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VOLUME:116 No.269, DECEMBER 18TH, 2018

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Visa suspect takes FBI deal Accused at centre of Bahamas probe in plea agreement

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net THE Haitian-Bahamian man at the centre of an explosive FBI undercover operation into visa fraud in The Bahamas has taken a plea deal, according to court filings.

Edward Israel Saintil is now facing one count of encouraging and inducing an alien to come to the United States for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.

If convicted, he will be expected to forfeit any proceeds obtained directly or

indirectly from the offence.

Prosecutors listed a Samsung Galaxy S8 as specific property subject to forfeiture, but noted the state will also seek a forfeiture money judgement against Saintil for $7,100.

“From on or about January 9, 2018, to on or about August 18, 2018,” the charge document read, “defendant Edward Israei Saintil, for the purpose of private financial gain, did encourage and induce an alien, namely, (FBI informant), to come to, enter, and reside in the United States, knowing and in reckless disregard

YOU DON’T LOOK LIKE SANTA...

STAFF and youth programmes at the multimillion-dollar community centre in Fox Hill have become casualties of a battle between the Minnis administration and the non-profit organisation that owns the facility.

Staff at the Fox Hill

SEE PAGE NINE

PLP SENATOR Fred Mitchell criticised the Minnis administration’s handling of the controversial Non-Profit Organisations Bill, insisting that recent delays prove the government failed to do its “homework” on the legislation’s potential impact.

Addressing reporters just after the Senate was officially suspended for the Christmas holidays without commencing debate on the bill, Mr Mitchell launched an attack on the government’s overall approach to the execution of its business.

Mr Mitchell, leader of opposition business in the Senate, said: “The question we keep asking ourselves is how government business is actually being managed? Its legislative agenda, how it is we can predict what it is that they are going (to do), and when things are going to get done? And this bill is a prime example of that.”

‘STOP TRYING TO POLICE OUR CLOTHES’

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

SEE PAGE THREE

Community Centre have been unpaid for months and at-risk programmes for youth have not proceeded like the Inter-American Development Bank expected when it gave the government a loan through the Citizen Security and Justice Initiative that was partly used to renovate the facility.

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

SEE PAGE SIX

FOX HILL STAFF UNPAID AND YOUTH SCHEMES HALTED

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

GOVERNMENT ‘DIDN’T DO HOMEWORK’ AS BILL DELAYED

PATRICIA MINNIS, the wife of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, with gifts for children as she toured the Family Islands yesterday with her husband. The prime minister’s trip included Mayaguana, Acklins and Crooked Island. See page six for the full story.

ACTIVISTS have criticised the Department of Immigration’s new dress code for entry as “genderbased discrimination” and “irrational”.

The issue became topical after women reported being turned away from the facility for wearing shorts or sleeveless dresses.

Marion Bethel, an attorney who currently serves on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEDAW), and Alicia Wallace, director of Equality Bahamas, both spoke out against the policy yesterday.

SEE PAGE SEVEN

STRANDED COUPLE: HELP US GET HOME

By RIEL MAJOR

Banking in a fix.

AN American couple is currently stranded in The Bahamas without passports and no funds to return back to Kentucky after missing their return cruise due to a medical emergency.

Rose Johnson and Michelle Manuel, who are married, were gifted a cruise by friends to the country last weekend.

They said the only documentation needed

ROSE Johnson and her wife, Michelle Manuel, say they are stranded in The Bahamas after an illness forced them to miss their cruise out of the country. to board the cruise was a birth certificate so the

two don’t have passports in their possession.

Their vacation was on the right track until “Rose became deathly sick and was transferred to the infirmary on the ship where they gave her fluids and three different medications, which didn’t help over the course of two hours,” said Dillion Ray Roberts, who created a GoFundMe page for the couple.

SEE PAGE SEVEN

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FACE-TO-FACE: WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES MOTHERS

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Tuesday, December 18, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

FROM left, Sherrylee Smith, permanent secretary; Minister of Social Services Frankie Campbell; Philip Smith; and Kellen Russell, acting director of Urban Renewal.

Bahamas Feeding Network gets an extra $5,000 to help those in need

By FARRAH JOHNSON SOCIAL Services Minister Frankie Campbell announced yesterday that the ministry will donate $5,000 to the Bahamas Feeding Network (BFN) from the Urban Renewal Commission to assist citizens in need.

During a press conference, Mr Campbell admitted that “no amount of government programmes” could realistically accommodate every person in need of assistance.

He added that he is grateful for local organisations that have partnered with the ministry to help them in “adding quality” to the lives of the less fortunate. “…We rely on our partners to kind of undergird us and give us that extra boost as we attempt

to put in place safety nets for various aspects of vulnerable persons within our community,” he said.

Mr Campbell recalled a personal experience where he volunteered with BFN and helped to pack parcels and hand out food to what he estimated to be more than 3,000 individuals.

“I saw firsthand the impact of the work that the Feeding Network and Mr (Philip) Smith was having, and I committed myself right then and there that either as an individual, or as the minister responsible that we would partner with him,” he stated.

Mr Campbell said during meetings with BFN, officials discovered that the non-profit organisation hosts an annual campaign to feed

5,000 persons during the Christmas holiday.

“We looked through our budget and we wanted to makes sure we found something that would enable us to partner with them, and so we came up with $5,000 for five thousand,” he explained.

“We know it’s going to but scratch the surface, but we see it as a beginning and I do it to reaffirm my commitment as we move forward. As we go into the next budgeting period then I would look for more to ensure that we participate in a more substantive way,” he said.

Philip Smith, executive director of BFN, explained that the network has a team of about 100 members, including soup kitchens and churches, who cook and

distribute over 2,000 meals on Sundays.

However, he admitted that the demand for meals has doubled as the Christmas holidays approach.

Speaking about the ministry‘s donation, Mr Smith said: “It’s very important particularly at this time. The Department of Statistics tell us that there are probably 43,000 persons that experience hunger.”

Mr Smith said it can be assumed that those figures have increased due to the harsh economic climate present that has affected many Bahamians today.

“I think that you will find that there are a lot of people that actually are challenged to eat,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Mr Campbell said government officials are

committed to supporting similar programmes and initiatives.

While the minister was unable to say whether there was an increase in people applying for government assistance, he did say that the ministry has not “exhausted” its existing budget.

“I can say, based on budgetary figures, the ministry spent maybe about $12 million or thereabouts on food assistance, and so our budget in that regard is in that area…so we’re still continuing to assist,” he said.

BFN is a non-profit organisation made up of 13 establishments that joined together in 2013 to tackle the hunger crises in the country.

The Feed the 5,000 Campaign is an annual drive to provide packages to families in need during the Christmas holidays.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 18, 2018, PAGE 3

Visa suspect takes FBI deal

from page one of the fact that such coming to, entry, and residence in the United States would be in violation of law.”

Saintil was expected to appear for a status hearing last Friday but it was vacated after both sides brokered a plea agreement.

He holds both Haitian and Bahamian citizenship, and previously told The Tribune he was born in The Bahamas.

He is alleged to have represented himself as a justice of the peace; however, a search of the justice of the peace registry at the Office of the Attorney General indicated there was only one registered official with the last name of Saintil - but his name was Mark.

Saintil was arrested in late September after the FBI allegedly recorded conversations between him and a paid informant, in which he boasted of close relationships with both current and former top Department of Immigration officials and

claimed a capacity to obtain fraudulent bank statements to support US visa applications.

It is alleged that Saintil further claimed local immigration officials did not process work permits unless they were paid to do so, adding that bribes to obtain fraudulent documents for Haitian nationals were the cheapest, according to the FBI agent’s affidavit.

Saintil obtained a twoyear work permit for one informant, identified in the affidavit as CHS-3, as a handyman for his company, Saintil’s Painting and Cleaning Services on August 1.

The Tribune has withheld the name of the official, who it was claimed in the affidavit, had signed the permit. Saintil alleged he paid the immigration official $3,000 for the permit that same day, according to court documents filed in the US. He had also claimed he was in possession of six or seven work permits, telling

the FBI informant he had been holding them since December 2017 due to non-payment.

A search of the company registry by The Tribune uncovered only one business with the name Saintil - “Saintil Painting and Cleaning Services”.

The company was registered on May 13, 2017.

Last month, a team of investigators from the Royal Bahamas Police Force and an attorney from the Department of Public Prosecutions were expected to head to Washington to be briefed on the FBI’s findings.

National Security Minister Marvin Dames advised investigators will determine whether any local laws were broken and prosecute people where necessary.

The Tribune exclusively reported on the FBI’s sting operation last month, Saintil contacted this newspaper. At the time, he emphatically denied the allegations and said he had rejected a plea deal.

MARVIN DAMES, Minister of National Security, has said investigators will determine if local laws have been broken.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

SECOND GROUP OF FISHERMEN IN A WEEK DETAINED FOR the second time within a week, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force arrested a group of Dominican fishermen for illegally operating in Bahamian waters.

Two Dominican small,

go-fast type boats were apprehended at 11am yesterday just off North East Point, Inagua by the RBDF while on routine patrol.

Onboard were seven Dominican fishermen along with several air

compressors and containers of gasoline.

The Dominicans were taken into custody and handed over to police and immigration officials at Great Inagua, and will be transported to New Providence where they will be charged for various fishing offences.

Both skiffs and the fishing apparatus were all confiscated and handed over to police for further processing.

A week ago, on December 11, another seven Dominican fishermen were arrested by the RBDF off Inagua. They have since been charged before the courts on several counts resulting in sentences up to nine months and $413,000 in fines.

RBDF Commodore Tellis Bethel said he applauds the efforts of the officers and marines “who continue to perform their duties at high levels,” a RBDF press release noted.

SOME of the fishermen being detained by the RBDF.

Photos: RBDF

BAMSI WORKERS ACCUSED OF ARMED ROBBERY

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

TWO farm workers at the Bahamas Agricultural and Marine Sciences Institute (BAMSI) were remanded to prison yesterday charged with robbing an Andros businessman at gunpoint of $8,000 last week.

Shaquiel Ashton Munnings, 25, and 18-year-old Marachell Coleby, farm

labourers at the North Andros site, were charged before Magistrate Ambrose Armbrister with robbing David Patrick Romer at his gas station on December 12.

It is alleged that on the date in question, and while at David Romer & Sons gas station in Mastic Point, the two, armed with a firearm, robbed Mr Romer of a blue deposit bag containing cheques and cash in the

amount of $8,000, and also robbed the man of jewellery worth $1,700.

Munnings and Coleby are also accused of dishonestly receiving the blue deposit bag knowing it was obtained or appropriated by a criminal offence.

The two Buzzard Bay, South Mastic Point natives were not required to enter a plea to the charges and the case was adjourned to February 27, 2019 for service

ARCHER ON INDECENT EXPOSURE CHARGE

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net INTERNET sensation Jeremy Archer will stand trial next month accused of exposing himself inappropriately in a public place last month.

The 35-year-old with no fixed address was arraigned before Magistrate Ambrose Armbrister on a single count of indecent exposure stemming from the alleged November 10 incident.

Archer pleaded not guilty to the charge and the case was adjourned to January

29, 2019, for trial.

He was remanded into custody until then.

Archer, who according to family has mental health issues, is known for his flamboyant personality frequently captured on cell phone video and posted to social media.

DIVER FOUND DEAD OFF EXUMA CAYS POLICE are investigating an alleged drowning that occurred in the Exuma Cays on Sunday.

According to reports, shortly before 11am, some people were on a diving

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excursion in the Exuma Cays, between Highborne Cay and Allan Cay, when one of the divers was discovered unresponsive in the water. The man was pulled from the water, and CPR

was administered, but was unsuccessful.

He was transported to a hospital on New Providence, where he was pronounced dead.

An investigation is ongoing.

of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

Bail was denied and they were both remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services (BDCS) in the interim. They both have a right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.

Meanwhile, another man, Sean Adderley aka Nahshorn Adderley, was charged before Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux with

robbing two people of a collective $16,350 last week Tuesday.

Adderley, 22, of Soldier Road, is accused of robbing Kidada Greenslade of $13,000 cash, a gray Samsung S7 cellphone worth $300, and one Gucci wallet worth $5,000 that contained $50 cash. He is also accused of robbing Gawain Bossfield of $2,200 in cash.

Adderley is further charged with dishonestly

receiving a gray Samsung cellphone belonging to Greenslade, as well as $850 belonging to both victims.

Adderley was not required to enter a plea to the charges and the case was adjourned to February 15, 2019 for service of a Voluntary Bill of Indictment giving him the right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail. In the interim, however, he was remanded in custody.

PAGE 4, Tuesday, December 18, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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Who can the US trust to dig out the truth?

CHAPTER 184 of the Statute Law of The Bahamas establishes the purpose and power of Commissions of Inquiry.

In the legislation, there is provision for the Governor General to appoint such a commission “whenever it shall appear to be for the public benefit to do so”. It is stipulated that, in general, Commission of Inquiry proceedings be held in public and that the commission’s summary report represent “a full, faithful and impartial inquiry into the matter specified in the commission”.

The concept of a group of respected individuals gathered under the aegis of the Head of State to impartially examine and report on a vexing public issue for the good of the nation is profoundly uplifting.

Reflecting on this does lead one to wonder if current political crises in the United States could be solved if an institution such as a Commission of Inquiry statute existed as part of the US constitution. There is not only no such provision in American law, but given the current chaotic state of US politics, it is hard to find an institution or agency remaining untainted by the stench of partisanship.

The American Supreme Court might serve such a purpose. But the relentless political encroachment on the high court’s impartiality, exacerbated by President George HW Bush’s appointment of Clarence Thomas in 1990 and continuing by both parties through the disgraceful hearings for Brett Kavanaugh this year, has eroded faith and trust in an institution that should provide the comfort of objectivity to American voters.

American law enforcement institutions, headed by the Department of Justice, represent another potential resource in the search for the truth.

Many of Justice’s key components such as the FBI and the powerful US Attorney offices around the country should be dependably loyal to the nation and to the truth. It is fair to ask how many Americans retain much faith in any of Justice’s branches to find and reveal the truth.

It is tempting to omit the American Congress from any such discussion, since voters have revealed in multiple polls how little faith they retain in either the Senate or the House of Representatives. With approval percentage ratings

often in the teens in recent years, America’s legislature as presently organised offers little hope for light in the current political darkness. The US congress has become little more than a diminishingly distracting sideshow as the nation careens toward comparative irrelevance.

And with the most compulsive and careless liar in American presidential history presiding in the White House, only the most astonishingly innocent observer or fixated ideologue would suggest the current chief executive would have the slightest respect for the truth.

But the United States must find a way to uncover the truth about its current president. While it still seems to be an exaggeration to suggest such a quest has become an existential issue for America, many can foresee a time when the effort will in fact be essential to the national security and future.

The best hope for now rests with the myriad current and forthcoming investigations of Donald Trump, his presidential campaign, business organisation and family. These investigations are indeed numerous. Special counsel Robert Mueller may be nearing the conclusion of his 19-month investigation of the Trump 2016 presidential campaign. Mueller has already secured the conviction of campaign manager Paul Manafort and co-operation plea deals from four others, including Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

Mueller is also looking at potential graft involving money raised for Trump’s many inaugural events. Trump’s private business is facing suits on its dealings with foreign governments and tax evasion efforts.

Trump’s charity is defending itself against charges of “persistently illegal conduct” brought by the State of New York, whose newly elected Attorney General, an African-American woman, has vowed to “use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and those of his family as well”.

Further inquiries can be expected from a newly empowered Democratic majority in the House, some of whose members have begun to speak out about impeachment proceedings.

Maybe after all the truth emerges and Trump is gone, some lasting benefits will come from all the craziness. We can still hope so.

Juries can’t deliver the justice we need EDITOR, The Tribune

When we consider that a high percentage of stuOUR justice system dents graduating from makes use of juries in crimi- high school in this country nal and select civil cases. cannot answer simple quesWhile I have no problem tions clearly and concisely with the concept of juries or fill out an application in theory, in practice and in form properly, I say that we our setting, I question their have a fundamental probability to properly admin- lem with underdeveloped ister justice based on the minds. When you consider standards of the law. My that almost 40% of regisreasoning is quite simple. A tered voters supported the jury is selected randomly PLP during the last elecfrom a list of registered tion, in the face of evidence voters. We assume, based of gross mismanagement of on their ages and the fact the economy, implementathat they are legal adults tion of VAT and unchecked that they have the mental government spending, I capacity to arrive at conclu- say we have a problem sions based on evidence, assessing facts and acting when in fact one has noth- objectively. ing to do with the other.

When single young The ability to think and women with little to no reason are not necessar- education or in entry ily enhanced with age, as level jobs choose to have life experience and peo- children with all the negaple’s choices would readily tive social ramifications show. The ability to listen associated with it, while to the seemingly endless contraception is readily dialogue of legally trained available, I say we have persons with their highfalu- a problem with deductin jargon and extract core tive reasoning. But yet we arguments for or against a ask these same individuals defendant, while formulat- who falter in making rouing an objective opinion tine decisions in their own is a skill that far too many lives to sit on juries and chosen to be on juries have make far more complicated not acquired. decisions regarding others

without first assessing their ability to reason properly.

This is a tremendous blight on the proper administration of justice and does not fulfil the spirit of what the legal system should represent, causing a travesty of justice in too many cases.

Among the criterion for jury selection should be the inclusion of simple tests to assess a juror’s ability to think and arrive at justifiable conclusions based on evidence, not on their personal feelings, experiences or emotions.

If there is one thing that keeps third world countries with that undesirable label, it is having outdated, inefficient systems without accountability that promote injustice and corruption.

There is a failure to properly scrutinise systems and make necessary adjustments to ensure that things function as they ought to.

In this country, it is true in every sphere of national life including education, healthcare, BPL and the selection of jurors.

JB Nassau December 14, 2018

Stop giving these murderers the kid glove treatment EDITOR, The Tribune IN OCTOBER 2013 I wrote that Bahamas Christian Network CEO Silbert Mills had posted on his Facebook page that there were 1,000 murders committed in The Bahamas up to that point since the state execution of David Mitchell on January 6, 2000.

Since Mills’ Facebook pronouncement a little over five years ago, there have been approximately 600 murders. This means that 1,600 people have been murdered since the demise of Mitchell nearly 19 years ago. The Bahamas has the dubious distinction of making geography and travel’s 25 countries with the highest murder rates in the world this past February.

The Bahamas is listed at number 12 with a murder rate of 29.8 per 100,000. Honduras, Venezuela, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Lesotho, Swaziland, Saint Kitts and Nevis, South Africa and Colombia are all ranked ahead of The Bahamas with higher murder rates.

Regional countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Mexico and Dominica are ranked behind The Bahamas. Tourism is our main bread-and-butter.

The criminal elements have sullied the reputation and image of this country on

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net the international stage.

Amnesty International, the United Nations, Rights Bahamas and other freethinking, liberal organisations as well as the Privy Council have tied the hands of the government with respect to carrying out the death penalty since 2000.

Hence, the bloody carnage in Nassau. Whatever one’s position on the death penalty debate is, the 1,600 murders are incontrovertible evidence that the laissez faire method of the foregoing organisations has miserably failed this country. Their method does not serve as a deterrent. If nothing else, it is the complete opposite.

The Free National Movement and the Progressive Liberal Party must stop shirking their governmental responsibility in dealing with the violent, incorrigible criminal enterprise.

I know The Bahamas, as a member of the international community, finds itself in a bind. In the eyes of most western democracies, the death penalty is viewed as barbaric. But the past 19 years have shown us that giving hardened murderers the kid glove treatment isn’t working.

As the recent double murder at Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre in Fox Hill has shown us, murderers

are becoming more brazen.

They no longer fear the state. At this rate, these criminals will eventually start an all-out war against law enforcement agencies with the aim of establishing anarchy. The Bahamas is currently on this course.

The government has the biblical mandate to carry out the death penalty.

In the Old Testament Book of Genesis, Cain murders his brother Abel and is reprimanded by God, Who informs the first ever murderer that the blood of Abel is crying out to Him from the ground.

Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance. Cain’s descendants slid further into moral apostasy and were subsequently wiped out in the Noahic Flood. I believe that the blood of those 1,600 murder victims is crying out to God for vengeance. In an effort to appear politically correct before the international community, successive governments have failed them. In light of the fact that successive governments have failed to administer appropriate retribution over the past 19 years, I believe God will eventually step in and take matters into His own hands.

What those measures will be is anyone’s guess. But someone will have to pay for ending the lives of 1,600 human beings.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport Grand Bahama December 9, 2018

Why American Football event is a bad investment EDITOR, The Tribune FOR whatever reason does tourism think the Bahama American Football Bowl is an event that should be expensively sponsored? We have to demand that after this year there will be a public disclosure of the audience - attendees at Thomas Robinson Stadium - cost to Tourism - hotel revenue/ spend?

You can change time of the day it will not make an appreciable affect on attendance…to fill one side of the stadium you need over 6000 people for the full stadium

15,000…you will not get it for this event.

ESPN can spin all they want - this is a noshow Show!

As numerous times it has been said the only sports event that makes money is the Atlantis Collegiate Basketball event.

Why does Ttourism think this American Football event is a worthwhile event on which to spend our scarce money?

ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau, December 10, 2018.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 18, 2018, PAGE 5

‘Over-the-Hill schemes help to reduce crime’

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net BAIN and Grants Town MP Travis Robinson yesterday said recent initiatives in Over-the-Hill constituencies are helping to “decrease the level of crime” in these communities.

Mr Robinson made these remarks yesterday during a meeting of the Environmental Monitors Programme, an initiative of the Over-the-Hill Rejuvenation Partnership. The programme will also see to the removal and demolition of derelict cars and houses in the area.

Also in attendance were Environment and Housing Minister Romauld Ferreira, Over-the-Hill Project Manager Rocky Nesbitt, and Centreville MP Reece Chipman.

“We started December 4 of this year with 42 persons who will be trained for ten weeks, and they will be trained by the Department of Environmental Health, also (in) CPR, firstaid, and by (the National Emergency Management Agency) NEMA,” Mr Nesbitt said.

“They will be dealing with the Community Emergency Response Management, so in the event there is a manmade or natural disaster, these persons will be certified and skilled so that they could assist NEMA in their emergency management strategy.”

Mr Nesbitt added after the training period, in February 2019, the participants will sign a contract with and by managed by the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS).

Modelled after the government’s 52-week programme, this initiative is a paid full-time job for which the government will pay National Insurance Board contributions. Mr Nesbitt added after a year is complete, there will be an assessment to see if more persons are needed.

“The Over-the-Hill community, in the words of Paul Adderley, is the cradle of black Bahamian civilisation,” Mr Ferreira said at the event. “That being said, it’s very important we come to where it sort of began.

And what we want to do essentially is partner with

TRAVIS ROBINSON, Bain and Grants Town MP, poses for a selfie gramme, an initiative of the over-the-hill rejuvination partnership. any entity, any organisa- Partnership initiative,” he tion, any church group, any said. “And what this does is it civic group, any (non-gov- provides 42 jobs for individuernmental organisation), als both in the Centreville any school, any like-minded and the Bain and Grants individual, in the beautifica- Town constituency.

“And it allows for them, tion of our country.”

Noting illegal dumping these are people who live is an issue “throughout our inside of the community, country,” particularly in to be able to monitor illeNew Providence, Mr Fer- gal dumping and derelict reira added this did not vehicles that are being just occur overnight, and thus randomly dumped off in fixing it “won’t be an over- people’s yards, et cetera.

“I think this is a great night issue” and will require everyone working together, initiative…because it gives individuals a sense of pride regardless of background.

The environment minis- to be able to work within community…And ter also said if it comes to it, their those who disregard the law they’re able to earn a stipend while doing so. And it’s not will be prosecuted.

“And then you’ll see us just about cleaning up the embark on a prosecuto- area for visitors and guests rial element as well, where who may pass through, but regrettably, some people it’s for our own health and need to be prosecuted our own livelihood. So I in order to comply with think this will go a long way, environmental legislation. given the fact that they’ll But all of these facets are have certification.”

When asked if these iniimportant.”

Mr Ferreira went on to tiatives will contribute to reiterate his call for all civic a safer Bain and Grants groups to work with his Town, Mr Robinson said: ministry on the endeavour, “Absolutely. When we have and extended the invitation the opportunity to clear down these overgrown bush to various media outlets.

Mr Robinson also areas that are right next spoke to reporters on the door to people’s houses and windows where drug dealprogramme.

“The Environmental ers may smuggle and have Monitors Programme is an drugs inside the abandoned initiative that falls under the buildings and the old, derOver-the-Hill (Rejuvenation) elict vehicles — removing

12 MIGRANTS HELD IN BIMINI

By RIEL MAJOR

TWELVE undocumented immigrants were captured on South Bimini by the combined efforts of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force and police officers stationed on the island on Sunday.

According to police, shortly after 11am, Bimini division

officers along with the Royal Bahamas Defence Force went to a local resort on the island. Officers boarded a 36ft vessel that was docked at the resort to discover 12 undocumented immigrants, which included of nine men and three women.

Officers searched the vessel and also found an undisclosed amount of suspected marijuana.

The captain, an inhabitant of New Providence, of the vessel was arrested and taken into police custody.

Among the immigrants were one Dominican, one Venezuelan, three Ecuadorians and seven Chinese. They were turned over to Department of Immigration authorities.

Investigations are continuing in this matter.

during a meeting yesterday at Wesley Methodist Church Hall for the environmental monitors proPhoto: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff (them) helps to decrease project, derelict houses and looking at a community the level of crime that we cars will become a “thing of centre, we’re looking at may see in the various the past”. backyard farming, urban (constituencies).

He clarified this to The farming, et cetera.”

“So I think this pro- Tribune, saying: “At this When asked how long it gramme will help to put a point in time, we are doing will take to determine owndent inside even criminal title searches, and they will ership, Mr Nesbitt said: “The activities within the com- be assisted by Ministry of government, at this point in munity. “ Works. time, is initiating with (a) Regarding the fear “So, once we are able land audit, and that should of crime in his constitu- to find true ownership of commence 2019. We’ll use ency, Mr Robinson said he the vehicles, with proof of that information moving forthinks the community has documents, etc, we’ll come ward. So this process could been “pulling together” to into an arrangement so that take a year or two.” target this issue and like all we can, of course, by the He added if people can Bahamians remain hope- government, by the prime show proof of documentaful. He also said the police minister, Office of the tion of these homes, the force has been doing a Prime Minister- demolish government will pay costs to “tremendous job” in its by those buildings. knock them down. He also crime-fighting efforts.

“We are looking at repur- said one home off Rupert During his presentation, posing of lots for positive, Dean Lane was demolished Mr Nesbitt said through this green spaces. We’re also over the weekend.

PAGE 6, Tuesday, December 18, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

PM visits Family Islands

HOLIDAY TOUR AIMS AT BRINGING EVERYONE TOGETHER, SAYS MINNIS

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis spent much of yesterday bringing Christmas cheer to Family Island residents along with assurances that his administration was working to eliminate discrimination between the capital and the islands.

The holiday tour began yesterday with visits to Mayaguana,

Acklins and Crooked Island.

Patricia Minnis, Dr Minnis’ wife, was also with him and took toys along for the children.

The nation’s leader also used the trip to encourage voters to support MICAL MP Miriam Emmanuel in the 2022 general election.

“When I came into power, one of the commitments that we made were that there were several issues and areas that were dear to my heart and very personal

to me and that was the Family Islands and impoverished areas and we’ve made a commitment to uplifting the Family Islands to ensure that there is no discrimination between Nassau and the Family Islands,” Dr Minnis said as he spoke in Acklins.

“But Christmas time is a time for giving, love, respect and a time to be with both family and friends and I made a commitment that I will travel throughout all the Family Islands as much as I can

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before the Christmas season. And those that I am not able to complete before Christmas that were not listed, and they called me already stating that their island was not mentioned (for) example Long Island, I will be there in the new year, example Eleuthera I will be there in the new year, Cat Island and Grand Bahama I am always there so Christmas is every day for Grand Bahama.”

He continued: “I think (this) is always better rather than me

sending a Christmas message via your member of Parliament Miriam (or other officials), but I thought it’s essential for me to come and give my personal Christmas greetings to you. I think a personal touch is better than via technology.”

Dr Minnis said he will continue touring this week in several parts of Andros for what he called the first time any prime minister visited several islands during the yuletide season.

GOVERNMENT ‘DIDN’T DO ITS HOMEWORK’ AS BILL DELAYED

from page one

“Now clearly, they did not do their homework with regard to this Bill because if they did, the Bill would have not been brought to the point of the Senate, and then you have to make what appears to be significant changes to (it).”

The government has spent much of the last week locked in communication with Civil Society Bahamas, a group of 300 non-profit and civil society groups, over potential amendments to the Bill.

The group has warned many organisations will be unable to meet “the strict registration, accounting and record keeping demands” set out in the Bill given that 40 percent of the industry is thought to operate on an annual budget of $25,000 or less.

Civil Society Bahamas has also questioned whether the registrar of Non-Profit Organisations had the capacity to be converted from an information gatherer to a regulator, expressing fears that the legislation will exacerbate the current two-year wait for non-profit registration into “a significant backlog.”

Opposition to the Bill led Attorney General Carl Bethel to postpone debate on the Bill on December 10.

It has already been passed in the House of Assembly.

The Bill is now expected to be debated sometime in January 2019, to allow for further drafting.

Mr Mitchell said: “The Bill is overly bureaucratic, it is intrusive and it appears to us that this is not the way to go at this time … and it needs a lot more work.

“We’ve been in touch with the churches, there is a full-scale revolt and blow-back from the church community on this Bill, and the government is in big trouble if they proceed with this Bill as it presently is.

THIS Bill needs a lot more work, says Fred Mitchell.

“All of the predictions were that this had to be done by the 31 of December and so therefore it must be done and so on and so forth. And so, we are brought back here, only of course now to be told we have to be brought back next year.”

He continued: “I got a call from one of the leaders of the church community who says I got 50 pastors and if they proceeded with that Bill today, we were coming down there to show our lack of support or our opposition to these Bills.

So clearly, whatever happened over the last few days between the two sides, it didn’t bring them any closer together; and what the attorney general is indicating is that the matter has to go to Cabinet … while all of that is being done, it shows that sufficient care and attention were not giving to putting their ducks in a row before coming to this point.”

Mr Mitchell also suggested elements of the Bill would unfairly target the Progressive Liberal Party’s donor base.

“What we knew is that

our impression of the Bill overall was that it was too bureaucratic and expensive and intrusive,” he said, “and for all of those reasons we felt that, certainly, political parties and the church ought to be taken off of the table because this was just a remedy for the state to be interfering in the business of matter which should really be private at this point, unless we go to something else, which is a discussion on publicly funded campaigns.

“I am sorry, no one trusts that and we have said before that this is a cockamamie scheme to try to get at the donor base of the Progressive Liberal Party and eliminate that base. No one can convince me otherwise that is what this is about. And so, we, I believe, ought to mount a resistance to this in full, until there is an agreement on publicly funded campaigning; that’s the difference in the United States, once you have publicly funded campaigning and you take public funds, then you can impose conditions by which people give contributions.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 18, 2018, PAGE 7

‘Stop trying to police our clothes’ from page one In recent months, Caribbean countries such as Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda have distanced themselves from a rule that many consider to be outdated and a vestige of colonialism.

In August, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness suspended the country’s own “no sleeveless” policy, a “long-standing practice of prohibiting women wearing sleeveless attire from entry into government buildings,” according to the Jamaica Gleaner.

Days later, the Antigua and Barbuda government ordered its own “comprehensive review” of dress code policy in government buildings, the Antigua Observer reports.

In response to criticisms raised last week, Immigration Minister Brent Symonette told The Tribune people must be “properly dressed” when coming to the facility. When asked to elaborate, Mr Symonette said this meant “respectable clothing” and added the rules are applicable to men and women.

On Friday, The Tribune visited the Department of Immigration and witnessed one woman have to borrow a sweater to gain entry, as she was wearing a sleeveless dress.

Activists have criticised these occurrences. “Because what I’m understanding is that women are predominantly affected by this code… even though the code does say it applies to men and women, my sense is that this is really targeting women and our clothing,” Ms Bethel told The Tribune.

“And so in that case, yes, it is misogynistic and it is prejudicial and biased against women and policing of us and our bodies and our clothes. (It) is outrageous and not acceptable.

“I think any public entity like immigration, like health services, social services,

TRIBUNE reporter Morgan Adderley outside the Department of Immigration last week. the Labour Board, National Insurance, all of these kinds of agencies that have a public service; any kind of public code that they want to enact, it has to be based on some principle, it has to be rational, it has to be reasonable, and it has to be non-discriminatory,” Ms Bethel continued.

Describing the practice as “deplorable,” Ms Bethel noted that taxpayers finance for the services these government agencies provide, and thus should be able to enter “without policing of our clothes.”

“And so the fact that that’s happening and it seems to be happening disproportionately with women in regard to our clothing, to me it’s really discriminatory,” Ms Bethel added.

For her part, when asked if The Bahamas should follow the steps taken by Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, Ms Wallace

That dress code gets you talking THE Department of Immigration’s controversial dress code has sparked a lively debate among readers on tribune242.com.

The_Oracle posted this comment: “That the dress code in the Bahamas has gone down the toilet is not in question, what is in question are these arbitrary rules imposed without notice or rationale that can be outlined on inquiry. This is half the problem, few civil servants can elucidate on the rules, never mind entertain a discussion on the purpose of the rules.

Which is exactly why the public is left at the whim of idiocy and the ‘bad hair day mentality’.

There was this from Joeblow: “What is truly sad is that someone has to tell others what they should look like when they leave their homes to go in public.

Not too long ago people had enough sense and self respect to know what was appropriate!”

DDK said: “There is a big difference between sloppy attire and a neat, sleeveless summer dress.

There is a difference between women dressing like Victorian prudes and tatty slobs. Also think what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. No shorts or short sleeves for one, no shorts or short sleeves for all! Fair is fair.

I suppose that is implied in the sign, but not sure the security may understand the implications! All we need is more hilarity in our governance!”

Clamshell had this to say: “Just a humble suggestion, but perhaps government offices could spend less time worrying about the length of a woman’s sleeves and more time delivering the services they’re paid to deliver.”

TorontoGal made this point: “This dress code is making me chuckle. I had the pleasure of visiting the Dept of Immigration

last year. Although some women had short sleeved outfits on, the young men had on ripped or tattered jeans, t-shirts that hadn’t seen a washing machine in weeks and some were even barefoot . . . but let’s go after the women who bare their arms!”

The_Oracle said: “Sad thing is, we do (or did) have public decency laws on the books, which ought to be enforced by the police.

Write ‘em up, let them pay a fine. Immigration is crossing a line with regards to denial of service. This but one inevitable result of the failure of self governance/ personal responsibility, personal pride.”

And in The Tribune’s online poll, we asked readers if they were in favour of the Dept of Immigration’s dress code.

At the time of going to press, 56 percent of those voting said they supported the move. 44 percent were against it.

The poll is still open, so don’t miss your chance to vote and join the conversation on tribune242.com.

STRANDED COUPLE HOPING TO RAISE MONEY TO HELP THEM GET HOME from page one

According to the GoFundMe page, Ms Johnson was transferred to a local hospital and was reportedly turned away due to a lack of funds and insurance. The disabled women reportedly lives on a fixed income and has insurance – Medicare – that only covers medical costs inside the United States.

Ms Johnson then was transferred to another hospital and was admitted. Doctors would not clear Ms Johnson and the cruise line, protecting the health of other passengers, banned Ms Johnson from the ship.

Mr Roberts wrote: “Rose has an obstructed bowel and will need surgery. They

informed us that she would need $750 cash or Western Union, which we couldn’t do because we are in the middle of the ocean. (The price) went higher up and (they) went ahead to do the scan because they said it was an emergency.

“They informed us that they’re at over $2,000 in medical bills (not including the CT scan) already and they haven’t even performed her surgery!

Their insurance won’t pay because they’re out of the United States... this isn’t what we hoped for.”

Mr Roberts said they thought they would be able to get Ms Johnson home for the surgery in the United States but her condition worsened.

“We are in contact with US Embassy but Rose is

still admitted to the hospital…Not sure of anything else yet,” Mr Roberts wrote.

According to WKYT, a news station based in Kentucky, Ms Manuel described the situation as “overwhelming.”

“I just keep telling everybody, ‘we didn’t plan for this. We didn’t plan for this to happen,’” Ms Manuel told WKYT via video chat from the hospital on Sunday.

The two are seeking the public’s help to raise funds to assist with existing medical bills and travel cost back to Kentucky.

The GoFundMe page, https://www.gofundme.com/ help-us-get-home-strandedin-foreign-country, raised more than $3,400 up to press time.

noted all these countries have a similar climate.

“I don’t see what a sleeveless blouse or dress has to do with my going into a public agency and asking for a particular service that I may be paying for or not be paying for…What morality is trying to be asserted here and who’s morality? I just don’t

understand that it’s anybody’s business that I wear sleeveless blouse or dress.

“Whose standards, who’s setting up this public code that does not have broad buy-in, that seems to be peculiar to a department in government, and it seems to be very unreasonable, given the circumstances of the… nature of the country that we live in, where shorts and where sleeveless blouses are common.”

She said government services should be accessible to everyone, regardless of gender or socio-economic status.

“There are people whose uniforms are shorts, and it is not unreasonable to expect that people dress comfortably on their days off,” Ms Wallace said.

“General orders for civil servants is one thing, but denying residents’ access to services – and we know this has frequently come up at the Ministry of Education as well – is discriminatory, irresponsible, and obviously to the discretion of whomever is controlling building entry. “. . .We need to address the sexualisation of women’s bodies, linked to the desire to make women invisible under the guise of ‘professionalism,’ and recognise the danger of denying access to services, especially on such weak grounds that create an unnecessary barrier particularly for women and people living in poverty,” Ms Wallace said.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, December 18, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

LEFT and above, the Cooper family including, far right, Frahkan and his wife Dr Tina Adderley.

Bottom, Apostle Dr Flossie Mae Cooper.

I

T WAS really a shock to hear that Katherine Hilton, the mother of Ashlee Hilton, died just two weeks after her daughter was fatally shot by a gunman on the grounds of Sandiland’s Rehabilitation Centre. As the Hilton family prepares to lay both beautiful women to rest this week, many are offering their prayers and support and many are wondering if Katherine died from the shock and grief of losing her daughter so tragically.

The loss of a child can be one of the most painful losses in life – one that no parent would wish to experience. But it was one that Apostle Dr Flossie Mae Cooper (nee Moss) had to find the courage to deal with when she lost her first-born, Frahkan Cooper.

The life of this vibrant young man with a great career ahead of him was cut short when the jet he was co-piloting with Captain Stanley Thurston through a rainstorm crashed with Dr. Myles Munroe, his wife and others on board. It was a tragedy the entire nation felt. For Flossie, it was one that changed her life.

In two days (December 20), Frahkan would have been 38 years old. For the past four years since the crash, his mother has been finding ways to cope. She went from not being able to pass a graveyard or stand seeing a hearse to writing two books that encapsulate her journey to a better place.

“As a mother, when tragedy strikes, you could end up in a place where you forget about your spiritual life; the natural kicks in and you ask God why?”

Flossie said.

“Most of us will go to ‘why did this happen?’ But God gives us a space where we can come to him.

A lot of us don’t hear God’s voice because we are not listening.

When I asked God why he took away my son. I heard his reply.

He said, ‘Your son? He is my son!’

Then I saw a vision of my precious son in the Father’s arms.”

She began to release her feelings by writing, which turned into the completion and release of her book: I Am That Mother. In it, she speaks about the steps she took to find herself back to a place of ‘complete balance’ after having been thrown off by the loss of her son.

“Sometimes you feel like your finger is on the pulse and you got it all together. Life has a way of throwing that curve ball that makes one ponder,” she said.

“I feel personally at times a journal is what one needs to create in those difficult moments.

The late Dr Meyer Rassin, my greatest role model, always emphasised an important conception of loyalty to oneself. Any one of you who has been in a dark place like me, please remember the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) can turn opposition into a time of hope.”

On Sunday past, Flossie released her second book Let It Go at a special book signing event at her home. There, I got the opportunity to witness her loving family. Her husband, Pastor Jeffrey Cooper is the quiet yet demonstratively loving support of the family. The children rallied in support of their mother’s second book publication, and her daughter Jewel shared about the difficulty in accepting her brother’s death, which came just three days after she returned home from university.

Her daughter Jem, son-inlaw Marvin and granddaughters were all on hand to support Flossie, who is also a Justice of the Peace. She sums herself up as a mother, wife, co-pastor, author, motivational speaker and dream interpreter. She is a former educator, chairman and founder of The

‘As a mother, when tragedy strikes, you could end up in a place where you forget about your spiritual life; the natural kicks in and you ask God: Why?’ Bahamas National Allied Health Provider Association, and president of the Queen Mary Sewing Guild, which will be distributing warm clothing and care packages to shelters and homes for the children and elderly this Christmas.

“Let It Go are three of the most powerful words for therapists the world over. It is an important command for anyone holding on to past hurts, because these things can weigh us down and even make us sick.

“I’ve learned first hand that holding on to pain profits us nothing and definitely doesn’t fix the situation,” Flossie advised. “We live in a world filled with uncertainty and disappointments, but we’ve been given the power from our heavenly father to overcome every situation we’ve been faced with. Let It Go shares my own personal experiences – my triumphs, my downfalls, my highs and my lows. In my book, I share my experience of letting go and I’m excited to teach you how to do the same.”

Her latest book covers chapters including: The Power of Forgiveness; A Decision to be Bitter or Better; Walking Alone; My Journey to Freedom; Knowing God; and a Time for Restoration. Her book comes with the encouragement and support of her husband and children Frahkan (deceased), Jaykano, Fay’jen, Jewel and Jem, as well as her daughters-in-law Tina, Anya

and Sarah, son-in-law Marvin, six grandchildren and “hundreds of spiritual sons and daughters”.

The Coopers have a special mission – they are the founders of a parenting ministry that helps other parents who have faced their same plight of losing a child.

The ministry also helps with parents in need of counselling and guidance, or support of any kind.

They visit homes of parents whose children were terminally ill or even pronounced dead, like their daughter Jewel was when she had meningitis at the age of three. She miraculously recovered and this recovery is how their parenting ministry was birthed. That was nearly 30 years ago. Today, the

Coopers hold regular parenting ministry and praise and worship sessions on Sundays on Soldier Road, they host sessions at the Department of Social Services, and they bring together experts from various fields to help young and even old parents in any way they can.

Even without knowing, Flossie may be doing something for others that her own parents needed. When she was born in the settlement of True Blue, Crooked Island, her father Wilfred Moss went to work on ‘The Contract’ in the United States and her mother Minerva, who was also a Moss but not married to her father, left and went to Nassau.

From birth, Flossie was first raised by Bishop Elikam Ferguson and his wife. Bishop Ferguson will be buried on Sunday coming.

For ten months of her life, she was also raised by the grand-mother of Dr Bernard Nottage there on Crooked Island. By the time she was two years old, her grandmother Mary Hanna-Moss took her and as she grew, gave her strong “parental rearing and fundamental Biblical standards”.

By the time she was 11, her grandparents sent her to Nassau to live with her mother, who by that time, was married with five other children. While attempting to adjust to the Nassau lifestyle, she received a letter from her father, which her uncle had passed on to her.

The letter was to let her know that her father did not forget her and as a matter of fact, he wanted her to move to New York City and to come and live with him. He promised to arrange her flight and take good care of her. She had only been in Nassau for six months, but she was ready to move on and see her father.

“I told my mother that I got a letter from my dad in New York and he wants me to come and I am

going; I don’t think she believed me at first,” Flossie recalled.

“Imagine an 11 year-old girl, having just come from Crooked Island with no electricity and no television, moving to Nassau and trying to adjust, and then moving to the Big Apple after just six months! My uncle took me to the airport and the stewardesses took care of me on the flight. It made a stop but I did not have to come off the plane.

When I got to the airport in New York, my knees began to buckle.

I just realised that I don’t know what my daddy looked like. It hadn’t come to my mind before then. I was too excited. I saw people of all different races collecting their luggage, and I saw a man coming towards me. I said, that’s my daddy. I ran into his arms and shouted, ‘Daddy!’.

When I think back on it I said God had to be with me – supposed that wasn’t my daddy!

But there was a connection between us.”

Flossie remained in New York until she was 20 years old. Her father, Bishop Wilfred Moss, was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in New York, so much of her time was spent in church and participating in community building efforts.

Bishop Moss and his wife had ten children and Flossie got to see many of them being born during that time. She believes that God guided her path as her life experienced was enriched by being with her father and being able to travel with him throughout the United States and Canada.

Today back at home in The Bahamas, she continues to grow spiritually and has a passion for helping others. She is hoping that her books will help to touch even more lives.

“My passion is to preach to souls, strengthen families and build communities to help heal our nation,” she said.

To purchase a book, email Apostle Dr Flossie Mae Cooper at globalparenting@yahoo.com, or send her a whatsapp message at (242) 445-0156.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 18, 2018, PAGE 9

‘GOVERNMENT KEEPS MOVING GOALPOSTS OVER GRAND LUCAYAN’

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE government continues to move the “goalpost” on the resale of the Grand Lucayan property, Senator Michael Darville suggested yesterday.

Addressing Grand Bahama’s financial prospects heading into the holiday season, Mr Darville claimed the Free National Movement continues to pitch news of improvement, but in reality, there has been nothing to signal any true advancement for the sale of the property.

“The situation with the Grand Lucayan is that the goalpost continues to shift as the Free National Movement gives us a date, then a

next date, a next date and a next date,” he told reporters yesterday.

“We are waiting patiently on the island of Grand Bahama to see some real economic growth and changes take place so that the residents can be able to support their families and those in the tourism sector can see some real growth,” he added.

“I am waiting patiently like the residents of Grand Bahama for the government to come up with the definitive plan for the Grand Lucayan resort and to demonstrate the urgency to purchase the resort will turnout to be beneficial to the residents, particularly those in the tourism sector.”

His comments come on the heels of the Central Bank of the Bahamas’ Monthly Economic and

THE GRAND Lucayan resort.

Financial Developments October 2018 report, which was published on December 3.

The report showed a more than three percent increase

in stop-over visitors to Grand Bahama, marking improvement in the island’s tourism sector.

The report was subsequently picked up and lauded by Free National Movement officials as proof that its Grand Bahama strategies and policies have been effective.

“The government’s efforts have resulted in improvement in the tourism sector in Grand Bahama during the year-to-date 2018,” State Minister for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson said in a recent press statement.

The junior minister stated the report indicated in Grand Bahama, “Despite the ongoing challenges in room capacity after the closure of several hotels due to hurricane damage, stopover

visitors to Grand Bahama firmed by 3.5 percent on a year-to-date basis, a reversal from the prior period’s 39.5 percent plunge.”

He further noted the report indicated a significant increase in online vacation rental bookings.

Mr Thompson said that in fact, Grand Bahama had showed a 44.2 percent increase which reflected the largest increase in the country.

In November, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar suggested the government’s acquisition of the Grand Lucayan hotel was part of this initiative to increase the “staggeringly low” number of hotel rooms on Grand Bahama, adding the hotel’s sale should be completed by the second quarter of 2019 “by the very latest”.

Fox Hill staff go unpaid and youth schemes halted from page one The property was acquired by former Minister of Housing the late George Mackey in the 1990s and conveyed to the Fox Hill Development Association to be held in trust for Fox Hill residents.

A multi-purpose auditorium, constructed after the Progressive Liberal Party regained power in 2002, was developed into a worldclass facility during the last Christie administration.

Minnis administration officials told The Tribune the facility cost taxpayers millions more than initially budgeted. Its board comprises community leaders in Fox Hill.

On Sunday, National Security Minister Marvin Dames said government officials have been back and forth seeking an agreement that specifies the responsibilities of the government and the centre’s’s board. So far, they have produced a draft agreement, but it’s not clear when the agreement will be presented to the board. He said the Minnis administration ultimately wants the facility to be managed by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture so at-risk programmes for youth can proceed.

Mr Dames said an assessment of staff at the community centre determined most of them are not qualified and were hired just before the 2017 general election.

“The whole arrangement leading up to this has been a nightmare for us that we have been trying to work through,” he said.

“There was no structure when we came so we had to

THE FOX Hill Community Centre. start from the beginning in trying to save this relationship with the IDB because it was at the brink of collapse. This is partly why it was like that as well as the components, no work had really begun in earnest so the IDB was concerned. If they see the deliverables are not being met, that puts the whole loan in jeopardy.

“Our only objective is to ensure that we are able to have access to these centres to roll out programmes consistent with our agreement with the IDB because these centres are critical to

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff the development of these communities and to the reduction of crime,” Mr Dames continued. “We want to make certain that given the government’s significant investment in this, in terms of the dayto-day management of the centre, it cannot be that the government walks in and is now burdened with the responsibility of having to pay everything and it’s being controlled outside of it.”

Mr Dames said the agreement with the IDB called for the centre to be owned

by the government, suggesting the Fox Hill facility was developed contrary to the agreement.

“Part of the agreement was that the government had to have full ownership of the building,” he said, “and that’s why this Big Pond Community Centre is ideal and all of the other community centres will be government owned on government land, where we don’t have these kind of complex issues and I guess that was the intent of the IDB and they were right on, to avoid these kinds of

issues, when you start commingling and when you’re done they say ‘this is ours now, we’re going to put our team in place.’”

It’s not clear what the government’s obligations are under the agreement the PLP left in place. Former Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell, a member of the centre’s board, said the PLP left an agreement for the government to pay staff and utilities “in exchange for the use of the building for their government community programmes.”

However, Mr Dames said

the expectation was the government would pay for everything.

Maurice Tynes, cochairman of the Fox Hill Community Centre, said staff went unpaid for months in 2017 and electricity was also turned off after utility bills went unpaid. He said in 2018, staff have not been paid since June.

“The facility does not generate sufficient funds to pay the staff and to pay utilities and insurance and stuff like that without the government’s help,” Mr Tynes said. “We are anxiously waiting a resolution. I don’t see why the government would want to take full control of the building from the board. Some of the organisations in Fox Hill, this is what they were waiting on for decades and decades.

“They want some place where they can meet and have their meetings, like the Fox Hill Congoes Junkanoo group, like the Fox Hill Festival committee that plans all the emancipation and Fox Hill day events.

We want to be able to facilitate those events and we want to retain control of the revenue-generating elements of the building, such as the hall, the kitchen and the pool. If someone in the community may want to have a wedding here, the board may want to make a couple dollars from that.”

The board would make no money, Mr Tynes said, indicating the funds would be reinvested into the facility and the community.

Mr Dames said the facility should ultimately be self-sustaining, with its revenue generating activities used to take care of maintenance and utilities for the facility.

BIRD CAUSES FLIGHT TO RETURN TO GRAND BAHAMA

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A WESTERN Air plane bound for New Providence returned to Grand Bahama International Airport shortly after take off on Monday morning because of a bird strike to the plane’s windshield.

The flight departed Freeport around 8am with 43 passengers onboard. As the plane became airborne, it reportedly encountered a flock of birds.

According to an official at the airline, a bird hit the nose and bounced onto the windshield. As a precaution, the flight crew diverted the plane back to the airport. Officials said that bird strikes have been an issue in the past at the airport and are calling for preventative

measures to be put in place to address the problem.

Sherrecia Rolle, vice president of operations and general counsel of Western Air, told The Tribune that the aircraft landed safely and that passengers were put on another one of their planes into Nassau.

“Our flight crew took off at 8am (Monday) and as soon as they took off and rotated, a bird hit the nose of the aircraft and bounced onto the windshield. So as a precautionary measure, they turned back and landed safely and deplaned the passengers and took another aircraft to conduct that flight,” she said.

Ms Rolle said that the aircraft in question underwent a full inspection and it was determined that there was no damage to the plane.

“Unfortunately, with the

SHERRECIA ROLLE climate we have with all these various birds around here, it is sometimes unavoidable, and the flight crew handled everything well, and the passengers were well on their way shortly after that,” she said.

“Safety is our number one priority, and that’s why the flight crew wanted to ensure they circled back to our maintenance base here in Freeport to ensure the aircraft is well intact.

And to switch aircraft to give our maintenance staff an opportunity to conduct a proper inspection of the aircraft that came in contact with the bird,” Ms Rolle.

Rex Rolle, president of Western Air, said that airports in the Bahamas should have bird scare programmes in place.

He noted that airports in the US, particularly in New York, have a machine that shoots blanks every 30 minutes to scare the birds off.

Mr Rolle stated that there have been incidents with birds in the past at the airport in Grand Bahama. “A year ago, we were pushing for a bird watch programme because when a bird gets in the engine, it can cost half a million dollars in damage,” he said. “This is a small airport (in Grand Bahama), but they need to put in

preventative measures to scare the birds.”

Mr Rolle said that he was disappointed to learn that after their pilots had reported the bird strike to airport officials, there was no check of the runway by any airport staff to ensure it was clear for landing on the aircraft’s return to the airport.

“The pilots gave them time to check the runway and airport officials did not inspect the runway, and dead birds were still on the runway – that’s another hazard. We told them we had a bird strike, and there were still dead birds on the runway, and they let another aircraft take off.

They are still not taking it seriously,” he said.

Meanwhile Ms Rolle said that Western Air continues to demonstrate its sustainability in the domestic travel industry.

She noted that they are gearing up to start two new routes from Nassau in time for the holidays – one into George Town, Exuma, and another into Marsh Harbour, Abaco.

“We are looking forward to starting our Nassau to George Town, Exuma, and Nassau to Marsh Harbour on Thursday, December 20,” she said. The airline will provide daily jet service into those two destinations three times a day.

Ms Rolle also noted that Western Air started its Cat Island route about two weeks ago. “That has been going well. It takes time to build a route to ensure people we are here to stay – and we are definitely here to stay. And so, we want the same type of response in Exuma and Marsh Harbour as well,” she said.

PAGE 10, Tuesday, December 18, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

MAY SAYS POSTPONED BREXIT VOTE TO BE HELD WEEK OF JAN 14 LONDON Associated Press

BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May said yesterday that the postponed vote in Parliament on Britain’s Brexit agreement with the European Union will be held the week of Jan. 14 — more than a month after it was originally scheduled and just 10 weeks before Britain leaves the EU. But even as May insisted she could salvage her unpopular divorce deal, pressure was mounting for dramatic action — a new referendum or a vote among lawmakers — to find a way out of Britain’s Brexit impasse and prevent the economic damage of a messy exit from the EU on March 29 with no agreement in place.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said he would submit a motion of no-confidence in the prime minister over her delays. Losing the vote on such a motion would increase the pressure on May, but unlike a no-confidence vote in the government as a whole it wouldn’t trigger a process leading to the fall of the government and an early election. No date was immediately set for the confidence vote.

The British government and the EU sealed a divorce deal last month, but May postponed a parliamentary vote intended to ratify the agreement last week when it became clear legislators would overwhelmingly reject it.

She tried to win changes from the EU to sweeten the deal for

reluctant lawmakers, but was rebuffed by the bloc at a summit in Brussels last week. May’s authority also has been shaken after a no-confidence vote from her own party on Wednesday that saw more than a third of Conservative lawmakers vote against her.

May told lawmakers in the House of Commons yesterday that they would resume debate on the deal when Parliament comes back after its Christmas break the week of Jan 7, with the vote held the following week.

“I know this is not everyone’s perfect deal,” May said. “It is a compromise. But if we let the perfect be the enemy of the good then we risk leaving the EU with no deal.”

Opposition legislators — and many from May’s Conservative

THERESA May delivers a speech in the House of Commons yesterday.

Party — remain opposed to the deal, and accused May of deliberately wasting time by delaying the vote for several more weeks.

“The prime minister has cynically run down the clock trying to maneuver Parliament into a choice between two unacceptable outcomes: her deal and no deal,” Corbyn said.

A growing number of politicians from across the political spectrum believe a new referendum may be the only way to break the political logjam over Brexit.

But May told lawmakers that staging another referendum would ride roughshod over voters’ 2016 decision to leave the EU and “would say to millions who trusted in democracy that our democracy does not deliver.”

SCIENTISTS SPOT SOLAR SYSTEM’S FARTHEST KNOWN OBJECT

THE BAHAMAS IS WHERE I LIVE, SAYS SHAKIRA IN SPANISH TAX CASE

CAPE CANAVERAL Associated Press

SPANISH prosecutors have charged pop music star Shakira with tax evasion, alleging she failed to pay more than 14.5 million euros between 2012 and 2014. The Colombian singer denied the charges.

The charges allege Shakira listed The Bahamas as her official residence for tax purposes during those years but was in fact living in Spain with her partner, Spanish soccer player Gerard Pique.

Shakira said in a statement that she was not a legal resident in Spain during the years in question and owed nothing to the Spanish tax authorities, who are using her “as a scapegoat” to frighten other taxpayers into coming clean.

Prosecutors in Barcelona said Shakira’s travel abroad was for short periods because of professional commitments, while most of the year she stayed in Spain. They want her to pay tax in Spain on her worldwide income.

Shakira officially moved to Spain for tax purposes in 2015, after having two children by Pique.

SHAKIRA performs at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City in October.

Former FBI boss Comey puts knife into House Republicans WASHINGTON Associated Press FORMER FBI Director James Comey had harsh words for House Republicans yesterday, saying their silence in response to President Donald Trump’s attacks on the Justice Department is “shameful”.

Comey said Republicans “have to have the courage to stand up and speak the truth, not be cowed by mean tweets or fear of their base”.

He was on Capitol Hill for a second closed-door interview with two Republican-led committees investigating what they say was bias at the Justice Department before the 2016 presidential election.

Republicans argue department officials conspired against Trump as they started an investigation into his ties to Russia and cleared Democrat Hillary Clinton in a separate probe of her email use. Democrats have called the GOP investigation “nonsense”.

Comey, who led both investigations, mocked the congressional

probe, saying the questions were about “Hillary Clinton’s emails and the Steele dossier” — two favourite subjects of Republicans who insist there was bias in the department.

The dossier was Democraticfunded opposition research on Trump’s ties to Russia compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.

“This while the president of the United States is lying about the FBI, attacking the FBI and attacking the rule of law in this country.

How does that make any sense at all?” Comey asked.

Trump has repeatedly gone after the FBI for bias as his campaign has been under investigation. He has called special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation a “hoax”.

On Sunday, he called his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, a “rat” because he has cooperated with prosecutors.

Comey said Trump “is calling a witness who is cooperating with his own Justice Department a rat — say that again to yourself at home,

FORMER FBI Director James Comey. and remind yourself where we have ended up.”

• TWO business associates of Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, have been charged with illegally lobbying for Turkey as part of a campaign to pressure the United States to expel a Turkish cleric.

Bijan Kian and Ekim Alptekin are accused in an indictment of conspiring to “covertly and unlawfully” influence US public opinion and politicians, all while concealing that the Turkish government

was directing their work. The campaign came during the final months of the 2016 presidential campaign while Flynn was a top surrogate for Trump’s campaign.

The case sheds further light on how Flynn and those around him worked to benefit a foreign country in the months before he became one of America’s top national security officials. The goal of the work was to get the United States to expel Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen from the country.

Gulen, who holds a US green card and lives in Pennsylvania, is a rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has accused the cleric of directing a failed coup and who wanted the US to extradite him back to Turkey. Gulen has denied any involvement in the coup.

Though Flynn and his company feature prominently in the latest indictment, he is not charged with any new crimes. A retired threestar US Army general, Flynn is to be sentenced today in a separate case brought by Robert Mueller.

ASTRONOMERS have spotted the farthest known object in our solar system — and they’ve nicknamed the pink cosmic body “Farout.” The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center announced the discovery yesterday.

“Farout” is about 120 astronomical units away — that’s 120 times the distance between Earth and the sun, or 11 billion miles. The previous record-holder was the dwarf planet Eris at 96 astronomical units. Pluto, by comparison, is 34 astronomical units away.

The Carnegie Institution’s Scott Sheppard said the object is so far away and moving so slowly it will take a few years to determine its orbit. At that distance, it could take more than 1,000 years to orbit the sun.

Sheppard and his team

spied the dwarf planet in November using a telescope in Hawaii. Their finding was confirmed by a telescope in Chile.

“I actually uttered “farout” when I first found this object, because I immediately noticed from its slow movement that it must be far out there,” Sheppard wrote in an email. “It is the slowest moving object I have ever seen and is really out there.”

It is an estimated 310 miles across and believed to be round. Its pink shade indicates an ice-rich object.

Little else is known.

The discovery came about as the astronomers were searching for the hypothetical Planet X, a massive planet believed by some to be orbiting the sun from vast distances, well beyond Pluto.

US SPORTSWEAR TRACED TO BASE UN APPROVES NEW DEAL TO HELP IN CHINA’S INTERNMENT CAMPS WORLD’S REFUGEES AS US OBJECTS HOTAN, China Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS Associated Press

CHINESE men and women locked in a mass detention camp where authorities are “re-educating” ethnic minorities are sewing clothes that have been imported all year by a US sportswear company.

The camp, in Hotan, China, is one of a growing number of internment camps in the Xinjiang region, where by some estimates 1 million Muslims are detained, forced to give up their language and their religion and subject to political indoctrination.

Now, the Chinese government is also forcing some detainees to work in manufacturing and food industries. Some of them are within the internment camps; others are privatelyowned, state-subsidised factories where detainees are sent once they are

DESPITE opposition from the United States and Hungary, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a non-binding compact yesterday that provides more robust support for countries where most of the world’s more than 25 million refugees live.

The Global Compact on Refugees also strengthens shared responsibility to help those who are forced to flee their country because of conflict or persecution.

The vote was 181-2 with Dominican Republic, Eritrea and Libya abstaining.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi called the compact “historic” in a tweet, adding: “It is the biggest effort to broadly share refugee responsibilities that I have witnessed.”

The agreement is separate from another

BARBED wire fences are seen around a facility in the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China’s Xinjiang region. released. The Associated Press has tracked recent, ongoing shipments from one such factory — Hetian Taida Apparel — inside an internment camp to Badger Sportswear, a leading supplier in Statesville, North Carolina. Badger’s clothes are sold on college campuses and to sports teams across the country, although there is no way to tell where

any particular shirt made in Xinjiang ends up.

The shipments show how difficult it is to stop products made with forced labour from getting into the global supply chain, even though such imports are illegal in the US. Badger CEO John Anton has said that the company would halt shipments while it investigates.

non-binding compact to ensure safe, orderly and humane migration which was approved on Dec 10 by nearly 85 percent of the UN’s 193 member states over fierce opposition from the United States.

The Global Compact for Migration is expected to be endorsed by the General Assembly tomorrow.

The Global Compact on Refugees was adopted at a time when a record-high 68.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes. This includes 25.4 million who have crossed borders to become refugees and 43.1 million who are displaced within their home countries.

According to the UN refugee agency, nine out of 10 refugees live in developing countries, where basic services like health or education are already strained.

The new compact aims to provide more investment

from governments and the private sector for infrastructure and services to benefit both refugees and host communities, including access to education.

It also aims to address the environmental impact of hosting refugees, promotes the use of alternative energy, and envisions more resettlement opportunities through family reunification, student scholarships, or humanitarian visas so that refugees can travel safely.

The compact builds on the 1951 Refugee Convention in addition to human rights and humanitarian law and makes way for a followup Global Refugee Forum every four years.

Grandi called the refugee compact “a powerful expression of how we work together in today’s fragmented world” and stressed that “no country should be left alone to respond to a huge influx of refugees.”

THE TRIBUNE

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net DOCTORS from the Accident and Emergency Department at Grand Bahama Health Services held their annual Christmas give-back event at the Grand Bahama Children’s Home on Friday.

The group of 25 doctors presented wrapped Christmas gifts and individual care packages, educational and toiletry items to the home, and hosted a luncheon for the 20 resident children and staff.

Dr Michelle Sweeting, clinical director and emergency medicine consultant at A&E, said this is the sixth year they have pooled their funds to give back to the community. “Today we are giving back to the children’s home,” said Dr Sweeting, who noted that the annual event started some six years ago when they raised funds to help displaced tsunami victims in the Philippines.

“We felt that instead of having a Christmas party, eating food and getting fat, we decided to do something better with the little funds we had. So, we started pooling our funds together and we would select a recipient,” she explained.

In 2011 when the Philippines suffered a devastating tsunami, Dr Sweeting said they decided to raise money for that cause since a lot of the physicians in the A&E Department are from the island.

They were able to raise over $10,000 with the help of the public, local contributors, and religious organisations. The money was used to help build homes for the displaced victims, she said. “After that we decided to stay closer home, and we went to Raybertha’s Home for the Elderly in Freeport,” she recalled.

The third year the group went to Mayaguana which was affected by a hurricane.

In 2016, the group went into West End following the devastation caused there by Hurricane Matthew. In 2017, the group of physicians went into East Grand Bahama where they visited the East End Primary School.

“And this year we are now with the Grand Bahama Children’s Home where

Tuesday, December 18, 2018, PAGE 11

A&E doctors in GB make donation to children’s home

there are 20 kids here. We found out about each child, their gender, age, what they like, and allergies, and we have their gifts and care packages and wrapped presents, and a gift for the home itself,” she said.

The doctors also held a small luncheon for the recipients. Dr Sweeting thanked the Pepperpot Restaurant for always supporting their events.

Sheila Johnson, executive director of the

AMERICAN ARRESTED AT AIRPORT FOR FAILING TO DECLARE MORE THAN $70,000 AN American man was arrested on Sunday at Lynden Pindling International Airport for failing to declare more than $70,000 in cash.

According to police, shortly after 8pm the 36-year-old man presented himself to a US Border Control

officer at LPIA and failed to declare the true amount of currency in his possession. The officers conducted a search of the man and recovered $72,616 in cash. He was turned over to police and is expected to be formally charged in Magistrate’s Court this week.

Grand Bahama Children’s Home, said the orphanage started in 1977 in a small efficiency apartment loaned to them.

She noted that a group of concerned citizens came together to establish the home, including tourism executive Terrence Roberts who was the president at the time, and his wife, along with others who decided to have the children remain on the island instead of being flown to Nassau where they would not see their extended families.

Mrs Johnson, who was a social worker just out of college at the time, recalled that they had to put the babies in dresser drawers.

“As you can see, we have come a long way after 40 years. We are continuing to make it a home – it is not an institution. It is a home we try to make for the children who for no fault of theirs find themselves in this position. We try to give them good memories to combat the horrible memories of childhood,” she said.

“We are always grateful that persons such as yourselves who saw fit to come and give back to our children who have been disadvantaged, but who are doing a tremendous amount of work in school. I am proud to say that last year we had eight children who were on the honour roll,” she said.

Ms Johnson noted that events like this make a huge difference in the lives of the children there, and commended Dr Sweeting and her team at A&E for choosing the home for its donation.

According to the executive director, four of the 20 children at the home are mentally and physically challenged, and they desperately need a bus for disabled children and a wheelchair.

“We were never designed for children who are disabled, but circumstances change, and when (Department of) Social Services asks if we can take a child, we cannot say no even though we are shortstaffed and do not have the money. So we are asking for help again from the community,” she said.