Archive for February, 2010
Therapist plans more dolphin captives in Cayman
(CNS): An article published in the health section of today’s edition of the Washington Post reveals that an American retired psychologist is planning to open what could be a third captive dolphin facility in the Cayman Islands, this time under the guise of human therapy. The feature piece by Katherine Ellison examines the controversy surrounding dolphin-assisted therapy, which some say is just another way of exploiting both dolphins and humans for profit. In the article Ellison reveals that retired Florida International University psychologist, David Nathanson, aims to open what he calls a therapy centre in Cayman.
Cayman already has two captive dolphin entertainment facilities in West Bay — Dolphin Cove and Dolphin Discovery, both of which faced considerable opposition from the community, including the tourism industry. Both were granted Trade and Business licenses before the previous government imposed a moratorium on further facilities.
However, Nathanson told the Washington Post feature writer that he would be opening a major new dolphin therapy centre in the Cayman Islands this summer. Nathanson has reportedly conducted a number of studies on dolphin therapy and claims children with disabilities learned faster and retained information longer when they were with dolphins compared to children who learned in a classroom setting.
He has been selling dolphin-assisted therapy for more than 20 years and his website describes him as head of Dolphin Human Therapy, "an international consulting company dedicated to helping you establish, on site at your facility, the highest quality professional rehabilitation program for children (and some adults) with disabilities, depression or other special needs."
It is not clear from the article or his website if Nathanson intends to open a separate facility or if he intends to work with one of Cayman’s existing facilities. CNS has contacted the Department of Tourism for comment and more details on the revelation in the Washington Post article report.
According to Ellison’s feature, the dolphin-therapy business has been booming, fuelled in part by the rapid growth in diagnoses of childhood mental disorders such as autism. Desperate parents in search of cures have flown to the facilities, as if to a seaside Lourdes, when all else has failed.
“The practice, however, is fiercely criticized by researchers and marine mammal conservationists, including the educational anthropologist widely credited with having invented it, retired Florida International University researcher Betsy Smith,” she writes.
Critics say it is no more effective and considerably more expensive than skilful conventional treatment, while potentially harmful to the humans and the animals. Smith, who was originally inspired by watching a dolphin interact with her mentally disabled brother in the 1970s, offered the therapy free of charge for more than a decade, before abandoning the work out of ethical concerns in the 1990s. She now maintains that dolphin therapy boils down to "the exploitation of vulnerable people and vulnerable dolphins."
Police release men arrested for bank robbery
(News 27): The two men arrested in connection with the robbery at Cayman National Bank in Savannah have been released on police bail. Earlier this month, two masked men entered the bank at the countryside Shopping Village one of whom was armed with a handgun. They threatened staff, fired a shot in the air and took off with an undisclosed amount of money. Shortly after, police arrested two men aged 21 and 24-year-old but despite the arrest no charges have been brought and the men have been released from custody. Police say the enquiries are ongoing.
Witnesses step up, say cops
(CNS): The senior investigator into the enquiry of the murder of four-year-old Jeremiah Barnes said that people have finally begun to come forward with information for the team working on the shocking killing. Peter Kennett also headed up a special operation on Monday night, one week after the incident at the Hell gas station in West Bay, at the time and place where the child was shot in the hope of tracing more witnesses who may have been in the area last week and jogging memories of the incident. Officers spent over an hour at the station and talked to 69 people.
Teams of detectives and uniformed officers stopped vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists in and around the gas station on Hell Road to find out if they had any information which could be relevant to the enquiry. Meanwhile, a candlelit vigil for young Jeremiah on the nearby sports field offered a poignant reminder to the public as to why the police were there.
“We have been carrying out extensive enquiries in the Hell area over the past week,” said Kennett, the man in charge of the enquiry into Jeremiah’s death. ”However, people are creatures of habit and it is possible that if someone was in or around the area last Monday night (15 February) they would also be in the area exactly a week later. Whether that’s because they travel home from work at that particular time, visit a relative or play sports on a Monday and use that route.”
He said the information collected would be reviewed by the team, and with more witnesses now coming forward since the last appeal, Kennett said the investigation was progressing. “Since our last appeal for witnesses a number of people have been in contact with the enquiry team. I would like to thank those individuals for coming forward. I believe that we are now making significant progress in this enquiry and, like everyone else involved in this investigation, I am absolutely determined to bring this enquiry to a successful conclusion for Jeremiah’s family.”
The police currently have four men in custody but have not yet brought charges against anyone. Two of the men were arrested last Monday evening, which means under the police will need to secure enough evidence to bring charges before Wednesday evening. If not, they will need to seek a further extension of their custody from the courts or let the men go.
Jeremiah Barnes was shot dead while he sat in the back of a car with his family on the evening of Monday 15 February, when two men emerged from behind the service station, one of whom began firing indiscriminately at the vehicle. The child’s father, mother and brother escaped injury but Jeremiah was killed by one of at least four bullets fired into the car. The police have confirmed that they believe the incident is tied to the latest spate of gang violence that has claimed the lives of six other young men in tit-for-tat shootings last year, as well as severely injuring a 14-year-old boy, who is now in a wheel chair.
Anyone who has any information which could assist the enquiry team should contact the murder incident room at West Bay police station either by calling the team direct on 926-1773, or by calling the station on 949-3999 and asking to be transferred to the enquiry team.
Cruise tourism in Cayman
The CIDOT arrivals statistics for 2009 state that the Cayman Islands welcomed 1,520,372 cruise ship passengers. The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) states an average spend of $96.78 per passenger, totaling $126.4 million dollars into the local economy. The cost of attracting these guests to Cayman, in marketing dollars, was nil.
The Cayman Islands 2009 cruise arrival figures are at a low not seen since 2001. Even in 2004, the year of Hurricane Ivan (where we had no cruise business in October of that year), we landed more cruise arrivals than in 2009 -for statistics see www.caymanislands.ky/statistics or page 8 of the FCCA report http://www.f-cca.com/downloads/2009-FCCA-Cruise-Analysis-Vol-I-and-2.pdf
The FCCA and CIDOT figures reported contradict one another, with CIDOT only showing a 3% downturn, while FCCA report as much as a 30% reduction from 2008 to 2009. This is due to a significant oversight in the way CIDOT reports based on ship manifests, rather than counting how many passengers actually come ashore.
The estimated losses for 2009 in the local cruise tourism economy equates to approximately $24 million in cruise ship passenger spending, in addition to a loss in government revenues in the region of $3.2 million from the passenger head tax. These figures would have been even worse if Cayman’s cruise arrivals hadn’t been boosted in 2009 by the Mexico health crisis in the spring, diverting ships to Cayman.
Cayman has a significant problem with declining cruise visitors and revenues; the outlook for 2010 is bleak. What is the magic number for cruise passenger arrivals, and equally if not more important, how much does each passenger really spend?
The most successful cruise port/destination in the Caribbean in 2009 was the USVI, with only 1,575,000 cruise visitors who spent an average of $193.22 per head, totaling $304.3 million that was injected into their local economy. In contrast is the Bahamas, which attracted a massive 2,019,400 cruise visitors but only managed $83.93 per passenger, totaling $169.5 million. The spend in the Bahamas is well below the average for the Caribbean, $97.26 per passenger, and yet they attracted the most visitors. This example indicates that perhaps less is more. At what point does our decline in arrivals equal much less revenue rather than more in average spend per person? What is the magic ingredient that results in some destinations to seemingly enable their guests to spend so much more than others?
The USVI is not known as an expensive destination, quite the opposite. Cayman, by contrast, is considered to be expensive and yet manages to earn less than half of the per passenger spend than the USVI for nearly the same reported number of visitors in 2009. In comparison, crime in the USVI is much more of a problem than it is in Grand Cayman, which would lead one to assume passengers might spend more in Cayman because they feel more at ease. Both destinations have world class duty free shopping, tours and restaurants, all enticing guests to spend.
The one glaring difference in the two destinations is Cayman’s lack of berthing for ships. In St. Thomas guests can walk on and off the ships with ease and at their leisure, whereas in Cayman it can take hours to get to and from the ship. This cuts into spending time ashore. It is also widely acknowledged in the cruise industry that the percentage of guests that go ashore when a ship is tendering is much lower that when a ship is docked. Very few crew members are allowed to come ashore in tender ports, which inhibits another significant source of revenue for taxis, attractions, food and beverage and retail.
When you see the number of passengers who are in port each day and compare it to the amount of visitors who appear on the dock, it often appears to be a significantly lower amount than the number reported on the manifests and what are recorded as ‘visitors’. There is no public data available to prove how many passengers are tendering, but we may be literally missing the business of 50% of the guests and 75% of the crew or more. This would equate to statistics telling us that our guests in Cayman spend less than half of what the same demographic of people spend in the USVI – in the same stores, having very similar experiences on excursions and tours. Comparing the ‘low spend’ of Cayman’s cruise ship passengers to any other statistic, be it the average spend of cruise passengers in the USVI (or any other island with a berthing facility) to the average spend of an overnight visitor to Cayman is just not sensible or fair.
The simple fact is that we have no idea how many cruise ship visitors actually set foot on Grand Cayman, but we can be sure that it is significantly less than the manifest number. Without this data we have little idea what Grand Cayman’s cruise visitors actually spend and what their real value could be to our local economy. If our competition is achieving this higher spend, Cayman is certainly capable of achieving more which our economy would highly benefit from.
Another different but similarly shining example of how our competition is doing a much better job of getting more from less is St. Maarten. In 2009 St. Maarten welcomed significantly fewer guests than Cayman or the USVI – only 1,152,000 (the number Cayman was attracting a decade ago) – and yet their guests spent $147.98 per head, injecting $170 million into their economy. Once again St. Maarten is known for its beautiful purpose built berthing facility, able to attract the 220,000 GT Oasis of the Seas. First impressions upon arrival in St. Maarten are of a clean, organized facility that allows guests ease of access and movement to and from their ships. When guests visit St Maarten’s new docking facility, among the well designed shops and restaurants, there is a very efficient and affordable water-taxi service to the center of Philipsburg. There is also a purpose-designed area set up specifically for all ground transportation. For those who chose to taxi into town to shop in their world-class duty free shops there is a shaded area where guests form a short line whilst they are assigned a cab. The price is standard and there is no jockeying for business. It is efficient, orderly and gives a great first impression of the island. Compared to Cayman, which has none of this imperative infrastructure, the experience could not be more different. One would come to the conclusion that it is not a coincidence that their guests spend more than ours.
The debate over how many cruise ship passengers Cayman needs to attract each year is not as simple as picking a number. If we are to continue to operate our cruise visitor experience as we always have then we will never be able to attract enough people to satisfy the economy; it will continue to be a constant and futile battle to get higher numbers of ships and guests just in an attempt to get as many people as possible into tenders and ashore. However, if we choose, we can have the luxury of sustaining the actual number of visitors to a more manageable level, ensuring that more passengers disembark and enjoy our island. This will achieve the ultimate goal of having our guests spend more time, creating wonderful memories with more space and breathing room than experienced previously by cruise passengers.
Cruise conversion? When one thinks of the current first impressions of Grand Cayman a cruise visitor has, it must be put into the perspective of their itinerary. We all know that Grand Cayman is a first world destination, and in comparison to Jamaica, Cozumel, Nassau, Belize and Roatan (common Western Caribbean ports), we should provide a highly favorable impression that would result in many guests making the decision to return to Grand Cayman for a stay-over vacation. Unfortunately, the current dysfunctional experience provides them with a frustrating first and last impression of this superior island. With a proper cruise berthing facility, Cayman could become the first destination in the region to purpose design and build into the port a comprehensive hotel and attraction experience that all guests would have to interact with or through before reaching their tours or shopping. Many of these 1.5+ million cruise passengers are candidates to return as stay-over visitors and we are missing out on the opportunity to impress them. The ROI on a great first impression for these visitors is critical to our tourism marketing strategy to attract stay-over visitors. If we converted only 1% of the cruise visitors to come back, it would have a significant effect on the tourism industry and its related economic impact to Cayman.
The cruise industry in Cayman is in crisis. Cayman is losing credibility with the cruise lines and has lost the goodwill with cruise visitors, which puts us at a lower rating in the Caribbean. We are losing cruise calls every week and will run lean in the summer months when large vessels like Oasis of the Seas and her sister ship Allure will not visit Cayman due to their size and our lack of berthing facilities.
A new cruise berthing facility is not a silver bullet for cruise tourism in Cayman. Cayman will ultimately fail to our competition if we do not have the political will and a dynamic, strategic and accountable plan for tourism as whole. Our leadership at every level must fully acknowledge and support cruise tourism along with our tourism vision as a whole. The CITA urges the Cayman Islands Government to devote as much attention to the tourism industry as it is to the financial sector before it is too late. As stated all along, the environmental impact study for the cruise berthing facilities needs to be completed as an integrated part of the design process, and agreements between developers and contractors need to be executed.
Submitted by CITA President Stephen Broadbelt, on behalf of the Board of Directors of the CITA.
PPM sets out opposition stall
(CNS): The People’s Progressive Movement have reiterated their opposition to government attempts to erase the current deficit in one year and said that the premier must go to London and renegotiate the government’s debt ratio in order to give the country time to recover from the global recession. At a public meeting in South Sound George Town last night, which was more akin to an election rally, the opposition rallied support against the government’s proposal to sell the new government administration building and changes to immigration policy, as well as proposing a national crime strategy that involved border control. (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)
Telling the people, “They’re screwing it up again!” Arden McLean, the member for East End, led the charge against government policy and said the PPM had given the UDP administration a chance to get things right but now the opposition was no longer going to remain silent while the government burned the country down.
The meeting attracted around 300 people, and while the election may be more than three years away the opposition seemed to be hitting the campaign trial. The entire previous Cabinet took to the hustings as four of the party’s current MLAs were joined by former minister Charles Clifford, who lost his Bodden Town seat in the May 2009 elections (Moses Kirkconnell was detained on the Brac). The meeting attracted around 300 people during the course of the evening and heard the former ministers lay out their opposition to changes in immigration policy, which they said would do untold damage to the community, the sale of government assets, which they described as short sighted and irrational, and their opposition to a cargo port and possible oil refinery in East End.
Mclean asked those who had opposed the road through the Ironwood Forest to join him as he lay in front of the bulldozers if ever the project was underway.
During the meeting the former minsters also spoke about the need for a non-partisan approach to crime and hoped that the government would consider their proposal for a national crime prevention strategy that included border control as much as internal policing issues. Alden McLaughlin, who has filed the motion in the Legislative Assembly, said crime was not the fault of any specific political administration and was an issue that had come about as a result of a combination of social failings and it was now time to fight the issue together. Above all, he demanded that the new National Security Council, as set out in the new Constitution, was convened.
Charles Clifford confirmed that he had gained permission for his march on the Glass House at 2:00 pm on Saturday 6 March. He urged everyone in the country to come and support the demonstration against government policy, called on those who had stood as MLAs and lost in the last election to come and bring the people who voted for them, and asked his own 992 voters to join in the protest. Clifford said he believed the changes to immigration policy to allow virtually all those working in the financial sector to gain key employee status would result in a significant increase in permanent residents and by implication Caymanian status holders, which he said would cause social disharmony. “The future of Caymanians is not for sale Mr Premier, “Clifford said, “and it’s not yours to sell.”
During his time at the podium McLaughlin also queried a number of the government’s proposals regarding immigration and said that, having spoken to a wide cross-section of people in the financial services sector over the last few months they were all far more concerned about the damage the increase in fees had done to their businesses than they were about problems securing permits.
He said that the premier’s idea that putting more pressure on business at a time of global recession was no way to cure the country’s woes and the increase in fees had directly impacted the amount of new business Cayman was able to attract.
“Only a special, special genius like the premier would say the way to increase business would be to charge more for it,” he said, and added that revenue in the financial sector remained dramatically down. He said that McKeeva Bush’s world tour and PR campaign to attract investors had failed, but then he was not surprised as, again, only "a special genius" would start an investment PR campaign by saying the country was bankrupt.
Anthony Eden also spoke briefly about the global recession and that it was absurd to think the country’s economic woes were all the fault of the PPM. He said, given the global circumstances, Cayman’s politicians needed to stop the partisan politics and work together. He also lamented the rise in crime and called on families to take responsibility for their children and warned people of the end of days.
The “irrational and short sighted” decision to sell the new administration building was the focus of Leader of the Opposition Kurt Tibbetts when he took to the podium. He said the move made no sense and noting the recent comments from the premier that he wasn’t selling it, Tibbetts waved the offering document in the air, pointing to the part where it said the government was looking to sell the freehold. He explained that government intended to sell the building and use the cash to balance the budget, and would therefore still be faced with the loan and the need to pay rent for government accommodation.
Tibbetts asked, once the premier had sold the building and the sewage works to balance the 2009/10 budget what would we have left to sell to balance the 2010/11 budget?
The former government leader said if Bush was to sit round the table and negotiate with the UK, which had already stated that it was prepared to see the deficit erased through borrowing over a longer period, he would ease the pressure and the need to sell key assets. The opposition leader said this did not mean direct taxation but it would need to see government spending curbed and new revenue measures introduced. He said the PPM was more than willing to go to the UK with him for the negotiations and present a unite front to the UK to find a way of extending the borrowing ratios in order to give the Caymanian people and the economy time to recover.
“I don’t know what government are going to do, but I really hope they listen to what we have to say,” he said. However, the former ministers all lamented the government’s failure to include the opposition in discussion and plans for the country, especially as the opposition bench contained some of the LA’s most experienced politicians. McLaughlin said the only invitation they had received asking for their participation was with the premier’s coronation.
‘Lame’ mosquitoes to stop dengue
(BBC): Scientists are breeding a genetically altered strain of mosquito in an effort to curb the spread of dengue fever. The dengue virus is spread by the bite of infected female mosquitoes and there is no vaccine or treatment. Experts say the illness affects up to 100 million people a year and threatens over a third of the world’s population. Scientists hope their genetically altered males will mate with females to create female offspring that will inherit a gene limiting wing growth. The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists say their approach offers a safe, efficient alternative to harmful insecticides.
Dengue cases not related to MRCU spraying
(CNS): Although the recent suspected cases of dengue fever in the Cayman Islands have yet to be confirmed, government officials say that even if they prove to be positive the appearance of the virus is not related to any reduction in aerial spraying by the MCRU. The mosquito which can carry the dengue fever is present in the Cayman Islands but generally breeds in urban areas and is therefore not controlled by the widespread spraying from the air but by targeted reduction of stagnant water sources in gardens and yards.
MRCU Director Dr William Petrie told CNS that although there are issues currently relating to the unit’s resources and its ability to spray, the Aedes aegypti — the culprit when it comes to passing on the dengue fever virus — does not populate the islands’ swamp areas, where most other mosquitoes set up home and the areas targeted by the aerial spraying.
Dr Petrie said that, as a result, people should be taking extra care to ensure that they turn over pots and empty buckets, wheel barrows, coconut shells or any other vessels that can collect water around their property. He said sceptics who suggest that such efforts can do little to combat the mosquito problem are wrong and that by making sure there is nowhere for this particular mosquito to breed in your garden you will keep them away from your own yard and those around you.
“The Aedes aegypti is not found in swamp areas and tends to breed in urban areas where we do not use aerial spraying. We are encouraging people to keep their yards and gardens as free of standing water as possible as this will keep the population down,’ he said.
Explaining that if the three cases are dengue fever, he said the patients would have contracted the virus from a mosquito or mosquitoes that would have in turn have contracted the virus from another person who was already infected. “The mosquitoes in the Cayman Islands do not carry the dengue fever virus themselves but they can pick it up from another host and pass it on,” Dr Petrie added.
Public health officials have also confirmed that there have been no further cases reported since the three samples were sent for analysis and which are now with the Centre for Disease Control in Puerto Rico. Dr Kiran Kumar confirmed Dr Petrie’s comments regarding the spread of dengue fever and added that it cannot be transmitted via person to person.
Around 100 million cases of dengue fever occur worldwide each year and it is prevalent in the Caribbean as well as Central and South America including Jamaica, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana and Puerto Rico. “We do have imported cases from time to time. There has been no evidence of local transmission in the Cayman Islands,” Dr. Kumar said.
With no major outbreaks around the region recently, however, Dr Petrie said it was unusual that these victims had managed to be infected in Cayman as they had no history of travel and without a major outbreak in the region we should not expect to see large numbers of infected people travelling to Cayman unaware of their condition.
He also noted that 2009 had not been a particularly bad year for mosquitoes as the season was not exceptionally wet, but he did admit there was an increase in the overall population around October.
With a constant battle to keep the multiple types of mosquito populations at bay every season, Dr Petrie noted that there were concerns about the MRCU’s stock and the need to keep costs down would impact the battle against the islands’ leading pest, but he said everyone can help by reducing the opportunities for the insect to breed.
Related article: ‘Lame’ mosquitoes to stop dengue
GUILTY!
(CNS): Updated 7pm – Co-defendants Kirkland Henry (left) and Larry Ricketts (right) have both been found guilty of the murder of Estella Scott-Roberts in October 2008. Chief Justice Anthony Smellie read his judgment to a packed courtroom this afternoon as he sent the two men to prison for the rest of their lives. The judge made it clear that he did not believe what he said were Henry’s self serving statements that he had not played a part in the murder or that Ricketts’ confession, where he clearly admitted his role in the crime, was fabricated by the police. Both men showed little emotion as their life sentence was handed down.
During the reading of his judgement, which took over two hours to deliver, the chief justice made it clear that he believed the confession made by Larry Ricketts to the police was done so freely and that his claim that the confession was concocted by the police was false. Smellie pointed to a number of reasons why he was left in no doubt that the admission had been given by Ricketts freely, including the continuous flow of the statement as well as the detail contained in it that could not have come from anywhere else but a person present at the crime.
Ricketts self-incrimination when he was in the witness stand relating to the court about when became aware of the death of Scott-Roberts was also noted by the chief justice, who said that it was very clear to the court that he had revealed that he was aware of the crime before the body had been discovered.
The country’s top judge told the court that he rejected Henry’s account that there was no pre-planning or that he had withdrawn from the joint criminal enterprise. Pointing not only to the inconsistencies and self-serving nature of his testimony, the chief justice said Henry’s chilling and casual explanation for his participation in the rape as well as his decision to keep indecent imagery of the crime on his phone after the event pointed to his full participation in all the crime, including the murder.
The chief justice concluded that any comments Henry had made to Ricketts about not wanting to kill her and that if Rickets did he should do it were no indication of withdrawal but of approval of the crime and just an indication he did not wish to commit the act. “I do not accept he made any attempt to withdraw from the criminal enterprise,” the chief justice stated before he indicated he was satisfied that Henry was guilty of murder.
Following the verdict the officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Kennett, said his thoughts were with Estella’s husband, Rayle Roberts, her mother and her family and friends.
“Having to hear firsthand the terrible ordeal that Estella had to endure does not bear thinking about. Words fail me to describe the agony that Estella had to endure at the hands of Ricketts and Henry. “They have rightly been convicted on overwhelming evidence and will spend the rest of their days in prison,” Kennett said.
During the trial the crown set out its evidence against the two men, who violently abducted Scott-Roberts from the Decker’s car park on Friday 10 October before driving her in her own car to the Barkers area of West Bay. According to the confession of Henry, both men then raped her while she was bound and gagged before they murdered her by suffocating her with a garbage bag. Following the killing the two men set light to the vehicle in which they had left her body and watched it burn before they waited until the morning to catch a bus to return to George Town, where they attempted to profit from their crime by using her ATM card to withdraw cash from her account.
The men were eventually apprehended by the police as a result of tracing one of the deceased’s phones to Henry, who revealed Ricketts as his accomplice.
Fraser brothers shine at SEC Championships
(CNS): After two and a half days of the four day competition at the SEC Conference Championships, both Shaune and Brett Fraser have automatically qualified for the upcoming NCAA Championships while swimming for the University of Florida Gators, Swim Coach Dominic Ross reports. On Day one, Shaune and Brett both formed part of the 800Freestyle relay which in dominating the event, also set the SEC Meet record and qualified for the NCAA’s.
Shaune also swam the butterfly leg of the 200 Medley Relay team which finished second in the event behind Auburn University and also qualified for the NCAA Meet.
Day two saw Shaune grab an individual title in the 200IM ahead of teammate Omar Pinzon, both meeting the NCAA automatic qualifying time in that event. Brett swam in the finals of the 50Free, finishing 5th in a strong field. The brothers then both stepped up again on their schools relay team, this time the 200free relay, with the team finishing third in that event.
The heats of day three saw them both making their way through to the night’s finals. Brett in the 200free and Shaune in the 100fly, where they will both look to improve upon their morning positions and score valuable points for the Gators on Friday evening.
The University of Florida currently trails Auburn University by only 9 points in the overall standings with the host Georgia Bulldogs a not too distant third.
The Competition concludes on Saturday when Brett will be contesting the 200 backstroke and 100 freestyle and Shaune the 100 Free and 200 Butterfly events.
Full results are available live at http://www.georgiadogs.com/fls/8800/stats/swimdive/2010/sec/swim/index.htm
Cayman Heart Fund enlists governor as patron
(CNS): As well as raising around $20,000, the Cayman Heart Fund got an additional boost to their patronage at its annual Red Dress Valentine’s gala. Guest of honour, Governor Duncan Taylor, graciously accepted the CHF’s request to be the Fund’s new patron, the fund said in a release. During a short speech at the event, held at the Westin Casuarina over the Valentine’s weekend, Governor Taylor said he was delighted to accept the role of patron and was impressed by the turn out at the gala event, whereby female guests had all turned out resplendent in red dress. He said supporting the community gave a great deal of personal satisfaction. (Photo: CHF Chairman Suzy Soto, CHF Medical Director Dr Sook Yin, Governor Duncan Taylor and Mrs Taylor)
“When one has done something useful such as support the Cayman Heart Fund in this way it leaves one with something of a glow. There is real satisfaction in putting something back into society.”
As well as enjoying a glittering night of wonderful food and wine, music and dancing, guests also had the chance to bid for their own unique piece of artwork created by one of Cayman’s talented local artists and donated especially for the event.
Suzy Soto, Chairman of the Cayman Heart Fund said the support from the public for this, the Cayman Heart Fund’s second annual Valentine’s gala, was incredible. “We managed to raise approximately CI$20,000 which is a tremendous sum that will be put towards excellent use by the Cayman Heart Fund, raising awareness and trying to prevent heart disease within Cayman’s society.”
Soto was especially grateful to all the talented artists who all donated their unique paintings and sculptures to the silent and live auctions: “Our thanks go to Bendel Hydes, David Bridgeman, John Broad, John Doak, Chris Mann, CE Whitney, Charles Long, Chris Christian, Gordon Solomon, Maureen Lazarus, Nickola McCoy, Teresa Grimes, Avril Ward, Guy Harvey, Suladda, Joanne Sibley, Jasmine Russo and Al Ebanks. Most artists attended our gala evening and we are truly grateful for all their support.”
“In particular,” Soto added, “we were all very impressed by John Broad’s wonderful painting that he created during the event. The lively painting depicted the talented Vivendi artistes who performed live as well as lots of vignettes from the event. John Wood eventually made the highest bid for the painting and then kindly donated it straight back to the Cayman Heart Fund! In the end the painting was purchased by David Phipps. Mr. Phipps took home a really special souvenir of the event.”
The Cayman Heart Fund is a non-profit, non-government organisation dedicated to the reduction of heart and circulatory disease in the Cayman Islands. Heart and circulatory disease, known as cardiovascular disease (CVD), is the biggest health problem in the Cayman Islands.