Archive for June 11th, 2012
Motorcyclist and passenger hurt in late night crash
(CNS): Two people are being treated at the Cayman Islands Hospital for serious injuries after a smash involving a car and a motorcycle. Police said the collision occurred at about 11:56pm on Saturday (9 June) night at the junction of Crewe Road and Smith Road in George Town. Police said that a Mitsubishi car, travelling west along Crewe Road, made a right turn in the vicinity of Crewe Road and Smith Road junction, when it smashed into a motorcycle which was heading east coming from Smith Road direction. Both people on the motorcycle were conveyed to hospital, where their condition was listed as serious. The driver of the car sustained no injuries.
Officers from the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service are appealing for any witnesses that may have been in the area at that time of the collision. Anyone with information is asked to call George Town Police Station at 9494222.
Meanwhile, three cars were involved in a crash close to of Club 7 on the West Bay Road on Saturday afternoon in which three people were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Northward inmate denies GBH on prison guard
(CNS): Dean Bailey pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of grievous bodily harm in connection with an assault on a prison officer earlier this year. Bailey is accused of biting off the ear of a guard at HMP Northward during an incident at the prison. The serving inmate will face a judge alone trial but a date has not yet been fixed. The assault took place early on the morning of 16 March, when the officer had his ear partially bitten off by Bailey during an altercation at the prison, the prosecution contends. The guard was treated for his injuries at George Town hospital.
Clifton Hunter to open August
(CNS): Government high schools on Grand Cayman will be closing one week early for the summer vacation to allow officials the time to begin the “mammoth organisational exercise" of moving into the newly completed Clifton Hunter High School in Frank Sound ahead of the opening in August. Officials from the education department confirmed that at the start of the next school year on 29 August, Clifton Hunter students will be in their new school. John Gray students will be moving to the current George Hicks site in August as work continues on the second new high school, and students at the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre (CIFEC) will be making use of the current John Gray site, officials explained.
“CIFEC students will be housed at the present JGHS campus to allow us to expand TVET options and offer enhanced ICT, library and workshop facilities. Demolitions and site and classroom renovations will take place over the summer,” officials from the ministry said. “The Department of Education Services has been working with our schools to prepare for the transitions.”
As a result the three public high schools will close at 1pm on Friday 22 June to allow teachers to pack up classroom resources, furniture and equipment for relocation to their new sites, in order to be ready for the August start. Officials said that the last week of school is typically spent doing school-based activities that are not core curriculum, such as team-building activities with teachers and students, so they will not be "disadvantaged educationally” as a result of the slightly earlier closure, a ministry spokesperson added.
The controversial high school project has remained a political football throughout the current administration as the UDP government pointed the finger at the previous education minister for continuing with the development of the state-of-the-art schools in the face of the economic recession.
The two new high schools were originally budgeted at around $110 million for both but the current education minister has stated that the cost will be much closer to $200 million but so far these extra cost have not been fully detailed.
Later this month the auditor general is expected to release a report on government spending on capital projects, which features the schoolsas one of its case studies.
See closure notice below.