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Volume: 118 No.227, October 21, 2021

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THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1

‘MISLEADING’ CLAIMS OVER BPL’S OSBORNE Ex-chair is supported in key area - but probe also shows breakdown

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis commissioned an independent investigation into Bahamas Power and Light that rejected former Works Minister Desmond Bannister’s characterisation of Darnell Osborne’s acquisition of makeup and home security services when she chaired BPL’s board of directors.

In 2018, at the height of the controversy over the disintegration of BPL’s board, Mr Bannister told reporters he intervened in the management of BPL after learning the institution

covered makeup and home security system bills for Mrs Osborne.

His allegation forms part of the lawsuit Mrs Osborne has filed against the government as she seeks payment related to defamation and wrongful dismissal claims.

FTI Consulting, the foreign management consulting firm Dr Minnis hired to review matters concerning the dissolution of BPL’s former board, interviewed BPL CEO Whitney Heastie, Executive Director Patrick Rollins and board member Ferron Bethel for its report, according to sources familiar with the document.

INAGUA TESTING BEGINS

SEE PAGE THREE

LEWIS: I’M RUNNING FOR FNM LEADER

...AND NO NOMINATIONS FROM FLOOR

SEE PAGE THREE

still required on the development, including the production of a master plan, a feasibility study and topography studies.

Mrs Coleby-Davis, Minister of Transport and Housing, expressed her views during the administration’s first official press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister.

- SEE PAGE EIGHT

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Minister of Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction Iram Lewis, the member of Parliament for Central Grand Bahama, announced yesterday that he is running for leader of the Free National Movement.

SEE PAGE FOUR

‘SO MUCH WORK TO DO’ ON PROSPECT RIDGE

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

JOBETH Colbey-Davis said that although her team is confident the Davis administration can still proceed with the Prospect Ridge project, the government cannot commit to the cost benefits the Minnis administration promised because so much work is

FRONT PORCH: PREPARE NOW FOR THE NEXT DEADLY WAVE

ABOUT 100 people got free COVID-19 tests in Inagua yesterday after the government launched the pilot phase of its promised free testing programme. See PAGE FIVE for the full story.

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Free National Movement, which has officially opened its nomination process for party leader, will not allow nominations for the post to be made on the convention floor as is custom, according to a party memorandum The Tribune has obtained.

SEE PAGE FOUR

DAVIS TAKES UP OFFICE SHE QUESTIONED

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

AFTER receiving advice from technical experts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister’s wife Ann Marie Davis decided to keep the Office of the Spouse active despite previously questioning its purpose.

Press Secretary Clint Watson acknowledged yesterday that initially Mrs

ANN Marie Davis in the Office of the Spouse.

Photo: Ulric Woodside/BIS Davis questioned the office when it was first formed

during the Minnis administration. At the time of her criticism, she did not yet have an opportunity to see its functions, he said.

He said Mrs Davis is now eager to use the Office of the Spouse to continue her work with gender-based issues and work with young women.

“I talked to the first lady last night because I wanted to find out what is it that you want to do,” Mr Watson said yesterday in response SEE PAGE TWO

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

STATESIDE POWELL LED A CAREER OF DISTINCTION

- SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Thursday, October 21, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

DAVIS TAKES UP OFFICE SHE QUESTIONED from page one

to a question about Mrs Davis assuming the role, but previously questioning its necessity in 2018 after former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis introduced it. His wife, Patricia Minnis, executed the duties of the office.

“She talked about being able to want to work on gender-based issues working with women, young women. Helping to discover purpose for them to be able to execute mandates and have a greater voice and participation in the country.

That’s something that’s dear to her.”

He continued: “Now, here’s what happens and I believe this is important to say. A lot of the comments that were attributed to Mrs Davis obviously Mrs Davis made when she had just seen this office formed so the question was what is the purpose of this office.

“When you have an opportunity to see what this office does and see what it’s doing around the region because there are spouses around the region who have all joined arms and said ‘let’s make sure these offices are actually in place.’

It serves a purpose.

“Mrs Davis has been very active and very busy before this office doing this kind of work, so this office really offers support to what has been established.”

Mrs Davis recently made a courtesy call with Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell and other officials of the ministry. The Office of the Spouse falls under Mr Mitchell’s purview.

“She’s been offered advice by the technical experts at foreign affairs that she should keep the office and after talking with them on a courtesy call and hearing the advantages that can come out of that office and fulfilment she decided ‘well then OK let’s go ahead with it’ but it was based on the advice of the technical experts at foreign affairs who said we believe it’s a

ANN Marie Davis in the Office of the Spouse.

Photo: Ulric Woodside/BIS good thing. It’s working well around the region,” Mr Watson said.

“It just goes to show that sometimes when you’re not sure of something or you may have a certain perception when you get advice you take the advice, and you recognise that you can maximise it and that’s what she has done, and she is looking forward to being more effective using the office.

“It’s not a paid job. There are finances allocated to it for the operations of the office but she doesn’t get paid to do it. But she’s happy to work through it and to get some initiatives done.”

Shortly after the office was set up under the Minnis administration in 2018, Mrs Davis told The Nassau Guardian that she was not convinced that there needed to be an Office of the Spouse.

“I have been very involved in charities, and the extent of the involvement is very far-reaching, and I haven’t yet seen the need to have an office to carry out those functions,” she said at the time.

“Having said that, I don’t know… how the role of that office that Mrs Minnis is referring to, how that role would be defined [and] whether it will be

a crossover to social services because some of what Mrs Minnis said is what I know social services to be involved with,” she said at the time.

Yesterday, former Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield said when the former Minnis administration determined to establish the office in 2018, it did so with a view of availing Mrs Minnis with a formal platform from which to work with her CARICOM counterparts.

“Our decision followed the earlier establishment of SCLAN (Spouses of Caribbean Leaders Action Network) whose objective was to treat the issues surrounding the health and wellbeing of women, adolescents and children in the region, among other things,” he said when contacted yesterday.

“As I said then, I say again now, I was shocked at the amount of criticisms levied at the office, especially since Mrs Minnis was volunteering her services free of charge.

“It is my view that the current government’s embrace of the office – at least in my mind validates our decision to establish the office in the first place.

“We wish Mrs Davis well in this role.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 21, 2021, PAGE 3

‘Misleading’ claims over BPL’s Osborne from page one

The men – all allies of Mr Bannister during the board saga – told investigators claims in the media about Mrs Osborne’s makeup and home security services were misleading; they dismissed the significance of Mrs Osborne’s actions in these areas, well-placed sources said.

Mrs Osborne has long said the makeup bill BPL covered was directly related to public relations activities for the institution and that the home security system the company paid for was approved by BPL’s board after Mr Rollins shared a story with her about a retaliation attempt by a former staff member.

Sources said the FTI report largely corroborates her position on these matters.

Mrs Osborne’s former lawyer in her case, Alfred

DARNELL OSBORNE Sears, previously indicated to the press that he would seek $80,000 from the government for her over the defamation issue.

It is not clear whether investigators provided a definitive view or took a side on the other matters related to the board’s breakdown. Sources told The Tribune the report’s review largely reflects what the press has reported about how the board grew dysfunctional over time and ultimately disintegrated into two factions amid disagreements over the Shell

deal, the roles of various senior members and Mr Bannister’s treatment of the various players. Otherwise, the report mostly focuses on BPL’s procurement policies and practices and takes a critical view of these.

Clint Watson, the press secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, teased details about the report during a press conference yesterday.

“The former prime minister in office commissioned an investigation into Bahamas Power & Light, the board, the initial board that was led by then chairman Darnell Osborne,” he said.

“We’ve not heard from that report. We can confirm today that a report was done by a foreign company.

The name of that company we’re going to release to you as well and I think you might be happy to know that we do have this report in hand.

“It is a very interesting

read and of course it’s now been sent to the minister responsible for BPL, the Minister of Works Alfred Sears for his review on it.

It’s interesting, you want to read this and it may share a very clear picture as to why we never heard about this report which was presented in November of last year to the government. It explains a lot, I’ll say it and leave it as that.”

In April 2019, Dr Minnis told reporters he signed a contract with an international firm to probe the BPL board matter. His administration released no further details about the probe despite questions from the press.

“I learnt of the existence of a report after the press conference (yesterday) and I started receiving international and local texts about it,” Mrs Osborne told The Tribune yesterday. “I was not aware of any report and nobody interviewed

me and none of the other board directors who were removed.”

Former Attorney General Carl Bethel said in 2019 that his office would pay a private firm, Rolle & Rolle, to represent Mr Bannister’s interests in the case.

It is not clear if Attorney General Ryan Pinder will continue Mr Bethel’s course of action in the matter. Mr Pinder told The Tribune earlier this week that he will not speak to the matter because it is presently before the courts.

A hearing in the matter took place last week.

According to documents obtained by The Tribune, Supreme Court Justice Indra Charles has issued an interlocutory judgment in favour of the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs had failed to file and serve their list of documents by May 31, 2021. The court had directed that if either party failed to adhere to an

order to file the relevant documents by this date, their statement of claim or defence would stand dismissed with costs.

Plaintiffs sought relief from these sanctions. Justice Charles has ruled that she is satisfied that they had a good explanation for not filing and serving their documents at the agreed date.

“The plaintiffs have satisfied the court that their failure to comply with the order was not intentional and was due to the fact that lead counsel had to travel out of the jurisdiction to attend his brother’s funeral and also to seek medical attention,” she wrote. “The court also considered that the plaintiffs have generally complied with other orders of the court.”

Mr Sears previously represented Mrs Osborne and two other former board directors, Nick Dean and Nicola Thompson, in the court matter.

‘SO MUCH WORK TO DO’ ON PROSPECT RIDGE MITCHELL ADDRESSES TURBULENCE IN HAITI from page one

To provide affordable housing to young professionals, the Minnis administration pledged to absorb whatever infrastructural and related costs were needed to let qualified applicants buy property for between $40,000 to $50,000.

Mrs Coleby-Davis said the Davis administration will not commit to doing the same, not least because it does not know the cost details.

“The purpose of an affordable housing programme ran by the government is to be able to allow a certain category of persons that would not generally be approved to become homeowners to be able to become homeowners, so at the front of our administration the priority is to allow more Bahamians to become homeowners,” she said.

“I cannot work blindly.

I must be able to say what costs the Davis administration will be absorbing when I go and present my case to the Cabinet and so in order for me to say that, and confidently, I have to be able to provide the information and that’s why I need to get all of the groundwork done, but we will ensure that we provide affordable housing to the Bahamian public. That’s the priority.

It may not be on the same level in certain areas because it depends on how the lay of the land works, but the overall purpose is for us to provide affordable housing.”

Mrs Colbey-Davis said her team has had many meetings related to the project and has found that there is no master plan and no feasibility study.

“I’ve spoken to the company that was previously engaged by the former administration (to do the master plan) and absolutely nothing has been done yet,” she said. “In fact, they got a letter advising them that they have (been awarded) this project probably about two or three days before the election. So nothing has been done in terms of creating a master plan to do the work at Prospect Ridge, to begin to draw out how it will actually look. There has been no feasibility study, no topography study to actually provide us with the lay of the land, what lumps and bumps presently exist and how we would have to fill it in so we are not in a position yet to determine the infrastructural costs.”

She added: “We cannot commit to what was previously announced.

“The fact that you (had) a billboard that has a photo but you have no master plan, one wants to know where that photo came from, so did they grab it off of Google, I don’t know. We

MINISTER of Transport and Housing Jobeth Coleby Davis.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff don’t know where the num “Following a bidding bers came from for the land procurement process, costs and where the pic- Islands by Design comtures came from.” pleted the Environmental However, Senator Viana Impact Assessment (EIA) Gardiner, head of the Prime on the land within the Minister’s Delivery Unit allotted time frame and under the former adminis- submitted it to the Departtration, said a lot of work ment of Environmental was done to make the Planning and Protection project a reality. She said (DEPP) for its review. a strong foundation was “The DEPP completed established for the Davis its review and advised the administration to build on.

Office of the Prime Min “For this community, the ister (OPM) on the eve former government took of the general election the legal steps to secure that the environmentalthe land for the develop- ists needed to augment the ment and completed the EIA with topography studconceptual sketch of the ies. The housing minister development, the detailed could only have made some Environmental Impact of her comments because Assessment of the land, of the findings from the the procurement process work already done. The for infrastructural and comments also suggest no architectural drawings, and action was taken by the the application process, Davis Administration on including a review of 1,500 the DEPP’s advice.” applications by independ Officials have said about ent accounting firms,” she 1,500 people applied for the said in a statement. programme.

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell spoke on the safety of the Bahamian diplomats in Haiti after international media reported the kidnapping of American and Canadian missionaries in that country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously announced that diplomatic staff posted to the Embassy of The Bahamas in Haiti returned to Haiti on Sunday, October 10, and have resumed normal operations.

Mr Mitchell said: “Well right now as I understand it, it’s not permitted to travel to Haiti back and

forth, although the unlawful irregular migrants don’t seem to let that worry them, but there’s been no change in the travel advisory (banning travel).

“The problem is that there are Bahamians who’ve been stuck in Haiti since February and they need to come home and I think we have to actively work on trying to change that to go back to the status quo.

“In terms of the embassy, the embassy is open again.

The latest information I have, we had a team from the Defence Force go in advance to see the security situation, it appears to be okay, but it’s watched all the time and we’ll do everything we can to ensure that they’re

safe and if there’s any problem we’ll pull them out.”

16 American citizens and one Canadian were kidnapped by a gang in Haiti on Saturday.

Mr Mitchell also spoke on diplomatic appointments.

He said: “We’ve got a sign off over the last week because you know the prime minister has to do that under article 112. So first we’ve got to have... agreement from the other side for the people we nominate. Once that’s done, we’ll make the announcement but should be shortly, within a month if not weeks.”

Asked if the diplomatic appointments will be new or familiar faces, he noted it will “be a mix of both”.

VAT BILL ‘BEFORE END OF THE YEAR’

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

BEFORE the end of this year, the Davis administration expects to bring before Parliament three pieces of key legislation, including one that will decrease VAT to 10 percent from the current rate of 12 percent.

According to Press Secretary Clint Watson yesterday, the government also plans to present to the House of Assembly a Bill for the promised pension increase and a merchant shipping Bill. The latter is in keeping with the PLP campaign promise to boost the blue economy.

Mr Watson added the government is working on board appointments.

Further, he said, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis wanted to ensure continuity of The Bahamas’ international agenda by allowing existing overseas appointees to wrap up ongoing affairs within 90 days.

“The purpose of the legislation is to bring much-needed relief to the Bahamian people and set the foundation for economic recovery,” Mr Watson said during his first press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday.

“While working towards a substantive legislative agenda and policy priorities, the government will be completing board appointments for all 140 boards by

next week Wednesday.

“Cabinet has been very active and busy going through that work.

“The government has also given a 90-day notice to overseas appointees to allow sufficient time for the winding up of ongoing affairs as a gesture of good faith in the interest of political maturity and government continuity.

“Prime Minister Davis has made it intentionally his mandate to allow the smooth transition to allow persons already in the office to continue working as they wind up their affairs so the business of The Bahamas internationally can continue and be transitioned smoothly.”

PAGE 4, Thursday, October 21, 2021

LEWIS: I’M RUNNING FOR FNM LEADER from page one

Mr Lewis is the first person to publicly declare his intention to seek the FNM’s leadership role. A press release from his campaign said “it’s time for a change”.

The FNM will hold a oneday convention to settle the leadership issue on November 27.

The campaign press release said: “Some 50 years ago a proud political movement, the Free National Movement, was established at Jimmy Shepherd’s house on Spring Hills Farms in Fox Hill on October 20, 1971.

The ‘Dissident Eight’ led by Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield and proud Free Fighters, established a movement whose philosophy is based fundamentally on transparency, good governance, equality, a belief in our

IRAM LEWIS youth and a strong belief in democratic principles.

“Today, we value Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, Kendal G L Isaacs, Hubert Ingraham, Tommy Turnquest and Hubert Minnis; also John Henry Bostwick. We salute every Freedom Fighter who stood firm notwithstanding the victimisation and persecution for daring to be called FNMs, who were bolded through those early and sometimes very painful, but hopeful days.

“Today, we have a new cadre of Freedom Fighters who believe in our foundational philosophy. Today, we have many FNMs throughout our beautiful archipelago that yearn for recommitment to that philosophy. They desire for a more inclusive, re-engineered, revamped (party) and to be reconnected to our political movement that values all people. The decision of so many FNMs to decide to not vote for us on September 16, in spite of our productivity, sends a clear and powerful message to our organisation.”

The statement said Mr Lewis believes he is the best option for leader, citing his “style of being a servant leader, willingness to listen” and willingness to include dissenting opinions. Yesterday, Mr Lewis told reporters he believes he has support within the party for his bid.

...AND THERE ARE NO NOMINATIONS FROM FLOOR from page one

The document, dated October 19, says nominations will not be received after November 18.

The party will hold a one-day convention on November 27 to settle the leadership role.

“Candidates for the post of leader must be nominated by at least two members of the party,” the memo said. “Both the candidate and the two party members must be financial and in good standing before the close of nominations.

Nomination forms can be obtained from the national party headquarters or by contacting the secretary general. A certified list of candidates will be published on November 18, 2021.”

Only Central Grand Bahama MP Iram Lewis has so far declared his intention to seek the leadership role.

The FNM’s memo advises various FNM groups of their requirement to elect up to six delegates for the convention. Those delegates will decide who will

become the party’s leader.

“Constituency associations,” the memo says, “are directed to inform association members and to coordinate the election of six voting delegates (exclusive of the Central Council representative) for each constituency. It is a constitutional requirement that at least one of the delegates from the constituency association be 30 years of age or younger.

“The National Women’s Association and the National Torchbearers Youth Association are to elect six voting delegates.

The president, the executive members, and the council representatives of the affiliated organisations are already voting delegates to the convention.

“The names of all delegates should be submitted to the attention of the secretary general at party headquarters, Mackey Street, New Providence or via email to the secretary general.”

The FNM will require a list of party delegates by November 15.

“All delegates must be financial by the 15th of

November,” the memo said. “Reasonable arrangements will be made for COVID testing, travel, accommodation, and board for delegates who reside outside of the island of New Providence. Founding fathers, meritorious council members, national party officers, elected and appointed executives, senators, members of Parliament, former leaders, former deputy leaders, former chairmen, candidates in the 2021 election, advisory councilors, women’s association delegates, Torchbearers Youth Association delegates, constituency association delegates, council representatives, and council members generally are all voting delegates to the convention.”

Co-chairs of the convention committee are Ethan Adderley, the party’s deputy treasurer, and Dr Mildred Hall-Watson, the former Senate president and an FNM meritorious council member.

Members of the committee include Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest and party Chairman Carl Culmer.

THE TRIBUNE

Backlog at courts caused by ‘systemic’ problems

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

CHIEF Justice Sir Brian Moree said yesterday a number of systemic problems have caused a backlog of cases at the courts, particularly when it comes to criminal proceedings.

In recent months new judicial officers have been appointed at both the Magistrate’s Court and Supreme Court levels.

But Sir Brian said while the appointments have brought more resources to these courts, persistent problems need addressing.

Chief among issues, he said, was the lengthy time it takes to receive pathologist reports and forensic evidence for trials.

“We do have some systemic problems, which (are) affecting the backlog which needs to be addressed over and beyond the number of judges and magistrates that we have,” he told reporters on the sideline of the viewing of former trade unionist and Senator Keith Archer, whose body lay in state at the Senate yesterday.

“Some of those problems lead to things like the length of time it takes to get a pathologist report in criminal cases involving the death of an individual.

“Currently it takes anywhere between nine and 18 months to get a pathologist report and the case cannot go to trial until that report is obtained unless the lawyers make certain concessions.

“Also, it’s taking between 12 and 24 months to get forensic evidence in the context of ballistics and also DNA evidence specifically in regard to sexual offences cases. So, again those cases cannot go to trial until we have that evidence.”

He continued: “Thirdly, there are serious shortages in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

That is the office of which is responsible for the prosecutions of all criminal cases and their staffing issues.

“So, I have addressed these matters with the former Attorney General (Carl Bethel) and with the new Attorney General (Ryan Pinder) and I am hoping that we could see some movement in addressing these systemic problems, which together with additional judicial resources I think will allow us to make a serious dent in the backlog.”

The chief justice also addressed concerns about the Coroner’s Court and its spacing constraints due to COVID-19.

He said an acting coroner — Stipendiary and Circuit Magistrate Kara Deveaux-Turnquest — has been functioning in the role for several months. She has been instructed to review the list of inquests and start them as soon as possible, Sir Brian said. However, the Coroner’s Court is also facing challenges, he said.

“You need a jury. You need to have the physical space available in order to

conduct inquests. At the same time complying with the physical distancing requirements. So, there are serious physical space problems with the Coroner’s Court, which we’re addressing and also the availability of persons to serve on the jury panel, so those issues are being looked at. But we do have in place an active coroner.

“The only reason why we didn’t make a substantive appointment is because the position of coroner has yet to be confirmed by the Ministry of Public Service as a substantive office.

“What has been happening is in the past, the coroner was a stipendiary circuit magistrate and so that is the position which was recognised within the civil service.

“I have asked the relevant authorities to do what is necessary to formally establish the office of coroner as a substantive office within the judiciary.”

Sir Brian said he is hopeful that this can be done by the end of January 2022.

The Coroner’s Court is also facing a spacing issue due to the COVID-19 physical distancing measures. As a result, officials are in the process of weighing the options to solve the problem.

As for a recent decision to permanently stop the practice of parading suspects into the Nassau Street Court Complex, Sir Brian said he welcomed the new policy.

CUBAN MIGRANTS HELD BY RBDF THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force apprehended a group of Cuban migrants in Bahamian waters Tuesday afternoon.

During a routine patrol, HMBS Rolly Gray, under the command of Lieutenant Themo Berkley, intercepted a 21-ft sports fishing vessel approximately 14 miles east of Cay Santo Domingo shortly after 2pm.

Onboard were a group of Cuban nationals, who were subsequently removed and taken aboard the RBDF craft.

The RBDF said the migrants will be brought to Nassau and handed over to the relevant authorities. The Cuban embassy has since been notified.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 21, 2021, PAGE 5

PAHO PLEASED AT INCREASE IN VACCINATIONS

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

OFFICIALS at the Pan American Health Organization are happy about the uptick in COVID-19 inoculations in The Bahamas but have advised that a decision on a third booster shot would have to be made on logistics and after the vulnerable of society are vaccinated.

Dr Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO’s assistant director, spoke at the organisation’s weekly webinar, updating the region on the fight to eradicate COVID-19.

He expressed delight in the fact that The Bahamas has recently had hundreds of Bahamians flock to vaccination centres to be inoculated and views this as a sign that vaccine hesitancy in this country is dwindling.

“This is good news that the vaccine hesitancy is reducing,” Dr Barbosa said. “I think that more people are now aware about the benefits of vaccines. We have plenty (of) data from many countries in the world, showing that the risk to develop a severe case of COVID-19, to be hospitalised and then to die is much more with the unvaccinated.”

The PAHO official said the United States’ Centres for Disease Control released data that shows the risk of being hospitalised by COVID is 12 times higher among unvaccinated people when compared to vaccinated people. He said it is very important that Bahamians are now pressing forward in good numbers to get their shots.

Asked if The Bahamas was ready to start giving out the much discussed booster shots, he said it’s the

FREE TESTING BEGINS IN INAGUA

ABOUT 100 people got free COVID-19 tests in Inagua yesterday after the government launched the pilot phase of its promised free testing programme.

“Inagua was selected as the launch site because of a recent outbreak of the virus after the election campaign, which sadly resulted in the deaths of several people,” a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister said.

“In line with its COVID action plan, the government also provided residents with medical-grade masks, free of charge. A mobile team is in place on the ground to ensure that all residents have access to the new programme.

According to the statement, residents expressed relief in being able to know their status, giving the programme a country’s decision, but the priority should be making sure the elderly and those with chronic illness get their initial shots.

“The priority is still to get all the vulnerable groups vaccinated,” Dr Barbosa said. “It’s very important to go with the national plan that each country has

thumbs-up.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said: “Back in July and August, the country was experiencing the worst spike in COVID cases and deaths so far seen in our country.

“Bahamians were also extremely anxious about the images of a healthcare system in a state of neglect and collapse.

Free testing is a key component in our government’s new approach, which will start to give a more accurate picture of the true state of the pandemic in The Bahamas.”

This comes as the Ministry of Health reported 44 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the nation’s overall tally to 22,092.

Six hundred and twenty-six people have died from the disease.

developed following the recommendations from PAHO and WHO vaccinating the healthcare workers, the elderly people with chronic diseases. This is in order not only to get these groups protected but achieving a high immune coverage that can control transmission.

WELLS AND MITCHELL TRADE BARBS

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net AFTER blaming the government’s easing of restrictions on the recent surge in COVID cases, former Minister of Health Renward Wells has come under heavy fire from the chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party who has referred to him as a “total failure as a minister.”

PLP chairman Fred Mitchell, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Service, responded to Mr Wells, who would not accept the suggestions that the Free National Movement’s early election call might be responsible for the surge.

In a voice note that circulated this week, Mr Wells referred to Mr Mitchell as “daft when it comes to science”.

Mr Mitchell did not take kindly to this and lashed out in a voice note of his own. “This man, Mr Wells, as he is known in polite company, left a healthcare system in shambles… can’t get medicine in the hospital, no beds in the hospital,

people sleeping in tents, lying on gurneys getting wet by the rain and 16,000 infections of COVID, 500 deaths in counting,” Mr Mitchell said. “All of this happened when he was Minister of Health.

“Renward Wells has the temerity, the bloody nerve to talk about who is daft.

I only wish we were in the school yard where I can tell him which part of his lineal antecedents are daft. This total failure as a minister would dare open his mouth to talk this drivel.”

Mr Mitchell also said: “The Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville has the facts.

What we are experiencing today with COVID… the deaths and infections… is because Dr Hubert Minnis called a general election in the middle of a pandemic.

The FNM held rally after rally and helped to spread COVID. So we are in the mess we are in today.”

Mr Wells suggested that Mr Mitchell was being ignorant of the science related to COVID, and stressed that the recent surges of cases reflect the period two weeks prior, outside the

window of the general election called by the FNM. Mr Mitchell accused the former Health Minister of doing nothing to fix the “collapse” of the nation’s healthcare system, adding that “people died because of the FNM’s negligence.” “Compare that to Dr Michael Darville today, who four weeks into the job, has fixed the supply chain of vaccines, is working at restoring competent management in healthcare and is getting the medicines to help ease the crisis.”

Mr Mitchell said all of this would not be an issue if the former minister had done his job.

“He failed us and as Darth Vader said in the movie, Renward Wells you have failed us for the last time,” Mr Mitchell said.

“So please sit down and shut up.”

Mr Wells also suggested the PLP’s disparagements of the Minnis administration before the general election have forced them to follow through on certain decisions to save face, despite those decisions not being in the best interest of the public.

MINNIS: NO ONE FORGOT TO ORDER VACCINES FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has denied claims made by Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville that the previous administration “forgot” to order additional COVID-19 vaccines before being voted out of office.

In a statement issued yesterday, Dr Minnis defended his administration’s record on securing hundreds of thousands vaccines for the population.

“No one in the former administration ‘forgot to order more vaccines.’ All COVID-19 vaccines procured through the COVAX Facility were ordered in early 2020, before vaccines were available. The Bahamas has received three of a total of five tranches,” Dr Minnis said.

“The second tranche of a donation of vaccines from the government of the United States of America, which the former administration was informed would arrive on 15 October 2021, has not yet materialised.

“The former administration was successful

in securing hundreds of thousands of doses of COVID-19 vaccines for Bahamians through various channels, including through the COVAX–WHO Facility, international donations, regional partnerships and the government of the United States of America.

“In addition to securing COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility and a donation of a total of 397,000 doses of the vaccine from the US, the former administration was successful in securing a donation of 20,000 vaccines from the government of India, 38,400 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccines through the African Union and 8,496 doses through diplomatic relations with neighbouring countries that helped to top up vaccine inventory when necessary.

“This was part of the former administration’s comprehensive strategy to ensure that all Bahamians and eligible residents who wanted to receive the COVID-19 vaccine had

access to the vaccine.”

He said since the start of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme on March 14 and September 18, a total of 184,461 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered across The Bahamas.

“During previous times of low inventory of COVID19 vaccines the former administration was able to manage supplies without interrupting the vaccination programme,” he continued.

“In addition to procuring vaccines, the former administration procured ultra-cold storage facilities with the capacity to safely store 1.5 million doses of mRNA vaccines at the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Unit.

“As we did previously in government, the official opposition advises Bahamians and eligible residents to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

Yesterday, the Davis administration officials announced that additional vaccines are expected to arrive in the country today.

“About boosters and third doses… SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) the strategic advisory group of experts on vaccines from the region, released new recommendations two weeks ago. The recommendation is that it is important to get everyone vaccinated. So the

priority is still to increase vaccinations and the access to vaccines.

“Second, the countries needed to adapt these recommendations to their reality, that their access they have to vaccines.

Thirdly, it’s clear now that for people that have some conditions that can reduce the ability of the immune system to produce antibodies, they need to receive a third dose. This is part of the recommendation so these people can get protected.”

Dr Barbosa was careful to point out who would be categorised as “vulnerable” and priority to be fully vaccinated before any booster shots are considered for scheduling. He also explained that the third shot does not have to be the same vaccine brand as the first and second shot.

“This is around two to three percent of the population,” he continued.

“People that have HIV/ AIDS, for instance, or people that have chronic diseases and need to take medicine that reduces the immune system activity.

This is for every vaccine that has EUA authorisation from WHO like AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

“SAGE is recommending a third dose for people 60 years and (older). This third dose can be the same vaccination that was used for the first and second doses or if the country has more availability of other vaccines, they can be used.

“It is very well established now that you can have this vaccination combined with other vaccines.

This is safe and this can be adapted to the situation that each country is facing.”

Over the last week,

there were nearly 817,000 new COVID infections and over 18,000 COVIDrelated deaths reported in the Americas. This indicates a clear drop in cases and deaths as compared to the week before which PAHO reported some 1.1 million new cases and just over 24,000 COVID-related deaths.

Although the overall region is enjoying a drop in cases, there are still some countries that are experiencing increases in COVID infections. PAHO’s director, Dr Carissa Etienne provided more information on those Caribbean nations.

“The Dominican Republic and Barbados are reporting over 40 percent jumps in new cases over the last week, in fact half of Barbados’s cumulative COVID infections since the pandemic began have been reported in the last month,” Dr Etienne said.

“Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Martinique are also seeing a jump in new infections.

“Cases remain high in Saint Martin, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, and the Cayman Islands. So, we continue to urge countries – especially those in the Caribbean – to maintain and prioritise public health measures to control the spread of COVID. These measures, along with widespread vaccinations, are the best option to control outbreaks.”

She said the good news is that 41 percent of people across Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Another 4.6 million COVAX facility vaccine doses will reach our region by the end of this week so more people can be protected.

PAGE 6, Thursday, October 21, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

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What one proposes, the other opposes IT’S amazing the different views people can have when in Opposition as compared to when one’s party is in office.

When the Office of the Spouse was formed under the Minnis administration, doubts were quickly cast from the other side of the political fence.

However, Ann Marie Davis is “eager” to use the office now that she is its occupant.

Press Secretary Clint Watson suggested that at the time of her criticism, “a lot of the comments that were attributed to Mrs Davis obviously Mrs Davis made when she had just seen this office formed so the question was what is the purpose of this office.”

Let’s revisit those comments. Back in 2018, Mrs Davis told The Nassau Guardian: “I have been very involved in charities, and the extent of the involvement is very far-reaching, and I haven’t yet seen the need to have an office to carry out those functions. Having said that, I don’t know… how the role of that office that Mrs Minnis is referring to, how that role would be defined [and] whether it will be a crossover to social services because some of what Mrs Minnis said is what I know social services to be involved with.”

Surely the sensible thing to have done then would have been to find out rather than make public statements questioning its usefulness.

Indeed, given the silence between raising the questions and yesterday getting the answer that oh, actually this office is fine and we’ll use it too, shouldn’t there have been a public comment correcting any doubts previously raised?

As it is, Mr Watson yesterday said that “when you have an opportunity to see what this office does and see what it’s doing around the region because there are spouses around the region who have all joined arms and said ‘let’s make sure these offices are actually in place’.

It serves a purpose”. That comes awfully close to saying it was a good idea all along.

We do not say this to criticise Mrs Davis, but rather to highlight a habit in Opposition of taking that word too literally, and opposing everything. Not

everything the FNM administration did was awful. Not everything the new PLP administration does will be awful. Yet for those across the political lane, you would think that everything was terrible, that it shouldn’t be done at all or it’s not doing nearly enough. It’s a habit that has everything to do with partisan behaviour and nothing at all to do with moving the country forward.

A good idea can be a good idea regardless of who thinks of it, and the knee jerk reaction should not always be to criticise it if it didn’t come from your side.

Interestingly, the former Prime Minister, Dr Hubert Minnis, claimed that the proposals outlined in the Speech from the Throne were just a “rehash” of his plans from the election trail – so can we expect him to be supportive of such plans when they come to Parliament?

We doubt it.

We do not expect much to change in the tribal nature of politics – it’s the same around the world, after all. When one side proposes, the other opposes. It was ever this way. It doesn’t have to be, though. That’s a choice.

Photo finish

When Jobeth Coleby-Davis was asked yesterday about how much work had been done on the Prospect Ridge development – a signature scheme under Dr Minnis – she said a lot of work had still to be done, and the same cost benefits might not be available.

During her press briefing, she said: “The fact that you (had) a billboard that has a photo but you have no master plan, one wants to know where that photo came from, so did they grab it off of Google, I don’t know. We don’t know where the numbers came from for the land costs and where the pictures come from.”

Well, we can assure Mrs Coleby-Davis that one quick Google quickly shows where the picture came from, and it’s a commonly used stock photograph around the world, from the US to China and all parts east and west.

The numbers, we’ll leave up to you to find.

Pandemic stress test EDITOR, The Tribune.

IS your mind like a torture chamber during this pandemic, zapping your creativity and taking you down?

I have been a manufacturer for 30 plus years. And in that time have been in many stressful situations.

We all have.

But since the pandemic hit, I have experienced a whole new level of stress, anxiety and emotions. And I know I am not alone.

This pandemic has robbed both life and quality of life.

I can tell you personally that my emotional state has been like a roller coaster.

One day I am hopeful, then the next could be gloom

and doom…although really nothing has specifically changed to sway me either way!

Then I had an epiphany about something... I asked myself: What scene was my own mind playing out?

What was my internal dialogue?

When was I most prone to going down that dark path?

What triggered the dark thoughts?

I was, at times, turning my mind into a torture chamber… Allowing my thoughts to overtake my emotions… not realising that I alone had the power to escape.

I remembered something I read years ago by a

prominent author: “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as We are.” - Anaïs Nin So we see things through our own filter, be it negative or positive (hence, the half full or half empty glass).

So I am now focusing on my mind, what it sees, what it thinks, what it eats… as a means of emotional survival.

“I have known a great many troubles, most of which never happened.” Mark Twain Ugh… the places we allow our thinking to go, worrying about things that mostly won’t ever happen.

STEVEN KASZAB Bradford, Ontario.

October 12, 2021.

Game of Thrones or a spectacle?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

IN A few short weeks the rump FNM will be meeting in convention to decide on the leadership going forward. While some persons have expressed an intention to throw their hats, so to speak, into the ring, none has, so far, formally announced not even the putative current leader, the Hon Dr Hubert A Minnis (FNM-Killarney). It has been suggested that the Hon Shannendon Cartwright (FNM-St Barnabas) may well be a leading contender if nominated. I am not and have never been a member or supporter of that party and most of my other traits are good.

Others have whispered the names of the Hon Michael Pintard (FNM-Marco City); the Hon Iram Lewis (FNMCentral Grand Bahama) and, of course, Minnis.

Who will emerge as leader?

There is little doubt in my mind that Minnis will self engineer a “nomination” from convention floor by one of his adherents, despite his protestations and acts of coyness. In my opinion, the man has become addicted to power and the trappings thereof. It is my belief, from sip-sip on the ground, especially here in New Providence, that few genuine FNMs are on another leadership run by a failed Prime Minister.

Indeed it has been suggested that the Minnis era has come to an abrupt end.

I am a partisan of the Most Hon Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, QC (PLP-Cat Island) point blank. In a democracy such as which obtains here in our

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net wonderful nation, however, there must and should be a vibrant opposition. Having led his party to a massive defeat in September, added with his personality, it is my opinion that only a very foolish FNM would want to publicly align themselves with him. Who else if not Minnis ?

It must be borne in mind that I am not an FNM in any way, shape or form. As a Bahamian, however, may I suggest that the delegates at the upcoming convention take a calculating and serious look at Cartwright emerging as leader. He is relatively young; well educated and extremely focused. Yes, he is baby faced, but keep in mind that so was the then Lynden Oscar Pindling in the early 1950’s. Pindling was able to leap frog over more experienced and older individuals, inclusive of Henry Milton Taylor and Cyril Stevenson, both original founders of the PLP. Age dear fellow Bahamians is nothing but a number.

I predict that PM Davis will serve a minimum of 10 years in power. By that time Cartwright would have had ample time to demonstrate the stuff of which he is made politically. With the possibility of a fixed election date few Bahamians will be caught by surprise so there should and will be more voters at future polls. No doubt by that time Cartwright would have become more mature and rebuild and rebrand the FNM into his own

image. There would be thousands of first time and younger voters, especially the ones who would have been disenfranchised due to Minnis, foolishly, calling for general elections in the midst of the roaring pandemic. These would be up for grabs.

Pintard has political baggage relative to Togie and Bobo. Lewis, in my view may well be a “good” individual, but a political pit bull is needed as leader of the FNM. No, Cartwright may not look like or fit the usual mould of a pit bull, but as a long time senior manager with McDonald’s and his ability to engage in the thrust and parry of parliamentary debate, he’d make a formidable leader of the New FNM. It would take a whole lot more, however, to defeat Brave and the now entrenched PLP. Dr Duane Sands and retired Hon Brent Symonette are yesterday’s men and have gone the way of the fabled Dodo. Sands is unelectable as leader, in my considered opinion.

Symonette has always come across as too smug and full of it.

Will the upcoming FNM convention be a game of thrones or will it dissolve into a spectacle of the highest order? Whoever emerges, however, at this time, cannot hinder or realistically stop “Brave” from becoming the best Prime Minister, apart from Sir Lynden, bar none, that we would ever have been blessed with.

Jr

ORTLAND H BODIE, Nassau, October 20, 2021.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 21, 2021, PAGE 7

‘TENANT TOOK CHEQUE BOOK’

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

AN elderly woman has accused one of her tenants of illegally obtaining her cheque book and writing several cheques in her own name over a three-month period.

Selena Foulkes is currently on trial before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt Evans for the alleged offence.

Margaret Rita Hall, 84, who is the complainant in the matter, told police that “somebody found her cheque book and started writing cheques in several amounts” even though she did not sign any of the bank notes.

When she took the stand yesterday, she said she had a checking and savings account with FirstCaribbean International Bank.

She said her daughter, Jaqueline Hall, was her only co-signature and added that her cheque. book went missing from her daughter’s car sometime last year.

The court was told that although the cheque book was never located, there was a $900 cheque written out to Foulkes on July 23, 2020, a $1,500 cheque written out to the accused on July 27 and a $900 cheque made out to

Foulkes on August 4.

Three more cheques in the amounts of $800, $1,500 and $350 were written out to Foulkes between August and September of last year, the court was told.

When the prosecution asked Mrs Hall if she was the one who wrote the cheques out to the accused “at any time”, she denied doing so. She also said she never gave Foulkes permission to cash any of the cheques.

When Jacqueline Hall testified, she said she and her mother knew Foulkes because the accused had been renting their efficiency for six or seven years.

Ms Hall said she was the only one who assisted her mother with her banking transactions because no one else in their home had a car.

“Once she wrote cheques they would come to me first thing in the morning,” Ms Hall explained. “I never received any cheques from my mom in the name of Selena Foulkes.”

She said the cheque book “went missing” from her car sometime in September. She added that she was made aware that someone had been making transactions without her knowledge after she went to the bank to cash a cheque for her mother and was informed that no funds were on her account.

‘I BROKE IN BY ACCIDENT’

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

at the time of the incident, he came from a party “intoxicated and went in the wrong house thinking A 22-YEAR-OLD man it was the house of his relawho claimed he accidentally tive or a friend he knew.” broke into a woman’s house He said he did this because because he was intoxicated in South Andros, all of the and thought he was enter- settlers would “leave their ing a relative’s home, was doors and windows open yesterday sentenced to six because everyone was like months in prison. family.”

Alrick Mackey was “When I got inside the charged with burglary after house I didn’t touch anyhe unlawfully entered Sonia body or anything,” Mackey Neely’s Kemps Bay, Andros said. “I end up falling residence in the early hours asleep inside and when I of October 18. catch myself and realise I The Bluff resident owned was in the wrong house, I up to the offence during his open the door and left.” hearing before Senior MagYesterday, Mackistrate Carolyn Vogt Evans. ey’s lawyer also told the The court was told that magistrate that her client around 4.40am on the did not show any “requimorning in question, Mrs site intent to commit” the Neely told police that a offence of burglary and man had broken into her asked her to tender justice home through a window. with mercy.

After she reported the However, in her senmatter, officers investigat- tencing, Magistrate Vogt ing her complaint visited Evans said the court was her residence to dust for satisfied that Mackey fingerprints and record a had removed the window statement from her. screen to enter a home The prosecution said without permission. She later that day, officers said while she considered arrested Mackey after find- Mackey’s early guilty plea ing him near a convenience and his relatively young store on the island. When age, she could not ignore they executed a search the severity of the offence warrant on the accused’s he committed. house, they found a She insisted that findTommy Hilfiger collared ing someone invading your shirt which they collected space as a woman was a for evidence.

When “detrimental thing.” She Mackey was questioned also said the crime was in custody, he admitted especially heinous since the offence and said he it occurred in a quiet setremoved the screen out tlement where criminal of one of Ms Neely’s back occurrences were rare. windows before crawling As a result, she seninside. tenced Mackey to six Yesterday, Mackey said months in prison.

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Supreme Court refuses to strike out lawyer statement

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A SUPREME Court judge yesterday denied a magistrate’s request to strike out a statement of claim made by a lawyer who was detained at the Magistrate’s Court after the judicial officer found her guilty of contempt four years ago.

Attorney Ramona Farquharson launched legal action against a sitting magistrate and the Office of the Attorney General, who are listed as the first and second defendants in the matter, after she was arrested and held in the prisoner’s dock at the Magistrate’s Court for several hours following the magistrate’s ruling that she was guilty of contempt of court.

According to court documents, the contempt finding was a result of a “verbal exchange” between Mrs Farquharson and the stipendiary and circuit magistrate in 2017 after the judicial officer “allegedly refused to allow certain documents into evidence”.

“The defendants allege that the plaintiff was belligerent, rude and derogatory, while the plaintiff alleges that the first defendant uttered words that were malicious and calculated to disparage and cause damage to her in her profession,” according to the court documents. “As a result, the plaintiff claims the first defendant’s actions were abusive, malicious and/or wrongful and without reasonable or probable cause which injured her reputation as an attorneyat-law and caused her to suffer loss and damage.”

In view of these facts, Mrs Farquharson sought damages for injury to reputation, breach of her constitutional rights, wrongful arrest and false detention, as well as aggravated and exemplary damages.

The magistrate and attorney general recently sought to strike out the lawyer’s action after arguing that the magistrate was protected by “judicial immunity”, which meant there could be “no civil action brought against her in her capacity

as a magistrate’’ and “by extension, no claim could exist against the attorney general.”

In her ruling, Justice G Diane Stewart said the two issues for the court to determine were whether Mrs Farquharson’s claims could be struck out as a result of “no reasonable cause of action” as set out in the amended statement of claim and whether her claims could be struck out for being an “abuse of process pursuant to Order 18 Rule 19 (1)(d)”.

After reviewing the circumstances of the case, the judge said she could not determine whether the magistrate “exceeded her judicial powers” when she found Mrs Farquharson in contempt without testing the evidence and reviewing the laws during a trial.

She also noted that if a representative of the state was accused of breaching a constitutional right, the attorney general, as the “legal representative of the state”, would be the appropriate party to “defend such an action”.

“I therefore find that…

that the first defendant’s contention that it has an absolute defence against the plaintiff’s claims in tort as she was acting in a judicial capacity when she exchanged words with the plaintiff, is an issue that must be addressed at trial,” Justice Stewart stated.

“Accordingly, I do not accede to the defendant’s application to strike her from the action.”

She added: “I do not accede to the defendant’s application to strike the second defendant therefrom and accordingly, the claim against the second defendant remains. The plaintiff’s action for constitutional relief is not an abuse of the process of the court as an appeal would not have remedied the first defendant’s decision to imprison the plaintiff after a finding of contempt.”

Justice Stewart said a case management conference will be scheduled with both parties at “the convenience of the court” at which time she would hear both parties on the issue of costs.

PAGE 8, Thursday, October 21, 2021

“Get vaccinated and be very careful because this is a deadly disease; it comes to steal, kill and destroy.” – Giovanni Hanchell, Inagua resident.

THE next COVID-19 surge is coming. Though it is not certain when the next wave will strike New Providence and Grand Bahama, or how severe it will be, another surge is certain.

The country should begin preparing for the upcoming wave, now.

We have a long way to go in this pandemic. It appears that many Bahamians, including some leaders, still do not appreciate the gravity and how long the pandemic is likely to last.

Donald Trump calculated that he could publicly disassociate himself from the peril. He was wrong. It backfired, politically and ethically.

There are worrying outbreaks in various Family Islands. This past Wednesday, Eyewitness News reported that as of Sunday, October 17, Inagua had 50 COVID-19 cases, “double the 25 cases confirmed up to last month”.

The Eyewitness News website quoted Giovanni Hanchell, a resident of Inagua who lost a cousin to the disease. Hanchell stated that more restrictions were needed on the island to control the disease. He spoke of the horror of the disease: “It will not hurt you or impact you until it reaches your doorsteps.

“On the island, everybody feels the death of the person… If it hasn’t impacted you yet, it will impact you in some way, some form and some fashion. Just be protected, guard yourself [and] practice safeness.

“We are doing our best to try to regroup and try to just come back from what’s going on. We have never experienced anything with such large deaths in such a short time.

“If the government locked Inagua down, it may have helped in a way. I feel like more restrictions will help us out, but if it cannot be administered at this time, then we just have to do what we have to do by ourselves.”

The deaths in the country are tragically measured in the number of obituaries now published in the broadsheets of the dailies, sometimes doubling the size of the Thursday editions.

Pandemics often end

through brutal natural selection! Those who refuse to get vaccinated in The Bahamas, especially the morbidly obese and those with underlying conditions, are highly likely to contract the virus and possibly die.

Some will take the wrong lesson from the death of former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who died this week from complications from the disease. Mr Powell, an 84-year-old who was fully vaccinated, was battling a form of cancer which left him highly immune-compromised.

He was due to have a booster shot.

THE TRIBUNE

Prepare now for the next deadly wave

MULTIPLE DEATHS

At home, households are tragically experiencing multiple deaths. Those who deem themselves healthy, including those who brag about being fit, taking their vitamins and eating well, are playing a foolish game by waiting or refusing to be vaccinated.

There is still much that is not known about the disease, with some young, healthy and fully vaccinated individuals becoming gravely ill or dying, confounding medical experts who are rushing to understand why such individuals have succumbed to the virus and its variants.

A number of journals have reported the death of 21-year-old Shawn Kuhn, a senior at the University of Georgia in the United States, who died this past Monday of COVID-19 based pneumonia.

After battling for six weeks, the fully vaccinated fitness enthusiast and instructor died. Such cases are rare. But it highlights the insidiousness of the disease.

With the virus still mutating, the vaccine-resistant are engaged in a bizarre game of suicidal Russian roulette, tempting the virus to break through their fortresses of psychological resistance ranging from fear and anxiety to hubris and arrogance to indifference and equivocation.

Many will die because social media and its tsunami of lies, disinformation and misinformation have paralysed the uncertain, who opt for inaction, incapable of discerning fact from fiction and pseudoscience from genuine science.

Those medical professionals who remain unvaccinated and those who are anti-vaxxers continue to mystify. Their

poor example confuses the poorly informed who take their cues from them, often leading to terrible outcomes.

The highest rate of death in the world from COVID19 is Latin America and the Caribbean, where more than 2.1 million have died so far. According to The Economist, the region has also experienced the steepest economic decline, with output dropping by seven percent in 2020.

The history of pandemics is instructive and frightening. Appreciating the history and lethality of pandemics can help to save lives. We remain in one of history’s great pandemics.

Tens of millions more may die, with many more deaths in The Bahamas.

The smug ignorance and lack of knowledge of history by policymakers, including public officers and politicians, commentators and media personalities, as well as academics, is troubling at the best of times in The Bahamas.

COVID has further exposed the general and self-satisfied ignorance of opinion leaders and others across our civic spectrum who often distract from the gravity of the times with feverish and empty commentaries on irrelevancies.

Pandemics, like COVID-19 and the global cholera outbreak of the 1830s, deepen economic

and social inequality. The Industrial Revolution drew many poor and working class labourers to Paris, where they lived in dire conditions in denselypacked slums, including impoverished areas near Notre Dame Cathedral.

The works of Honoré de Balzac, and Victor Hugo, who authored Les Misérables, the historical novel and masterpiece on social injustice, captured the desperate poverty, gross inequality and squalor of the period in the French capital.

In poorer areas, cholera, a bacterial infection, spread because of poor sanitation, ignorance and indifference from authorities. Wealthy Parisians fled the “City of Lights” as the disease ravaged the poor.

Tensions mounted. Conspiracy theories spread as furiously as the disease, with the rich blaming the poor, while poorer Parisians believed they were being poisoned by the rich.

Anger at the government reached a fever pitch. The monarch and his court were pilloried, quickly reaping the disfavour of the populace. In a few short months in 1832, the disease killed 100,000 people in France.

LESSONS FROM PAST

According to the essay, “What History Has Taught Us About Epidemics” on the Caltech website, approximately 20,000 Parisians died in one month. The population of Paris in 1831 stood at approximately 785,000.

There were several lessons for political leaders during this outbreak, including the need to communicate consistently and effectively with frightened communities, and the need for clear plans and the best scientific advice. Have we learned these lessons?

One million people may have died from the Russian flu at the end of the 19th century. Some thought that this flu may have been

caused by a coronavirus.

The 1918 global flu killed approximately 50 million people in just a few years.

Public authorities should study these pandemics.

They ignore profound lessons at our collective peril.

With COVID-19, the state of the pandemic is uneven globally, with deaths depending on the number of people vaccinated in various jurisdictions.

Approximately 119,000 people or about 30 percent of our population is fully vaccinated, a fairly good rate for a developing, archipelagic country.

Barbados, which started vaccinating before The Bahamas, has vaccinated just over 40 percent of residents.

A recent edition of The Economist offered: “All pandemics end eventually. COVID-19 has started down that path and will gradually become endemic.

In that state, circulating and mutating from year to year, the coronavirus will remain a threat to the elderly and infirm.

“Though the destination is fixed, the route to endemicity is not and… we argue that the difference between a well-planned journey and a chaotic one could be measured in millions of lives.

“The end of the pandemic is therefore a last chance for governments to show they have learned from the mistakes they made at its start.” What are the lessons we must learn and the actions we must take in The Bahamas?

One lesson: the politicisation of a pandemic may win votes but it does not save lives, including the lives of those who may vote for a Trump or a Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida.

Based on countries with higher rates of vaccination of approximately 80 percent, The Bahamas will need to vaccinate 320,000 people in our population of approximately 400,000.

Last Saturday, Russia reported a staggering and record 1,002 COVID deaths. It was the first time since the onset of the

pandemic that daily deaths passed 1,000. This is in contrast to countries with higher vaccination rates that are experiencing fewer deaths at this stage of the pandemic.

A report from October 16, also confirmed that in the previous 24 hours the country had 33,208 cases, “setting a record for the fifth consecutive day.”

Reuters reported: “Russian authorities blame a slow vaccination campaign for the sharp rise of infections and deaths, which forced the health ministry this week to ask retired vaccinated medics to return to hospitals.”

For a variety of reasons, Russians have been notoriously hesitant to get vaccinated, which is going to result in many more deaths and terrible waves.

In The Bahamas, we will need vaccine requirements and mandates to get more Bahamians vaccinated.

Even countries with 50 percent of people vaccinated are going through hell.

Despite our death toll, the punishing effects of the Delta variant and more waves on the way, a good number of Bahamians and residents will continue to refuse to get vaccinated.

Compounding this is the need for booster shots for the country, including the large percentage of people requiring such shots fairly soon, such as older individuals, and those with pre-existing conditions and the high number of obese Bahamians.

In between waves and during surges, we should utilise restrictions on larger gathering, bars and nightclubs and other venues which may help spread the virus. Regulating mass events is vital.

Vaccines are our way back to greater normalcy. We do not want to be in a forever pandemic. As the pandemic continues, we will need stronger action from public authorities, and more people getting vaccinated. If we do not act responsibly as a society, the season of suffering and death may worsen considerably and horribly.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 21, 2021, PAGE 9

Powell led a distinguished career THE flags outside American defense headquarters at the Pentagon were all flying at half-staff Tuesday. Right below them, the familiar black clenched-fist MIA-POW banner saluted those still unaccounted for in overseas conflicts. A stiff northwesterly breeze kept the flags fully unfurled.

Those flags saluted Colin Powell, who had passed away on Monday. Cable newsreaders actually had some Breaking News to report when his death was announced. Powell was 84 and had suffered with multiple myeloma and early-stage Parkinson’s Disease. Both weakened him, which in turn made him especially vulnerable to COVID-19, which was the official cause of his death.

“Don’t feel sorry for me, for God’s sakes,” Powell told an interviewer three months ago. “I haven’t lost a day of my life fighting these diseases.”

Powell, the first black National Security Adviser, the first black Secretary of State and the first black Chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, in many ways epitomised the social, economic and hierarchical progress of African Americans as much or more than did the nation’s first black president.

It has long been an axiom in American life that a career in the US military is one of the most honourable and dependable paths out of poverty and into respectability for young men and, in recent years, women. The American military services – most especially the Army and the Marines – have also long been known as crucibles in which racial bias and prejudice is dissipated in the white-hot cauldron of armed combat and in the rigorous challenges on recruits imposed from basic training through the course of a career. It has been argued that the most obdurate and insidious prejudices remaining in the American military are now sex- and gender-based, rather than originating from race.

The US Navy and Air Force continue to be dogged by intermittent race-based scandals, not only in the active service but also at their prestigious and highlyselective academies in Annapolis, Maryland, and

STATESIDE

with Charlie Harper

FORMER Secretary of State Colin Powell pictured in 2006.

Colorado Springs. But in the ground-based combat services of the Army and Marines, colour blindness has been relatively more successfully instilled.

Powell was raised in the South Bronx of New York City by immigrant parents from Jamaica. They, and he, represent the American Dream.

This man was no Martin Luther King, nor did he aspire to be an orator or an apostle. He aspired to what he largely achieved: He was a soldier’s soldier. But after entering the Army via Reserve Officers Training Corps at the City College of New York (City), Powell became more than a soldier. Aided by a moderate, modest demeanor and a sense of self that precluded bombast, Powell acquired the highest-level political skills that enabled him to navigate the perilous, ambition-filled corridors of the Pentagon, Capitol Hill and ultimately, the White House.

When Powell became the youngest serving four-star general in the Army and leapfrogged many more senior officers in his own and other services to ascend to the pinnacle of the American military, there was grumbling. There were the whispers that often accompany the rise to the top of

black Americans, whether it be in business, academia or the federal government.

But Colin Powell was chosen by Presidents George H W Bush especially and his son George W Bush to serve at their side because above all, they trusted his judgment.

As tributes poured in this week in commemoration of this remarkable man’s legacy, many recalled that 25 years ago, as his adopted Republican Party sought a candidate to oppose Bill Clinton in 1996, many power brokers in the GOP looked to Powell.

A national figure of unblemished luster, Powell was said to remind party leaders of Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme Allied commander who oversaw the Allied victory over the Nazis and subsequently served not only as president of Columbia University, but also as a popular and significant twoterm Republican president in the 1950s.

For a while, it seemed that Powell would agree to offer himself as a candidate, and the news shows were full of speculation about his intentions for many months.

But in the end, the general declared that he was “unprepared for the rigors of running for the nation’s highest office”. It was an open secret in Washington,

Photo: Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP DC, that a major factor in Powell’s decision was a concern that his wife might crumble in the stress of a national political campaign.

At various stages in his distinguished public life and career, Colin Powell was rated in polls as the most admired American. True to the traditions of the American military, General Powell stayed out of politics while he served in the Army. But after retirement, like Eisenhower, he chose Republican politics over the advances of Democratic Party insiders.

This is not surprising, since the culture of the American military – and law enforcement, for that matter – is generally conservative. But biographies and his own narrative support the theory that back in 1996, part of Powell’s reluctance to run in Republican presidential primaries was also based on his astute conclusion that his GOP, already under the influence of Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich, had chosen

a path that would ultimately lead to Donald Trump 20 years later.

Indeed, by the end of the Bush II administration in 2009, Powell had decided to support Barack Obama, and he later revealed that he had voted also for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and for Joe Biden last year.

And while many national Republican figures solemnly saluted Powell this week, Trump reacted characteristically – and gracelessly.

“Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media,” Trump said in a statement. “Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO (Republican in Name Only), if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!”

As ever alert to the weakest chink in the armor of opponents, Trump astutely alluded to the lone smirch on Powell’s laudable record in public service. It happened on February 5, 2003, while Powell was serving as Bush II’s secretary of state.

Outnumbered and outmaneuvered by many in Bush’s inner circle who were determined to get rid of Iraq’s autocratic president Saddam Hussein, Powell was enlisted to justify the forthcoming American military invasion of Iraq on what Powell strongly suspected were spurious grounds. Powell, who was needed to make the case because he was the most trusted person in Bush’s cabinet, dutifully made the following infamous statement to the UN Security Council in accusing Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction and malevolence in their prospective deployment.

“My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources,” Powell said reassuringly. “These are not

assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.”

But as Powell suspected, his statement was indeed incorrect. Ambitious and misguided American advisers were pushing an erroneous narrative to justify their own plans, and the US has suffered for it ever since.

As the Guardian reported this week, “Powell’s statement marked a decisive moment in undermining US credibility on the world stage – all the more because of the then secretary of state’s repeated insistence that his claims were based on hard intelligence.”

To his credit, Colin Powell never ducked responsibility for misleading the Security Council and the rest of the world on that February day. He often expressed regret that instead of saluting his commander in chief and dignifying false information by repeating it at the UN, he could have simply resigned his position.

“Delivering that speech at the UN will appear in every obituary that will ever be written on me,” he said. And so it has.

••• COVID-19 claimed another life, much less celebrated but nonetheless significant, last month. A self-employed plumber living in Los Angeles, George Holliday, passed away with little notice.

It was Holliday who coincidentally videotaped the brutal beating by Los Angeles police officers of black truck driver Rodney King 30 years ago. LA cops kicked and tasered King, nearly killing him. Holliday’s tape helped create new accountability for police in the US. When a jury acquitted the officers in April 1992 of all charges, Los Angeles erupted in rioting, burning and looting that lasted for a full week.

PAGE 10, Thursday, October 21, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

REPORT URGES CHARGING BOLSONARO

A BRAZILIAN Senate report recommended pursuing crimes against humanity and other charges against President Jair Bolsonaro for allegedly bungling Brazil’s response to COVID-19 and contributing to the country having the world’s second-highest pandemic death toll.

Sen Renan Calheiros presented the proposal to a committee of colleagues that has spent six months investigating the Brazilian government’s management of the pandemic. The decision on whether to file most of the charges would be up to Brazil’s prosecutor-general, a Bolsonaro appointee and ally.

Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the threat of the coronavirus and touted misinformation and unproven COVID-19 treatments while ignoring international health guidelines on mask use and public activity. The 11-member Senate panel examined whether his actions caused many of Brazil’s more than 600,000 COVID-19 deaths.

RUSSIANS TO STAY OFF WORK FOR A WEEK PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin yesterday ordered most Russians to stay off work for a week starting later this month amid rising COVID-19 infections and deaths, and he strongly urged reluctant citizens to get vaccinated.

The government coronavirus task force reported 1,028 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest since the start of the pandemic. That brought Russia’s death toll to 226,353, by far the highest in Europe.

Putin said he supports the Cabinet’s proposal to introduce a nonworking period starting October 30 and extending through the following week, when four of seven days are already non-working, including a two-day state holiday. In some regions, he said the nonworking period could start as early as Saturday and be extended past November 7.

TONY Montalto wears a button in court yesterday bearing an image of his daughter, Gina Montalto, 14, who was killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings.

Photos: Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP,

Shooter admits school massacre FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida Associated Press

NIKOLAS Cruz pleaded guilty yesterday to murdering 17 people during a rampage at his former high school in Parkland, Florida, leaving a jury to decide whether he will be executed for one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings.

Relatives of the victims who sat in the courtroom and watched the hearing via Zoom broke down in tears and held hands across families as Cruz entered his pleas and later apologised for his crimes.

“Today we saw a cold and calculating killer confess to the murder of my daughter Gina and 16 other innocent victims at their school,” said Tony Montalto. His daughter was 14 and sitting outside her classroom when Cruz shot her at close range numerous times. “His guilty pleas are the first step in the judicial process but there is no change for my family. Our bright, beautiful, and beloved daughter Gina is gone while her killer still enjoys the blessing of life in prison.”

The guilty pleas will set the stage for a penalty trial in which 12 jurors will determine whether Cruz, 23, should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. Given the case’s notoriety, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer plans to screen thousands of prospective jurors. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on January 4.

PARKLAND school shooter Nikolas Cruz.

Cruz entered his pleas after answering a long list of questions from Scherer aimed at confirming his mental competency. He was charged with 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted firstdegree murder for those wounded in the February 14, 2018, attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, located just outside Fort Lauderdale.

As several parents shook their heads, Cruz apologised, saying, “I’m very sorry for what I did... I can’t live with myself sometimes.”

He also added that he wished it was up to the survivors to determine whether he lived or died.

Parents scoffed at Cruz’s statement as they left the courtroom, saying it seemed self-serving and aimed at eliciting unearned sympathy. Gena Hoyer, whose 15-year-old son Luke died in the shooting, saw it

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as part of a defence strategy “to keep a violent, evil person off death row”.

She said her son was “a sweet young man who had a life ahead of him and the person you saw in there today chose to take his life.

He does not deserve life in prison”.

Anthony Borges, a former Stoneman Douglas student who was shot five times and severely wounded, told reporters after the hearing that he accepted Cruz’s apology, but noted that it was not up to him to decide the confessed murderer’s fate.

“He made a decision to shoot the school,” Borges said. “I am not God to make the decision to kill him or not. That’s not my decision.

My decision is to be a better person and to change the world for every kid. I don’t want this to happen to anybody again. It hurts. It hurts. It really hurts. So, I am just going to keep going. That’s it.”

Cruz’s attorneys announced his intention to plead guilty during a hearing last week.

Following the pleas, former Broward State Attorney Mike Satz recounted the details of the murders. Cruz killed 14 students and three staff members on Valentine’s Day 2018 during a seven-minute rampage through a three-storey building at Stoneman Douglas, investigators said. They said he shot victims in the hallways and in classrooms with an AR-15

semiautomatic rifle, sometimes returning to the wounded to kill them with additional shots. Cruz had been expelled from Stoneman Douglas a year earlier after a history of threatening, frightening, unusual and sometimes violent behavior that dated back to preschool.

After Satz finished, the judge had to compose herself for several seconds before she began speaking again, her voice breaking.

The shootings caused some Stoneman Douglas students to launch the March for Our Lives movement, which pushes for stronger gun restrictions nationally.

Since days after the shooting, Cruz’s attorneys had offered to have him plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, saying that would spare the community the emotional turmoil of reliving the attack at trial. But Satz rejected the offer, saying Cruz deserved a death sentence, and appointed himself lead prosecutor. Satz, 79, stepped down as state attorney in January after 44 years, but remains Cruz’s chief prosecutor.

His successor, Harold Pryor, is opposed to the death penalty but has said he will follow the law. Like Satz, he never accepted the defense offer — as an elected official, that would have been difficult, even in liberal Broward County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2 to 1.

VACCINES FOR KIDS AGED FIVE WASHINGTON Associated Press CHILDREN ages five to 11 will soon be able to get a COVID-19 shot at their pediatrician’s office, local pharmacy and potentially even their school, the White House said Wednesday as it detailed plans for the expected authorisation of the Pfizer shot for elementary school youngsters in a matter of weeks.

Federal regulators will meet over the next two weeks to weigh the safety and effectiveness of giving low-dose shots to the roughly 28 million children in that age group.

Within hours of formal approval, which is expected after the Food and Drug Administration signs off and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel meets on Nov. 2-3, millions of doses

will begin going out to providers across the country, along with the smaller needles needed for injecting young children.

Within days of that, the vaccine will be ready to go into arms on a wide scale.

“We’re completing the operational planning to ensure vaccinations for kids ages five to 11 are available, easy and convenient,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said. “We’re going to be ready, pending the FDA and CDC decision.”

The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses three weeks apart and a two-week wait for full protection to kick in, meaning the first youngsters in line will be fully covered by Christmas.

Some parents can hardly wait.

Dr Sterling Ransone said his rural Deltaville, Virginia, office is already

getting calls from people asking for appointments for their children and saying, “I want my shot now.”

“Judging by the number of calls, I think we’re going to be slammed for the first several weeks,” said Ransone, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Justin Shady, a film and TV writer in Chicago, said his six-year-old daughter, Grey, got nervous when he told her she would be getting the shots soon. But he is bribing her with a trip to Disney World, and “she’s all in.’’

The family likes to travel, “we really just want to get back in the swing of seeing the world”,’ Shady said.

As for youngsters under five, Pfizer and Moderna are studying their vaccines in children down to 6 months old, with results expected later in the year.

SPORTS PAGE 11

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021

DENVER Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic (15) battles Phoenix Suns centre Deandre Ayton (22) for the ball during the first half of their NBA basketball game, Wednesday, in Phoenix.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

NBA season begins for Bahamian stars

DEANDRE AYTON (pictured left) started his NBA season with a flourish on Wednesday, leading the Phoenix Suns with 13 points in the first half and finishing with 15 points and six rebounds.

But it wasn’t enough to prevent defeat to the Denver Nuggets, 110-98.

Buddy Hield’s Sacramento Kings

fared better with a 124-121 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers with Hield finishing with 17 points.

Kai Jones didn’t feature for the Charlotte Hornets, but he did get to see them enjoy a 123-122 win over the Indiana Pacers.

• SEE PAGE 13

FERNANDER NAMED TO ROSTER OF SALT RIVER RAFTERS

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net DETROIT Tigers prospect Chavez Fernander received another major promotion on the path of his young Major League Baseball career.

Fernander was named to the roster of the Salt River Rafters and became the latest Bahamian prospect to earn a spot in the Arizona Fall League.

The AFL attracts many of the top prospects in the minor leagues. Late in the minor league seasons, MLB clubs hold a position draft to determine the players who will participate in the AFL. Most are Double-A and Triple-A players. The league is designed for these prospects to refine their skills and perform in game settings in front of major and minor league baseball scouts and team executives, who are in attendance at almost every game.

Several Bahamians have advanced to the AFL in recent history including Champ Stuart in 2016, Anfernee Seymour in 2017, Jazz Chisholm Jr and Lucius Fox in 2018.

Fernaner, a 23-year-old 6’3” right handed pitcher, completed his 2021 season with the Eerie Seawolves of the AA Northeast League.

In his brief time with the Seawolves, Fernander appeared in 22 games with one start. He went 1-1 in three starts with a 3.60 ERA and three saves in three opportunities.

In 40 innings he had 38 strikeouts.

The Seawolves were formerly of the Eastern League and the New York Penn League before the MLB restructured the minor league system for the 2021 season.

Fernander began the season with the Tigers’ High A-affiliate, the West Michigan Whitecaps. In 11 appearances with two starts, he posted an 1-1 SEE PAGE 12

THE CAMPAIGN to galvanise support for the fourth edition of the Don’t Blink Home Run Derby In Paradise was launched at Atlantis yesterday. Photos: Racardo Thomas/Tribune staff

Don’t Blink Home Run Derby in Paradise returns in December

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Don’t Blink Home Run Derby In Paradise has a new title sponsor and will look to extend the event to include several new initiatives when it returns to Bahamian shores later this year.

Event organisers Todd Isaacs Jr and Lucius Fox officially launched the campaign yesterday at the Atlantis Resort to galvanise support for the fourth edition of the event, scheduled for December 18.

After several years of involvement, the Atlantis Resort came on board as the title sponsor and were joined by several stakeholders at the launch, including REV, International Elite Baseball Academy and California based nonprofit - Mystical Builders.

The first three editions were hosted at the Montagu foreshore and the unique concept showcases the natural aesthetic of the Bahamas and the country’s young baseball talent.

“Our goal of the event is to always use this as a platform to highlight our Bahamian baseball players, our Bahamian athletes, and just show what the Bahamas consists of – our natural beauty and these beaches. We have the best beaches in the world,” Isaacs

TODD Isaacs Jr

LUCIUS Fox

said at yesterday’s press conference. “Being a baseball player, you wanted to really bring the two elements together. The most exciting part of the game, the home run, and then the most beautiful part of us being from the Bahamas, the beaches.

“So we decided to do something extremely crazy. Set up a stage and hit balls into the water.”

Traditionally hosted in early January, the derby has grown in stature to be showcased prominently by several international media outlets, including the MLB Network, and features both minor and major

league prospects from around the league.

“We play a sport that allows us to go places, see places, but, you know, at the end of the day, you have to really come home and use that platform to make it a better place. There were people before us, athletes before us, famous celebrities before us and their respective platforms that didn’t use their platform to build a bridge. We get to raise money, we get to do cool things. But the most important thing for us was to always find ways to get back in the community,” Isaacs said. “Here in the Bahamas

our best baseball field is in the prison. So that just goes to show the determination and skill that even despite the lack of funds, the lack of respect to the game, we still are able to produce the most professional athletes in the Bahamas, more than any other sport.”

Bo Bichette of the Toronto Bluejays won the inaugural event in 2018 and repeated as champion in 2019. Miami Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson captured the title in 2020. This year, the event has already drawn commitments from several past participants and the first of many new additions, Tampa Bay Rays infielder Wander Franco.

“As baseball players, we won’t be able to play baseball forever, but everything we do from day one for the rest of our lives in the community lasts forever,” Isaacs said, “Obviously, we all want this event to outlive all of us, and as a tradition I think that is going to be the coolest part of this whole process.”

In addition to the derby, the event has expanded to include a week-long schedule of activities.

Players and guests will arrive December 14 and the following day, the inaugural Don’t Blink Golf Invitational will take place – December 15. December 16 will feature the groundbreaking for renovations and new facilities at SEE PAGE 12

PAGE 12, Thursday, October 21, 2021

DON’T BLINK HOME RUN DERBY IN PARADISE RETURNS IN DECEMBER FROM PAGE 11 the Pinewood Baseball Park in a partnership between International Elite Baseball Academy and Magical Builders.

Magical Builders is nonprofit corporation that has managed the construction and renovation of dozens of charitable facilities throughout the United States.

“We worked out there everyday and just to turn that place into a beautiful complex would mean the world to us,” Fox said.

On Friday December 17, the participating players will host the annual kid’s clinic at the Atlantis Resort in Paradise Harbour for aspiring student-athletes. In 2020, the partnership with the Charles Johnson Foundation brought with it Major League Baseball’s Play Ball Initiative, the branch of the organisation which hosts kid’s camps around the world. The day will also feature another first on the Don’t Blink Calendar, a Celebrity Softball game featuring derby participants and local influencers.

Saturday, December 18 will be the main event at the Atlantis Resort.

“This is our party week and we are going to title it ‘Players in Paradise’” Fox said. “Every year we try to come up with unique ideas and this year we came up with pirates so the theme is ‘Pirates invade Paradise.’

We’re working on some nice jerseys so reach out to us to reserve yours as early as possible.”

Past year’s proceeds from the event have benefitted the Cancer Society of the Bahamas, the Sister Sister Breast Cancer Support Group and the Hurricane Dorian Relief Effort.

“It’s amazing for us to get this far. Everything is moving so fast, just having these sponsors believe in us and trust these young men to put on this event. Just hearing us out was a plus for us.

Just having our sponsors buy in to make this event bigger and better every year,” Fox said. “Sports has changed my life. It took me places I never knew existed. With more baseball being played, it creates more opportunities and more kids that can change their lives so we just want to inspire as many people as we can. You can accomplish anything you put your mind to and there are different avenues to do that. Whatever we can do to impact this country we plan to do our best to do that.”

Isaacs recently completed his inaugural season in the Frontier League with the New Jersey Jackals. The Frontier League is the largest league in all of independent professional baseball.

In just 50 games this season, Isaacs’ 11 home runs ranked second on the team behind the team leading 14, achieved in 75 games.

Isaacs hit .299 (fourth on the team) with 58 hits, including eight doubles, three triples, 31 RBI, scored 39 runs, seven stolen bases, slugging .541 with an .887 .OPS. The Jackals compete in the Northeast Division It includes teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Last year it merged with the American Association and the Atlantic League to become an official MLB Partner League.

Fox extended his hitting streak to 10 games to conclude his season of AAA baseball with the Omaha Storm Chasers in the Kansas City Royals organisation.

Fox had a strong conclusion to the season and produced six multi-hit games over the course of his 10 game hit streak and hit three two home runs.

On the season with the Storm Chasers, Fox, the 24-year No.26 prospect in the pipeline hit .245 with a .353 OBP, .729 OPS, 56 hits, five home-runs, 24 RBI, 44 runs scored and 19 stolen bases.

Earlier in the season, Fox became the eighth Bahamian to join a Major League Baseball roster for the regular season.

His brief call up lasted just a single game when the Kansas City Royals announced his promotion on July 30, hours ahead of a 6-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Canada. Fox did not make his official debut on the field in the contest and the following day, he was optioned back down to the Storm Chasers.

THE TRIBUNE

‘WHENEVER I’M CALLED ON . . . I’LL JUST GO OUT THERE AND HAVE FUN’

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

BUDDY Hield’s role has fluctuated during his tenure with the Sacramento Kings and many pundits expect the sixth year guard to take on a reserve role to begin the 2021-22 campaign.

Hield, who was the focus of trade rumours following a much maligned 2020-21 season, said his approach will remain the same irrespective of where he fits into head coach Luke Walton’s loaded backcourt which includes franchise cornerstone De’Aaron Fox, Rookie of the Year finalist Tyrese Haliburton and the no.9 overall pick in the 2021 Draft - Davion Mitchell.

“Whenever I’m called on, whatever the team wants me to do, I’ll just go out there and have fun,” Hield said on the final day of training camp prior to last night’s season opener, “Be the star in your role and whatever time I get out there, whatever shots I get up there be an All-Star in that, contribute to the team and whatever they need me to do.”

On draft night, Hield was rumoured to be the principle of a trade package that would have sent him to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the team eventually shifted toward the eventual deal to trade for Russell Westbrook.

He was also rumoured to be attached to a deal that could see him involved in a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons.

Despite the speculation, Heild said he is ready to move on and contribute to team development, due in

KINGS guard Buddy Hield is photographed during the NBA basketball team’s Media Day. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

large part to his relationship with Kings General Manager and President of Basketball Operations Monte McNair.

Hield contrasted his experience under McNair, with his experience with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2017 under GM Dell Demps.

“Monte has been real from the start since he came here. That’s why he knows there is a respect level there between both of us. He let me know what’s going on as a professional. When I was in New Orleans my GM didn’t let me know I got traded. He didn’t even let me know I was in trade conversations, I was a rookie, I just looked on ESPN and

TRAVIS Munnings

saw I was traded and it was shocking. All I knew was I had to go to Sacramento,” Hield said, “But Monte let me know what was happening. He let me know my name was up and told me if something happens he let me know something might happen and if it did they wished me all the best but if it didn’t they still want me to come back and light it up. That was a grown man conversation and I appreciated that. It was good and professional and I think having that dialogue with him was great for me as a basketball player. There is a lot of respect back and forth so there is no bad blood or anything.”

Hield and the Kings’

KINO Burrows

disappointing end to the 2020-21 season included an extension of the NBA’s longest playoff drought.

The Kings finished the season 31-41, the franchise’s 15th consecutive season without a playoff berth which tied an NBA record.

He ended the season with averages of 16.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. He also ranked fourth in the league with 2,433 minutes played.

Hield now has 1,065 threes during his tenure as a King, and will head into next season four shy of Peja Stojakovic’s franchise career record of 1,070.

He set a new career high for made threes in a single season with 282.

In March, he also became the fastest player to make 1,000 career made threepointers in NBA history.

Hield set the mark in just 350 games to reach the milestone faster than Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors who held the previous record of 369 games. The top four also includes the Warriors’ Klay Thompson (372 games) and Damian Lillard of the Portland Trailblazers (385 games).

He finished the season 39.1 percent from three point range, his worst year since his rookie season where he also shot 39.1 percent. He took 10.2 attempts last season, the highest of his career.

AARON Levarity

Bahamian players star for European basketball clubs

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net TRAVIS Munnings and Kino Burrows each posted season high scoring efforts for their new clubs to top the performances of Bahamian basketball players on the pro circuit in Europe.

Munnings had a standout performance against his former club and led Sporting Lisboa Benfica to a 97-70 win over UD Oliveriense Tuesday night.

The third year forward finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in just 22 minutes on the floor.

On the season, Munnings is averaging 9.1 points and 5.7 rebounds FROM PAGE 11 win-loss record with 18 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.86 in 18.2 innings.

He got his lone win on May 15 when he pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts in a 2-1 win over the Great Lakes

per game for Benfica as the team is out to a 3-0 record in the Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol (LPB).

The club will return to FIBA EuroCup play tonight when they match up against Parma.

In his debut season in the LPB, Munnings averaged 12.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game helped lead UD Oliveirense to a 19-7 regular season record. Benfica eliminated Oliveirense in the quarterfinals of last season’s playoffs.

Burrows scored a game high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds in just 18 minutes to help St. Thomas Basket Le Havre to a 79-72 win over Kayserberg The veteran forward moved into the starting lineup and is averaging

FERNANDER

Loons.

In 2019, he played with the Connecticut Tigers in the New York-Penn League. In 11 appearances with eight starts, he went 2-2 with a 2.31 ERA and 33

9.6 points and 4.6 rebounds through five games this season, his first with the club after spending his previous French seasons in the French ProB League.

Le Harve improved to 2-3, 10th in Group B. Last season, Burrows completed his second stint with the FOS Provence-Basket Byers of the LNB Pro B League. In 11 games, he averaged 6.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game en route to the Byers claiming the league championship and receiving a promotion to JEEP Elite Pro A for the second time in club history.

Aaron Levarity continues to be a leader for the Svendborg Rabbits of the Basketligaen in Denmark.

strikeouts in 35 innings.

In his first professional season, Fernander spent time with the GCL Tigers in the Gulf Coast League before a brief call up to Connecticut. He finished 4-1 with a 1.59 ERA, 41 strikeouts and five saves.

His series of standout

Levarity finished with 16 points, a game high 13 rebounds and four assists in yesterday’s 93-74 win over Amager yesterday. Svendborg improved to 5-0.

Earlier this week, he scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a dominant 116-74 win over seventh ranked Randers.

The third year pro is averaging a double double - 14 points and 11 rebounds per game. He is also averaging 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 68 percent from the floor.

In his first season with the club, Levarity is averaging a team leading 14.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.

performances on the mound led the Tigers to the league championship.

He recorded nine strikeouts over 5.1 innings in the deciding game.

Fernander was selected by the Detroit Tigers organisation in 2018 – the 35th round with the 1035th

overall pick. The 6’3” 205 pound right-handed pitcher was drafted out of Polk Community College after his sophomore season. In 17 appearances with nine starts, Fernander posted an 8-4 win-loss record with 63 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.09 in 58.1 innings.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 21, 2021, PAGE 13

DENVER Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic (15) moves the ball up court as Phoenix Suns centre Deandre Ayton (22) pursues during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, in Phoenix.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

SACRAMENTO Kings guard Buddy Hield, left, runs down the clock as Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, right, defends late during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore. The Kings won 124-121. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes)

NIKOLA JOKIC SCORES 27 POINTS, BARNES HAS 36 AND THE KINGS NUGGETS BEAT SUNS 110-98 SPOIL PORTLAND’S OPENER 124-121

By DAVID BRANDT AP Sports Writer

PHOENIX (AP) — Reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had 27 points and 13 rebounds, leading the Denver Nuggets past the Phoenix Suns 110-98 on Wednesday night in the opener for both teams.

The 26-year-old Jokic earned his first MVP award last season after averaging 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game.

The Serbian was up to his old tricks Wednesday, scoring on a crafty variety of hook shots, 3-pointers and flat-footed jumpers.

He was 13 of 22 from the field.

The Suns were playing three months after losing Game 6 of the NBA Finals to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Phoenix has returned much of the same roster, including the All-Star backcourt of Chris Paul and Devin Booker, to make another run at the title.

The teams were playing for the first time since the Suns swept the Nuggets in four games in the second round of last season’s Western Conference playoffs.

This time, it was Denver with the upper hand. Will Barton scored 20 points and Michael Porter Jr. added 15.

Mikal Bridges led

Phoenix with 16 points.

Paul had 15 points and 10 assists. The Suns struggled with their shooting in the fourth quarter, going nearly five minutes without scoring as the Nuggets took control.

Phoenix led 58-51 at halftime following a seesaw first half that saw the Nuggets take an early 25-16 advantage before the Suns rallied for a 57-41 lead late in the second. Denver had a late flurry — capped by Jokic’s 3-pointer at the buzzer — to cut the margin to seven points.

• MOTIVATED AYTON It was Ayton’s first game since the Suns opted not to extend the former No. 1 overall pick’s rookie contract by Monday’s deadline.

Ayton reportedly wanted a maximum deal, which would have been five years and worth $172 million.

The Suns weren’t willing to do that deal — at least not before the season — and the two sides ended negotiations without an agreement.

The 23-year-old Ayton changed the trajectory of his career during last year’s playoffs, helping push the Suns to the NBA Finals.

He contributed 15.8 points and 11.8 rebounds while shooting 66% and providing stellar defence.

Ayton started with a flourish on Wednesday, leading the Suns with 13 points in the first half. He finished with 15 points and six rebounds.

• FOOTPRINT CENTRE The Suns changed their arena name from Phoenix Suns Arena to the Footprint Center — which is a sustainable technology firm that took over as title sponsor — midway through last year’s NBA Finals.

The new name is not off to a good start. They’re now 0-2 with the name, losing Game 5 of the Finals and Wednesday’s opener.

• TIP-INS Nuggets: G Jamal Murray was working out before the game, putting up shots. He’s rehabbing a torn ACL in his left knee suffered last season.

Suns: Though most of the roster is the same, G Landry Shamet and C JaVale McGee both made their Suns debuts.

Shamet finished with 11 points and McGee added six points and eight rebounds.

• UP NEXT Nuggets: Host San Antonio on Friday night.

Suns: At Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.

BALL SCORES 31 TO RALLY HORNETS PAST PACERS 123-122

By ELI PACHECO Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — LaMelo Ball scored 31 points, hitting seven 3-pointers, and the Charlotte Hornets used a 24-0 third period run to battle back and beat the Indiana Pacers 123-122 on Wednesday night.

Indiana led 122-121 on Torrey Craig’s foul shots with 12.7 left. P.J. Washington made two free throws with 4.6 seconds left before Domantas Sabonis missed from 11 feet to seal the Hornets’ win.

The run ignited a home crowd of 15,521 that had little to cheer for at that point.

“The building had been pretty dead in the first half,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “A lot of that was we were playing well. But they got going and the energy in the building got going, and when that happens, crazy things happen in this league.”

Ball scored 12 points in the third-period run and finished with nine rebounds and seven assists. Gordon Hayward scored 27 for Charlotte, which got 14 each from newcomers Kelly Oubre Jr. and Ish Smith.

Miles Bridges had 13 and Cody Martin 10 for the Hornets, who played without last year’s leading scorer Terry Rozier.

Borrego said pregame that Rozier would test his sprained left ankle and undergo tests before the team would determine his status. He was ruled out shortly before tipoff.

Sabonis scored 33 points with 15 rebounds, Malcolm Brogdon had 28, and Chris Duarte chipped in with 27 for Indiana, which had a 21-point lead early in the second half. Justin Holiday added 11 for the Pacers.

Both teams had to overcome doubledigit leads in the second half to set up a tense finish.

Indiana led the entire first half and appeared set for a second straight runaway victory in the series. In May, the Pacers’ 20-7 opening run led to a 144-117 rout in a play-in game.

Wednesday, as Indiana pushed its lead past 20 to start the second half, Charlotte began its monstrous run with 8:48 to play in the third. Sabonis’ basket gave Indiana an 84-63 lead. Ball took over from there, scoring 12 of Charlotte’s 24 consecutive points, including two 3-pointers and a dunk.

Smith’s basket gave Charlotte its first double-digit lead at 106-96. During the 24-0 Charlotte run, Indiana shot 0-for-8 and committed five turnovers over a 5 1/2-minute span. The Hornets outscored Indiana 33-13 in the period.

“We picked up the ball and made them feel us all third quarter,” Hornets coach James Borrego said.

Brogdon’s 3-pointer pushed the Pacers

CHARLOTTE Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (2) drives to the basket while guarded by Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell (9) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman) ahead 110-109 and wiped out a 10-point deficit. Neither team could forge a lead of more than five the rest of the way.

• HONOURING RICK The team held a moment of silence for Charlotte Observer writer Rick Bonnell, who died unexpectedly in June. The Hornets established a scholarship in Bonnell’s name. “We miss him,” Borrego said pregame. “He was a dear friend and someone that I had a lot of respect for.”

• FIGURING OUT ROTATIONS Carlisle said he had an idea for the team’s rotation with second-unit players mixed in.

He’s dealing with a roster turnover reminiscent of his days with the Mavericks, just after Dallas won an NBA championship, in 2011.

“I hope it is going to be effective,” he said. The first game of the season, new situation ... but that is the plan.”

• TIP-INS Pacers: First-round pick Duarte, one of four rookies on the roster and the team’s leading scorer in the preseason, started for Indiana.

Hornets: Ball became the youngest player with at least 30 points, five rebounds, and five assists in a season opener. His final line: 31 points, nine rebounds, seven assists. … Mason Plumlee led Charlotte with 10 rebounds in his debut with the team. …

Charlotte won a season opener for the first time since 2019, against Chicago.

• UP NEXT: Pacers: At Washington on Friday night.

Hornets: At Cleveland on Friday night.

By ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Harrison Barnes scored 36 points and De’Aaron Fox added 27, and the Sacramento Kings spoiled Portland’s season opener under new coach Chauncey Billups with a 124121 victory over the Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

Richaun Holmes had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Kings, who led by as many as 18 points in the third quarter.

Portland rallied in the fourth. Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic made back-toback layups to get the Blazers within 117-111 with 3:49 to go, and Norman Powell’s 3-pointer cut the margin to three.

Barnes hit a 3-pointer to push the Kings’ lead to 120-114 with 1:39 left. After Buddy Hield’s free throws gave Sacramento a 122-117 lead, McCollum and Lillard both hit baskets — but Lillard’s 3-point attempt to win it was off.

McCollum finished with 32 points and Lillard added 18 points and 11 assists.

The Trail Blazers were coming off a winless preseason, losing all by an average of 23.7 points.

Portland finished 42-30 last season and earned the sixth seed in the Western Conference. But the playoffs ended quickly with Denver eliminating the Blazers in the opening round.

The team parted ways with longtime coach Terry Stotts following the season and hired Billups, who made his regular-season debut as a head coach on Wednesday.

The Kings went 31-41 last season and finished tied for 11th in the Western Conference. It was the 15th straight season the Kings have missed the postseason.

Fox got off to a fast start for the Kings with 10 points in the opening quarter. Sacramento led by as many 13 points en route to a 62-49 lead at halftime.

Fox, who was Sacramento’s leader last season with an average of 25.2 points a game, finished the first half with 16 points to lead all scorers.

The Kings extended the lead to as many as 18 points in the third quarter, but Portland began to pull closer midway through the period and Nassir Little’s 3-pointer got the Blazers to within 88-79.

The Blazers swept the Kings 3-0 last season.

• TIP INS Kings: Forward Marvin Bagley III was not in the starting lineup, following reports that he would not be in the rotation for the opener. Kings coach Luke Walton would not discuss the situation.

“I’m not getting into any of that. For me, we’re a team.

“We’ve have a plan, we know what that plan is, and we’re going to need everyone this season.”

Trail Blazers: Coach Chauncey Billups said before the game that Little’s minutes would be restricted because of a lingering hamstring injury. ... Norman Powell appeared to hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter but it was later taken away on review because he was judged to be outof-bounds. ... Lillard, entering his 10th NBA season, broke into the NBA’s top 100 career scoring list with his 13th point of the night.

• UP NEXT The Kings host the Utah Jazz on Friday.

The Blazers host the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

PAGE 14, Thursday, October 21, 2021

RONALDO SAVES MAN UNITED AGAIN WITH LATE WINNER

PIQUÉ SCORES IN WIN FOR BARCELONA BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — It took one of Barcelona’s veterans to keep the Catalan club from facing an early elimination in the Champions League.

Gerard Piqué’s firsthalf goal equaled a Champions League scoring mark for defenders and helped Barcelona edge Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 on Wednesday to end its losing streak and get back in position to advance to the knockout stage of the European competition.

Piqué scored his 16th Champions League goal to secure the crucial win for Barcelona, which had opened with consecutive 3-0 losses to Bayern Munich and Benfica and was in danger of not getting past the group stage for the first time since 2000-01.

“After the first two group games, with no points and no goals, this victory was so important to give ourselves a chance to be in the mix until the end of the group stage,” Piqué said.

The win put the Catalan club in third place in Group E, two points in front of Dynamo and one behind Benfica, which lost 4-0 to leader Bayern later Wednesday. Bayern reached nine points from three matches.

It was Barcelona’s second win in a row after it had won only once in six matches in all competitions.

It had been winless in five straight Champions League games, its longest run without a win since 1997. It had lost its last three Champions League matches at home for its worst streak ever in the European competition.

“We can’t waste so many opportunities, we were playing for our lives,” Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman said.

“We could have scored more.”

Piqué opened the scoring with a one-timer from close range after a cross

by Jordi Alba across the area in the 36th minute, joining former Real Madrid left back Roberto Carlos as the top-scoring defender in the Champions League. Piqué had been tied with former Madrid central defenders Sergio Ramos and Iván Helguera with 15 goals.

“For a defender he has scored a lot of goals,” Alba said of Piqué. “I gave him a nice caramel there. I asked him to thank me for it ... As a kid, he loved to go up and play as a striker so he’s a good finisher.”

THE TRIBUNE

MANCHESTER United’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring their side’s third goal of the game during the Champions League Group F soccer match between Manchester United and Atalanta at Old Trafford, Manchester, England, Wednesday. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP) MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo fell to his knees at the final whistle and looked to the sky as Manchester United’s fans sang his name.

The Portugal star had saved his team again in the Champions League.

The greatest scorer in the competition’s history soared to head in an 81st-minute winner as United erased a two-goal halftime deficit to beat Atalanta 3-2 in a wild match at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

“That’s just what he does,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.

Ronaldo’s record-extending 138th goal in the Champions League came three weeks after he scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to snatch a victory over Villarreal in the second round of games.

This time, the goal came earlier — and was a trademark header with hang time and unerring accuracy after meeting a cross from Luke Shaw that was whipped in

from deep on the left.

“His leap, his timing — it was the perfect header,” United captain Harry Maguire said. “He has come up with a massive goal again in the Champions League.”

United keeps doing it the hard way in this season’s competition.

Outplayed There was the surprising loss to Young Boys in the first game, after Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s first-half red card. Then a come-from-behind 2-1 win against Villarreal after being outplayed for large parts at Old Trafford.

Now this comeback against Atalanta, which moved United into first place in Group F — two points above the Italian side and Villarreal.

Atalanta took a two-goal lead thanks to goals by Mario Pašalic — a tap-in in the 15th minute after United’s defence was caught off guard by a quickly taken free kick

— and Merih Demiral’s header from a corner in the 29th.

United, which came into the game with just two wins from its last seven games in all competitions, was jeered off the field at halftime.

However, Solskjaer’s team showed a different side in the second half, laying siege to Atalanta’s goal as Marcus Rashford — on his first start this season after injury — reduced the deficit in the 53rd with a calm finish following a delicious outside-of-the-foot pass behind the defense by Bruno Fernandes.

Maguire, who was partly at fault for Atalanta’s goals, swept in the equaliser in the 75th after Fernandes’ cross made its way past a number of players and to the back post where the England defender was lurking.

Ronaldo had the final say, not just through his goal — his sixth in eight games since returning for a second spell at United — but also through his last-ditch clearance

in the final seconds that sparked a roar from the home fans.

Ronaldo was playing his 300th game for the club.

The win relieves some of the pressure on Solskjaer, who vowed to make changes to the team to restore some balance after a sobering 4-2 loss to Leicester on Saturday.

He was true to his word, dropping Paul Pogba and pairing Scott McTominay and Fred to give more energy in central midfield.

Initially, it didn’t work, with Atalanta still managing to pick off United in the first half.

The momentum of the game swung at halftime, with Atalanta looking less assured at the back after Demiral was forced off at the break because of injury.

The visitors were already without defenders Rafael Tolói — the captain — Berat Djimsiti, Robin Gosens and Hans Hateboer for the match, and United took advantage of Atalanta’s makeshift backline in the second half.

LUKAKU AND WERNER INJURED AS CHELSEA BEAT MALMO 4-0

LONDON (AP) — Injuries to strikers Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner marred Chelsea’s impressive 4-0 win over Malmo in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Lukaku sustained a twisted right ankle getting fouled for a penalty that was converted by Jorginho for the second goal in the 21st minute, adding to the opener volleyed in by Andreas Christensen in the ninth minute for his first goal for Chelsea.

The Belgium international initially tried to play on but before long Lukaku was signaling to be substituted.

Werner, the strike partner of Lukaku, then had to come off with a hamstring injury just before halftime at Stamford Bridge.

Kai Havertz came on as the replacement for Lukaku and lifted a deft finish over the goalkeeper for the third goal in the 48th minute at the end of a breakaway led by fellow substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Jorginho eschewed his trademark penalty routine — the hop, skip and sidefoot shot — for his first-half penalty and he repeated that with another spot kick in the 57th minute to make it 2-0 after a foul on Antonio Rudiger.

The result of the spot kick was the same, with Jorginho curling a shot

CHELSEA’S JORGINHO, right, celebrates with Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell after scoring his side’s second goal during the Champions League group H soccer match between Chelsea and Malmo at the Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

right down the middle.

Chelsea, the defending champion, bounced back from a loss at Juventus in the second round of games and is in second place in Group H. Chelsea is three points behind the Italian team and three ahead of Zenit St. Petersburg, which lost 1-0 to Juventus in the group’s other game.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel couldn’t give a definitive timeframe of the absences of Lukaku and Werner, and said it gave a chance for

the other forwards in the squad to impress.

“The two were in good shape, they are dangerous and can create and score, so now we need to find solutions,” Tuchel said, “and guys who waited for their chance need to step up and score.

“The race is on, the guys who start against Norwich (in the Premier League on Saturday) have our trust.”

Malmo, the Swedish champion, has lost all three of its group games and has yet to score so far in the Champions League.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, October 21, 2021, PAGE 15

SRI LANKA BEATS IRELAND TO ADVANCE IN T20 WORLD CUP ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Sri Lanka advanced to the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup by beating Ireland by 70 runs on Wednesday, led by allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga’s 71 off 47 balls.

The win meant the Netherlands was eliminated from Group A after Namibia had earlier defeated the Dutch team by six wickets.

Sri Lanka slipped to 8-3 inside the first 10 deliveries before Hasaranga and opener Pathum Nissanka (61) wiped out Ireland hopes and carried the former

champion to a daunting 171-7.

Ireland was bowled out for 101 all out with nine balls to spare despite Sri Lanka dropping a couple of easy catches.

Only captain Andy Balbirnie (41) and Curtis Campher (24) reached double figures as Ireland crumbled against Sri Lankan pace and spin.

“Of course it was a concern at 8 for 3, but they put on an awesome partnership,” captain Dasun Shanaka said while praising Hasaranga and Nissanka’s century stand. “Have to look at toporder batting, but other areas

are okay, though fielding has been poor as well.”

Hasaranga, promoted in the batting order at No. 5, smashed 10 fours and a six and raised a 123-run stand as Sri Lanka recovered from a top order collapse as it did against Namibia in the first game. Fast bowler Josh Little (4-23) had clean bowled Dinesh Chandimal (6) and Avishka Fernando in the second over after Kusal Perera was caught low in the covers by Gareth Delany in Paul Stirling’s first over.

Hasaranga was finally caught at point off Mark

Adair’s (2-35) slower delivery in the 16th over before Little grabbed two more wickets that included the wicket of Nissanka, who was caught behind.

The winner of Ireland vs.

Namibia on Friday will join Sri Lanka in advancing to the Super 12 stage.

• NAMIBIA WINS David Wiese’s unbeaten 60 off 40 balls helped Namibia beat the Netherlands by six wickets.

Wiese struck five sixes and four boundaries as Namibia reached 166-4 with an over

to spare.

The Netherlands had earlier scored 164-4 with opening batsman Max O’Dowd getting 70 off 56 balls. Scott Edwards added 21 off 11 balls.

Wiese qualified to play for Namibia because his father was born in the country. It is Wiese’s second World Cup after representing South Africa five years ago in the T20 World Cup. “It (feels) is awesome, to be honest,” Wiese said.

“Means a lot to me, in a World Cup on international stage is special and to put

in a big performance for Namibia, I’m glad to get this opportunity to play international cricket.”

The experience of Wiese came in handy for Namibia as he dominated a 93-run partnership with captain Gerhard Erasmus, who made 32.

Netherlands skipper Piter Seelaar (1-8) used seven bowlers, but Wiese and Erasmus played aggressively in the latter half of the runchase to register Namibia’s maiden victory.

Seelaar bowled only two overs, not using his quota of four overs.

PAGE 16, Thursday, October 21, 2021

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