstrip, but the couple never showed.

“There is a lot of pieces that need to be put together,” Mr Lloyd told the Tribune. “Pieces that need to be placed in the precise order to make some sense here.”

He added: “What we are sure of at this moment is that the couple left Florida, arrived in Freeport, left there, stopped in Eleuthera for fuel then continued on to Rum Cay.” “At 4:58pm, we know that he closed his flight plan which gives us the understanding that he was near Rum Cay and in a position to say his flight was a success up to that point.”

“Now everything beyond that is questionable and we have a wide window of time to work through and narrow-down. From September 26 to October 6 is a long time to have to verify,” he concluded.

The Sanco couple were renting a holiday home from Pat and Earl Lambert.

Their son Greg, who had dealt directly with Forrest Sanco, indicated that he advised the newly wed husband on how to charter or fly to Rum Cay. Mr Sanco admitted to Greg that he hadn’t “flown for a number of years”, but it is understood he took some retraining lessons before making the flight from the US.

ABOVE: Forrest Sanco and his wife Donna reportedly left Grand Bahama on September 26.

BELOW: The couple travelled from Florida on board a Cessna 150-N3214X en route to the Bahamas on September 25.

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PM ORDERS ESTABLISHMENT OF URBAN RENEWAL CENTRES ON OTHER ISLANDS

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has ordered that Urban Renewal centres be established in a number of islands, Press Secretary Anthony Newbold said yesterday.

“To aid in the revitalization of the inner city communities, Urban Renewal centres are to be restructured,” he said.

“Several centres are to be combined and new ones created in the MICAL islands, Long Island, Mt Moriah, Adelaide and Bamboo Town.

Centres are to be reopened on Cat Island, Rum Cay, Eleuthera, (Central and South) North Andros, North Abaco and Exuma. In all there will be 25 Urban Renewal centres.”

“The restructuring will enunciate clearly the vision for the Urban Renewal Programme

they identify and understand and who will likely be more effective than any central commission or committee.”

PRESS Secretary Anthony Newbold.

Critical

thus avoiding overlap and duplication of effort with what other agencies and institutes are doing in those communities.

Twenty centre managers are to be appointed

to facilitate this restructuring.

There will be a return to appointing leaders from within those communities who can deal effectively with issues

In Opposition, Dr Minnis was critical of Urban Renewal, saying it had become nothing more than a scheme turning trained police officers into delivery boys. Since coming into office, some in the administration have said they have “grave concerns” over how Urban Renewal was managed under the former administration.

During yesterday’s press briefing, Mr Newbold also revealed that the government has accepted Disaster Relief Funding from the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in the amount of $200,000 in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 11, 2017, PAGE 3

CRASH SPOT CLAIMS ITS THIRD VICTIM

By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter sdorsett@tribunemedia.net A 28-YEAR-OLD man died after he was struck by a car attempting to cross Tonique Williams Darling Highway with his girlfriend and their baby late Monday night.

His death marked the third traffic fatality in “that same spot” for the year, according to Officer in Charge of the Traffic Division Assistant Superintendent Craig Stubbs, who said the number of accidents in that area is “very concerning”.

Crossing According to reports, the victim was crossing the southern lane of Tonique Williams Darling Highway around 9.30pm when he was hit by a Lexus vehicle.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman and child were unharmed.

The driver of the vehicle stayed at the scene and is assisting police in the investigation.

ASP Stubbs appealed to pedestrians to be careful while crossing Tonique Williams Highway and also asked drivers to slow down and adhere to speed limits.

“Once you decide to cross the highway you have to asses the situation and make sure it is safe,” he said.

“This is the third incident where a pedestrian was crossing the street in order to patronize the local

businesses or to go into the neighbouring communities.

“We want to appeal to pedestrians again, you must ascertain the situation before you make an attempt, you can not assume the vehicle driver sees you or they will stop when you are trying to cross the road.

“You must check out the situation, no if and or buts.

You must make sure the way is clear.

Accidents “The communities in Yellow Elder and the other communities, I know they have been upset about the number of accidents that happen here so we have to sit down with our other stakeholders and find a way to bring relief to the communities and the persons utilizing the Tonique Williams Darling corridor to make it safe. As it is right now we have a concern and in the coming weeks we will address it as it relates to road safety.

“This is a big concern for us and I want to stress to pedestrians and road users to exercise extreme caution when crossing. Drivers please slow down and be more vigilant at all times and look out for pedestrians who are attempting to cross.”

In July, Transport and Local Government Minister Frankie Campbell expressed concern over the number of accidents and fatalities recorded throughout the country this year.

Mr Campbell said it is “vital” that the government

TOP: The victim’s body is removed from the scene on Tonique Williams Darling Highway.

ABOVE: The car that was involved in the collision. Photos: Terrel W Carey/Tribune staff “continue to focus safety.”

He encouraged to adhere to the road traffic laws,

on road people various such as

using pedestrian crossings rather than crossing the road arbitrarily, obeying the maximum speed limits both in the city and highways,

and avoiding texting while driving.

The latter, Mr Campbell said, is “far too prevalent” in Bahamian society and

RBDF OFFICER HELD AFTER AMMUNITION FOUND IN SEARCH

MINISTER of Education Jeff Lloyd.

By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter Sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

MINISTER: ONLY FOUR OR FIVE DOMINICAN STUDENTS EXPRESSING INTEREST IN OFFER

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

IT remains unclear how many Dominican students are expected to temporarily move to the Bahamas, with Education Minister Jeffery Lloyd yesterday suggesting only “about four, maybe five” have expressed an interest in accepting the Minnis administration’s offer to relocate.

Mr Lloyd said processes are underway in Dominica and here in the Bahamas respectively, with a view to properly register students interested in relocating and identifying schools capable of accepting them.

The South Beach MP insisted that once these and several other important factors are concluded, students that are approved, will start travelling to the Bahamas.

“I don’t have any confirmed numbers, the latest that I have heard is that about four, maybe five that have expressed an interest in coming to the Bahamas,” Mr Lloyd told reporters before heading into a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

“Now there is a process, interest, I will not idenokay. Firstly, the Domini- tify them, and they are can government has got to prepared to accommodate be satisfied that its citizens them as long as the due are going to a place where diligence is completed in they can feel satisfied and Dominica,” Mr Lloyd said. comfortable that they are Asked to clarify what going to be protected and he meant by “due dilithat their matriculation gence”, Mr Lloyd said the is going to continue in Dominican government accordance with the stand- wants to ensure that its ards of Dominica,” he students are accepted by added. the Bahamian government “They have no difficulty via immigration requirein that.” ments and that the schools accepting them, are institutions approved and sanctioned by the Bahamas government.

The issue of Domini“So there is a registration process that is going cans temporarily relocating on in Dominica, and this to the Bahamas in the wake is involving the govern- of Hurricane Maria has ment of Dominica, as well generated wide and intense as the Teachers Union in public discourse, with many Bahamians taking issue with Dominica.”

“Then of course once the government’s decision to that is completed there, offer aid.

Earlier this month, Free they will obviously contact us, and we will arrange with National Movement backthose family members the bencher, Pineridge MP Rev issues of immigration, how Frederick McAlpine reclong are they going to be ommended that wealthy ministers take here (and) how long with Cabinet the schools that would be money from their own pockets to contribute to accepting them.”

“Those schools have the Dominica’s restoration already expressed an efforts, rather than give its

Registration

the possibility exists for the introduction of legislation against texting while driving sometime in the future.

citizens safe haven in the Bahamas.

He also recommended the government pay Bahamians to work in Dominica and help with restoration instead of allowing storm victims to temporarily relocate here, as he suggested they may never leave once they get used to a better standard of living.

Critics His comments have since been branded by some as xenophobic and racist.

Moreover, many within the FNM have spoken out against the critics.

Last week, Immigration Brent Symonette confirmed that no new immigration policies will need to be enacted to accommodate citizens of Dominica here in the Bahamas.

Mr Symonette, who was a part of the government’s delegation to Dominica in the wake of Hurricane Maria, said his office was considering the issuance of “short-term visitor visas or other types”.

A ROYAL Bahamas Defence Force Officer is in police custody after he and four other men were allegedly found on Monday with a large amount of ammunition.

According to reports, shortly after 7pm, officers from the Anti-Gang and Firearms Investigation Unit along with officers from the Flying Squad, acting on intelligence, executed a search warrant on a home on Fox Hill Avenue, Yamacraw Shores, where they uncovered sixty 7.62, thirty-one .223 and one 9-millimeter rounds of ammunition.

The five male occupants of the home were taken into custody in connection with the seizure.

Police officers also arrested another six persons for various offences during an island-wide crime operation Monday evening.

Police say the operation is part of the RBPF’s strategy to cut down on criminal activity by targeting problem locations and persons engaged in

criminal activities such as, murder, armed robbery, rape, shootings, stolen vehicles, firearms and drugs.

During the operation a firearm and a quantity of dangerous drugs were uncovered in separate incidents.

The first discovery occurred shortly before 9pm on Sunday off Kemp Road.

According to reports, officers conducted a search in a home on Kemp Road, where they uncovered just over five pounds of marijuana.

A male occupant of the home was taken into custody in connection with the seizure.

The second discovery occurred around 1.30am on Monday off Cowpen Road. Officers conducted a search of a home, where they found a .40 pistol with 10 rounds of ammunition. An adult male was taken into custody in connection with the seizure.

Anyone with information on any of these incidents is asked to contact police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS.

PAGE 4, Wednesday, October 11, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

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Nassau Needs a Mayor, City Manager NASSAU needs a mayor. We have beat around the bush long enough and pretended that somehow this historic city could just run itself. We should have known better. Its majestic Madeira trees are suffering.

Its signage is out of control. Its streets are dirty, its nightlife non-existent.

Volunteer efforts like the Downtown Nassau Partnership and before that the Nassau Tourism and Development Board and even before that the Bahamas Duty Free Promotion Board have all been valiant, each holding back the oncoming tide of neglect despite lack of taxing powers or official authority.

But preserving a destination rich in history with architectural treasures and sites that date back more than 200 years, creating an experience that locals and visitors enjoy and providing a clean, safe environment that invites a residential population bringing new life and vitality to the city cannot be achieved when the major means to raise revenue is by begging.

And that is precisely what the case has been for too long. New lighting? Ask government.

If government doesn’t have the funds, go to the merchants, the same merchants who have been forking out and handing over dollars since the serious (organized) begging began 25 years ago and the casual farther back.

New sidewalks? Same story. Overall plan? None.

No government has had the courage to relinquish partial control over the most populated city in the nation, the one that generates revenue that flows into the Consolidated Fund and out again to areas that contribute less and whose per capita needs are more costly.

So the city pays and the price it pays is its own neglect.

Let us say it again, Nassau needs a mayor and a city manager.

At a Bahamas Chamber of Commerce Meet the Minister breakfast last week, Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar detailed the economic impact of the country’s 6.2 million visitors, noting that the 4.6 million who are cruise passengers only account for 12% of the spend.

Those same passengers spend twice as much in St. Marten so you cannot blame it on the type of passenger. What is it that a port like St. Marten has that Nassau does not? Organisation, clear signage, wide sidewalks between the shops in the artificially created port village and easy onshore booking of excursions, clean restrooms. We have been there and we still believe that Nassau’s potential far outweighs our competitors who cannot hold a candle to us in originality.

Yet the spend is twice. We have done this to ourselves.

There is too little to do, too little variety to shop for, too few conveniences, including restrooms and far too few experiences that are uniquely Bahamian.

In their daily newsletters to passengers, some ships warn of Nassau’s dangers.

In their port lectures which are not billed as paid advertising when parts of them should be, but passed off as helpful advice and counseling from those who spend their lives going from port to port, passengers are told to shop at only certain stores if they want to be sure that their purchases are authentic and the jewels are what they purport to be.

One visitor told us just this week that he was approached four times to buy drugs by the time he got to Bay Street from Prince George Wharf.

And no one is able to get a handle on all that is happening in or to historic Nassau because no one is in charge and

no management takes responsibility because as hard as they try, they have no authority.

The Port Department controls one area but if there is a faulty electrical issue as there has been in the past and a long power cord is lying in the water in a trench that passengers have to cross in the pouring rain, someone has to notify the Ministry of Works and BPL. The surrey horses, the subject of another day’s opinion piece, fall under yet another ministry and when Tourism police were asked recently why they did not enforce the two-hour rest period in the middle of the day when it was clearly being violated one officer said they knew about the requirement but it wasn’t their job because it did not fall under the Ministry of National Security.

Environmental Health has trash collection responsibility and the regulation of signage or lack thereof is the responsibility of the Department of Physical Planning.

No one has overall responsibility for the City of Nassau and Tourism feels the brunt.

More importantly, we as Bahamians are sitting idly by hoping someone will do something as we watch a town that should fill us with pride slam us with shame instead.

Minister D’Aguilar was asked at that same breakfast if he would open a Super Wash without a manager in place. The question was polite and rhetoric. No one opens without a manager, no mom and pop shop over the hill, and yet we open the city of Nassau every day to thousands and by the end of the year to more than 4 million people without a manager.

Lost Springs, Wyoming, population 4, has a mayor and back when it had a population of 11 a few years ago, that same mayor took a case to court against a railroad company that wanted to use land that would have cut the city off from traffic, and that mayor won the case.

The railway had to use other land.

Without Mayor Leda Price and her determination to succeed on behalf of a handful of people who believed in their right to preserve what was theirs, the city of Lost Springs might have lived up to its name and been lost to all but history.

Monowi, Nebraska, population 1 as of the 2010 Census, has a mayor. She is the sole citizen of that township. She pays her liquor license taxes and submits a municipal road report annually to get the funding to keep her four street lights lit.

A town of one with a mayor.

We believe that Minister D’Aguilar will bring a refreshing approach to Tourism.

Coming from a business background with a degree in Accounting as well as having held the chairmanship of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and turning a Laundromat business into a national success story, he has already dissected and studied visitor numbers and expectations.

He knows that visitors do not post about a nice hotel room where the air conditioning works.

They want experiences they will cherish and that make them want to return to that destination and to refer others.

If a township with one can have a mayor who pays taxes and a city of 11 can have a mayor that wins a case against a powerful railroad, is it not time for The Bahamas to acknowledge Nassau needs a mayor?

We think so and we urge this government to be the one that shows the courage to create a new paradigm in governance.

LETTER AND BILLS NOT RECEIVED FROM POST OFFICE EDITOR, The Tribune.

Enclosed is an item of many of the letter and bills I haven’t received from the Post Office: BEC and BTC at least five to six months. Music magazine (opera news) almost a year.

Bank and credit card statement three to four months before they arrive.

Personal letters - months.

Cable Bahamas I haven’t received a statement for almost seven months!

NO NAME Nassau, September, 2017.

The PLP has no credibility to lecture us about crime EDITOR, The Tribune.

Twenty years from now, in 2037, Eugene Woodside Jr. could have become a member of parliament.

Or been called to the Bar. Or started making doctor rounds at a modern Princess Margaret Hospital.

We have been deprived of whatever contribution Eugene might have made to his community, his country, his world. A bullet fired by a thug with no value for humanity cut short the life of this handsome eightyear-old student who was at home practising his spelling.

Eugene was supposed to be safe in his own home.

The streets where he was supposed to play with his friends have long become unsafe and his mother was doing the right thing keeping him inside.

In 2017 we have to contend with the fact that 29 out of every 100,000 of us will be murdered. That is a sobering statistic that should not be used as a political football by either party, least of all the PLP. This kind of lawlessness didn’t start overnight and sadly it won’t end with Eugene. It was not always this way and sociologists will detail a number of socioeconomic reasons why some of our young men keep killing each other, innocent by-standers and even children.

Crime is like a leak in your ceiling. It begins as an annoying drip. But if you ignore it, sooner or later the pipe will bust, the ceiling will give way and you’ll be up to your neck in water. Who’s to blame? The contractor who did a shoddy job installing the pipes. Yes. The homeowner who ignored the drip. Yes. The building inspector who issued the certificate of occupancy. All of the above.

Crime escalated at first in slow motion and eventually, as now, in real time right before our eyes. In 2012 the PLP said that crime was all the fault of the FNM. They would fix it.

By 2017 crime is out of control and the people lost patience with the PLP. Then came the FNM and before the new Minister of National Security could unpack his bag, the PLP

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net started to blame him for the carnage in the streets that they could not control in five years.

Retired Anglican Archbishop Drexel Gomez was onto something when he lamented Eugene’s murder and referred to a subculture that has been allowed to develop over decades.

The Archbishop was in Barbados for most of the time during the 1970s and 1980s as the PLP allowed the wholesale sell-out of the Bahamas to drug lords from Colombia and gun-toting drug gangsters from the US. But he came home and participated in a Commission of Inquiry that looked into that very dark chapter of Bahamian history.

Politicians, clerics, civil servants, parents and grandparents were content to look the other way as hully-gullys with no means of income splashed out millions of dollars of ill-gotten gains from the drug trade. One reverend infamously commented that it was useless to hold on to morals because “principles don’t put food on the table”.

In this anything goes atmosphere it wasn’t long before the gang culture was imported here from the US. Hundreds of hard-core Bahamian criminals were flushed out of US jails and dumped here. These leopards didn’t change their spots and so they hooked into their stateside connections to order guns and bullets that were creatively smuggled into the Bahamas, sometimes by circuitous routes.

As the US war on drugs dropped a dragnet on the drug trade, gangs fought each other for control of our streets. The guns were no longer for self-defence but were now used for intimidation, to silence witnesses and to murder adversaries for offences as petty as “disrespecting” a girlfriend.

Ambushes became common. But then the courtesy of planning the ambush was dispensed with and replaced with broaddaylight gun battles leaving

innocent citizens scrambling for safety.

If the PLP had fixed the leak which became a torrent back in the seventies we wouldn’t be pointing fingers at each other and the name Eugene Woodside Jr. would likely be known only to his teachers and his classmates.

The PLP must atone for its role in fermenting the crime wave that has left us all paralyzed and changed the Bahamas forever.

They must not be allowed to get away with political malpractice.

We know who are the thugs. The police know who they are and where they live.

But the police have a credibility problem themselves.

Cursing and drinking while in uniform and on duty protecting and serving sends the wrong message to the criminal elements.

As Marvin Dames unpacks his toolbox he needs to be reminded of a police tactic that has helped turn New York City from one of the most dangerous places on earth into a city whose murder rate per capita is lower than ours.

It’s called “broken windows” policing. The theory is that small-scale infractions of the law must be swiftly and decisively combatted to foreclose the possibility of greater menace and disruption.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis is practising a version of this. By having the police stop motorists and ticket them for simple infractions like not wearing a seat beat, offending citizens will gradually desist from escalating into criminality.

Jitney drivers may soon start to drive with due care and attention. Thugs may think twice before drawing a gun in public and just maybe we won’t have to suffer having our hearts wrenched by reading about another kid like Eugene Woodside Jr. dying in his mother’s arms, the victim of a senseless crime.

The PLP needs an act of public expiation before fixing their mouth to lecture us on crime.

THE GRADUATE Nassau, October 8, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

POSTAL CRISIS IS CRIPPLING BUSINESS FROM PAGE ONE

described the facility as “hazardous” for the employes.

A recent flood as well as air conditioning and mould infestation problems are the reasons the workers have been working just a few hours a day.

“This has become a pretty vexing issue for a number of businesses, especially ones mailing invoices for payments, getting communication from their customers and those dropping cheques in the mail,” Mr Sumner said.

“I’ve been approached by a number of businesses and we know the operations at the General Post Office have been reduced.

“These diminished working hours, the fact that the post office has been in a state of disrepair are having an adverse impact on the mail service.”

Dialogue He added: “We intend to continue dialogue with the minister to determine what could happen to improve. We don’t see that there’s any end in sight.

“We know moves about constructing a new building have been planned.

“I believe that has been stalled and we don’t know what the government’s plan is.

“Certainly the issue has become a big concern to the business community not only for local business but those that are expecting international mail coming in as well.

“We need to make a determination on what steps will be taken but the government has to correct the problem.”

The Christie Administration, through a public private partnership, gave the green light to a project to relocate the General Post Office to the Independence Drive Shopping Centre off Tonique Williams Darling Highway.

However, the Minnis Administration has halted that project, expressing concerns that it was approved without due diligence.

The Minnis Administration has appeared open to relocating the post office to the Town Centre Mall.

Project Of the Christieapproved relocation project, Works Minister Desmond Bannister said in June the previous administration approved the project despite the absence of approved plans or a building permit for construction.

Although “technical officers at the Ministry of Public Works had advised the former administration a traffic impact study was required,” one was not conducted, Mr Bannister said.

In addition, no assessment was done to ensure there would be no ground contamination from the nearby gas station.

“Environmental and social assessments were required together with the submission of design details to the relevant governmental agencies for review,” Mr Bannister said, adding that none was done.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017, PAGE 5

CHRISTIE WON’T PUBLICLY ENDORSE ANY PLP LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Prime Minister Perry Christie has decided not to publicly endorse any candidate for leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party as the organization prepares to head into its national convention later this month.

“I will not be endorsing anyone to you,” the former party leader told The Tribune yesterday, “I have promised faithfully that I will stay out of it until after the convention.”

The convention is set for October 22-25.

former Attorney General Alfred Sears in a leadership race.

Mr Christie then led the party to a crushing defeat in the May 10 general election.

Several days later he resigned as party leader.

Mr Davis, former PLP deputy leader, was immediately elevated to party leader, as mandated in the PLP’s constitution.

He officially announced his candidacy for the party’s leadership over the weekend during a prayer breakfast.

Outcome

Speaking to those in attendance at the Baha Mar Convention Centre, Mr Davis said: “I have come this morning to seek your prayers as we journey together in service of our country. I ask your support as I once again choose the path leading me to be your servant so that I can help guide our nation away from the troubles that have come our way.

“Our party needs your prayerful support, and our nation needs the God of our fathers now more than ever before.”

Mrs Hanna Martin announced her bid for leadership in August.

She is seeking to become the first woman to lead a major political party, having been elected as the first woman chairman of a party in 2008.

Insiders told The Tribune yesterday it is in the best interest of the convention’s outcome for Mr Christie to maintain the position he expressed to this newspaper.

Among these is former Cabinet minister George Smith.

He said: “As the former leader it is appropriate for him to stay out of it. His comments were very appropriate and this is the right tack for him to take.

“I believe he still exercises influence in the party but now I believe the mantle has been passed.”

So far interim leader Philip “Brave” Davis and Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin are the only two candidates to officially

Support FORMER Prime Minister Perry Christie. announce intentions to contest the party’s top post.

Exuma and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper will run for deputy leader and the chairmanship race now has four candidates.

These include former Elizabeth candidate Alex Storr, former Long Island candidate Glendon Rolle, former Minister of State for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez, and former Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe.

“I think for the time being the team for the future is Brave Davis, Chester Cooper and Alex Storr. “I

believe this convention will focus on the team.

“I think one of the mistakes Mr Christie made was to build a leadership around himself, the headquarters and party officers.

“I think Davis will do the opposite. He will establish a party that will be all encompassing as opposed to centralised around the leader.

“He will form a party based on the branches. So I support Philip, Chester and Alex enthusiastically.”

The PLP held its last convention on January 24-26. At the close of the three-day event, Mr Christie won with 1,264 votes to 169 for

MORE THAN 30,000 ‘BENEFITTING FROM NHI’

By SANCHESKA DORSETT Tribune Staff Reporter Sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

MORE than 30,000 people are “benefitting” from National Health Insurance, according to Health Minister Dr Duane Sands, who yesterday encouraged Bahamians to sign up for the scheme.

Speaking with reporters outside Cabinet office, Dr Sands confirmed that payouts to doctors are now taking place.

He admitted that NHI is not ready to be “ramped up”, but said when it does move to the next level “it will make a difference in the lives of ordinary men and women and children in this country.”

Dr Sands said he is currently in the process of sorting through the “tremendous amount of waste” to ensure that NHI funds “goes to the benefit of the Bahamian patient and not to the benefit of a provider or not to the benefit of a vendor or anything else”.

cancers but they’re not available on the formal area right now. So one thing NHI might be able to do is say look ordinarily you may be able to get this from the public sector but with NHI perhaps you can get this new drug that is more lifesaving, that is not ordinarily made available.

Therapy

MINISTER of Health Dr Duane Sands.

“I think people should continue to register,” he told reporters outside Cabinet yesterday.

“NHI is going to be a reasonable product that is going to stay within budget.

So to give an example, we have an instance where sometimes somebody needs a pacemaker.

“A pacemaker could cost $8,000, $9,000, but for some people they simply don’t have it.

He continued: “So my concept of what NHI ought to be able to do within a very tightly controlled cost centre is that you make it possible for someone to get access to a pacemaker, or a hip replacement, or to certain types of chemo therapy that they might not be able to afford.

“There are some drugs that are now available that can dramatically improve the outcomes in certain

“At the same time you have to be very careful that you do not allow any single person to break the bank.

So there are some people who could expend a million or two million dollars in therapy and if we had the funds then certainly that would be possible in NHI. However if you have only $40m it is not reasonable for any single patient to get $2, 3, 4, 5 million and at the same time disenfranchise others. So the NHI board and the NHI executive is going to have to define what is the level of benefits that we believe is fair and equitable so that as many Bahamians can benefit.”

The Christie administration launched NHI’s primary care phase just prior to the general election in May. Dr Sands noted yesterday that registration has slowed in the last three months.

“There are now 30,000 people benefitting from NHI and payouts are taking place. There has been a slowdown in the number of persons who have registered in the last three months and the majority of those people have registered online,” Dr Sands said.

“By no means are we ready to ramp up at this point because you have to ramp up responsibly you cannot introduce something that is not ready and yes I apologize to the Bahamian public that this thing has taken five years plus to get to this point and its still not ready for primetime.

He said: “I admit that and I accept that but when we do roll it out I believe that Bahamians can be proud that it will make a difference in the lives of ordinary men and women and children in this country.”

CYNTHIA ‘MOTHER’ PRATT WANTS MEMOIRS TO INSPIRE

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MORE than a testament to her life’s work, former Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia “Mother” Pratt wants her foundation and memoirs to live on as a permanent fixture of empowerment and hope for innercity communities.

As she prepares for a launch on October 21, the woman that shattered several political ceilings said she was filled with gratitude to witness the fruition of her wildest dreams.

She hinted that there was a possible film adaptation in the works.

“The same woman that came out the heart of the inner-city, the same can happen for them, that is my dream, that is my request, that is my desire, that the many years I sat in certain positions I lived right here,” she said.

“All of the firsts that God has allowed me to experience, I lived right on Sixth Street, Coconut Grove. You can’t sell it, you can’t erase it. When I sat in the chair as acting Prime Minister I lived right here, with the police in their boot right in the inner-city. When I presented the National Budget, the first woman to do so, I was living right here.

Published by Scholar Books with author Albert Cox, Mother Pratt’s book titled “An Ordinary Woman from the Heart of the Inner City: A Commentary on My Life in Perspective” promises to be a tell-all account of her journey from the “pit to the palace”.

Growing up in a household with more than 16 people, being severely malnourished and rummaging

“Al l of the firsts that God has al l owed me to experience, I lived right o n Sixth Street , Coco nut Grove. You can’t sel l it , you can’t erase it.

When I sat in the chair as acting Prime Minister I lived right here, with the p o lice in their boot right in the in ner-city.

When I presented the Natio nal Budget , the first woman to do so, I was living right here.”

Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt through garbage cans at graveyards and other public places to eat are experiences that Mother Pratt said inspired her to want more out of life.

“It’s about inspiring those who believe there is no hope for them,” she said.

Grateful “I’m so grateful and so thankful to God that God has chosen me at this time to be an inspiration when everything seems to be so negative.

There is a positive and this positive is about women, women of colour who have come from the gutter can now say there is some good and some worth in them.

Mother Pratt continued: “My life has been about giving and bringing hope to those who believe that they’re nobody, that’s my life.”

Mother Pratt said she has advised her children of her posthumous intent to have her home transformed into a museum after her death.

She noted that taxi drivers often bring tourists to her home to take photographs.

“Life is a chance,” she continued, “if we notice crime has no limit, no constituency, no community because just about all of them have been touched, only some more often than the others.

Nassau East didn’t just start somewhere, or Lyford Cay, its residents are the ones to make something out of it. These communities all started

out as bushes, it’s the people that brought the change.

“That’s my message,” she said, “it’s us that must change it, and that’s the reason why the history must live on.

“The famous Bahamian artist Amos Ferguson, he died an icon, how many children of the inner city know that he lived right around the corner (in the inner-city). The community itself at large don’t know it or simply don’t appreciate it.

“Mother Pratt is just around the corner but there have been more before me. Many of the others who have achieved have moved out, but my story has only been don’t move, improve.

She added: “If we take that kind of mentality, we can do a lot to bring change and cut out the politics.”

PAGE 6, Wednesday, October 11, 2017 DEPUTY Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest.

PLP ‘DIVERTED $40M TO BUY LAST ELECTION’

FROM PAGE ONE that sum for unauthorized expenditure on any number of things in an ultimately vain effort to buy an election win.

And while that money most likely went to their cronies and other wasteful spending, it is the Bahamian people who are now stuck with the bill!”

This comment came after Mr Turnquest rejected the idea that he accused the Christie Administration in Parliament last week of stealing or misappropriating the hurricane relief money that is unaccounted for.

“It is a simple fact that the Ministry of Finance was able to tie approximately $108 million directly to hurricane expenses but we were unable to say at that date how the balance of $42 million was spent or if those funds were absorbed into the consolidated fund and spent to cover usual bills as suggested by the opposition, which was not the stated purpose of the borrowing,” he said.

“To suggest that I stated (in Parliament last week) that the money was stolen, misappropriated or went missing is deceitful and entirely misleading.”

Mr Cooper called in a statement over the weekend for the government to better clarify its upward revision of the deficit for 2016/2017. The deficit has been revised upwards from the initial projection of $500m to $695 million.

“With respect to the fiscal deficit,” Mr Turnquest said yesterday, “I have explained the difference between actual cash basis reporting and a projection, which is inherently based upon judgment considering known facts.

“If this concept is unclear to the Opposition then they will have bigger problems going forward. As to where the money came from to pay those bills, the Opposition should recall the borrowing resolution they helped pass just a few short months ago to cover these expenses.”

THE TRIBUNE

PRIME MINISTER ‘HASN’T INDICATED REGRET’ OVER CRITICISM OF CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION’S BILL

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has given no indication he regrets his criticism of the Christie Administration’s Interception of the Communications Bill despite its likeness to the one his administration tabled in Parliament several weeks ago, according to press secretary Anthony Newbold yesterday.

Critics have accused the administration of hypocrisy in seeking to pass a Bill it staunchly opposed just several months ago.

Asked yesterday if Dr Minnis accepts the hypocrisy charge from critics, Mr Newbold said: “The Prime Minister always makes decisions based on the information he has available to him. He hasn’t indicated to me any regret about any statements. I know this government intends to have wide public consultations with all the bills that are coming.”

Provisions The Interception of Communication Bill has not been altered much from the Christie Administration’s version of the legislation and critics of the new version have not specified what provisions in it erodes protections that existed in the original Bill.

In February, Dr Minnis said of the Bill: “This piece of legislation, which has been rushed and rammed down the throats of the Bahamian people, should not be allowed to stand. It is a breach of the privacy of the public at large, and it is our fear that this

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

Bill has more to do with blocking any opposition to this corrupt government, than being a useful crime fighting tool.”

Opposition leader Philip “Brave” Davis has said the new Bill gives too much power to politicians.

Part VI of the new Bill, about listening devices, was imported from the Listening Devices Act. That law would be repealed if the Interception of Communication Bill passes through Parliament.

That section gives the minister responsible for national security the power to authorize anyone to use a listening device for a period not exceeding 30 days.

It also allows the commissioner of police, after consultation with the attorney general, to authorize police

to use a listening device for a period not exceeding 14 days.

Yesterday, Mr Newbold said: “Whatever bills that are gong to be brought, those bills already laid, wide public consultation will take place.

People will get to weigh in and everybody’s view will be considered and the best bill possible will be that bill that will end up being passed into law for the Bahamian people.

“Obviously the government is not going to say this is the bill and we are going to pass this. That’s not going to happen.

“The government understands that it has a responsibility to the people especially in light of all those statements that were made to ensure that people participate in the crafting and eventual passing of laws,” he added.

CHURCHES WARN ‘NO LOTTERY’

FROM PAGE ONE

On Monday, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar told Tribune Business a national lottery is “front and centre”. The comments followed Deputy Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest’s comments in July that he believed the introduction of a national lottery in the Bahamas was worth a second look.

“We take great note that these were the people who stood with the church against gambling and as soon as they get in power no less than the deputy prime minister and the tourism minister have put forth that they have to go to gambling as if there is no other solution to the problems we are facing,” Bishop Fernander said in an interview with The Tribune yesterday.

He also said: “I am very shocked. Very, very shocked. It would appear that we were one way before election and another way after election, it does give me great concern.

“Because we would hope that we can take people at their word and if they stand with us that they are against gambling we expect that when they march in the halls of Parliament that we would hear these same voices echoing in Parliament.

Voices “But what we really expected was for changes to be made. These were the people saying the former government should adhere to the voices of the people. We expected that they would get in there and tighten up the legislation or even repeal the legislation.”

Outside of these actions by the government, Bishop Fernander maintained the BCC would not support a national lottery.

Earlier in his interview with The Tribune he said: “We take note as a council that two prominent members of Parliament, the deputy prime minister and now the minister that’s over gaming would take overtones that they are inclined or testing the waters for national lottery or to increase the market.

“Out of his own remarks minister D’Aguilar would have said that there are those, as the Christian council said, who should have been mandated to be protected in the original legislation but were not and the funds have not been set aside to deal with those who have become addicted and some of the challenges we have.

“Out of his own remarks he would have stated a preponderance of money comes from the inner city and from those who are struggling to pay their bills and that money is being placed in these web shops and they are used as a virtual bank.

“It is strange this government early in their tenure would not adhere to the wishes of the people. The Christian council’s

BAHAMAS Christian Council President Bishop Delton Fernander. position remains the same. We are opposed to a national lottery or gambling period.

“If it is that this government too is taking a position and we’ve had a referendum where the people said no and seemingly they want to go ahead with it anyway, it is concerning.”

The tourism minister declined to divulge details to Tribune Business Monday, but he said he had “a few ideas” as to how a national lottery could be structured and developed in this nation.

“Bahamians are crying for that. That’s very much front and centre in my mind,” the Minister of Tourism responded, when asked whether a national lottery remained a possibility.

Last week in the House of Assembly Mr D’Aguilar said while gaming houses were being used as a means to move money, there is worry this unregulated activity may put the country on an international “black list,” affecting the stability of the country’s banking sector.

He added that as the limited number of gaming houses enjoy the “benefits of being a cartel,” the “cash strapped” government should increase tax revenue from this sector, suggesting the Minnis administration could be considering increased taxes for operators.

Bahamians overwhelmingly voted against legalising web shops in a referendum on January 28, 2013.

In 2014, 25 government MPs in the former Christie administration voted to pass amendments to the Gaming Act in the House of Assembly, making the sector legal.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 11, 2017, PAGE 7

BAMSI FIRE ACCUSED ‘OFFERED TO PAY SECURITY GUARD TO KEEP QUIET’

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunmedia.net

THE man accused of setting fire to a dormitory at the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Sciences Institute (BAMSI) in 2015 offered to pay a security guard at the site nearly $1,000 to keep silent about the crime, Supreme Court jurors heard yesterday.

Anonymous Crown witness “Alpha”, testifying via video link before Justice Bernard Turner, claimed Dave Dion Moxey, of Fresh Creek, Andros, tried to bribe him with $800 in exchange for his silence about his alleged plans of arson on January 15, 2015.

Roof And this, Alpha claimed, was shortly after Moxey approached him with a cutlass in a threatening manner nearby his trailer home, which he said was approximately 15 feet away from the male dormitory. Alpha said Moxey then made him walk in front of him all the way to the dorm’s roof, where he claimed Moxey used two rags and two pieces of felt to start the fire in two separate areas.

After the fire was lit, Alpha said Moxey disappeared and he never saw or heard from him again. Alpha said he later reported the incident to police on the island.

Alpha said he never did accept the alleged “hush money” from Moxey, and further claimed that he told Moxey – when initially approached by the Fresh Creek native – that he should not burn down the building because their pay

TRIAL OF FIVE MEN ACCUSED OF DOUBLE MURDER BEGINS TODAY

THE fire at the BAMSI dormitory in January, 2015. hinged on the dorm’s completion.

According to Alpha, he worked as a labourer during the day and a security guard in the evening time.

However, Calvin Seymour, Moxey’s attorney, during a cross-examination that accounted for the majority of yesterday’s proceedings, questioned the consistency of Alpha’s testimony with that of an official statement he gave police on January 16, 2015.

The particulars of that statement, which was read aloud by Mr Seymour for

the court and Alpha to hear, suggested Alpha was not forced on to the roof of the dormitory at cutlasspoint by Moxey as he had previously claimed, and that he was not actually present when Moxey allegedly started the blaze.

At one point, Alpha refused to answer Mr Seymour’s queries over which officers were present when he (Alpha) gave his initial statements to police.

As a result, Mr Seymour suggested to Alpha he was “confused” about the events that allegedly transpired on January 15,

PUERTO RICANS LEAVE FOR THE US MAINLAND AS STORM WOES LINGER

By GISELA SALOMON AND CLAUDIA TORRENS, Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Lourdes Rodriguez fled Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria filled her home in the northern town of Vega Baja with mud, ruining mattresses and other belongings. She thought it would be a short stay with her daughter in Florida, but three weeks later there’s still no power or water back home.

“We’re going to be here indefinitely,” the 59-year-old retiree said in an interview at the daughter’s home in Tampa. “It’s been crazy, totally unexpected, like nothing I’ve experienced before.”

In San Juan, Efrain Diaz Figueroa, 70, sat listening to a battery-powered radio amid the wreckage of his home, its walls collapsed into the yard and clothes and mattresses soaking in the rain. A sister was coming to take him to family in Boston: “I’ll live better there,” Figueroa said.

Tens of thousands of islanders left for the U.S. mainland to escape the immediate aftermath of the storm. With conditions back home still grim — about 85 percent of residents still lack electricity and 40 percent are without running water, and neither is expected to be fully restored for months — many find themselves scrambling to build new lives away from the island.

Particularly in states with large Puerto Rican populations, such as New York, Illinois, Florida and Connecticut, people are bunking with relatives while trying to find longer-term housing, jobs and schools for their kids.

Limbo “I am in limbo right now,” said Betzaida Ferrer, a 74-year-old retiree who moved from Miami to Puerto Rico in July and now finds herself back three months later, only this time without a place of her own. She is trying to find a job that will let her afford $1,300 in monthly rent, more than double what she was to pay back home.

“To be in a situation like this where you need help is horrible,” said Ferrer, who is staying with friends and taking a three-hour a day job training programme.

There have been several major migratory exoduses from Puerto Rico to the mainland over the years, most recently during the past decade when the island’s population shrank by about 10 percent because of a long economic slide that shows no sign of easing anytime soon.

Hurricane Maria, which struck Sept. 20 and killed at least 34 people, created a new surge that could have lasting demographic effects on Puerto Rico and on the mainland.

“I think that we could expect that people who did not plan to stay permanently might do so now,” said Jorge Duany, a professor of anthropology at Florida International University who has long studied migration from the island.

EFRAIN DIAZ FIGUEROA, right, walks by his sister’s home destroyed in the passing of Hurricane Maria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday.

Maria sent tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans fleeing to the US mainland to escape the immediate aftermath of the storm. The 70-year-old is waiting for a sister to come take him to stay with family in Boston. “I’m going to the U.S. I’ll live better there,” he said. (AP) Many of those who left are elderly or sick people who fled or were evacuated because of the dangers posed by living on a tropical island with no power or air conditioning and limited water for an indefinite period of time.

The exodus has been exhausting for people like Madeline Maldonado, who stayed in a hotel in New York caring for two granddaughters before going to a friend’s house in Washington.

“I need to get back to my homeland,” she said at the hotel with the two girls, ages 9 and 13, though it’s not clear when that may be possible.

While Puerto Ricans have grown accustomed to severe weather and hardship, the extent of this storm’s devastation has been more than many could bear.

“We experienced something similar with (Hurricane) Hugo more than 20 years ago.

Then came (Hurricane) George,” said Carmelo Rivera, a 78-year-old from the central town of Caguas who is staying with relatives in Long Island, New York. “But nothing has been as hard as Maria.”

Decamped It’s too soon to know exactly how many have decamped for the mainland, but Florida says more than 20,000 have come to the state since Oct. 3.

There were already about 1 million Puerto Ricans in the Sunshine State, second only to New York.

Many U.S. agencies and jurisdictions are helping islanders make emergency transitions.

Law schools including Florida A&M and the University of Connecticut have agreed to accept students from Puerto Rico. MiamiDade County Public Schools have offered to adapt the curriculum and change bus routes to help evacuee children. Florida Gov. Rick Scott has said displaced teachers won’t have to pay for certificates to work in his state and ordered that licensing fees for certain professionals such as real estate agents and barbers be suspended for people fleeing the storm.

Still, it’s a tough transition for many.

2015, and that if Alpha wasn’t confused about those sequence of events, then he was deliberately lying on his client. And in turn, Alpha continuously asserted that Mr Seymour was trying to “make me lie” via his interrogation.

“You could say what you want...you been trying to make me lie all day,” Alpha said at one point. “ That ain’t working.”

However, Justice Turner cautioned the witness to stick to answering the questions presented as opposed to offering commentary on the

interrogation process and/ or those asking them.

The trial continues today.

Moxey was initially arraigned and charged with arson over allegations he set fire to the male dormitory at the North Andros site in February of 2015.

Preliminary reports from police said the fire was the result of arson and the blaze began in the roof around 7pm on the day in question. Officials battled the blaze and managed to extinguish it shortly after 11pm; however, it left one of the male dormitories at the site severely damaged.

THE MURDER trial of five young men accused of the double murder of a couple from Deadman’s Reef opens today in the Supreme Court in Grand Bahama.

A jury was selected and sworn in yesterday afternoon with Supreme Court Justice Estelle Evans presiding over the trial.

Accused Paul Belizaire, 29, and Devaughn Hall, 22, both of Pinedale, Eight Mile Rock; Allan Alcime, 22, of Hanna Hill, Eight Mile Rock; Virgill Hall, 22, of Freeport; and Kevin Dames, 26, of Holmes Rock w ere present in court for jury selection.

It is alleged the accused men murdered Barry and Sheena Johnson at their home at Deadman’s Reef on September 12, 2015.

It is also alleged that while armed with firearms, the accused men robbed the couple of their GMC truck.

Mr Johnson, an employee of the Freeport Container Port, and Mrs Johnson, a teacher at the Eight Mile Rock High School, were discovered with gunshot wounds to the head on the morning of September 13, 2015.

The prosecution will open its case at 10am today.

PAGE 8, Wednesday, October 11, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

We need leaders we can trust and who share what we want E

VERYONE is talking about leadership.

While people battle for top positions in households, corporations, and countries we redefine and re-conceptualize leadership in response to community needs, mindset changes and shifts in power dynamics.

Quotes on leadership are endless. They say great leaders take less credit and more blame, lead from the back and lead with the heart. Leaders have the responsibility to turn a vision into a reality by uniting people with a common purpose and empowering them to act in ways that make transformation possible. For every vision, leadership is required to have and practise a rare combination of characteristics and skills, from emotional intelligence and influence to willingness and ability to serve.

Complex Joanne Ciulla said: “Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people, based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.”

There was a time when supervision was seen as leadership, but there is a distinct difference. Supervisors give orders and ensure they are followed while leaders are involved in the process, and work to ensure others are also included in decision-making. Leaders are not obsessed with concepts of seniority or hierarchy. They are focused on the realization of a vision. They primarily concern themselves with the daily work of influencing others to give the greatest amount of effort possible to achieve a shared goal.

Today, leadership is contingent upon relationships

built on trust and common ground. People are not interested in being led by anyone who shares noth-

“The FNM, PLP, and DNA all had — and continue to have — leadership issues.

Why? Where do these issues come from? How can they be resolved?

What needs to happen for political parties in The Bahamas to have better leadership teams? How can Bahamians get the representation we deserve?” ing with them. There must be synergy. Have we come from the same place? Do we have the same values?

Do we share a vision?

People do not want to work with anyone who is set apart from them. We want to be able to talk to leadership and have confidence that they understand our experiences, capability, and needs. We want to know they are prepared to lead, and for the right reasons.

During election season, we have conversations about party leadership every day. We share ideas about party decisions and how we think they were made. In many of these cases, we excuse weak leadership choices with statements like, “No one else can do it.” No one

WHITE HOUSE REQUESTS $5 BILLION TO EASE FISCAL CRISIS IN PUERTO RICO

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Tuesday asked Congress for $5 billion to ease a fiscal crisis striking the government of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

Puerto Rico’s central government and various municipalities and other local governments are suffering unsustainable cash shortfalls as Maria has choked off revenues and strained resources. The administration’s request, so far delivered informally, would provide $4.9 billion for Puerto Rico and its local jurisdictions.

The White House also requested $150 million to help Puerto Rico with the 10 percent match required for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief.

A senior administration official confirmed the request, requiring anonymity because it is not yet official. The official stressed that jurisdictions other than Puerto Rico are eligible, though draft language sent to Capitol Hill limited the request to U.S. territories.

On Saturday, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello sent a letter to lawmakers asking for $500 million for the community disaster loan programme, which is designed to help local governments deal with tax revenue shortfalls caused by disasters. He requested almost $4 billion in other aid.

“In addition to the immediate humanitarian crisis, Puerto Rico is on the brink of a massive liquidity crisis that will intensify in the immediate future,” Rossello wrote.

Puerto Rico was already suffering from a lengthy recession and its government was beset with fiscal struggles to begin with. A financial control board is overseeing its debt problems and austerity plans.

The administration asked for $29 billion last week for FEMA disaster relief efforts and to pay federal flood insurance claims.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said a vote is likely this week. The White House also requested $577 million to replenish federal firefighting accounts depleted by this year’s bad spate of western wildfires.

Final decisions haven’t been made, but Capitol Hill aides say GOP leaders want to avoid other costly add-ons. The Texas and Florida delegations last week asked for tens of billions of dollars in additional assistance. Texas requested $19 billion in Harvey relief, while Florida asked for $27 billion for Hurricane Irma damage. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a statement Tuesday that said funding is also needed to help California recover from ongoing wildfires.

rallied behind the FNM leadership team on its own merit, but as an alternative to an option they considered relatively worse for whatever reasons.

We settle for leaders we considered seasoned, based only on the fact they held the position before, refusing to address the problems with their methods and performance because we do not want to take the risk on a new person.

In some cases, the decision is made by the wrong people, too few people or compromised people. This is the root of the upset with the PLP leadership race where the voices of the average Bahamian citizen were not heard, and did not appear to matter. In some cases, leadership is relinquished and it is, most often, too late. Only time will tell what will happen with the stagnant, silent DNA which must now adjust to the resignation of its leader.

The FNM, PLP, and DNA all had — and continue to have — leadership issues. Why? Where do these issues come from?

How can they be resolved?

What needs to happen for political parties in The Bahamas to have better leadership teams? How can Bahamians get the representation we deserve?

We need to take a look at the motivation of leaders and potential leaders. Do they like to compete? Do they think they have all the answers? Do they like being in charge? Do they want to be well-known? Are they trying to get rich? Are they continuing a family legacy?

PHILIP ‘Brave’ Davis has declared his intention to run for PLP leader at the party’s upcoming convention.

Do they see a gap and how to fill it? Do they want to serve? Do they share the vision and have the ability to encourage and motivate the community? Are they influencers?

Every person interested in leadership is not interested in community. They do not always want to work with others, or develop and maintain inclusive processes. They often want to undo or undermine the work of the previous leader.

They may want to make their own mark. While leadership should be an act of servitude and evidence of commitment to a common goal, it is often used as a stepping stone to something else. Some people try to use it to build reputations, gain access to resources, expand networks, and increase income. While these can be benefits of leadership, selfaggrandizement should not be a primary motivator. A leader needs to believe in the project or task at hand because the role requires enthusiastic participation that cannot be faked.

As two political parties — PLP and DNA — work

BRANVILLE McCartney will step down as leader of the DNA later this month.

toward selecting new leaders, we need to be alert and as involved in the process as possible. While most of us do not have votes, we have tremendous influence.

These parties intend to seek our support in the next election, and will look to us before the next general election to help them set their new agendas.

Power With every public statement they make in response to the current administration’s intentions, decisions, and actions, they affirm our power and prove their need to be heard by us.

We can demand they listen if they want to be heard, and it is time to demand better processes and better leadership.

If faced with a choice between two evils, with four an a half year until the next general election, now is the time to recruit new members. “Better than the next” is not good enough for the Bahamian people, so it can’t work for political parties in The Bahamas.

Who do we want to see leading the political parties in this country, and how?

Who do we believe when they say they care about the same things we do? Where can we find people with both social influence and commitment to building the best version of The Bahamas for Bahamians? How can we interest them in the opportunity to lead, politically and otherwise?

We can’t wait for “them” to do it. We know the people who walk among us, speaking to the vision of a better country and actively working toward it in their own ways. We know the absence of MPs, the closed constituency offices, the unheard voices during crisis and the faces behind the people who deceive us regularly. We know the problems.

Do we know the solutions? Are they in us? We need better leadership and we need better options when we have the opportunity to definitively and directly choose. The conversation is now open.

What questions should we be asking?

HOPES FADE OF ERADICATING HUNGER IN REGION BY 2030 GLOBAL Health organizations have reported that the ambitious goal to eradicate hunger by 2030 is becoming increasingly unobtainable as the number of people suffering in the region steadily increases.

A report published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) warns that the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean has reversed decades of progress.

The worst situation in terms of prevalence of hunger is in Haiti, where 47 per cent of the population, approximately 5 million people, suffer from hunger.

This number represents almost two-thirds of all the undernourishment across the countries of the Caribbean.

Food The Panorama of Food and Nutritional Security in Latin America and the Caribbean 2017, also highlights that after many years of gradual progress, approximately 42.5 million persons did not have enough food for their daily caloric needs in 2016.

This is an increase of 2.4 million persons, 6 per cent more of the undernourished population than the year before.

If this trend does not change “it will be very difficult for the region to reach Sustainable Development Goal 2 on eradicating hunger and malnutrition by 2030,” said Julio Berdegué, FAO Regional Representative.

While hunger levels remain low in Latin America and the Caribbean in comparison to the rest of the world, there are signs that the situation is getting worse, especially in South America, where hunger grew from 5 per cent in 2015 to 5.6 per cent in 2016.

In Mesoamerica, hunger affected 6.5 per cent of the population in 2016. Although hunger has not increased in

“We are heading along a bad path. The region has taken a significant step backwards in a fight that it was winning. We cannot tolerate the current levels of hunger and obesity, as they will paralyse the entire Latin American and Caribbean generation.”

FAO Regional Representative Julio Berdegué the Caribbean, its prevalence is at 17.7 per cent, making it the sub-region with the greatest prevalence.

“We are heading along a bad path. The region has taken a significant step backwards in a fight that it was winning. We cannot tolerate the current levels of

hunger and obesity, as they will paralyse the entire Latin American and Caribbean generation,” warned FAO Regional Representative, Julio Berdegué.

Only a few decades ago, governments of the region joined forces to fight against acute malnutrition, chronic malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency, today they must also fight against overweight and obesity.

Obesity “While malnutrition persists in the region, especially amongst vulnerable populations, it is now accompanied by overweight and obesity, affecting women more than anyone and also children”, affirmed PAHO Director, Carissa F. Etienne.

“The region faces a double burden of malnutrition, to fight against it, we must ensure access to a balanced diet and tackle the primary social factors that cause malnutrition, such as, the lack of access to healthy foods that are low in sugar, salt and fat, to water and sanitation, to education and health services and to social protection programmes, amongst others”, Etienne indicated.

To address this situation, FAO and PAHO call on countries to transform their food systems in order to stop the advancement of hunger and malnutrition, paying special attention to the condition of the most vulnerable people, homes and territories.

The publication highlights that only through a great

regional effort can the current trend be reversed, to return on the path that made Latin America and the Caribbean a global example of the fight against hunger and malnutrition.

Despite the fact that hunger increased in six countries and fell in twentyone, the absolute number of people suffering from hunger has increased.

Although hunger at the regional level has increased, 21 countries of the region have lowered their level of undernourishment, including the Caribbean and Mesoamerican as a whole, between 2013/2015 and 2014/2016.

In Brazil, Cuba and Uruguay, the prevalence of undernourishment is less than 2.5 per cent, while in Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago it is below 5 per cent.

Meanwhile, overweight affects all age groups in men and women, and constitutes a major health problem in all countries in the region of the Americas.

EVERY MONDAY IN THE TRIBUNE

INSIGHT FOR THE STORIES THAT MATTER

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 11, 2017, PAGE 9

TECHTALK

SCIENCE SAYS:

ERA OF MONSTER

HURRICANES IN THE ATLANTIC

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s not just this year. The monster hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Jose and Lee that have raged across the Atlantic are contributing to what appears to be the most active period for major storms on record.

And the busiest part of hurricane season isn’t even over.

An analysis of 167 years of federal storm data by The Associated Press found that no 30-year period in history has seen this many major hurricanes, this many days of those whoppers spinning in the Atlantic, or this much overall energy generated by those powerful storms.

Scientists caution it is too soon to draw conclusions from the data, and they don’t say the intense activity confirms a trend. Storms in the distant past may have gone unnoticed, which could make earlier generations appear quieter than they were. Some scientists say past hurricane data is so weak that it’s impossible to connect the recent activity to global warming.

Intense But more intense storms are what scientists expect to see as the planet’s climate changes because warmer ocean water is fuel for hurricanes. And they say it is important to better understand this current intense period to save lives and prevent worse future destruction.

Georgia Tech climate scientist Kim Cobb said it would be “foolish” for policymakers to ignore the data.

“We may not have as much data as we would like, but we have enough to aggressively invest in a variety of defenses for coastal communities,” she said in an email.

“We face a triple threat of rising seas, stronger winds,

IN this photo from 2005, Max Mayfield, the former director of the hurricane centre (now retired), draws a line showing one of the possible trajectories of Hurricane Wilma in Miami.

It’s not just this year. The monster hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Jose and now Lee that have raged across the Atlantic are contributing to what appears to be the most active period for major storms on record. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) and literally off-the-charts rainfall totals.”

The Atlantic hurricane season was more intense than normal in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2016. The 2005 season, which included Katrina, Rita and Wilma, was so active forecasters ran out of names for storms.

Then came this year.

Fueled by warmer than normal ocean temperatures and ideal wind conditions, September 2017 had more days with major hurricanes spinning and more overall hurricane energy expelled than any month on record, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Harvey spawned record rainfall. Irma had record high winds in the open Atlantic. And Maria hit the U.S. stronger than the earlier two.

The Associated Press looked at all major hurricanes — not just the small fraction that hit the U.S. — and grouped them into 30-year periods to mirror the 30-year cycles climate scientists use to understand how the climate is changing. The analysis found that in the period from 1988 to 2017: — There have been 90 major hurricanes, an average

of three a year. That’s 48 percent more than during the previous 30 years. This hurricane season is at five and still counting.

• During the past 30 years major hurricanes have churned for an average of 7.2 days. That’s 65 percent more than the average during the previous 30 years. There have been 18.8 major hurricane days so far this year.

• Scientists use a measure called Accumulated Cyclone Energy, or ACE, that factors in wind speed and storm duration to gauge hurricane power. The annual average ACE of the past 30 years is 41 percent more than in the previous 30 years. An average year ACE is just shy of 100 and this year’s ACE, with two months still to go, is 204.2.

• Of the last 30 years, nine hurricane seasons were considered “hyperactive” according to the definition used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and seven were above normal. Only seven years were below normal.

Was it just as busy for major storms in the 1930s or 1890s? The numbers say no, but scientists won’t draw

SPECTACULAR SOLAR CARS RISE TO THE CHALLENGE

THE WORLD Solar Challenge – a solarpowered car race held every two years - is underway in the Australian Outback.

Teams from around the world are taking part in the 30-year old event and will be hoping to complete the 1,878 mile course which started in Darwin, North Territory on Sunday and will finish in Adelaide, South Australia this weekend. The three classes of vehicle that compete - Cruise, Challenger and Adventure - feature some spectacular designs. (AP)

conclusions because they fear a large undercount of storms before the 1960s.

“There’s no question that the storms are stronger than they were 30 years ago,” said NOAA climate and hurricane scientist James Kossin.

“The questions are if you go back a little further if that’s what you’ll find. We do know for sure that things have increased a hell of a lot since 1970.”

So what’s going on?

Scientists talk about two important factors for longterm hurricane activity: man-made climate change and a natural pattern of changes in the Atlantic.

Activity The world’s oceans go through long cycles as water circulates like a giant conveyor belt. They last 20 to 30 years, carrying water with different levels of salt and temperature. That cycle seems coincide with hurricane activity, Klotzbach said.

Klotzbach predicts that a period of high salinity and warmer water in the North Atlantic that has been present since 1995 will soon fade — and take with it this ultra-busy period for storms.

Other scientists dispute this.

More frequent and more intense storms fit what scientists expect to see accompany global warming, MIT hurricane and climate professor

Kerry Emanuel said. Physics, computer simulations and numerous scientific studies show that as the world warms the strongest storms should get wetter and more intense, and probably more frequent.

Yet, the overall number of all named storms is likely to drop because there will likely be fewer weaker ones, scientists say.

Still, scientists say it would take more years — and maybe decades — of good data to know for sure if there’s a direct connection to climate change.

National Hurricane Center science officer Chris Landsea said the problems with missing past storms are so severe “making any conclusions for the entire (Atlantic) basin would not be justified” and several other scientists agreed with him.

Climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute in Germany said the data showing increased intensity is clear enough for him: “The only caveat being that the increase might be exaggerated somewhat because of undercounting early storms.”

What’s happening with hurricanes — the frequency, the duration, and the energy — is probably a combination of factors caused by both nature and man, Klotzbach said: “a mish-mosh of everything.”

• APPLE is teaming up with award-winning director Steven Spielberg for its first major push into TV programming.

The iPhone maker is bringing back Spielberg’s 30-year-old anthology series “Amazing Stories” in its attempt to build an online video subscription service that can challenge the digital networks operated by Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and HBO. NBC Entertainment, which works with Spielberg’s Amblin Television on “Amazing Stories,” confirmed the deal in a Tuesday statement. Apple declined to comment.

“Amazing Stories” aired on NBC from 1985 to 1987 and won five Emmy awards for its mixture of science fiction and horror episodes, although the series was never a big hit in the ratings.

Apple is planning to spend about $1 billion on original programming such as “Amazing Stories” over the next year.

• VIRGINIA is looking for a developer to build a statewide charging network for electric vehicles.

The state announced last week that it had issued a request for proposals for putting in the infrastructure. Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s office said in a news release that $14 million in funding for the effort would come from Virginia’s portion of the Volkswagen settlement over the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal.

Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore said in a statement that the project is designed to jump-start the adoption of electrical cars and generate more private investment in electric vehicle technology.

Responses to the request for proposals are due Nov. 6.

• TEN new satellites for Iridium Communications Inc. have been carried into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from California.

The booster lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base before dawn Monday. Its first stage successfully returned from space and set down on a landing platform floating in the Pacific Ocean as the second stage went on to deploy the satellites in orbit.

It was the third successful launch in the McLean, Virginia-based company’s campaign to replace its entire globe-circling fleet with a total of 75 next-generation communications satellites. Five more SpaceX launches are expected to complete the process by mid-2018.

The satellites also carry payloads for global realtime aircraft tracking and a ship-tracking service.

The old Iridium satellites are being deorbited.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 11, 2017, PAGE 11

PRAYING FOR AN ECONOMIC BREAKTHROUGH

Grand Bahama residents gather at International Bazaar SOME concerned residents gathered at the International Bazaar yesterday praying for an economic breakthrough for the once bustling shopping mecca and popular tourist attraction in Freeport.

“Just like God raised Lazarus from the dead, we pray that He raises the International Bazaar and brings it back from the dead too,” said resident Angela Rolle, creator of the #fixgrandbahama hashtag that has gained much support on social media.

The group, which consisted of taxi drivers, small business owners, and straw vendors, held hands and prayed for the economic restoration of Freeport.

Collapse The nation’s second city has not been able to recover from the 2004 hurricanes, and closure of the Royal Oasis Resort that has resulted in the subsequent collapse of the nearby bazaar and other surrounding small businesses. The group marched through the Bazaar and its abandoned and dilapidated stores.

“Freeport will not be called the Magic City, but it shall be called the Miracle City,” a local pastor prayed aloud.

Carla Rose, a taxicab driver, said that they are hurting at the Freeport Harbour. Last week only one cruise ship called at the port, she said.

“We are here praying for an economic revival of the island, but we also want to let the government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority know that we in GB are hurting,” she said.

Ms Rose stated that the Carnival Pride called at the harbour last week, and only 11 taxicabs got jobs.

“It’s hard for us to make our living when we have hundreds of drivers on the line, we hurting and we need government and the GBPA to do something about GB,” she said.

Ricardo Richardson, a taxicab driver, said since

“Just like God raised Lazarus from the dead, we pray that He raises the International Bazaar and brings it back from the dead too.”

Angela Rolle the closure of the Bazaar in 2004, none of the two previous administrations have done anything about the situation.

“This situation just did not happen today. This started in 2004 when the Princess Towers and the Country Club was closed down, and the two governments didn’t do anything about it,” he complained.

Richardson said that he is happy that people are getting together to speak out about the depressed state of Grand Bahama.

He believes that the government and the Port Authority should focus on reviving the Bazaar.

CONCERNED residents gathered at the International Bazaar yesterday to pray for the economic restoration of Freeport. The group marched through the bazaar – once a popular shopping and tourist hub in Freeport – and prayed for its revival. Photo: Denise Maycock

Richardson stated that even though the island was spared a direct hit from Hurricane Irma, the cruise ships have stopped coming to Freeport.

“I am the breadwinner in the family – it is hard when you cannot provide for your children and grandchildren,” he said.

Harbour vendor Hugh Smith said they are tired of Freeport being neglected.

“I realize the (new administration) is trying to do the best, but we are standing here to remind you, you said ‘it is people time’. We aren’t giving any breaks. We are just sick and tired of being neglected.

These governments are always promising to do this

and do that, but it seems like Freeport is still on the backburner.”

Condition Olive Rahming said: “I feel very bad about the condition of the Bazaar and the whole of Grand Bahama in general. It hurts to see our island like this, and it seems like nobody can bring it back to life. We need help in GB. And only the Lord is going to bring us back,” she said.

“I have been here (in GB) about 45 years, and I have never experienced this kind of trauma before – Bahamians are hurting, and foreigners are making

all the money,” said Jane Saunders.

On the other hand, Earl Godet, a taxi driver, believes that residents are unreasonable to expect the government to solve the island’s problems so quickly.

“Yes, I fault the government for not coming out and telling the people what they have to do,” he said.

“But to suggest that the government is just sitting back and ain’t doing nothing is absolute nonsense.”

Mr Godet said the government subsidized the ships to come to Freeport and have also subsidized the hotels.

“We had a devastating hurricane here last October and this whole country,

especially this island, in particular, have been suffering from the devastation of Hurricane Matthew.

“This government has been in power for six months, and what we expect, miracles? Kendal Colebrooke said that the country’s wealth lies in its natural resources, but the government refuses to talk about it. He mentioned oil drilling and the mining of aragonite.

“We need to refocus…on our natural resources. Sir Lynden Pindling (former Prime Minister of the Bahamas) talked about how aragonite shall be the financial freedom for the Bahamian people,” he said.

PAGE 12, Wednesday, October 11, 2017

WILDFIRES LEAVE TRAIL OF DEVASTATION IN CALIFORNIA SANTA ROSA, Calif.

(AP) — The flames that raced across California wine country left little more than smoldering ashes and eye-stinging smoke in their wake.

House after house is gone, with only brick chimneys and charred laundry machines to mark sites that were once family homes.

The wildfires burned so hot that windows and tire rims melted off cars, leaving many vehicles resting on their steel axles.

In one driveway, the glass backboard of a basketball hoop melted, dripped and solidified like a mangled icicle.

Firefighters Newly homeless residents of Northern California took stock of their shattered lives Tuesday while the blazes that have killed at least 15 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes and businesses kept burning. Hundreds more firefighters joined the battle against the uncontained flames.

“This is just pure devastation, and it’s going to take us a while to get out and comb through all of this,” said Ken Pimlott, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

He said the state had “several days of fire weather conditions to come.”

The wildfires already rank among the five deadliest in California history, and officials expected the death toll to increase as the scope of destruction becomes clear.

At least 185 people were injured during the blazes that started Sunday night.

Nearly 200 people were reported missing in Sonoma County alone.

Resources Seventeen wildfires raged Tuesday across parts of seven counties. Fire crews and other resources were being rushed in from other parts of the state and Nevada.

More than 240 members of the California National Guard helped ferry fuel to first responders because so many gas stations were without power.

Guard members were also helping with medical evacuations and security at evacuation centers, said Maj. Gen. David Baldwin.

In addition to knocking out electricity, the blazes damaged or destroyed 77 cellular sites, disrupting communication services that officials were rushing to restore, said Emergency Operations Director Mark Ghilarducci.

THE TRIBUNE

GWYNETH PALTROW, ANGELINA JOLIE JOIN FLOOD OF ALLEGATIONS AGAINST WEINSTEIN NEW YORK (AP) — An avalanche of allegations poured out Tuesday against Harvey Weinstein in on-the-record reports that detailed claims of sexual abuse and included testimonies from Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, further intensifying the already explosive collapse of the disgraced movie mogul.

Three women accused Weinstein of raping them in a story published online by The New Yorker, including the Italian actress Asia Argento and a woman who was an aspiring actress in college when she caught Weinstein’s eye. A representative for the mogul vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to the magazine.

In a follow-up to its earlier expose, The New York Times also reported Tuesday that many other actresses have in recent days added to the chorus of accusations surrounding Weinstein. Paltrow described Weinstein’s attempt to lure her, then 22, into giving him a massage in a hotel room. The incident prompted her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt to angrily confront Weinstein at a film premiere.

Both reports significantly ratcheted up the unfolding scandal surrounding Weinstein, who was fired Sunday from the Weinstein Co. Tuesday evening, Weinstein’s wife Georgina Chapman told People magazine she was leaving her husband. “My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions. I have chosen to leave my husband,” she said. “Caring for my young children is my first priority and I ask the media for privacy at this time.”

Chapman co-founded the luxury brand Marchesa in 2004, the year Chapman met Weinstein at a party in New York City. They married in 2007.

Actresses The stories thoroughly document allegations of systematic harassment, abuse and intimidation of women by Weinstein — almost always against young actresses trying to succeed in movies.

Lucia Evans, then a senior at Middlebury College, said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004 at the Miramax offices in Tribeca. She had been brought in for a casting meeting with Weinstein.

Argento, an actress and director, said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999. A third woman spoke anonymously.

“I know he has crushed a lot of people before,” Argento told The New Yorker. “That’s why this story — in my case, it’s twenty years old, some of them are older — has never come out.”

Attorneys for Weinstein, 65, did not immediately return messages Tuesday. The New Yorker quoted Weinstein representative Sallie Hofmeister responding that “any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”

“Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual,” said Hofmeister. “Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.”

The New Yorker story, written and researched by the NBC correspondent Ronan Farrow, claimed that

ANGELINA Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow. (AP) HARVEY Weinstein faces multiple allegations of sexual abuse and harassment from some of the biggest names in Hollywood. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/ AP, File) thirteen women have said Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them between 1990 and 2015. The incidents described range from unwanted groping to forced sex. Some of those incidents overlap with the eight allegations of sexual harassment previously reported by The New York Times, all of which resulted in financial settlements.

But they also go much further. In the article, Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino are among those who claim Weinstein sexually harassed them. Arquette described a 1990s incident at a Beverly Hills hotel in which Weinstein tried to make her give him a massage and then attempted to lead her hand to his penis. Afterward, the actress told the magazine, “He made things very difficult for me for years.”

I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,” Jolie said in an email to the Times. “This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.”

Representatives for the actresses involved in both reports did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The Italian news agency ANSA said it contacted Argento about the story, and said she responded with a text message that read: “It’s all true, everything is written in the New Yorker. Now leave me in peace.”

Actress Louisette Geiss (“Two and a Half Men”) also came forward Tuesday, announcing in a press conference at Gloria Allred’s Los Angeles office that in a 2008 meeting at the Sundance Film Festival, Weinstein appeared nude in an open bathrobe and asked several times that she watch him masturbate.

The New Yorker also reported that 16 former and current executives and assistants at The Weinstein Co. and Miramax either witnessed or knew of Weinstein’s unwanted sexual advances. “All sixteen said the behavior was widely known within both Miramax and the Weinstein Company.”

Representatives for The Weinstein Co. didn’t immediately respond to messages. Disney, which owns Miramax, also didn’t respond Tuesday. Disney purchased Miramax in 1993; the Weinsteins departed in 2005 to found The Weinstein Co. “Fired (the) Weinsteins because they were irresponsible, and Harvey was an incorrigible bully,” said former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner on Twitter on Tuesday. “Had no idea he was capable of these horrible actions.”

The New Yorker also revealed an audio recording made by the New York Police Department in 2015

THIS combination photo shows, top row from left, George Clooney, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Lena Dunham, bottom row from left, Michael Keaton, Meryl Streep, Emmy Rossum and Hillary Clinton, who have commented on the sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein. (AP Photo/File) in which Weinstein says he groped a model named Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. At the time, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced that an investigation didn’t support criminal charges.

“If we could have prosecuted Harvey Weinstein for the conduct that occurred in 2015, we would have,” Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, chief assistant district attorney, said Tuesday.

Recording “While the recording is horrifying to listen to, what emerged from the audio was insufficient to prove a crime under New York law, which requires prosecutors to establish criminal intent,” she added. “Subsequent investigative steps undertaken in order to establish intent were not successful. This, coupled with other proof issues, meant that there was no choice but to conclude the investigation without criminal charges.”

Weinstein was fired Sunday by the Weinstein Co., the studio he cofounded, three days after a bombshell New York Times expose alleged decades of crude sexual behavior on his part toward female employees and actresses, including Ashley Judd.

Weinstein responded to the report in a lengthy, rambling statement in which he pleaded for a second chance and apologized for the pain he had caused.

Since his firing, much of Hollywood has reacted with disgust and outraged, including Meryl Streep, Lena Dunham, Jennifer Lawrence and George Clooney. Congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, have given charities thousands of dollars in donations they had received from Weinstein.

In a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton said she was “shocked and appalled” by the revelations about Weinstein.

She praised the women coming forward: “Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior.”

Former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, released a joint statement Tuesday evening expressing disgust with Weinstein.

“Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status. We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories,” the statement said.

“I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades,” Ben Affleck wrote in a statement Tuesday. “The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick.

“This is completely unacceptable, and I find myself asking what I can do to make sure this doesn’t happen to others.”

Matt Damon, who collaborated frequently with Weinstein, and won a co-writing Oscar for “Good Will Hunting” with Affleck, said he didn’t know about Weinstein’s behavior.

“This morning, I just feel absolutely sick to my stomach,” Damon told the trade website Deadline Tuesday. “This kind of stuff can’t happen.”

Weinstein has not publicly commented since Thursday.