Archive for September 6th, 2010

Rotary Sunrise opens new high-tech community park

Rotary Sunrise opens new high-tech community park

| 06/09/2010 | 0 Comments

Cayman Islands News, Grand Cayman Local news, Rotary Sunrise(CNS): The long-awaited Grand Opening of the Cecile Crighton Spotts Newlands Community Park will be held on Wednesday, 8 September at 6pm. This state-of-the-art park includes the usual swings and slides, but also includes free wireless Internet access, 24-hour closed-circuit television security, and a small rock-climbing wall. Other notable amenities in the lushly landscaped park are a basketball half-court, a gazebo, a barbeque area, picnic tables, seating areas, and restrooms. The park is located at the intersection of Spotts Newlands Road and Mocking Bird Crescent.  (Left: Rotary District Governor Diana White packs soil around a newly planted tree at the park as Rotary Sunrise President Michael Levitt steadies it.)

More than 60 businesses and private individuals contributed to make the park a reality for the children and families who live in the rapidly growing Spotts Newlands area.

It is the first community park that the Rotary Sunrise club has developed in the Cayman Islands. Several dignitaries will take part in the opening ceremony, including Police Commissioner Baines and Chief Magistrate Ramsey-Hale.

In conjunction with the Grand Opening of the park, Youth Director Frank Balderamos will announce a Youth Photography Competition called 10Ten10 that Rotary Sunrise has planned for 10 October. In addition, because the park opening coincides with International Literacy Day, the club will present 832 books to George Town Primary School, Northside Primary School, and East End Primary School. The books were donated by cruise ship passengers last month through the Festival at Sea – Children’s Book Donation.

As the club’s president, Michael Levitt, observes, "The opening of this community park marks a significant milestone in the history of our young club. Not only will we be celebrating the vision of Rotarian Claude Myles to fulfill our commitment of ‘Building Communities, Bridging Continents’, but also recognising our other areas of focus with Youth and Literacy."

Rotary Sunrise was chartered in 2002 and has members who are mostly young professionals from Cayman and 24 other countries. They have fun contributing to the Cayman community and meet for breakfast at 7 a.m. on Wednesdays at the Grand Old House.
 

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Casings from same gun

Casings from same gun

| 06/09/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): An expert witness for the crown has said that the shell casings found at the scene where Omar Samuels was believed to have been shot came from the same gun. Allen Greenspan, a ballistic and firearms expert from Broward County, Florida, told the Grand Court on Friday that the shell casings sent to him from the scene for analysis were all fired from the same 40 calibre semi-automatic weapon. Giving his evidence at the trial of Brandon Leslie Ebanks, Osbourne Douglas and Patrick McField for the murder of Samuels, the expert also noted that the place where the casings were found would have been close to where the shooter was standing when the weapon was fired.

He said it was not possible to say exactly where the gunman would have been located when he shot Samuels as casings can eject some distance. When asked by defence counsel Nicholas Rhodes QC, representing Leslie-Ebanks, if the casings could have gone over the roof of a two storey building as they were ejected from the gun when it was fired, he said that was not possible.
 
The expert also confirmed that when a gun is fired it leaves residue and indicated that the shooter would need to be some distance away not to leave residue on the victim.
 
Greenspan was the crown’s second witness on Friday. The first was a representative from Cable & Wireless, who gave evidence on records from a cell phone which turned out to belong to Patrick McField.
 
The crown asked questions about how a mobile phone can be traced as a result of certain cell sites and it showed that between midnight and just after 1:00am on the morning of 5 July the phone was registering on cell sites in the central George Town area close to both McField’s home on Sheddon Road, as well as McField Square.
 
It also showed the phone was in the area of Randyke Gardens, where McField had told the police he was that night after going to Peppers night club to celebrate his birthday.
 
The questioning further revealed that McField’s phone was used frequently during the period examined. When asked by Trevor Burke QC, counsel for McField, if the list of 87 items represented over 80 separate calls or messages, indicating McField had the phone clamped to his ear a lot during that hour, the expert said that it was not 80 separate calls.
 
The C&W expert, who cannot be named, said he was unable to say exactly how many individual calls and messages the 87 events on the record sheet actually represented and he would have to calculate that. He explained that as a result of the various elements of a call an item on the record represented only a part of a phone call.
 
The murder trial continues this morning (Monday 6 September) at 10am in Grand Court One as the crown continues presenting its case against the three men.

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Bank threatens to move London HQ

Bank threatens to move London HQ

| 06/09/2010 | 0 Comments

(BBC): HSBC may move from London if the UK government decides to break up big banks, a senior executive has said. Stuart Gulliver, head of the Canary Wharf-based bank’s investment banking division, made the warning at a banking conference. He said he was "genuinely concerned" that the UK’s banking commission would recommend splitting up banks. "[That] has significant implications clearly for where we may choose to headquarter our institution. I want to be crystal clear. Our preference is to be headquartered in the UK," added Gulliver, whose bank did not receive any direct government support during the financial crisis.

 

 

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