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VOLUME:117 No.242, NOVEMBER 12TH, 2020

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INSIDE

‘WE CAN’T KEEP PUTTING IT OFF’

Port warns long delayed breakwater repairs have now reached crisis point

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net REPAIRS to Nassau Harbour’s “severely damaged” breakwaters are a national “imperative” that cannot be delayed due to the “significant threat” posed to tourism, cruise and commercial shipping.

Arawak Port Development Company (APD), in a stark warning in its just-released 2020 annual report, said existing breaches in both breakwaters - one up to 350ft long - were already impacting its ability to service vessels at the Nassau Container Port as well as the piloting of

cruise ships pre-COVID-19.

Targeting a problem first flagged three years ago, but about which seemingly nothing has been done, APD said it had formed an alliance with the Nassau Harbour Pilots Association in a bid to source financing and construction services to address the breaches prior to a Hurricane Dorian-style storm hitting Nassau.

The port operator said it had hired two US-based companies to provide proposals for repairing the breakwaters, which guard the entrances to both Nassau Harbour and Arawak Cay.

SEE PAGE THREE

FRONT PORCH

THE GUARDIANS OF DEMOCRACY? AFTER FOUR YEARS OF TRUMP?

PAGE EIGHT

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced that 24-hour weekend curfews and other restrictive measures will take effect for Exuma in light of the recent surge of COVID-19 cases on that island.

He said the surge began following the October holiday weekend and two major social events that were held.

There have been 30 confirmed cases on Exuma in the past two weeks and 79 overall cases.

SEE PAGE FOUR

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

understands that starting Tuesday night at least some guests received notices requiring them to pay fines of up to $1,000 for failing to social distance and for attending a wedding reception.

When asked to verify yesterday how much the guests were fined, Police Commissioner Paul Rolle could not give specifics but noted that penalties are outlined “in the emergency orders”.

“I think they say $200 for each ticket,” he said.

L SOUR CE

SPIKE IN CASES PUTS EXUMA IN MEASURES

POLICE FINE WEDDING PARTY FOR BREACH OF ORDERS GUESTS of a wedding that broke COVID-19 protocols last Friday have been fined for attending the wedding reception and failing to socially distance.

The event has grabbed headlines because the groom was Xavier Knowles, a communications officer at the Ministry of Health, while Carlyle Bethel, a son of Attorney General Carl Bethel and president of the Free National Movement Torchbearers Association, was a part of the bridal party.

The Tribune

$1

SANDILANDS PATIENT DIES

BY SUICIDE

A NATION’S THANKS PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis leaving a wreath of remembrance yesterday at the cenotaph in Rawson Square. See page two for more.

$580M ABACO PROJECT D’AGUILAR ADMITS WE MOVES TO KEY STAGE WEREN’T QUITE READY

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE viability of a $580m South Abaco project has been “stretched” to satisfy environmental concerns.

The Tyrsoz Family Holdings development, said he was “extremely conscious” of the issues raised by his proposed development, pictured.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguialr yesterday said the domestic travel visa will “roll-out by Friday at the latest” as he admitted the government had “absolutely” under-estimated the COVID-19 testing regime’s complexity.

Mr D’Aguilar said he wished to “apologise” for any disruption caused by implementing a virus testing and tracing regime that could be “very inconvenient”.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

A WOMAN died after attempting suicide at Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre on Sunday.

The Public Hospital Authority confirmed the news in a press statement yesterday.

While they did not identify the woman, PHA said she was 52 years old.

The patient, according to PHA, tried to kill herself at the rehabilitation centre on Sunday and was subsequently taken to the Princess Margaret Hospital.

SEE PAGE THREE

STATESIDE

WITHOUT COVID, WOULD TRUMP HAVE WON?

SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Thursday, November 12, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Leaders honour nation’s veterans PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and other officials paid tribute to the country’s war veterans yesterday by laying wreaths at the Cenotaph in Rawson Square in honour of Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day is observed by The Bahamas and countries throughout the British Commonwealth to memorialise veterans who served during World Wars I and II in the British Army.

This year, members of the British Legion-Bahamas Branch along with highranking officials attended a scaled-down wreath-laying ceremony to remember the men and women who served during the first and second World Wars.

Officials who paid their respects yesterday included Governor General CA

Smith and Police Commissioner Paul Rolle.

The chairman/treasurer of the British Legion Bahamas Branch, Adina Munroe-Charlow, who was also present at yesterday’s brief ceremony, spoke to reporters on the sidelines about the importance of Remembrance Day. “In World War II, 300 men served from The Bahamas and 11 women. As you can see in Rawson Square, we would have seven registered World War II veterans surviving and one female veteran,” she said.

“And so, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the ending of World War II today. In spite of COVID19, we must remember them and we cannot forget those who sacrificed their lives 75 years ago for the freedom that we have today.”

Y O U R D O N AT I O N T O D A Y CAN HELP FEED THOUSANDS Join Super Value in its commitment of $100,000 to the Bahamas Feeding Network and help ease the pain of hunger in The Bahamas.

Your donation will provide food parcels, every two weeks, to thousands of families whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19 since March.

Make a donation at the cashier of your favourite grocery store today.

No amount is too large or too small.

676.2636 www.bahamasfeedingnetwork.org

NO PRECLEARANCE CHANGE FOR BAHAMASAIR FLIGHTS BAHAMASAIR has said requirements to travel on the airline to the United States have not changed, adding preclearance requirements for Bahamians remain the same.

In a press statement yesterday, the airline reminded passengers that the operational hours for US Customs and Border Protection at Lynden Pindling International Airport at 9am to 6.30pm.

Passengers boarding a Bahamasair flight leaving

within this time frame have the ability to use a US visa or Bahamian police record once US travel conditions are met.

Further, Bahamasair said its first flight to Miami UP 221 leaves LPIA at 6.45am.

As this flight is presently outside the normal US preclearance hours, those on this flight are required to post clear using US Customs and Border Protection facilities in Miami and will therefore need to have a US visa.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, November 12, 2020, PAGE 3

Police fine wedding party for breach from page one Asked if the fines were a slap on the wrist, he said: “Slap on the wrist by who?

Couldn’t be me. We took the appropriate action and I’m satisfied with the actions which my officers took.”

Commissioner Rolle said officers observed no breaches of COVID-19 restrictions when they visited the wedding on Friday in response to complaints from people. He surmised that the scene at the wedding changed after officers left.

“The original story, which I’ve seen, it started off with inaccuracies,” he said.

“The police received calls and officers responded to that place and there was nothing amiss. After the officers left, obviously things went awry and they received a call later when I think everything was over.

“We’ve asked persons to call the hotline when we see these incidents happening and let us know. The information was brought to my attention and we took the necessary action of dealing with it as we are required as law enforcement officers.

“We took the appropriate action. Persons were cited. You saw the papers this morning. I think in one of them, I’m not going to go into the details of who all were cited, but I’m saying we took the appropriate action and I’m satisfied with the actions my officers took.”

Commissioner Rolle was

asked to respond to criticism that some people are allowed to get away with breaking rules while others aren’t.

“I’ve said in many instances that the police are answerable to the law and so we enforce the laws and there are times where we’re able to use discretion and where we are able to use discretion we do that,” he said. “I don’t get into that particular conversation because we live in a democracy and persons have a freedom to express their opinions. I believe in one or two instances there may have been cases where persons who, when you say less fortunate and I think it is fair to say…everyone has to abide by the law, whether they be under-fortunate or unfortunate or over-fortunate or whatever. That’s the best way I think I can respond to that.”

Torchbearers President Mr Bethel offered an apology on Tuesday in relation to the event.

“I want to state emphatically that I had no part in planning and executing the wedding,” he said. “I apologise if my judgment to stand in the wedding has caused any disappointment or concern.

“This COVID-19 pandemic is very serious. I have seen first-hand some of its devastating affects on lives through my outreach and community service efforts to assist those in need. I believe that if we all do our part and assist others, then we can make it through this together.”

CARLYLE Bethel and others at the wedding last Friday.

ADVICE SOUGHT OVER CURFEW INFRACTIONS ON POLICE RECORDS POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle says he’s seeking guidance over matters related to curfew infractions that have been recorded on police records.

There has been much discussion on social media surrounding the issue after a photo circulated showing what appeared to be a police record documenting that an offence as “breach of curfew order” along with

a sentence of $400 or two months in prison for failing to pay the fine.

Some have said the action labels people who commit a minor curfew offence as criminals.

Mr Rolle said: “Prior to the change in the amendments in the Emergency Powers Orders that permits police to issue tickets, those original and those initial ones of the persons who

appeared before the courts those will be recorded as convictions.”

“I had a look at that last night we’ll be seeking guidance on that as to the way forward in terms with how we will deal with those. I should be able to advise you better after my consultation with the attorney general on the way forward in dealing with those matters.”

He also said: “The persons who receive the tickets today they have a pay period. If they pay within that period, then there’s no record. If they decide to challenge it, they go before the court and they get convicted. That is a conviction that will be recorded. That is what had taken place in the first round and I think a lot of times I have seen some

of the comments being made on social media in ignorance.”

“I have undertaken though to try and get clarification. We don’t want to see people having convictions, but that is the law. That has to be now corrected or adjusted in legislation.

That’s not the domain of the commissioner. That has to be addressed elsewhere.”

Asked how many were included in the first round of ticketing, Mr Rolle said: “I don’t have the numbers here before me. I am saying that whatever those numbers are, we don’t want it to be an impediment to persons so whether the authorities decide to make it a civil penalty or a criminal penalty then whichever we’ll just let the law take its course with that.”

NEW RECRUITS FOLLOW IN FOOTSTEPS OF DR JUDSON ENEAS FOLLOWING the tragic COVID-19 death of Dr Judson Eneas, founder and medical director of RenalMed Associates Medical Centre, the facility has welcomed two new doctors to its team.

Despite the great loss faced by the management and staff of RenalMed, compounded by the COVID-19 global pandemic, the team there has expressed a renewed optimism with the arrival of doctors Mucomba Millar and Monique Pratt.

“Although this year has not been easy on any of us, we are very grateful to have two esteemed medical doctors join our team in the persons of Dr Mucomba Millar and Dr Monique Pratt,” said Mrs Marcheta Eneas, Executive Director of RenalMed Associates Ltd. Both doctors bring with them internationally recognised expertise and track records that have set them apart from industry peers, the facility said in a press statement Wednesday.

Dr Mucomba Millar was born and raised in Nassau. He obtained his

DR Monique Pratt and Dr Mucomba Millar. medical degree at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. His residency in Family Medicine was at the Bahamas campus of the University of the West Indies and completed fellowships in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, World Laparoscopy Hospital in New Delhi, India, and the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology in Hyderabad, India.

Dr Millar is currently a consultant with the Public Hospitals Authority and has a special interest in cancer prevention and screening.

Dr Millar said: “I am very

honored to work with this phenomenal team to serve present and future patients of RenalMed in this new capacity.”

Dr Monique Pratt will be serving as Medical Director.

She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. She subsequently attended graduate school at Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Science/Extension School in Cambridge, Massachusetts receiving a Master of Liberal Arts degree with a concentration in Biochemistry; also completing Post Baccalaureate Medical School

Preparatory Programme at the Hahnemann University Medical School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“I am looking forward to building upon the legacy of Dr Eneas and continuing to provide high-quality care to kidney and internal medicine patients,” said Dr Pratt.

Her background also includes being awarded a two-year clinical research grant for Hypertension and Vascular Biology from the National Institute of Health. She completed her research fellowship at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama.

She is a primary author on numerous high-ranked, peer-reviewed medical journals and book chapters published throughout the United States. During this time, she became a sub-specialist in Nephrology (kidney disease) and Hypertension, after receiving her fellowship training at the Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC She has received many awards and honours during her career and was recognized and ranked as one of

SANDILANDS PATIENT DIES BY SUICIDE from page one

However, officials said she was pronounced dead at the hospital upon arrival.

PHA said investigations

are continuing into the matter.

There have been several suicide attempts this year.

On September 19, a Grand Bahama woman was saved from taking her own life after she was found in

the sea.

The incident came less than a week after police said a 29-year-old Grand Bahama man was in hospital following a suspected attempted suicide incident at Eight Mile Rock.

And nearly two weeks earlier, police in Nassau said a concerned citizen rescued a man from his car after he drove off Montagu Ramp into the waters below in an attempted suicide.

the “Top 10 Nephrologists in Florida” after practising for only four years privately in West Palm Beach, prior to returning home to The Bahamas.

She has professional membership with the American Medical Association, American Society of Nephrology, American Society of Hypertension, and the National Kidney Foundation.

Dr Pratt is currently a Consultant in Medicine and

Nephrology for the Public Hospitals Authority and is the host of Ask the Doctor, a health tips feature broadcast on ZNS TV. RenalMed Associates Medical Centre is a top medical facility providing Hemodialysis, Internal Medicine and Family Practice services; offering its patients specialized care for renal disease, total healthcare solutions and the highest quality of preventive care.

PAGE 4, Thursday, November 12, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

PAHO: Don’t use antigen test at borders to detect virus

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net AS The Bahamas’ tourism market reopens, the Pan American Health Organization is not recommending the use of antigen rapid test at our borders for detection of the deadly COVID-19 virus on our guests, nor does that organization recommend laboratory testing prior to travel and upon arrival.

During the weekly PAHO Webinar, designed to give regional updates on COVID-19, PAHO official Dr Sylvain Aldighier, said firstly the antigen tests should not stand alone.

“Regarding The Bahamas, you have to take into account, antigen based rapid test is to complement

the PCR test, but is to remain the gold standard,” said Dr Aldighier. “It is mainly for use at primary health care levels. PAHO does not recommend the use of antigen detection tests in asymptomatic patients.

“So in fact it is not recommended for travellers who, by definition, should not be symptomatic. PAHO also does not recommend the use of laboratory testing as the main testing for entry before travel and after arrival into a country.

It creates a false sense of screening. PAHO is recommending much more comprehensive health monitoring and information on the travellers as it relates to their non-essential travels.”

Dr Aldighier said in The Bahamas, the complement of antigen tests

and PCR tests is better for detection of COVID-19 at primary healthcare levels and community levels in symptomatic patients.

Dr Jarbas Barbosa, Asst Director, PAHO, has commended The Bahamas for taking swift action in robust contract tracing to prevent a massive spread from recent spikes in COVID-19.

“In the Caribbean, thanks to effective disease monitoring, countries like The Bahamas took swift action, including robust contact tracing, to prevent the spikes reported in recent weeks from blossoming out-of-control,” Dr Barbosa said.

“Over the last week, there was an average of 150,000 daily cases of COVID-19 reported in the Americas. Since the start of the pandemic, almost 22

Spike in cases puts Exuma in measures from page one Twenty-eight people are active cases, two people are hospitalised and one person from Exuma has died from COVID-19.

During a brief address yesterday evening, Dr Minnis said there will be a 24-hour weekend curfew starting Friday at 6pm and ending Mondays at 5am.

“During the weekend curfew, business operations will not be allowed,” he said. “The weekdays curfew, Monday to Friday, will be from 6pm to 5am.

“Commercial activity may continue as normal during the week, except as follows: fish fry, bars, and restaurants connected to bars, will be closed.

“Private and public social gatherings are not allowed.

Funeral services may take place at the graveside only and will be limited to ten people, not including the officiant and caretakers.

Weddings will be limited to ten people, not including the officiant. Repasts and receptions are prohibited for weddings and funerals.

Church services may take place only by virtual means.

A maximum of ten persons may provide live stream services from the sanctuary. In person classroom instruction is also prohibited but may take place by virtual means.”

Dr Minnis said beginning today domestic travel by air

or sea in and out of Exuma will be prohibited, “except in an emergency and where approved by the director of civil aviation or the chairman of the Bahamas Maritime Authority.”

“Anyone traveling from Exuma to any other island in the Bahamas will be required to have a negative COVID-19 RT PCR test to leave Exuma, except where exemptions are provided for in the emergency powers order,” he said.

Acknowledging the short notice of his announcement, Dr Minnis said his measures are critical in containing the spread of COVID-19.

Exuma’s newly appointed administrator, Margaret Symonette, said yesterday she identified a recent social gathering as the cause of the spike.

In an interview with The Tribune, Mrs Symonette said the social event happened before her arrival on the island nearly two weeks ago.

She said she was informed by residents in the community that many of the people, who recently tested COVID positive, had attended the party.

Officials said 19 new cases were confirmed on the island yesterday.

“I just got here a week or two ago and they said it happened just before I got here. My first time in Exuma,” she said.

“I was told that they had

a party in a certain area and these (cases) are stemming from that party,” she said. “They were probably exposed to whoever was at that party.”

However, Mrs Symonette said she could not say how many people attended the gathering, adding that many of them had not worn masks properly.

“I don’t have a count but they said a lot of young people. I understand that some of them had masks on, but the mask wasn’t covering their nose and mouth. They just had the masks below their mouth.

They had the masks on, but it was just covering below their chin.”

Mrs Symonette described the rise of cases as “concerning.”

Dr Minnis also addressed a matter that has roiled many Bahamians in recent days: the re-implementation of a 14-day quarantine requirement for people traveling from New Providence to Family Islands. He said this requirement will only be in place for a short time.

“We anticipate that it will be lifted once the domestic health screening survey is implemented, consistent with the international health screening survey,” he said.

The prime minister also discussed Eleuthera. Tight controls on movement have been implemented on that island after a spike of COVID-19 cases. Dr Minnis said all the confirmed cases in Eleuthera are in isolation and their contacts are in quarantine and being closely

million people have been infected with COVID-19 in our region, and more than 660,000 have died as a result of the virus.”

The assistant director noted that while these figures point to a still-surging virus, the situation differs depending on where one looks within the region. The Americas are not one uniform place, he said, so it’s worth digging a bit deeper to uncover major trends.

“In North America, COVID-19 cases are steadily climbing as most states in the US, parts of Canada and some states of Mexico, including the capital, experience spikes in cases,” he said continuing. “In fact, the US continues to report record-breaking numbers of COVID-19 cases and we expect it will soon surpass 10 million COVID-19

infections.

“However, as we look further south, some countries and regions are doing better than others. And with the exception of Belize, Central American countries are also seeing a steady decrease in COVID19 cases due to ongoing control measures. In South America, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay have kept transmission under control and flattened their epidemic curves.”

Dr Barbosa highlighted the successful practice of COVID-19 emergency medical teams in certain countries.

“Most countries across our region formed emergency medical teams to provide surge capacity when needed,” he said. “We saw this in Uruguay and Peru, where internal teams

TOTAL CASES

were deployed to virus hot spots to care for patients and relieve the burden on local clinics and hospitals.

“In the Americas more than 165 emergency medical teams were deployed domestically by the countries, enabling health services to expand by almost 17,000 inpatient beds and 1,500 critical care beds, which have been crucial to saving lives in remote areas. These best practices show us that keeping the virus under control requires both constant commitment and proactive adjustments to ensure our national responses reflect changing trends.”

Regardless of the shifting dynamics in different parts of the region, Dr Barbosa said, the virus remains a threat and is still cutting too many lives short.

TOTAL DEATHS

7,060 154

NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES TUESDAY 48 CASES NEW PROVIDENCE 25 EXUMA 19 ELEUTHERA 3 ANDROS 1

TOTAL TESTS

38,608

HOSPITALISED

monitored.

“Despite the recent good news of a possible vaccine in the months ahead, we still have quite the way to go before this pandemic is over,” he said. “A widely distributed vaccine will take sometime.”

For his part, Exuma and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper said he does not

30

CASES IN ICU

3

support full weekend lockdowns for Exuma.

“They are too blunt an instrument for the situation as it stands,” he said in a statement after Dr Minnis’ address. “We are just now experiencing some relief on the tourism front after months of lingering in the economic doldrums. We have international flights

RECOVERED

5,099

now coming in from Florida and North Carolina on Saturdays. And we were experiencing serious interest in domestic travel from New Providence before the quarantine was reinstated.

Not only will this damage our brand internationally, but it will further starve Exuma’s economy of vital tourism dollars.”

THANK YOU FOR BEING GOOD SAMARITANS

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

THE Public Hospitals Authority has announced the departure of Samaritan’s Purse, as it concludes its business with the Princess Margaret Hospital after a one month stay.

Samaritan’s Purse deployed an Emergency Field Hospital and a disaster assistance response team to Nassau at the request of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis in October, when beds at the Princess Margaret Hospital were filled to capacity due to a large number of COVID-19 cases.

The NGO sent a DC-8 cargo jet from Greensboro, North Carolina with a 20-bed COVID care centre, more than 14 tons of supplies and relief specialists.

The facility became a part of the Princess Margaret Hospital.

Mary LightbourneWalker, PMH Hospital Administrator, said the collaboration was one that highlighted the continued strong relationship between Samaritan’s Purse and

NURSE Shanaon Wood of Samaritan Purse with hospital administrator Mary Lightbourn Walker. the PHA. She said it was sanitation specialists, an a relationship that began electrician, and other key after Hurricane Dorian and support staff. PMH clinical staff worked closely with continued.

Tomorrow will mark the this team providing care end of Samaritan’s Purse’s to patients and conducting operations at PMH, which training in preparation for commenced on October 19, tomorrow’s handover.

“We are very grateful for 2020, providing clinical services at the field hospital to the beautiful collaboration include isolation and treat- with the staff and leadership ment of COVID positive of the Princess Margaret Hospital which allowed for patients.

Samaritan’s Purse treating over forty patients consisted of a thirty-three- and training over 1,000 professionals,” member team, including medical doctors, nurses, water and Nurse Shannon Wood said.

She is Samaritan’s Purse’s Infection Prevention and Control Coordinator.

Seven tents, a temporary ambulance bay, male and female patient wards, with toilet facilities, donning/ doffing areas for staff personal protective equipment, staff work areas, staff bathroom facilities and medical supplies made up the thirtybed field hospital.

A PHA statement said Samaritan’s Purse involvement with IPC training in the Bahamas pulled on past experience treating COVID-19 in Italy and New York City and other infectious diseases such as Ebola, cholera, and diphtheria.

It also said Samaritan’s Purse trained and equipped Bahamian medical personnel to safely provide care, including how to properly put on and take off personal protective equipment and provide recommendations on properly isolating COVID patients.

While in The Bahamas, more than 1,000 healthcare professionals were trained in proper IPC measures

by Samaritan’s Purse. This included virtual training that reached 36 local clinics across 26 islands of The Bahamas.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, November 12, 2020, PAGE 5

Teenager accused of murder

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A TEENAGER was charged with murder in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Tavaras Colebrook, 18, appeared before Magistrate Samuel McKinney accused of causing the death of Robinson Paul on November 5.

According to initial police reports, shortly after 10am that day, police were

alerted to a stabbing incident that occurred on Joe Farrington Road. Upon their arrival, officers were informed that a group of males were at a residence when a male known to them walked in, produced a sharp object and stabbed one of the other males in his body.

The suspect then fled the scene on foot. The victim was taken to the hospital where he later died of his injuries.

During the hearing, the

accused, who appeared in court with bandages on his head and face, was not required to enter a plea and the case was adjourned to February 12 next year for service of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

In the meantime, he was denied bail and remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

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

He was not represented by an attorney.

THIEF TOOK TOOLS FROM INSIDE TRUCK

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 56-YEAR-OLD man who broke into another man’s truck to steal an assortment of tools was fined $1,500 yesterday.

Police arrested Kermit Munroe after he broke into Treco Francis’ truck and stole more than $1,300 worth of building tools sometime between November 7 and 9.

The prosecution said Mr Francis had locked and secured his truck in his driveway around 2pm on November 7. At the time, all of the vehicle’s windows and doors were locked.

The court was told that sometime around 2.30 the next morning, Mr Francis

was alerted by his neighbour who told him that someone was trying to steal his supplies. When he went outside to investigate, Mr Francis saw his neighbour pinning Munroe down on the floor.

When he searched his truck for his tools, he discovered his cordless drill set, black tool box, high performance battery booster pack and padlock were missing. Mr Francis and his neighbour then contacted the police, who detained the accused.

Adderley took the officers to an abandoned complex where he lived.

The court was told that all of the complainant’s tools were found there, except for his tool box which contained $270 worth of tools.

The accused was then arrested and taken to the East Street South police station. In an interview with officers there, he admitted to breaking into the complainant’s truck, stealing his tools and hiding them in the abandoned building where he lived.

During the hearing before Magistrate Samuel McKinney yesterday, Munroe pleaded guilty.

He was subsequently fined $1,500 or ordered to spend one year in prison. The magistrate also ordered Munroe to compensate the complainant $270 for his tool box that was never recovered. He said if the accused failed to do so, he could risk spending an additional month in custody.

TAVARAS Colebrook outside court yesterday.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

NOTICE

MAN THREW ROCK THROUGH 4M EX-GIRLFRIEND’S WINDOW

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who threw a rock through his ex-girlfriend’s window was yesterday fined $500 and ordered to pay her $350 in compensation.

Jason Pinder, 57, was also accused of assaulting his exgirlfriend on November 8.

He pleaded guilty during a hearing before Magistrate Samuel McKinney.

The prosecution said that around 1.17am on November 8, Pinder’s ex-girlfriend was in bed when she heard the accused call her name

through her bedroom window. The court was told that when she did not answer, Pinder threw a rock through her window.

At the time, the woman was lying in her bed and felt the object hit her in her face, near her eyes. She immediately got up and noticed the accused outside through her broken window.

After she filed a complaint with police, Pinder was arrested. In an interview at a nearby station he admitted the offence.

When given an opportunity to speak during the

hearing, Pinder told the magistrate that he had had a few drinks before he went to his ex-girlfriend’s house that night. He also said “she knew that he didn’t mean to do it” and insisted he was sorry for his actions.

As a result, Magistrate McKinney accepted Pinder’s guilty plea and fined him $500 or three months in prison. He further ordered the accused to keep the peace for one year and to pay his ex-girlfriend $350 for her injuries. If he fails to do so, he could risk spending three months behind bars.

GOING TO BORROW MONEY COSTS MAN A $250 FINE

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A MAN who claimed he violated curfew because he went to a family member to borrow some money was fined $250 yesterday.

Police arrested Shamarco Smith, 42, when they found him in Sandilands Village around 10.57am on October 17.

He pleaded guilty during a hearing before Magistrate Samuel McKinney.

The court was told that on the day in question, officers observed Smith walking on Sandilands Village Road. When they approached and questioned him, he could not give a “satisfactory explanation” for breaching the curfew. As a result, he was ticketed for the offence

and given a date to appear in court.

When given an opportunity to speak, Smith told the magistrate that he had only left his home to visit his cousin who lived nearby and had told him that he could borrow some money from him.

He was subsequently fined $250 or one month at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

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HARBOUR ISLAND LTD. EIA SUPPLEMENTAL SUBMISSION

The Public is advised that on November 5, 2020, a supplemental environmental document for the 4M Harbour Island Ltd. project on Harbour Island, The Bahamas was filed with the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) by Caribbean Coastal Services Ltd. on behalf of 4M Harbour Island Ltd. (4M).

The document pertains to activities that will include the development of the Back of House & Utility Corridor. The Public is to note that this environmental document addresses 1.6 acres of land specific to the Back of House & Utility Corridor.

A copy of the supplemental environmental document is available online at www.brilandclubinfo.com. The document can be downloaded from the site, and all comments and questions can be provided to 4M directly in writing at info@brilandclub.com and to the Director of the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) in writing at inquiries@depp.gov.bs. If you have trouble accessing the document, please write to info@ brilandclub.com.

A joint Public meeting will be held on November 26th at 6:00 p.m. with DEPP and the Harbour Island District Council. Such joint public meeting will be virtual. Please check the website – www.brilandclubinfo.com - for the meeting link. A hard copy of the document is also available at the office of the Harbour Island District Council on Harbour Island, The Bahamas during its normal business hours.

PAGE 4, Thursday, November 12, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

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No ifs, no buts - get breakwaters repaired DON’T put tasks off when things are going well – because when things are going badly, they’ll come back to bite you.

There’s as clear a demonstration of that principle as you could wish for today – or more to the point, that you wouldn’t wish for.

The breakwaters in Nassau Harbour have been severely damaged – and frankly this is nothing new. This was highlighted three years ago, but it appears little or nothing has been done about it.

That leaves us trying to figure out what to do about the problem at a time when the economy has crashed, and there aren’t any cruise ships coming in a hurry with fees to pay that might cover the costs.

Nonetheless, this is something that has to be done – and Arawak Port Development Company is teaming up with the Nassau Harbour Pilots Association to figure out where to get the finance and the construction teams to get it done.

With both the eastern and western breakwaters at the entrance to Nassau Harbour and Arawak Cay needing repair, this will be no small task. The west breakwater alone is around 3,100 feet long, with a breach thought to date back to 1991.

Despite being described as a “top project priority” by the Ministry of Works, there seems to have been little progress.

We’d hate to see what happens to low priority projects.

The total cost could be as much as $20m, according to the Caribbean Development Bank, although we would not be surprised if it exceeded that.

However much it costs, a successful port really does have to be a priority for The Bahamas – a real priority, not a priority on paper only – so we wish the partnership well in getting the repairs completed.

When better days return, we hope we don’t fall back into this habit of kicking the can down the road – although history seems to suggest that would be an

optimistic hope.

Abaco boost Whenever a new project comes forward, there are always environmental concerns – rightly so, given how our beautiful waters and islands are so much a part of our being.

So it is encouraging indeed to hear the developers of the $580m project aimed at South Abaco talking about how they have done as much as they can to satisfy environmental concerns while still keeping the project viable.

With the next major step of the project having taken place – the Environmental Impact Assessment being submitted for review and released publicly – we are delighted to see the leader of the project being so forthcoming about his efforts to minimise the environmental impact.

Ra’anan “Ronnie” Ben-Zur said the project was going to be the most low density project you will find in The Bahamas, even less so than developments such as the Ocean Club, Baker’s Bay or Albany.

Concerns remain from some, of course, and the dialogue will doubtless continue.

That said, this is the kind of project that can make a substantial difference to The Bahamas, and with a developer saying all the right things when it comes to environmental protection too.

This could make a significant impact on the economy of South Abaco and beyond – and kickstart a part of The Bahamas that could certainly do with some development.

Rather than keeping such developments on New Providence, it broadens the range that is offered by The Bahamas – and its target market could mean more business still for the nation.

This project is a tantalising prospect – and we hope that it can clear remaining hurdles, including remaining concerns, and bring jobs and a boom to the Abaco economy.

Embracing Hinduism?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE Economic Recovery Committee’s recommendation that the Free National Movement administration decriminalise Indian Hemp (aka marijuana, ganja and cannabis) is a sign that the central government is understandably desperate for a new source of revenue.

Committee members seem oblivious to the dire spiritual implications of recreational marijuana, apparently not realising that such a legislation would amount to nothing more than a formal embrace of Hinduism.

Indeed, Christianity in The Bahamas would be vulnerable to being Hinduized, to use the term of the late Elliott Miller of the Christian Research Center in the United States. It is already deeply troubling that so many Bahamians are yoga practitioners. According to Miller, yoga is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning “to yoke or to unite.” Miller argued that the objective of yoga is to “uncouple oneself from the material world” and unite with Brahman, the impersonal cosmic consciousness of the universe.

I have argued in the past that The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band album had conditioned tens of millions of Westerners to wholeheartedly embrace Hinduism and other forms of Eastern mysticism and practices, such as the use of recreational marijuana and transcendental meditation. This cavalier

attitude towards the use of illicit drugs and religion in the sixties led to the drug trafficking crisis of the eighties and the rabid fascination with New Age religions. On the front cover of the Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band album are Indian Hemp plants decorated around a collage of photos of famous people. As a result of The Beatles giving Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Hinduism widespread publicity, other prominent Hindu leaders such as Swami Vivekananada, Sathya Sai Baba, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Patanjali are now household names in the United States.

In The Bahamas, it was Bob Marley and Wailers’ performance during their Survival tour concert at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Stadium in 1979, coupled with the subsequent acceptance of Rastafari by thousands of Bahamians, which have helped in pushing the controversial subject of ganja into the mainstream.

Harvard-trained Dr Uma Dhanabalan told The Economic Times in 2016 that cannabis is one of the essential plants in the Vedas, which are the religious texts of Hinduism. Dr Dhanabalan had Book 11, Hymn 6, Verse 15 of the Atharva Veda-Samhita in mind, which reads as follows: “To the five kingdoms of the plants which Soma rules as Lord we speak. Darbha, hemp, barley, mighty power: may these deliver us from woe.” One cannot divorce

recreational marijuana use from its Hindu spirituality. With its main ingredient called tetrahydrocannabinol coupled with its known psychedelic effects, recreational marijuana isn’t spiritually neutral. It exposes one to the three main Hindu gods of Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva, in addition to the other 330 million gods that the 1.2 billion Hindus worship. As alluded to in the Bahamian Constitution, The Bahamas is a Christian nation.

Why are we formally opening the borders to Hindu idols to compete with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? With so many Bahamians being raised within the Judeo-Christian culture, there’s little need to scale the language barrier as it relates to biblical terminology. It goes without saying that many Bahamians are familiar with the apostle Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 10:20 about demons masquerading behind idols.

In our so-called postmodern Bahamas, our society has become, unfortunately, a melting-pot of religious diversity. I am a firm believer in Psalm 33:12, which says that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

The Bahamas Christian Council, as the spiritual custodian of The Bahamas, is well within its rights to challenge any move by the Minnis administration to legalise recreational marijuana.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama, October 27, 2020.

It’s up to us over COVID EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE world is desperate to find a weapon to destroy COVID-19, to which nature has given free reign to cripple, if not destroy mankind.

Prime Minister Minnis is seemingly being blamed for not knowing what to do to halt the pandemic’s spread in the Bahamas, which is expected to get a second and even stronger life to take us humans down. It is up to us as to who wins this battle.

If our Prime Minister had the answers, he would be the world’s hero, not here in the Bahamas playing hide-andseek to protect Bahamians from this unknown force of destruction. Like everyone else the further away one can get from potential carriers of the virus, the easier it will be to win our own battle.

Bahamians are complaining about the on-again-off again lock downs — so is the world, so our condition is not unique. Nor is the solution that is eluding our government difficult to understand.

It is happening throughout the world with every country‘s leader, supplicant hands raised heavenward, praying for an answer.

Only this week it was

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net reported: “With the second wave of COVID19 strengthening its grip on Europe, Germany and France have ordered fresh lockdowns. Germany has decided to impose a monthlong lockdown which will see closure of restaurants, theatres, pools and gyms from November 2. France has decided that from October 30, anyone leaving home will have to carry a document justifying their presence outside. On the other hand the UK is resisting calls for imposing a nationwide lockdown, saying it brings economic hardships.”

And here in the Bahamas — well it is all up to us. If we were serious we would not have to be policed, we would be acting sensibly, not only for our own protection, but for that of our family and friends.

I now invite whoever reads this letter to put the palm of your hand up to your lips. As you speak, slowly move your palm out from your face while you continue talking at your palm. As you move your hand away, the warm air

from your talking mouth can still be felt. In that warm air are droplets of spittle, and, if there is an infection, it is that infection in the spittle that is felt against the palm of your hand. That is what happens when you are talking to someone and that someone is talking to you.

If either — or both of you – have an infection you have transferred your infection to each other. Do this experiment and I do not think that anyone will have to convince you of the importance of wearing a mask at all times, keep a reasonable distance from the other person, and wash your hands to protect you from whatever germs are on a doorknob, a hand rail or even a $1 bill.

If everyone did this — wear a mask, keep your distance and wash your hands — lockdowns might not be needed.

Friends, it is up to all of us.

If we took care of ourselves, family and friends, the Prime Minister would not have to be our nursemaid and maybe we Bahamians can together win this battle against COVID-19. Let’s seriously give it a try.

CONCERNED BAHAMIAN Nassau, November 10, 2020.

Drilling will destroy us EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE Bahamian people have become accustomed to being shafted. Since time immemorial there has been secret deals where the people have been given the “stinking end of the stick”, an unenviable position.

The drilling by Bahamas Petroleum Company is no different, and we will not let this dangerous, lifethreatening, environmental disaster, go silently by without our voices being heard.

In my opinion there has been one shady deal after another, designed specifically to rob Bahamians of their very birthright. But since it has been allowed to happen in the past, it cannot be the excuse for us to lay down and play dead to be shafted again.

The impending dirty oil deal that is literally on the

horizon, will be the “catastrophe waiting to happen, regardless of what and how much money is being made or how many jobs it will create.

This old carrot of jobs dangling is really an insult, because the investors have disrespected us just like the Bay Street Boys did when they offered a sack of flour, while they took acres of our beachfront property.

The Bahamian who would allow the colour of the skin of the investor to be an advantage, does not exist.

The Prime Minister, in his sheepish attitude, is keeping tight-lipped, and would not address this vexing matter.

There have been numerous attempts to communicate with him by opponents of this oil drilling project, but the silence is deafening.

Where are the coward

Bahamians who pretend to love this country? Why are we hiding in our closets grumbling under our collective breath? What happened to the activists who claim that they are raw-born Bahamians, and love this country? Do they really care?

What happened to the hard mouth people who hang out on social media, hiding behind fake names?

It is high time that we fight for our country.

Imagine this, an oil spill that destroys all of our beaches, kills our fish, destroys our coral, what do you think will happen to the tourists and hotels. We will be finished for good this time and we all will be “picking peas out………”

ALOMA THURSTON Nassau, November 10, 2020.

THE TRIBUNE

Hope remains for Pelican Point

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net EVEN after the devastation of Dorian a year ago, St Matthew’s Baptist Church continues to be a beacon of hope and a source of strength for East End residents in the Pelican Point community.

This year marks 120 years of its existence in East End, Grand Bahama. Hurricane Dorian destroyed the church and the recreation building last September, but restoration work is underway to restore them.

The Tribune spoke with Pastor Freddie Laing Jr, who, with some residents and volunteers, is carrying out repair work to the church’s recreation centre.

The church sustained severe damage. Although there are no doors or windows, worship services are held there on Sundays for

residents who have returned.

“Our church ministry is 120 years old this year, Pastor Laing said proudly.

Dorian came and nearly completely destroyed both buildings.”

Pelican Point is a quaint community along the southern coastline in East Grand Bahama, which experienced the brunt of the storm as it sat for 40 hours over the island and produced a 20ft to 25ft surge. Every structure there was destroyed.

Pastor Laing said that restoration is still very emotional and challenging, but residents are not giving up.

“The road to recovery still is rather an emotional one, simply because St Matthew’s Baptist Church is the only lighthouse in this community; this is all the people know; this is where they come for worship,” he said.

Fortunately, he said, they had received assistance from the Southern Baptist

Church in the Louisiana and Mississippi districts.

“They really have been instrumental and a source of strength for the restoration of the big building thus far,” he added.

He noted that Bruce Hicks, of Orlando, Florida, and Henry St George of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, have supported the restoration of the smaller (recreation) building that is next to the church.

Pastor Laing said the residents of Pelican Point are doing most of the work and labour. “So, God is good despite the challenges,” he stated. Had it not been for COVID-19, this would have been completed already.”

By March or April next year, he expects that both buildings should be completed.

“We still worship in the church with no windows or doors, and it is big enough so that we can social

distance,” Pastor Laing said.

He noted that homes are also being rebuilt in the community.

“I am really blessed to be a part of this restoration process. These people in Pelican Point are amazing. With a little help, they are trying to make it work.

Some of them are very old, but they are not giving up; they are fighting. You can look around and see construction going on,” he said.

“I know folks may say Dorian sat on us for nearly three days, why are you even going back there? But, this is home,” Pastor Laing said.

No lives were lost there during the storm.

“We did not lose anyone to the storm; we had three persons who stayed in the community during the storm, and all of them were accounted for, but one died afterward, but not related to that,” he said.

Thursday, November 12, 2020, PAGE 7

PASTOR Freddie Laing Jr of Pelican Point says residents are not givin up. Restoration work is currently underway at St Matthew’s Baptist Church, which is 120 years old. A new addition is being built onto the existing church stucture. The roof has been repaired.

Photo: Denise Maycock/Tribune Staff

REBUILDING LIVES AND COMMUNITIES

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GLOBAL Emergency Relief Recovery and Reconstruction (GER3) is not only rebuilding communities in Abaco, but also helping to rebuild the lives of residents there, including Dorian survivors.

One year after the storm, GER3’s Global Response and Recovery Team remain operational on that island working in vulnerable communities to restore schools and shelters, while also hiring and training Bahamians.

Dorian survivor Sitha Silien, 28, of Marsh Harbour, was among many residents of The Peas who lost their homes and loved ones during Hurricane Dorian. Her mother, 54, and brother, 25, perished in the storm.

The Haitian community was devastated, leaving Silien, her father, and nephew (her deceased brother’s son) homeless.

They went to New Providence, where they stayed at a shelter.

Determined to rebuild her life, Silien returned to Abaco on January 3, anxious to find work. She was doing a few odds and ends for some three and a half weeks when she learned about the restoration work GER3 was doing at the Central Abaco Primary School. Silien went there and was hired to work.

“It was like God had GER3 waiting for me,” recalled Silien, who now had to care for her little nephew. She remembers her brother’s last words when he handed his son to her before running off into the storm to find their father, who had been separated from them during the storm. Her brother never made it back, and her father was later found battered, but alive.

She is among some 3050 plus persons and local contractors working with the GER3 restoration programme in Abaco.

Sitha has gained a wealth of knowledge in the construction field. She initially started removing debris on the campus and then moved up the ranks to pitching roofs.

“I could tell you that I learned so much, and I appreciate the work,” she said. With the money she earned, Sitha was able to save enough to rent an apartment and purchase a vehicle, which she all credits to GER3.

GER3, which was founded by Langdon Greenhalgh in 2017, is headquartered in Winchester, Virginia. Its mission is to help crisis-affected people after disasters build back better. GER3 was one of the first NGO groups on the ground in Grand Bahama, days after Dorian passed.

Margaret Bacon, GER3 International Programme Coordinator, said their objective is to get into the disaster area immediately after any global emergency, be it a hurricane or earthquake.

“The idea is getting in there for the immediate relief phase: removing debris and making sure people are safe. Then transitioning into rehabilitation work: muck-and-gut, mold remediation, debris management, and long-term repairs, focusing on homes, schools, and health facilities,” she said.

The GER3 team, which is a small organization primarily volunteer-led, assists with moving to the recovery and reconstruction phases.

She explained that they bridge the gap between relief and recovery work once the immediate relief organizations leave, building back more resilient structures and communities so that they are better suited for future emergencies.

Ms Bacon indicated that they use a small international team that can provide the right expertise while simultaneously building a local team, using local suppliers.

In Grand Bahama, GER3 built a local team to help rebuild over 50 homes, 12 apartments, six local businesses, and two schools in East Grand Bahama.

The Housing Rehabilitation project was funded by the Centre for Disaster Philanthropy. Many of the residents who lost their homes and a number of the homeowners joined the GER3 team through its Cash for Workers Programme. They were paid daily to help with debris removal and rehabilitation work.

The programme helped to provide locals with income and skills they may not have had before.

Now that the programme is complete, they can perform mould remediation work or home repairs and take those skills to perform work on their own homes or market themselves for future employment.

The four-member GER3

SITHA SILIEN, 28, a proud resident of Abaco, shows off the skills she learned as part of the GER3 Team while working on the Central Abaco Primary School restoration project.

Photo: Zyndrac Jones team consists of two project Lyford Cay Foundations, She said they continue to “It’s indescribable; words managers, one programme One Bahamas Fund, Dis- receive remote support cannot describe the feeldirector, and Bacon stayed covery Land Company from team members back in ing,” said Mrs Russell. Just in Grand Bahama until Foundation, and Sandals the United States. to see all of the restoraRochelle Russell, a tion effort and all of the December before head- Foundation.

In Abaco, the team is also teacher, and administrator hard work that they have ing to Abaco where they have spearheaded several working on homes for teach- at Central Abaco Primary put in, you just can’t thank ers and social workers. They School, was in the United them enough. It means a projects.

Ms Bacon said the have expanded work to States with her husband and lot to the educators, but it duration of GER3 ‘s stay another school, Every Child two sons during Dorian. also means a lot to the pardepends on the need and Counts (ECC), a special She returned three months ents and students who can funding. “We’ve been really needs facility in Marsh Har- ago to begin the restoration return as soon as the okay grateful in The Bahamas bour, and rehabilitation work process of their home. is given for face-to-face Knowing what her family, instruction,” she said. that many donors have on three hurricane shelters, been interested in our work (in Treasure Cay, Guana friends, and colleagues GER3 has been a great and appreciate all the things Cay, and Man-O-War Cay), were going through back blessing, Mrs Russell said. home and hearing of the “A big heartfelt thank you. that we are doing. It’s been and 15 additional homes.

The projects are expected horror stories and the lives They have been a Godbasically one project after to end in December or that were lost, she said was send. They have not only another,” she said.

“We started with the January., according to Ms heart-wrenching, helped restore the school, Although they had seen but they have also helped schools and homes in Bacon.

“At last count, there were photos of the devasta- persons restore their homes Grand Bahama. UNICEF was supporting us there, between 30-50 daily work- tion, the Russells knew the and come in and helped and then they said, ‘look ers, along with a wide range situation was dire, however, us to see if we could try to we’re really happy with of local contractors for the it still hadn’t prepared them bring our lives back to some for what they saw when state of normalcy,” she said. what you are doing and we different repairs,” she said.

Even with the COVID- they returned home after “They have been more than want you to see if you can do the same kind of work in 19 pandemic, Ms Bacon the storm. generous, and you can feel stated that the team has Mrs Russell is very the love and support — not Abaco.’ “ Several donors contrib- been fortunate to be able pleased with the work only in a financial way, but uted to the substantial to stay in Abaco and work, GER3 is doing on the also emotionally and menrehabilitation project led unlike some of the other island and all of the lives tally in assisting the process

by GER3, including the aid response organizations. they have touched. to move along smoothly.”

PAGE 8, Thursday, November 12, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

GUARDIANS OF DECENCY AND DEMOCRACY - AFTER FOUR YEARS OF TRUMP YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS agendas, many in America “The politics of cultural and around the world are resentment, the obsesdeeply distressed about the sions of white anxiety, are fragile and dangerous state so intense that his voters are determined not only to of American democracy.

For four years Donald preserve minority rule but Trump has thrashed, to leave a dangerous socioignored or circumvented path in the Oval Office.”

There are a number many aspects of American democracy as an of black Bahamians who intimidated Republican support Donald Trump, establishment acquiesced especially black men who to his bullying and threats. like his supposed toughHis cult of personality has ness and strength, which ballooned and continues to are really forms of toxic metastasize like a cancer masculinity. poisoning the entire body politic.

Quite a number of historians, scholars and commentators, both libSome black Bahamians eral and conservative and support Trump because of not given to hyperbole, religious and other reasons, are alarmed at the degree such as his convenient posiof nativism, isolation- tions on abortion, Israel ism, white privilege and and China, positions which supremacy, xenophobia and he appears to hold mostly chauvinism in full flight and for political reasons but represented and fuelled by which are likely not deeply Donald Trump. held.

These deep tectonic The cliché that Repubplates of American life licans are better for The are in feverish flux, result- Bahamas is a misnomer in ing in a series of ongoing many ways. The matter is political earthentirely more quakes, which ‘The politics complex, with is resulting in Republicans of cultural extraordinary better for The damage and resentment, the Bahamas on shock waves obsessions of some issues and which will conthe Democrats tinue for some white anxiety, better on others. time. are so intense But what is Writing in that his voters disturbing, is The Atlantic, the number of Tom Nichols, are determined white and black a conservative, not only to Bahamians who offeredhisthoughts preserve support Donald on the outcome Trump despite of last week’s minority rule the overwhelmgeneral election. but to leave ing evidence “It’s clear a dangerous that he is a now that far white suprematoo many of sociopath in the cist who views Trump’s voters Oval Office.’ black people with utter condon’t care about tempt and who policy, decency, or saving our democracy. has discriminated against They care about power. black people throughout his Although Trump appears business career.

Some of the very same to have received a small uptick in votes from black black people who would men and Latinos, the over- loathe being treated by whelming share of his white Bahamians as inferior, happily support a supporters are white. white supremacist American who views them as inherently inferior. Magical thinking has so many forms or permutations.

The threat to democracy we are witnessing in America is a reminder that human civilization remains fragile and must be renewed in each generation.

Writing in The Boston Globe, Yale University Professor Timothy Snyder, author of “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century”, noted: “Democracy can be buried in a big lie. Of

CONVENIENT

A DEMOCRACY is as strong or as parlous and unstable as its institutions and the willingness of leaders and citizens to accept and abide by democratic laws, norms, conventions and traditions.

For nearly four tumultuous years Donald Trump, with the connivance and complicity of his enablers and sycophants, including Republican Congressional leaders, has inflicted excessive damage on the American democracy and system of government.

His maniacal and incessant assault on democracy has culminated in the refusal to abide by basic norms of democratic stability and decency and continuity of government in thus far refusing to accept the will of the American people by ensuring a smooth transition to a new President and administration.

The bizarre and declining state of American democracy is reminiscent of those authoritarian and undemocratic states America perennially lectures in human rights reports detailing checkered or fully fraudulent election contests in which dictatorial leaders and strongmen steal elections and refuse to concede

to the will of the people.

US President-elect Joe Biden calls it “an embarrassment”. It is much more. It is decidedly worse.

Many aspects of American democracy are in a perilous state.

For those of us who have observed and in some instances admired American democracy and elections for decades, we have grown accustomed to a certain stability and the generally orderly transfer of power at the federal level in the modern era.

This writer and others have at times critiqued those who fetishize American democracy and who fail to recognize that its Electoral College system and apportionment of Senate seats, among other features, are antiquated.

The 2000 presidential election, in which the presidency was handed to George W. Bush by the Republican majority on the Supreme Court, was a disturbing reminder of the fractures and the structural weaknesses of the American political and electoral system.

Still, there was a general sense, even by critics, that the leaders in the American political class still adhered to certain basic norms.

MYTHOLOGY Many believed certain things could not happen in America, religiously lionized by its ardent admirers as: “the world’s greatest democracy” and “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave”, both features of American mythology.

The nature of magical thinking is the belief that something cannot happen because it has not happened before or appears to happen infrequently.

Many thought Donald Trump could never win the Republican nomination for President or the presidency.

Many thought that the kinds of authoritarian leaders found in other countries or historical periods, could not rise to power in the United States of America, the country which has unceasingly lectured the world about democracy.

But with the rise of Donald Trump and increasing evidence that a number of democratic traditions are more of a sort of patina or showpiece for many Republican leaders, who conveniently use the props of democracy for their white privilege and corporate economic

YOUR

course, the end of democracy in America would take an American form.

In 2020 Trump acknowledged openly what has been increasingly clear for decades: “The Republican Party aims not so much to win elections as to game them.

This strategy has its temptations: The more you care about suppressing votes, the less you care about what voters want. And the less you care about what voters want, the closer you move to authoritarianism. Trump has taken the next logical step: Try to disenfranchise voters not only before but after elections.

Snyder continued: “The results of the 2020 elections could be read to mean that Republicans can fight and win on the issues. Reading the results as fraudulent instead will take Republicans, and the country, on a very different journey, through a cloud of magical thinking toward violence.

“If you have been stabbed in the back, then everything is permitted.

Claiming that a fair election was foul is preparation for an election that is foul.

“If you convince your voters that the other side has cheated, you are promising them that you yourself will cheat next time. Having bent the rules, you then have to break them. History shows the danger in the familiar example of Hitler.

“When politicians break democracy, as conservatives in Weimar Germany did in the early 1930s, they are wrong to think that they will control what happens next.

“Someone else will emerge who is better adapted to the chaos and who will wield it in ways that they neither want nor expect. The myth of victimhood comes home and claims its victims.”

Every democracy, including ours, must be renewed through the eternal vigilance of leaders and citizens, including through greater civic education and an appreciation of history and an understanding of our system of government.

What we are witnessing in America is one of the best arguments yet to reject the simplistic, uninformed arguments of those who would asininely encourage us to spoil our ballots and other such notions which would further undermine our democracy.

CHOICE FOR THE FAMILY WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JOYFM1019

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, November 12, 2020, PAGE 9

A sigh of relief but history will say without COVID Trump would have walked it FOOL me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

That sums up America’s great 2020 election about as well as anything.

Virtually everyone in both the Republican and Democratic parties made this election about Donald Trump, including most especially the President himself.

It looks like a majority of voters felt sufficiently fooled by the charismatic TV showman that they opted out of the chance for four more years of this President’s particular brand of leadership.

Trump wound up running on a record of amazing economic prosperity that everyone cared about and that was then sabotaged

by COVID-19 and his reprehensible, irresponsible response to an ongoing, massive public health crisis.

He could also have run on a record of some notable foreign policy achievements. He brought an end to America’s 72-year record of sanctimonious hypocrisy that fooled no one, least of all the Arabs, in the Middle East.

Virtually from the moment the independent Jewish state of Israel was established in 1948, the US has been that nation’s main protector and benefactor.

American administrations have usually tried to adopt a superficially even-handed approach to the combustible Middle East, to better the chances of some kind of lasting peace settlement.

Trump stopped pretending. If his policy eventually leads to a workable peace in that troubled region, good for him.

Trump reset the course of global relations with China, which was overdue. It is easy to quibble with both his strategy and tactics, but a reset is underway, and perhaps it is irreversible.

A US President normally cannot succeed by touting foreign policy successes because most Americans, still isolationist at their core, don’t care all that much about foreign policy, except that they don’t like foreign aid “giveaways” and they have come to sensibly dislike foreign wars without any clear purpose or clear path to victory.

Trump understood this very well.

So Trump didn’t run on his foreign policy. He ran instead on resentment and grievance and lies.

And the country, turning out in record-breaking numbers, said “No mas”.

It was exciting at first.

Then, for four days, it wasn’t. The whole thing just seemed do drag on and on. Of the major news networks, only Fox News, of all people, called Arizona for Biden. It turned out that Fox’s call, shown on big TV screens to a largely unmasked crowd of the President’s admirers at the White House, infuriated him.

The other networks hesitated, perhaps for good reason, as Trump was closing his Arizona deficit gap as the week wound down.

But it took all the networks day after agonizing day to call states like Pennsylvania and Nevada, where Biden had taken the lead and that had only votes left to count from urban and near suburban areas clearly going for Biden by three or four -to-one margins.

It really didn’t seem like anyone was eager to call this election, until CNN finally on Saturday morning gave the challenger the 20 electoral votes from Pennsylvania that sealed the deal. Some began to wonder if they were flinching at the prospect of an angry, petulant tweet or more from the defeated resident of the White House.

Anyhow, to coin another phrase, it’s now all over but the shouting, and the bleating, griping, sour grapes, lying, lawsuit filing and generally petulant sore loser behaviour Trump promised and is certainly delivering.

In the nation’s capital and elsewhere in most of the eastern US outside Florida - which was punished with yet another hurricane deluge - there has literally been no cloud in the blue skies since the election was called for Biden. Is this a coincidence? Some say it might be a divine sign.

What was unmistakable in the aftermath of this unique election was the collective sigh of relief from all corners of the US. So many had begun for the first time to harbour doubts as to the resilience of a nation whose ideals and special status had been largely taken for granted for generations.

The 2020 election was an affirmation of American ideals, albeit one too narrow for many.

And as the days passed after the election was called for Biden, Trump became largely silent except for tweeting. He remained as

FINAL CURTAINS IN A time of momentous transition, it seems fitting to recall two entertainment giants recently deceased.

Sean Connery died in Nassau at the age of 90.

Long a resident of Lyford Cay, this iconic Oscarwinning Scottish actor is best remembered as the first James Bond, but won his Oscar for a supporting role in The Untouchables.

There were many other outstanding and memorable film roles.

Connery lived in The Bahamas for decades, and his Bond films often featured scenes shot in the country. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II despite his ardent and outspoken Scottish nationalism, Connery brought a positive notoriety to his adopted land.

Bottom line: This worldrenowned celebrity could have lived anywhere he chose. He chose to make his home here.

Alex Trebek passed Sunday at the age of 80.

This Canadian-born game show host helmed the enduringly popular Jeopardy on TV around dinner time for decades. Were you addicted to it?

Trebek will certainly be missed.

SEAN CONNERY, above, and Alex Trebek.

STATESIDE

with Charlie Harper

ever the petulant spoiled child and object of scorn for most of the “mainstream” media, who could now add “loser” to their catalogue of epithets for Trump.

But over 71 million voters supported this selfabsorbed habitual liar.

And what’s more, history is likely to record that he would have coasted to triumphant re-election but for the onset of the coronavirus and his disastrous mishandling of the pandemic and evident disregard for its awesome human death toll.

In fact, some observers already feel that except for COVID-19 and its ominous reality, the Democrats would have never even been able to unite behind any candidate, and certainly would not have fallen into line in such uncharacteristically

disciplined fashion as they did behind Joe Biden, who had finished dismally out of the running in pre-COVID Democratic primary elections in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Given Trump’s uncharacteristic sullen silence after the election’s outcome had become clear, speculation rose about what he might do next. Some felt that if he chose to remain in the public eye, he could certainly continue to manipulate the media to do so. A few suggested he could launch his own media empire, playing the starring role himself. Oprah did it, after all.

Consider the possibilities: Trump could barnstorm the country, televising future rallies as live, reality TV events. Or he could

command huge fees as a convention speaker. He could be a supremely wellpaid pundit on TV, railing against his many bogey men and women. He could be basking in imperial treatment as he appeared in support of Republican office seekers still loyal to him.

South Carolina senator Lindsay Graham, after winning re-election against a talented black Democratic challenger who broke several fundraising records, has been publicly urging Trump to remain in the political forefront ahead of a renewed White House challenge four years hence.

But it’s still early days after the election. It will be fascinating to see what prominent Republican elected officials are saying

in a couple of weeks or months after the furore has subsided.

But there is another potential outcome for the President. An ex-President Trump could find himself in the dock and facing a prison stretch. New York’s Attorney General and the chief prosecutor in New York City both continue to pursue legal action against the President and members of his family.

Even if he pardons himself and such an unprecedented act were judged to be legal, it would only indemnify him against federal charges. Still, his actually serving jail time seems pretty unlikely at this point.

It’s a shame America doesn’t have the political tradition of an impartial Commission of Inquiry to invoke in the coming months. If ever there were a situation that begged for such an investigation, it is the seamy residue of four years of obliterated boundaries between an American President and the traditional comity and service to the nation expected of the country’s loftiest position.

PAGE 10, Thursday, November 12, 2020

ETA REMAINS A TROPICAL STORM AS FLORIDA PREPARES FOR SECOND HIT

By CURT ANDERSON AND FREIDA FRISARO ASSOCIATED PRESS ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Eta remained a tropical storm Wednesday afternoon as it prepared to skirt past the heavily populated Tampa Bay region in Florida and crash ashore in the coming hours somewhere to the north along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds remained at about 70 mph (110 kph) off Florida’s west coast as the storm moved northward, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Additional weakening was possible as Eta approaches the coast.

Forecasters had posted — but later discontinued — a hurricane watch for a 120-mile (190-kilometre) stretch that includes Tampa and St. Petersburg. Eta had briefly attained hurricane strength Wednesday morning but then weakened.

Subsequently, a tropical storm warning was issued for the same general area.

The storm has been in the Gulf of Mexico since crossing over South Florida on Sunday. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Eta was located 45 miles (70 kilometres) west of St. Petersburg and was moving north at 12 mph (19 kph), the hurricane centre reported.

The Tampa Bay region is home to more than 3.5 million people across five coastal counties. No mandatory evacuations were immediately ordered but authorities began opening shelters for anyone needing them. No serious damage or flooding was immediately reported.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said special care is taken at shelters to protect people from the coronavirus, such as social distancing, and suggested people bring their own masks.

“Everything will be done to make sure all of our residents are safe,” Castor said.

The forecast prompted school officials in Pinellas and Pasco counties, which includes St. Petersburg, to send students home early Wednesday. Both counties announced schools would remain closed Thursday, as did neighbouring Hillsborough County.

The Florida Highway Patrol closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge that links Pinellas and Manatee counties because of high winds.

Tampa International Airport tweeted that it would suspend operations at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

In Pasco County, officials set up four do-it-yourself locations for people to fill sandbags. In Tampa, the Busch Gardens theme park announced it was closed Wednesday and several Veterans Day events in the area were canceled.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an expanded emergency declaration to include 13 counties along or near the Gulf coast, adding them to South Florida counties. DeSantis also asked for an early emergency order from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to free resources needed to tackle the storm.

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, who represent Florida, sent a letter to President Donald Trump in support of DeSantis’ request.

THE TRIBUNE

TRUMP’S SILENT PUBLIC OUTING BELIES WHITE HOUSE IN TUMULT

By JONATHAN LEMIRE, ZEKE MILLER AND AAMER MADHANI Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump spent 10 minutes in public Wednesday honouring America’s war veterans — a veneer of normalcy for a White House that’s frozen by a defeated president mulling his options, mostly forgoing the mechanics of governing and blocking his inevitable successor.

Trump’s appearance at the annual Veterans Day commemoration at Arlington National Cemetery was his first public outing for official business in more than a week. He’s spent the past few days in private tweeting angry, unsupported claims of voter fraud.

The president has made no comments in person since Democrat Joe Biden clinched the 270 electoral votes on Saturday needed to win the presidency.

All the while, his aides grow more certain that legal challenges won’t change the outcome of the election, according to seven campaign and White House officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the thinking of the president and others in the executive mansion.

Before setting off for the solemn commemoration at Arlington, Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to slam “fake pollsters” and grouse that a Republican city commissioner who defended the vote tabulation in Philadelphia wasn’t a true Republican. He also sought to draw attention to a Pennsylvania poll worker who recanted allegations of voter fraud on Tuesday before reasserting his allegations on Wednesday.

Trump later posted a debunked video that had purported to show poll workers collecting ballots too late.

“You are looking at BALLOTS! Is this what our Country has come to?”

Trump fumed.

Although his official schedule has been bare of public events, Trump has made several personnel moves — firing Defence Secretary Mark Esper and installing three staunch loyalists in top defense jobs.

His pick as acting defence secretary, Christopher Miller, was among the Pentagon brass that joined him at Arlington.

Some supporters pushed back against the notion that Trump is shirking his

PRESIDENT Donald Trump participates in a Veterans Day wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) presidential duties.

“The president is out there as much as he’s ever been on Twitter, and the White House team are moving ahead with budget and staffing priorities,” said Dan Eberhart, a prominent Republican donor and Trump backer.

He added, “The president is understandably focused on the ballot counting, but at some point soon he needs to turn his attention back to the lame duck session and putting a capstone on his first four years.”

Staffers However, few senior staffers have been around the president in recent days, with many either in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 or in insolation after a confirmed exposure or simply not wanting to be near the Oval Office, according to White House staffers and campaign officials. Staff working from the White House thinned out after chief of staff Mark Meadows confirmed last week that he had tested positive for the virus.

Some staffers still believe the election outcome can change with litigation and recounts. But there is a growing recognition among most that the election is lost and the building will be vacated

by Jan. 20.

Trump’s moods have vacillated over recent days. At times, he has seethed with anger, fuming that he lost to a candidate he doesn’t respect

and believing that the media –- including what he views as typically friendly Fox News -- worked against him. In addition to misdoings with mail-in ballots.

But aides say he has been calmer than his tweets suggest, showing greater understanding of his predicament and believing that he needs to keep fighting almost as performance, as a show to the 70 million people who voted for him that he is still battling. In recent days, some aides, including his daughter Ivanka, have started to talk to him about an endgame, questioning how much longer he wants to fight.

Outside the White House, one prominent former ally turned Trump critic warned that the president was doing potentially irreparable damage to the Republican Party.

“The real issue is the grievous harm he is causing to public trust in America’s constitutional system,” former Trump national security adviser John Bolton wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Wednesday. “Trump’s time is running out, even as his rhetoric continues escalating.”

But no one in his inner circle — West Wing staff or Cabinet — is forcefully pushing him to stop.

Though he has been in the Oval Office late two nights this week, the president has done little in the way of governing and has instead been working the phones.

He has called friendly governors — in red states like

Arizona, Texas and Florida — and influential confidants in the conservative media, like Sean Hannity. But he has not been as responsive to Republican lawmakers as before the election.

Always an obsessive cable news viewer, he has been watching even more TV than usual in recent weeks, often from his private dining room just off the Oval Office.

Trump’s approach to two crucial Senate run-off elections in Georgia remains an open question: He has not yet signaled if he will campaign there, and aides have started to worry that the extended legal battle could sap support for the GOP candidates.

Future Trump has also begun talking about his own future upon leaving office. He has mused about declaring he will run again in 2024,and aides believe that he will at least openly flirt with the idea to enhance his relevance and raise interest in whatever money-making efforts he pursues.

While he ponders his options, his involvement in the day-to-day governing of the nation has nearly stopped: According to his schedule, he has not attended an intelligence briefing in weeks, and the White House has done little of late to manage the pandemic that has surged to record highs in many states.

The president’s resistance

to acknowledging the outcome of the race has stalled the transition process. The head of the General Services Administration, a Trump appointee, has held off on certifying Biden as the winner of the election.

The certification — known as ascertainment — would free money for the transition and clear the way for Biden’s team to begin placing transition personnel at federal agencies.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said he was “not aware” of any communications between the White House and the GSA administrator on ascertainment.

Biden on Tuesday played down the importance of the certification for now and said his team continues to prepare to take reigns of the U.S. government.

The president-elect also suggested he wasn’t overly concerned that he’s not yet receiving the President’s Daily Briefing — a highly classified intelligence analysis.

Denis McDonough, who served as White House chief of staff during the Obama administration and helped oversee the 2017 transition of power, said that even as Trump has tried to stymie the transition, significant progress still has been made.

The Biden transition team has published an ethics plan and the Trump administration earlier established a White House Transition Coordinating Council as required by law.

BIDEN CHOOSES LONGTIME ADVISER RON KLAIN AS CHIEF OF STAFF

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has chosen his longtime adviser Ron Klain to reprise his role as his chief of staff, installing an aide with decades of experience in the top role in his White House.

Klain will lead a White House likely to be consumed by the response to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to spread unchecked across the nation, and he’ll face the challenge of working with a divided Congress that could include a Republican-led Senate.

Klain served as the coordinator to the Ebola response during the 2014 outbreak.

In a statement Wednesday night, Biden suggested he chose Klain for the position because his longtime

RON Klain pictured in 2014.

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) experience in Washington had prepared him for such challenges.

“His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again,” Biden said.

Klain served as chief of staff for Biden during Barack Obama’s first term, was chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore in the mid-1990s and was a key adviser on the Biden campaign, guiding Biden’s debate preparations and coronavirus response. He’s known and worked with Biden since the Democrat’s 1987 presidential campaign.

The choice of Klain underscores the effort the incoming Biden administration will place on the coronavirus response from day one. Klain has experience in public health as the Ebola response coordinator and played a central role in drafting and implementing the Obama administration’s economic recovery plan in 2009.

“I’m honoured by the Presidentelect’s confidence and will give my all to lead a talented and diverse team in a Biden-Harris WH,” Klain

tweeted.

Choosing Klain is also likely to assuage some concerns among progressives who had been gearing up for a fight over one of the first and biggest staff picks Biden will make as he builds out his White House team. The chief of staff is typically a gatekeeper for the president, crafts political and legislative strategy and often serves as a liaison to Capitol Hill in legislative negotiations.

Progressives had expressed concerns that Biden would pick one of his other former chiefs of staff: Steve Richetti, who faces scepticism for his work as a lobbyist, or Bruce Reed, who is seen as too much of a moderate to embrace reforms pushed by the party’s base.

But progressives see Klain as open to working with them on top priorities like climate change and health care.

SPORTS PAGE 11

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

PRO PICKS, PAGE 13

Kendal Isaacs Gym ‘not available for us to use’

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

T

he Bahamas Basketball Federation was faced with the dilemma of securing the necessary funding to send its men’s national team off to the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 Qualifiers from November 27 to December 1.

Now federation president Mario Bowleg said their problems have been compounded by the fact that they are not allowed to work out in the Kendal Isaacs

Gymnasium before they leave in two weeks for Indianapolis, Indiana.

FIBA had originally scheduled Pool D where the Bahamas will be matched against the United States and Puerto Rico to play in Puerto Rico, but Bowleg said they decided to move the games to Indianapolis where the teams will play in a bubble as was done in the National Basketball Association’s regular season.

After playing the United States and Puerto Rico in Indianapolis on November 29 and 30 respectively, the federation will return

the favour and host the two teams in February, hopefully in one of the makeshift gymnasiums in either Atlantis or Baha Mar. After applying to the Competent Authority and the Ministry of Health, Bowleg said they were granted permission to use the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

But he said while working out on Thursday and Friday, he got a call on Sunday from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, indicating that they had to relocate to the AF Adderley Gymnasium. “We now have to prepare the premier team in the

country to train in the AF Adderley Gymnasium, which does not meet the international standards court size to prepare the team for powerhouses like the United States and Puerto Rico,” Bowleg said.

“We’ve requested from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, the use of the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium, which meets the recommended requirements, but for some reason, we have been told that it’s not available for us to use.”

Despite the fact that Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium is off limits

in the coronavirus pandemic, Bowleg said the federation is still pressing on and doing all they can to get the team ready to represent the Bahamas at the end of the month.

Bowleg said there are a few players who have threatened that they will not play because they feel they are being treated unfairly in working on their craft to get ready to compete against two of the top countries, not just in the region, in the world. “I’m having challenges with some of

SEE PAGE 12

Carey Jr won’t be making Indiana trip

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE the men’s national basketball team is preparing to head to Indianapolis, Indiana, in a couple of weeks for the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 Qualifiers, professional player Michael Carey Jr has made it clear that he won’t be making the trip.

Carey Jr, who has been home since the coronavirus pandemic broke in March, said his decision was a personal one, but more importantly because the Bahamas Basketball Federation didn’t have access to the proper facilities to train for the November 27 to December 1 showdown against the United States and Puerto Rico.

“We have the opportunity to beat both the United States and Puerto Rico, but we’re in the golden age for basketball on the international stage, but we have to provide our elite athletes with the best opportunity to compete at that level,” Carey Jr said.

“That’s not just with basketball, but in swimming, track and field, boxing, tennis and baseball where we continue to produce some of the best athletes in the world, but we’re still not allowing them to utilise the best facilities.”

Carey Jr said with so many of the collegiate and pro players being featured on the international networks like ESPN and

PRO basketball player Michael Carey Jr, centre, says he won’t be making the trip to Indiana with the men’s national basketball team in a couple of weeks for the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 Qualifiers. He said the Bahamas Basketball Federation didn’t have access to the proper facilities to train for the November 27 to December 1 showdown against the United States and Puerto Rico.

Sports Illustrated for their achievements, it’s amazing that they can’t come home and train in the top facilities that have been made available for them.

“In Florida, sports is essential. Athletes can train in Florida, despite the pandemic,” he said. “But we’re talking about helping the community and when our athletes come home, they want to stay home. So why can’t they do the same thing that they are doing in Florida with sports.”

IN JAPAN, MARK ST FORT WINS, KADEEM COLEBY SUFFERS LOSS

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT was contrasting results for Bahamian professional basketball players Mark St Fort and Kadeem Coleby yesterday as they continued their journey in the regular season of the Japanese B League.

St Fort and his eighthranked Niigata A pulled off an upset as they turned back the fourth-place Alvark Tokyo 84-76, while Coleby and his fifth-place Akita Northern Happinets went down 72-69 to the front-running Tochigi B. St Fort, who turned 32 on November 5, came off the bench and played 11 minutes, contributing 14 points as he connected on 6-for-8 shooting from the field and was 2-for-2 from the free throw line. The 6-foot, 7-inch, 209-pound small forward also pulled down eight rebounds with a steal and a blocked shot.

With the win, St Fort and Niigata A, coached by Shogo Fukuda, snapped a three-game winning streak as they improved to 5-9.

The loss dropped Alvark Tokyo to 8-5. St Fort and Niigata will play a double header this weekend when they face Hokkaido L on Saturday and Sunday.

After coming off a celebrated birthday with a double dose of victory, Coleby continued his impressive showing in his starting role as he logged a total of 34 minutes in yesterday’s game.

Coleby, who turned 31 on Sunday, finished with another double-double with 10 points and 17 rebounds.

The 6-9, 250-pound power forward/centre shot 3-for-6 from the field for a 50 percent shooting and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe for 100 percent.

A total of 14 of his rebounds came on the defensive end and he added two steals with an assist and a block.

The game ended with only a three-point home defeat of the fifth-ranked Akita NH, who dropped to 8-5, while their rivals improved to 12-1. It also ended a two-game winning streak for Coleby and his Akita NH, coached by Kenzo Maeda.

Coleby and his Akita NH will now head on the road where they will play a double header on Saturday and Sunday against Chiba.

On December 2, all eyes will be on the league when Coleby and Akita NH are scheduled to face St Fort and his Niigata Albirex.

Not having the opportunity to get into the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium to train with the other local players to prepare for the tournament, Carey Jr said he has decided to opt not to travel with the team.

However, he said he will make himself available for the second leg of the tournament that the BBF will host here in February.

“I love Mario (Bowleg, the president of the federation), but I just can’t do it,” said Carey Jr, who started

playing on the national team at the junior level at the age of 14.

Having played on the senior team for the past five years since graduating from college in 2015, Carey Jr said this will be the first tournament he will actually sit out and that’s only because he doesn’t feel as if he’s in the kind of condition to compete right now.

Since he returned home, Carey Jr said he and some of the elite basketball players got permission to work

out in the AF Adderley Gymnasium, but he noted that the floor wasn’t conducive, but it was the best facility available.

“It worked for us to get in some workout, but we’re talking about playing at a much higher level and we really need to be competing in the best facility available to get us ready to compete and I don’t think AF Adderley will fit the bill.

“We say we’re the richest nation in our region,

but I’m watching some of my counterparts from other countries in the region, who are training in their top facilities without any problems.

“I saw an Olympian athlete on subvention working out on his community park all because he can’t get into the Thomas A Robinson Stadium.”

Carey Jr, 27, said he has the utmost respect for Lanisha Rolle, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture and Timothy Munnings, the Director of Sports, but he pointed out that there needs to be some changes made as it pertains to the use of the national facilities and he would be happy to provide some suggestions.

Carey Jr, a 6-foot, 5-inch shooting guard/small forward, last played with the Pully Lausanne Foxes in the Swiss Basketball League (SBL). He previously played in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and France after he completed his collegiate tenure with the San Jacinto Ravens and Wagner Seahawks in the United States.

While he’s home, Carey Jr said he’s working out with Shaquille ‘Shaq’ Cleare with his fitness programme as he waits on a call relating to his next professional move. His agent is working on trying to get him a deal to play in the NBA’s G-League, but he won’t know how that will work out until after the NBA season gets started on December 22.

PAGE 12, Thursday, November 12, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

At 6-3, Brady-led Bucs off to best start in nearly 2 decades

By FRED GOODALL AP Sports Writer TAMPA, Florida (AP) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers feel they’re as good as their record, maybe even better.

The rest of the season will be about proving it after the most-lopsided loss of Tom Brady’s career raised questions about how a team that’s played so well at times could turn around and look as bad as they did against the New Orleans Saints.

“We know we’re not that type of team, especially against a team who we obviously wanted to really beat,” linebacker Lavonte David said Monday, reflecting on a 38-3 loss that dropped the Bucs from first place in the NFC South.

“To go out there and put on a show like that on Sunday night — guys feel some type of way about it,” David added. “All you can do is move on from it.”

At 6-3, the Bucs are still off to their best start since 2002, when they won 12 of their first 14 and went on win their only Super Bowl title.

Two of their three losses this season have come against the three-time defending division champion Saints, though, with the latest underscoring the Bucs still have a ways to go to overtake New Orleans as the best team in the NFC South.

Brady has thrown seven interceptions through nine games, five of them against the Saints, who also beat the Bucs 34-23 in Week 1.

“It’s about playing better and execution. We all have to do our job a lot better,” Brady said Sunday night.

“When you play good teams, there’s little margin of error.”

Coach Bruce Arians said the team can’t afford to dwell on what’s already happened if it is going to realise its potential.

Brady said it starts with getting back on the practice field, learning from mistakes and getting better every day.

“It’s not about predicting the future. I’m not here to say, ‘This is what we’re going to do based on losing a game,’” the six-time Super Bowl champion said.

“We’re going to get back to work and try and do a lot better next week,” Brady added. “We’ve got to win one game. We’re 6-3. I wish we we’re a lot better than that, but that’s where we’re at.”

Sunday night’s loss stopped a three-game winning streak that included a 38-10 blowout of the then-unbeaten Green Bay Packers.

The Packers and the Las Vegas Raiders are the only teams the Bucs have beaten who currently have winning records. They also have wins over the Broncos, Chargers, Panthers and Giants, who are a combined 10-24.

“I think that’s how you’re usually judged,” Arians said. “We were pretty good against Green Bay and really poor against New Orleans.”

WHAT’S WORKING Despite having his two worst games of the season against the Saints, Brady has been everything the Bucs could have asked for — and more — since signing a two-year, $50 million contract in free agency.

Arians and general manager Jason Licht have assembled a star-studded cast around him, bringing in Rob Gronkowski, LeSean McCoy, Leonard Fournette and most recently, Antonio Brown,

NAUGHTY’S NFL PICKS WEEK 10 THE STANDINGS Naughty LAST WEEK 10-4 SEASON 96-36-1 Wilner (AP) LAST WEEK - 10-4 SEASON - 88-44-1

TAMPA Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) reacts as he leaves the field after throwing an interception against the New Orleans Saints during the second half last night.

(AP Photo/Mark LoMoglio) to bolster an already impressive group of playmakers led by Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

Prior to Sunday night, Brady had thrown 17 TD passes and just one interception over his previous six games.

WHAT NEEDS HELP Evans and Hall of Famer Randy Moss are the only players in NFL history to begin a career with six consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 yards receiving.

Although he has a team-leading seven TD receptions and has been hobbled by a sore ankle, he’s not getting a lot of passes thrown to him.

“Part of it’s scheme, part of it’s reading out some things that Mike was open on and just finding him. ... But we’ve got to do a better job,” Arians said.

STOCK UP The defence leads the NFL with 16 takeaways.

The Bucs are second in sacks with 29, three fewer than the unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers.

STOCK DOWN Tampa Bay has played three games with primetime starts and played poorly each time, going 1-2 with losses to the Saints

and Bears and a 25-23 victory over the Giants.

“That’s one of the things we have to look at. ...

We have stunk in those games,” Arians said.

The Bucs will host the Rams on “Monday Night Football” in two weeks.

INJURED With the exception of losing O.J. Howard (Achilles) for the year, the Bucs avoided major injuries the first half of the season.

Evans, Godwin, Scotty Miller and Justin Watson were slowed by various injuries at times, which was one of the factors contributing to the decision to sign Brown, who made his debut Sunday night after serving an eight-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

KEY NUMBER .889, as in Ryan Succop’s field-goal percentage. He’s 16 of 18 and has scored 74 points, third most in the league.

NEXT STEPS The Bucs try to get back on track at Carolina. The schedule down the stretch also includes tests against the Rams, Chiefs, Vikings and Falcons at home and Lions and Falcons on the road.

MY buddy Barry Wilner from AP Sports has been hot as of late but I still enjoy a comfy eight-game lead as we head into the second half of the NFL season.

Here’s who I like this week...I’m keeping it short and sweet I have to get it in quickly, who knows when the ‘Lords of Doom’ at BPL will strike again.

THURSDAY COLTS vs TITANS: Big AFC South matchup here, also too close to call .... coin flip.... TITANS win at home 27-24.

SUNDAY TEXANS vs BROWNS: The return of RB Nick Chubb gives the Browns an advantage at home.

BROWNS win 31-27 EAGLES vs GIANTS: The Eagles come in rested off of the bye week and a whole lot healthier also.

EAGLES win a tough division game on the road 23 - 17 WASHINGTON FT vs LIONS: My second coin flip of the day .... and it’s heads ....

LIONS win at home 23-20 JAGUARS vs PACKERS: Extra cheese please Packers beat up on the Jags at home.

PACKERS win a Lambeau 37-20 BUCS vs PANTHERS: The Panthers played the Chiefs tough right down to the wire in losing a close one last week.

The losses continue for the cats at home this week,

because Tom Brady doesn’t lose two in a row.

BUCS 31 -24 CHARGERS vs DOLPHINS: The Dolphins continue their improbable run toward the playoffs with a win at home.

DOLPHINS 34-30 BRONCOS vs RAIDERS: Nice AFC West shootout here, I like lots of points and the Raiders at home in this one.

RAIDERS 34 - 24 BILLS vs CARDINALS: The Bills go west to collect a win in the desert.

BILLS 24 - 23 BENGALS vs STEELERS: Big AFC North matchup in this one, the Steelers hold off the young and improving Bengals at home in a surprising shoot out, all of this hinges on the COVID test results in Pittsburgh where several players, including QB Ben Roethlisberger, are considered high risk.

If ‘Big Ben’ is forced to miss the game the Bengals have a legitimate shot.

Nonetheless I will go with the Steelers to get to 9-0 at home.

STEELERS 27 - 20 NINERS vs SAINTS: The Niners are depleted by injuries across the board.

They will be easy prey to a Saints team at home.

SAINTS 34 -17 SEAHAWKS vs RAMS: Coin flip number 3 ...

SEAHAWKS on the road in a thriller.

SEAHAWKS 34-31 RAVENS vs PATRIOTS: The Ravens win on the road for the second straight week.

RAVENS 27 - 13 VIKINGS vs BEARS: The upset bird makes a cameo in this one.

VIKINGS on the road in the upset win.

VIKINGS 23 - 20

Bowleg: Kendal Isaacs Gym ‘not available for us to use’ FROM PAGE 11 the players who feel that they are not being put in the right atmosphere to get ready for this high level of competition,” said Bowleg of the AF Adderley Gym, which is 88-feet in length and 40 feet in width, compared to Kendal Isaacs, which meets the international standards and FIBA regulations of 94 by 50.

“As the president of the federation, I support the players. They shouldn’t have to be going though this where they are trying to qualify for the 2024 Olympics and they can’t get to use the top basketball facility in the country.”

Bowleg, however, said the federation is working along with head coach Chris DeMarco, an assistant coach of the Golden State Warriors, to put the best team possible from the list of players available.

The NBA has announced that they will be preparing for the opening of their 2020/2021 season on December 22 with teams beginning their training camp on December 1.

That, according to Bowleg, may rule out both Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield of the Sacramento Kings and Deandre Ayton of the Phoenix Suns from participating in the games in Indianapolis, if they don’t get their releases from the NBA. Bowleg said they are also expected to exclude both Kadeem Coleby and Mark St Fort, who are scheduled to clash in a head-to-head meeting with their respective teams in the Japanese League on December 2.

But Bowleg said they have a few players at home, including DeShon Taylor, Eugene Bain and Michael Bain, who are making themselves available for service.

He noted that two professional players - Michael Carey Jr and Shaquille ‘Shaq’ Cleare - are both

COACHES MARIO BOWLEG, left, and Norris Bain. home, but have indicated that they are not fit to compete in the games, so they will opt not to travel with the team.

Travis Munnings, Michael Thompson Jr, Willis Mackey, Juran Cornish, Dominique Bridgewater, Gregory Rolle Jr, Kenton Smith, Johnathan Farwell, Lourawls ‘Tum Tum’ Nairn, Nathan Bain and Rashad Mackey are some of the players who are available to compete.

“We have some guys who are in the United States, who were preparing to come home to work out with the team, but we advised them not to because we don’t have the use of the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium,” Bowleg said.

“Those who are here, we are advising them to continue to work on their game and their physical fitness because we travel in two weeks to Indianapolis where we will have to find a facility to get the team ready.”

The federation has already received an

endorsement of $30,000 to assist with the estimated budget of $80,000 to cover the expenses for the team. But he noted that the figures could go up as they now have to leave a little earlier than expected to train together in Indianapolis.

Bowleg noted that they have been assured by Timothy Munnings, the director of sports in the MOYSC, that they will receive some funding, but they have not been given any indication exactly how much it will be.

“We are just trying to get the guys to stay focused and not worrying about the things that impede our progress, just getting into the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium and the funding to travel,” he said.

“I just want them to see the rainbow at the end of the tunnel and that is to try and get basketball to become the first team sport to qualify for the Olympics and so we thank the Bahamas Olympic Committee for being with us from the start of this process.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, November 12, 2020, PAGE 13

Key AFC South matchup tonight as Colts visit Titans

By BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writer WHILE fans get mesmerised by the Kansas City offence dominating the AFC West, the best rivalry in football (Steelers vs Ravens) in the AFC North, and the apparent demise of the Patriots in the AFC East, what about the other AFC division?

The outcome of the AFC South won’t be decided tonight when the Titans (6-2) and Colts (5-3) face off in Music City.

The winner, however, will have a leg up in a twoteam race — and these teams meet again at the end of the month.

Indianapolis, No. 14 in the AP Pro32, is a 2-point underdog at No. 8 Tennessee.

A key for Indianapolis will be slowing down Derrick Henry, and the Colts have a solid run defence.

As their star linebacker Darius Leonard notes, every defensive player will be involved in stopping Tennessee’s outstanding running back.

“We always talk about hamstring tackles, get him to stop his feet and just gang-tackle him. That’s what it’s going to take,” Leonard says. “To beat this team, you have to stop the run, you have to be sevenplus to the ball, 11-plus to the ball and squeeze, wrap and roll on his hamstrings and just go from there.

“I always joke around with him; I tell him he’s a defensive end playing running back,” Leonard said.

“He’s huge. He’s about what, 250? 260? The thing with him, which is crazy, I would rather see him between the tackles. He’s not that guy between the tackles, that pounder that’s going — he’s still powerful, but he’s more dangerous in space because he’s so big.

You don’t know what he’s going to do. He has speed, he has a stiff arm and he has the size to run you over as well.”

That’s enough for us.

TITANS, 21-17

KNOCKOUT POOL: Man, did the Steelers make us sweat against a mediocre (to be kind) Dallas team.

But they came through, and now Pro Picks relies on TAMPA BAY.

By JOSH DUBOW AP Pro Football Writer

No. 7 Seattle (plus 2) at No. 10 Los Angeles Rams That Seattle defence is way too charitable. And Rams are rested.

BEST BET: RAMS, 36-30 No. 5 Buffalo (plus 2) at No. 13 Arizona Pro Picks doesn’t see any other likely outright upset, so ...

UPSET SPECIAL: BILLS, 33-31 No. 19 Philadelphia (minus 3½) at No. 28 New York Giants Were the Eagles not coming off a bye, an upset pick here would be tempting.

EAGLES, 20-19

INDIANAPOLIS Colts inside linebacker Bobby Okereke (58) celebrates with teammates after recovering a fumble against the Baltimore Ravens in the second half on Sunday.

(AP Photo/AJ Mast)

No. 31 Jacksonville (plus 14) at No. 6 Green Bay Laying all those points with the Steelers last week has made us gun-shy.

PACKERS, 27-14 No. 27 Houston (plus 3) at No. 15 Cleveland A loss here would drop the Browns from contenders to pretenders.

BROWNS, 26-24 No. 24 Los Angeles Chargers (plus 2 1-2) at No. 12 Miami We all know how these games end for the Chargers. Kind of ugly.

DOLPHINS, 25-24 No. 9 Tampa Bay (minus 6) at No. 20 Carolina It’s never a good idea to rile up pirates the way the Saints did to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers.

BUCCANEERS, 27-23 No. 23 Denver (plus 4 1-2) at No. 11 Las Vegas The Raiders are in the middle of a prove-it threegame string of division games.

RAIDERS, 23-21

No. 18 San Francisco (plus 9 1-2) at No. 3 New Orleans Are the Saints as good as they looked at Tampa Bay? No, but they’re good enough to cover here.

SAINTS, 30-16 No. 4 Baltimore (minus 7) at No. 21 New England

AARON RODGERS SEES DOUBLE STANDARDS IN COVID-19 POLICY GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he sees double standards in the safety protocols the NFL has instituted as it tries to complete a season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“You can dap up a guy after a game, but you can’t eat at the same lunch table as a teammate,” Rodgers said Tuesday on SiriusXM’s “The Pat McAfee Show.”

“You can go down to practice and hit each other and be in close contact, but you have to have Plexiglas between you and the guy next to you in the locker room. I just think some of those things to me really don’t add up.”

Rodgers added that “some of it is definitely for the optics of it, some of it probably based on science, but it’s definitely changed the season for sure.”

The two-time MVP also noted that the protocols in place may have impacted team unity because it has prevented get-togethers such as weekly dinners or Halloween parties.

“I know a lot of people don’t give any credence or don’t (care) about chemistry, but I think it’s really important,” Rodgers said.

Packers wide receiver Davante Adams agreed yesterday that the protocols limiting team get-togethers have been a hindrance.

“Obviously in the past we’ve been able to have a lot of gatherings — Halloween stuff, Christmas stuff, going bowling, doing different events some of the players put on — so it’s gotten in the way a little bit,” Adams said. “But

PACKERS wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, bottom left, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) celebrate after connecting on a touchdown pass during the second half against the San Francisco 49ers on November 5.

(AP Photo/Tony Avelar) we just try to strengthen our connection in the building and at practice through football as much as possible.

During his Zoom session with Green Bay reporters yesterday, Rodgers was asked what has stood out the most about dealing with COVID-19 protocols now that the season has reached its midway point.

Rodgers noted how the Packers have played all their home games without fans thus far and then noted other moves the league has made to help the season continue.

“There obviously was talk about the protocols and the amount of testing we were going to do,” Rodgers

AP SOURCE: 49ERS CLEARED OF COVID-19 VIOLATIONS

said. “I think the (players association) and the owners agreed that keeping it every single day was important to making sure we had the right updates on the health of our players. I think that’s been good. I think it’s been a change, but I think we’ve done as well as we can in Green Bay. We’ve had a couple guys test positive, haven’t had the widespread stuff that so many people prognosticated about, that we weren’t going to get to this point. I think maybe some people even were hoping we wouldn’t get to this point.

“But I think the NFL and PA talking about the protocols, I think have done a nice job of setting good guidelines on how we can try to get to the end of the season. Obviously, we had some games moved and cancelled but that we got eight games in, I think, is a win. Now we’ve got to get to the end of the season.”

The Packers (6-2) had three players on the COVID-19 reserve list when they beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-17 last week. The list is for players who either have tested positive or have had close contact with someone who was infected.

Running back A.J. Dillon had tested positive. Running back Jamaal Williams and linebacker Kamal Martin were on the reserve list for having close contact with someone who had tested positive.

Linebacker Krys Barnes and quarterback Jordan Love went on the COVID19 reserve list the day after the 49ers game. Love has since been activated.

Nothing the Patriots showed in eking past the awful Jets was persuasive.

RAVENS, 23-13 No. 17 Minnesota (minus 2) at No. 16 Chicago, (Monday night) The Bears play the run pretty well, but Dalvin Cook will be their biggest 2020 test.

VIKINGS, 20-13

No. 25 Cincinnati (OFF) at No. 1 Pittsburgh COVID-19 issues keep this game off the board.

The Bengals are getting tougher.

STEELERS, 27-23 No. 29 Washington (OFF) at No. 26 Detroit Nobody cares keeps this game off the board?

LIONS, 24-19

SANTA CLARA, California (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers have been cleared of any potential violations of the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols following a positive test from receiver Kendrick Bourne.

A person familiar with the investigation said yesterday the league and union reviewed the 49ers and determined the team was in compliance of coronavirus protocols.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league made no announcement.

The investigation started last week after Bourne tested positive for the coronavirus and was placed on the COVID-19 list.

Teammates Brandon Aiyuk, Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel were also forced to miss last Thursday night’s game against Green Bay because they were determined to be “highrisk” close contacts.

The four players were then activated Friday when Bourne passed two COVID-19 tests.

Bourne then tested positive again and was placed back on the list Monday but could return this week.

“It’s what you’ve heard.

I mean, positive, negative, negative, positive, negative,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Those things happen I guess, and we’re all just dealing with it. I know it’s a weird situation with him.

It kind of is weird though, with everybody in the world, not just our football players. So, we’re just trying to do the best with the protocols and hope that he gets cleared up to where it’s always negative and hopefully we can get him out of here later in the week.”

Shanahan was fined $100,000 and the team was docked $250,000 earlier this season because Shanahan didn’t properly wear his mask during a game.

PAGE 14, Thursday, November 12, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Olympic leaders raise hopes for safe Tokyo Games with fans

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — Encouraged by progress this week in finding a COVID-19 vaccine and staging sports events in Japan, the IOC is getting “more and more confident” that next year’s Tokyo Olympics can have fans in the venues.

After the 2020 Summer Games were postponed by one year, the International Olympic Committee has put faith in progress for rapid testing for COVID-19 and vaccines to ensure that they can take place starting July 23.

News from pharmaceutical firm Pfizer on Monday of promising trials of its vaccine followed Tokyo hosting an international gymnastics competition at the weekend.

“Having seen now the different (event) tests in Japan I think we can become more and more confident that we will have a reasonable number of spectators then also in the

Olympic venues,” IOC President Thomas Bach said.

Asked if the IOC could itself try to acquire vaccine doses for Olympic participants, Bach said contact is ongoing with the World Health Organisation and “a number of the manufacturers.”

“There are different options under consideration, how vaccines can be made available,” he said.

However, he added that athletes should not be a top priority worldwide.

“The first wave of vaccination ... must be for the people in need, for the high-risk groups, for the nurses, for the medical doctors and for everybody who is keeping our societies alive,” Bach said.

The IOC leader said he will go to Tokyo next week for a first visit since the postponement decision was made in March, and the travelling Olympic party had begun a period of quarantine to prepare.

Bach gave a firm “no” in response when asked if

AUDIENCE members cheer for Wataru Tanigawa of Japan as he competes in the rings during an international gymnastics meet in Tokyo on Sunday. Gymnasts from four countries of China, Russia, US and Japan performed in the meet at Yoyogi National Stadium First Gymnasium, a venue planned to be used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the summer 2021.

(AP Photo/Hiro Komae) a contingency for cancelling the Olympics would be discussed.

• In other Olympic business yesterday: — Bach welcomed the NBA’s 2020-21 schedule

that frees players for the Tokyo Olympics.

The regular season starts two months later than usual, in mid-December, but is cut by 10 games to 72. “This is what the players want and

the Olympic movement wants,” Bach said.

Basketball’s international body, FIBA, said the Olympic-friendly NBA schedule followed “regular and constructive exchanges” with

the league and players’ union leaders.

— The IOC passed a 16 percent increase in its 2021-24 budget to help national Olympic bodies and athletes prepare for the Summer and Winter Games.

The Solidarity Commission will have $590 million to distribute with a bigger share going direct to athlete scholarships.

— Activists in Belarus sent evidence received by the IOC this week to support claims that athletes are facing reprisals for protesting the disputed re-election of state President Alexander Lukashenko. The IOC pledged investigations last month.

The IOC has resisted calls to suspend Lukashenko, who has been president of the Belarus Olympic Committee for 23 years.

— The troubled International Weightlifting Federation will not face a review of its place at the 2024 Paris Olympics until after the Tokyo Games, Bach said.

BARCELONA WANTS NEYMAR TO PAY BACK NEARLY $12 MILLION

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID, Spain (AP) — Barcelona is suing Neymar for nearly $12 million, the amount the club believes it overpaid the Brazilian during the time he played in Spain, a person with knowledge of the case said yesterday.

The person said Barcelona overpaid Neymar to avoid possible tax irregularities while authorities investigated his transfer from Brazilian club Santos in 2013.

Calculations recently concluded by tax authorities showed that the club didn’t have to pay the 10 million euros ($11.8 million), so it is requesting that the player returns that amount.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorised to make public comments about the issue.

Neymar’s representatives told the AP that they would not comment on the case.

Neymar played for Barcelona from 2013-17 before joining French club Paris Saint-Germain on a record transfer fee of 222 million euros ($262 million).

Neymar and Barcelona were accused by Spanish authorities of irregularities during the Brazilian’s transfer to the Catalan club, including trying to hide the real amount that was paid to Santos at the time.

They all denied wrongdoing.

Spanish tax authorities said in September that

Neymar owed 34.6 million euros ($40.8 million) in taxes from his time in Spain, the highest personal debt in the country last year.

Barcelona has been struggling financially this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. It lowered player wages earlier in the year and has continued to negotiate salary adjustments to try to reduce costs.

The Catalan club also has been enduring an internal crisis since an embarrassing 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, with Lionel Messi eventually asking to leave the club and president Josep Bartomeu and his board of directors resigning.

Messi stayed, but Bartomeu is gone.

PSG’s Angel Di Maria, left, celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal with PSG’s Neymar during the Champions League semifinal soccer match against RB Leipzig at the Luz stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, on August 18.

(David Ramos/Pool Photo via AP)

MATCHDAY: EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP LINEUP COMPLETED BY PLAYOFFS (AP) — A LOOK at what’s happening around European soccer today: EUROS PLAYOFFS Four playoff games will decide who completes the 24-nation lineup for next year’s pandemic-delayed European Championship.

All must be resolved today, in extra time or a penalty shootout if needed.

At least one winner will be a tournament first-timer ranked outside the world’s top 50 national teams.

Georgia hosts North Macedonia in the playoff final for fourth-tier teams.

Hungary hosts Iceland in a match of teams who also met at Euro 2016. Northern Ireland hosts Slovakia in the only playoff allowed by local health rules to have fans -- only around 1,000 -- in the stadium. Serbia hosts Scotland. The stakes are perhaps higher for Hungary and Scotland. They are among the 12 host nations at pan-continental Euro 2020. If they advance, their prize is two home games in the group stage next June.

ENGLAND VS. IRELAND England manager Gareth Southgate’s priority is the upcoming Nations League games against Belgium and Iceland. So Reece James, who is suspended for those matches, is set to start at right back in the friendly against Ireland. Nick Pope could be in goal rather than Jordan Pickford. Former Irish youth internationals Michael Keane and Jack

Grealish could also be involved at Wembley Stadium, as could Declan Rice against the country he represented at senior level on three occasions. The biggest moment could be a debut for 17-year-old Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, who is in line to become England’s thirdyoungest player.

WALES VS. UNITED STATES The Americans are back in action for the first time since February due to the pandemic. Mainly Europebased players have made the journey to Wales due to the upcoming Major League Soccer playoffs.

Borussia Dortmund attacking midfielder Giovanni Reyna, the 17-year-old son of former Manchester City player Claudio Reyna, could make his international debut.

Ryan Giggs will not be leading Wales for this friendly after being arrested, although he will be consulted by caretaker coach Robert Page.

Giggs will also be missing from the dugout for upcoming Nations League matches after being arrested by police over an alleged incident at the start of the month with his girlfriend. The 46-year-old former Man United star has been released on police bail and denies wrongdoing.

Gareth Bale is back in contention for Wales after the Tottenham forward missed last month’s games through injury.