Archive for August 4th, 2008
Three injured in ambulance collision
Two medics and a driver were injured yesterday morning, 3 August, after a car and an ambulance collided on Shamrock Road. The 911 Emergency Communications Centre received a number of calls from people reporting the crash at 10:00 am. The two medics in the ambulance and the driver of a Silver Buick Regal were injured and all three were taken to hospital for treatment but the patient in the ambulance was unhurt in the collision.
It would appear that the ambulance had been heading west on Shamrock Road with lights and sirens on when the vehicles collided in the vicinity of the Savannah Texaco gas station, or Tall Tree, after which the ambulance crashed into a vacant building. The traffic management unit is asking anyone who witnessed the crash who has not yet spoken with a police officer to contact Sergeant Lenford Butler on 946-6254.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling crime stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.
Woman killed in bike crash
Police have reported that one woman died and a man was seriously injured in a motorbike crash last night Sunday, 3 August 3. The 911 Emergency Communications Centre received a call at 11.50pm from a member of the public reporting that a motorbike had crashed on South Church Street by Palm Springs. Police and medics responded and found that a man and a woman had crashed riding into a wall on a Kawasaki motorcycle.
The 31-year-old woman died at the scene and the man was taken to hospital with serious injuries but is reported to be in a stable condition. Royal Cayman Islands Service (RCIPS) officers from the traffic managementunit say that is appears as though the driver lost control and crashed into the wall and that it also seems that neither rider was wearing a helmet.
The traffic management unit is now investigating the crash and asking anyone who may have witnessed what happened or saw the motorbike prior to the crash to contact officers on 946-6254 or Senior Investigating Officer, Sergeant Ivan Wedderburn on 916-3871.
The RCIPS sends its condolences to the family and friends of the deceased, said the release.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling crime stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.
Hunt on for armed robbers
Police are now hunting two men who held up and robbed Pet Pro’s on Crewe Road on Friday afternoon, 1 August. The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) said that at around 5:00 pm the men entered the store where a 28-year-old female shop attendant was working alone. Pulling out handguns, they took the attendant to a rear office where they began to tie her to a chair.
At this point, a customer entered the store and the attendant was instructed to assist the shopper. The robbers also assisted by helping to load the purchased goods into the shopper’s vehicle.Once the customer had left, the men returned to the office and tied the woman up again before leaving through a rear door with an undisclosed sum of money from the cash register. Although highly traumatised, the police said that the victim was unhurt in the incident.
The first man is described as about 6ft to 6ft 2ins tall, brown skin, clean shaven wearing a small round hat, a light green long sleeve button shirt, long dark blue jeans pants and dark coloured shoes. He is believed to be in his late 20’s. The second man is described as around 5ft 5ins to 5ft 6ins tall, brown skin, clean shaven, black mask rolled up on his head, wearing a long sleeve white button shirt, long blue jeans pants and white sneakers. He is believed to be in his early 20’s. A full area search was carried out but the men were not located.
Scenes of Crime Officers processed the scene and detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department are conducting enquiries. Anyone who thinks they saw the men or has information about the robbery is asked to contact the CID on 949-4222 and ask for DC Gustavo Rodriguez.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling crime stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.
DoE to begin documenting marine life sightings
The recent sighting of killer whales (Orcinus orca) off East End has highlighted the need for an organized database of migratory marine mammal sightings in the Cayman Islands, according to the Department of Environment (DoE), which will now begin collecting systematic data on whale, dolphin, manatee, shark and manta ray sightings in local waters.
In recent years, DoE has responded to several marine mammal strandings, including dolphins, a beaked whale,and an orphaned manatee, and informally the department has collected information on unusual sightings.
However, DoE Researcher Janice Blumenthal thinks there are many sighting that aren’t reported. After spotting beaked whales herself for the first time last year off East End, when she told her story she discovered that a number of other people had also seen them. Explaining the need to begin recording sightings, she said it would help the DoE to better understand what part the islands play in the lives of certain marine creatures.
“It will be good to establish a baseline now so that we can detect future changes in abundance, seasonality of sightings, or migratory routes,” she added.
In order to start making a more formal assessment the DoE will now serve as a national clearinghouse for Cayman Islands sighting data, making reports to the public and the media and contributing to regional sighting databases. It is hoped that the project will allow DoE to assess the importance of Cayman Islands waters for marine animals and contribute information on migratory routes to Caribbean initiatives. The public is asked to report sightings by calling Janice Blumenthal at 949-8469 or by e-mailing DoE@gov.ky and are advised if possible to take pictures of what they see.
Brown says Cayman football like Ja in early days
(The Jamaica Observer): Former national technical director, coach and defender, Carl Brown, is facing his own challenges as head of the Cayman Islands football programme – a post he has held for the past year-and-a-half. According to the affable Brown, the difficulties he faces are reminiscent of those that existed in Jamaican football 10 to 20 years ago. Go to article
The mystery lender from the Cayman Islands
(OC Reader): Lend 4 health, the micro-loan blog that funds biomedical treatments, now has four open cases: A 2-year-oldSawyrr Leanord and a 10-year-old Marcellus Scott, both preparing for their first DAN! visits; 6-year-old Brock, whose mom is trying to pay for two months of hyperbaric oxygen treatments; and a 5-year-old whose family needs to pay for biomedical lab work. Go to article
Financial delays undermine ‘right to know’
The recent report by the Auditor General’s office highlighting the numerous accounting failures by the vast majority of government departments, agencies and entities raises numerous concerns over issues of good governance, but it also raises problems in terms of undue secrecy and the public’s right to know how their tax dollars are being spent.
While Auditor General Dan Duguay is keen toensure that the publication of The State of Financial Accountability Reporting puts the problem into the public domain and hopefully ensures the problem of serious delinquent accounting is finally addressed, he notes in the report that the failure of so many departments to complete all of the elements of their annual financial statements is preventing the public from gaining access to important information about government spending and accountability.
While some of the government entities have submitted financial statements, not one of them has submitted an annual report for the year 2006-07. Under the Public Management and Financial Law (PMFL) results remain confidential until the annual report is submitted to Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Duguay explains in his report that the PMFL states that the annual reports become public documents once they are tabled in the Legislative Assembly (LA).
“If an annual report is not tabled then the contents of the annuals report, including the financial statements, are not public documents. As a result my office is not able to release those financial statements even though they are finalized,” he said. “I believe that this is a situation that should not be allowed to continue.”
Encouraging all the government entities to submit their reports and to comply with the requirements of the PMFL, he also said if government departments are going to continue to fail to meet this part of the law, his office should have some mechanism by which it can legally reveal the details of financial reports to MLAs. That way he could use the weight of the members of the house to demand that government departments follow the law.
“This would allow them to call for an organisation to prepare and deliver an annual report,” Duguay added. “Reporting of the financial statements by the Office of the Auditor General to the Legislative Assembly would allow the financial statements to become public and would allow their review by members of the public.”
With some government departments more than two years behind on their financial statements and annual reports, and others even more, Duguay says that this significant delay undermines the whole purpose and value of the statements. He added that the delay is so severe it threatens the very ability of the LA to provide oversight on government spending of behalf of the Caymanian people. He noted that by the time the 2004/05 statements of some entities are submitted to the LA they will be so out of date they will be practically meaningless. “They will probably be ignored as largely historical documents,” Duguay said. “A great opportunity has been largely wasted in that Legislators have not been able to see what had been accomplished with the money given to ministries and portfolios.”
Duguay explained that what happened in the past with spending would better inform the LA for future budgets. As a result, this year’s budget was approved with no accounting for the funds spent in the last four years, a situation that Duguay says in not acceptable.
Cayman connection could spell trouble for Romney
(CNS): They say you can’t choose your family but you certainly can choose your running mates, and if John McCain selects Mitt Romney as his VP in the upcoming US Presidential election race, Romney’s connection to the Cayman Islands could cause trouble for the duo, according to the US media. Romney’s former colleagues in the private equity industry say a heated campaign will paint them as job-killing fat cats, eager to stomp the little guy to make a quick buck.
Before he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, Romney formed the private equity firm Bain Capital, which he headed for 15 years, during which time he is estimated to have made about $250 million. The firm specialised in buying troubled companies which would be restructured, usually by laying off workers, and sold for profit.
The Republican primary offered a glimpse of what could be ahead for a possible McCain-Romney ticket and the industry. "I believe most Americans want their next president to remind them of the guy who they work with, not the guy who laid them off," Republican rival Mike Huckabee had noted at the time.
According to presidential race experts, the media coverage given to the potential running mates could make or break the decision for both potential candidates. Last December, the Democratic National Committee severely criticised Romney for closing US factories, investing in Iran, and of course using Cayman Islands tax shelters.
Police nab dozens of traffic offenders
(CNS): Drivers need to ensure their paperwork and licenses are up to date or they will face the consequences say the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS), which netted a total of 36 traffic law violators last week in two separate road blocks. Police said drivers were found to be committing various offences, from speeding to driving with an expired registration and certificate of road worthiness.
The first roadblock conducted by George Town officers overnight on Saturday, 26 July, resulted in 15 offences. The second was carried out by West Bay officers on Wednesday, 30 July, and resulted in 21 offences being detected. A number of other drivers were also warned for minor violations. The police said that the traffic law is in place to keep all road users safe and all drivers are urged to ensure their documentation is up to date.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling crime stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.