Archive for May, 2010
Man charged in WB killing
(CNS) Police announced this morning that a 26-year-old man has now been charged with murder, attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm in relation to a West Bay shooting last year. As a result of the new RCIPS policy of not revealing the identity of those charged with crimes the man has not been named. The charges are in connection with the fatal shooting of Marcus Ebanks on Bonaventure Road in West Bay almost one year ago. Two other young men were injured in the same incident which occurred on 7 July– 15 year old Adrian Powell who was 14 at the time is now paralyzed as a result of his injuries and Ebanks’ younger teenage brother also received a gunshot wound.
$1m spent on gardening leave
(CNS): With at least six senior civil servants still on full pay but not in post, government has now spent around $1 million on gardening leave salaries over the last two years as a number of personnel issues remain unresolved. Despite being cleared by the courts, Deputy Police Commissioner Rudy Dixon (left) has now been on paid leave for over two years and has still not been reinstated. Deborah Drummond, Angela Martins and Dianne Montoya, all senior civil servants, have received a year’s pay but have not been given equivalent posts since changes in senior personnel in the wake of the 2009 election. More recently, the director of the DER, Lonnie Tibbetts, was also placed on leave with full pay.
Violence continues as ‘Dudus’ remains at large
(CNS): Reports from Jamaica reveal that the death toll is now more than 50 people after the 4-day battle in the country’s capital between gunmen and the Jamaican security forces in the hunt for alleged drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke. Although some 500 people have been detained during the civil unrest by the authorities, the wanted man remains at large. This morning the country’s opposition party called for a full investigation of the operation which has taken place in Tivoli Gardens, West Kingston. NDM Chairman Peter Townsend said dangerous criminals existed in West Kingston that should be apprehended, but his party had warned that the operation should be carried out with greater precision to avoid loss of life.
The unreasonable cost of consumer goods
This is a plea to all those business owners who unreasonably mark up their stock by more than 50% or, as seems to be the case in most stores, more than double what the exact same product costs in the US. I know you have to make a profit in order to survive but do you not see that in applying such substantial mark-ups to your products you are actually doing yourselves out of business?
I have raised this point before here on CNS, and numerous business people have come back with various excuses about shipping, business taxes and import duties to (unconvincingly) justify their decisions to charge us, the customers, such extortionate prices for the items we purchase from them. Some businesses have even had the audacity to claim that because so many of us choose to buy abroad and import ourselves we are doing them out of business? These businesses are failing the people almost as much as our politicians currently are failing us with their bad decisions. Both are costing the public too much money and it needs to stop.
You cannot pull the wool over our eyes and try to justify mark-ups that exceed 50%. Why on earth do you think we, the public, prefer to either go abroad to do our shopping or import it ourselves? Do you not realise that it would be easier, and we would prefer to be able to buy the products for a reasonable price locally? Do you think we really want to go through the hassle of buying from abroad and waiting for our productsto be delivered or do you realise that we do this because it’s a necessity, particularly in this day and age when the cost of living in Cayman is so high comparative to our earnings? I recently made a purchase and had it imported from Hong Kong. In total, it costs me CI$78.03 including shipping and import tax. The exact same item is on sale locally for CI$140 – and that’s what influenced my decision to import my own. I’m glad I did. As you can see I made a huge saving. I recently bought Adams Plus Pyrethin Dip for my dogs from a local store for CI$21/US$25.60. The same item costs US$9 in the States. I now import that myself too – total cost to me less than C$13 including shipping and import duty. If I know someone going over to the States, even better still – I give them a shopping list to take with them!
Let’s not forget that we, the people and your prospective customers, are individuals, and therefore do not have the option to buy in bulk as businesses do and thus obtain further saving through bulk buy discount. This is the norm to you guys – so I know you are bringing in these items for much less than the cost to me. And these are not luxury items I am speaking of, just plain ole necessities that I am sick of paying unreasonable amounts for on-island.
Do you not realise that if you would just drop your mark-ups to something reasonable we wouldn’t have to go or order off-island and you would be making a heck of a lot more business, not to mention profit?
Just putting some food for thought on the table. Hope you are listening.
Walk good Cayman.
Two men arrested after waterfront drug bust
(CNS): Police have now confirmed that two men aged 29 and 32 have been arrested on s suspicion of supplying controlled drugs after a joint operation at the waterfront in George Town. At about 1.30 pm yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 25 May 2010) in a daylight operation, officers from the Drug Task Force, the Uniform Support Group and the Hotspot Team converged on an undisclosed location in the George Town harbour area. As a result the two men were arrested on drug related offences and a quantity of ganja and cocaine was recovered.
Woman arrested over theft of valuable watch
(CNS): Police said that a 27-year-old woman is now in custody following a Royal Cayman Islands Police Service operation on Cayman Brac this morning. The operation formed part of an investigation into the theft of a watch which was reportedly worth thousands of dollars, from a house in the Stake Bay area of Cayman Brac on Saturday, 22 May 2010. At about 7.30 am this morning today, Wednesday 26 May 2010, RCIPS officers arrested the 27-year old suspect as she arrived at the Gerrard Smith International Airport to leave the island.
Japan lined up for tax deal with Cayman
(CNS): The Cayman Islands government’s goal to significantly increase the number of tax information exchange agreements it has with OECD countries continues with Cayman and the government of Japan having successfully concluded negotiations on a future tax deal. The deal with Japan will bring the jurisdiction’s number of TIEAs to 19 once it is signed. The negotiations for the agreement were held in London earlier this month between the respective delegations. The agreement will now go through the political authorisation process on both sides to enable execution at signing on a date and location yet to be determined.
Man robbed of business cash
(CNS): Police have said that George Town detectives are investigating another early morning mugging by a masked man with a suspected firearm – the second in 24 hours. The incident took place in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday 26 May) when a local business owner was robbed of his night takings. Shortly before 1.00am today the man, who owns a licensed premises in the George Town area, arrived at his home address in Crewe Road, close to Ryan’s Retreat. He was accompanied by three friends and was carrying a bag containing the evening’s business takings. As he left his car to enter his house he was confronted by a masked man armed with what appeared to be a handgun.
Volunteers expand West Bay primary school
(CNS): John A. Cumber Primary School, which has the largest number of pupils of any of the Cayman Islands primary schools, has been extended by some 3,500 sq ft as a result of a voluntary expansion project to its classrooms. The school had originally been built to accommodate roughly 300 students – it now has 514 enrolled. Education Minister Rolston Anglin said the expansion was more than welcome. “These classrooms were built years ago, and we’ve completely outgrown their capacity,” he said. “When I attended John A. Cumber, classes ranged from 12-18 students. Now that number has almost doubled.”
Trinidad’s first woman PM to be sworn in
(T&T Newsday): PRIME MINISTER-elect Kamla Persad-Bissessar, 58, will be sworn in as Trinidad and Tobago’s first woman Prime Minister by President George Maxwell Richards at a ceremony at the Knowsley Building, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. During another day of frenetic activity as the political landscape of Trinidad and Tobago came to terms with Persad-Bissessar’s victory, yesterday, the PM elect spent the day in meetings and in consultations with members of the People’s Partnership coalition which includes the UNC, COP, TOP, NJAC as well as the MSJ and members of YesTT.