Archive for July, 2010
Local charity declares war on fat and flab
(CNS): On Tuesday, 24 August, the Cayman Heart Fund will launch its third annual War on Weight competition and the WOW committee is currently looking for 10 volunteers dedicated to losing weight and living a healthier lifestyle. Contestants will need to beable to dedicate themselves to the 16 week-long weight loss challenge, which will entail an hour of group exercise five times a week, bi-weekly visits with a team of medical professionals to ensure weight loss is safe and consistent, as well as a strict nutritional plan under the expert eye of a registered dietician.
LIME and Digicel heading back to court
(CNS): Following the settlement of two regional telecom’s firms recent legal battles Digicel and LIME look set for another round in the law courts. LIME Antigua has now filed suit in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court against Digicel seeking to have its rival stopped from bypassing its international network. LIME is also asking for of EC$23-million which it says Digicel owes as a result of the last three years of bypassing the network. LIME said that it had already written and asked Digicel to stop bypassing, however, it had not done so and as a result LIME was now taking legal action.
NCL Old George’s last chance
(CNS): The National Conservation Law presents a last chance for a number of critically endangered endemic and indigenous species that could be extinct very soon without some kind of legal protection The pygmy blue butterfly, the white shouldered bat, the traditional herb tea-banker, inkberry, the pisonia margaretea tree and the bromeliad known as Old George (left) are six local species of flora and fauna on Grand Cayman that are critically endangered as their habitat has all but disappeared. The passage of the NCL could give these unique plantsand creatures a hope of survival but without it they will likely be consigned to the history books in a matter of a few years.
The pygmy blue butterfly (left) is one of the tiniest butterflies in the world and the subspecies found on Grand Cayman is close to extinction. Both the butterfly and its habitat are now critically endangered. It was first discovered by scientists in 1938 and was not documented again until 1985, when two colonies were located on the north and west coasts. In 2002 a colony was also found at Midland Acres. The butterfly is found only in salt–marsh areas where its larval food plant, Glasswort, Salicornia perennis, is found. The DoE hopes to be able to protect in law the tiny areas on Grand Cayman where the pygmy is believed to be surviving.
landscaping plants, such scaevoala sericea, and the plant is currently confined to one small area on the northern shore line of East End. Tea banker, a local type of mint, is currently part of an emergency conservation action programme. Also threatened by scaevoala sericea, tea banker, which once flourished on the coast, is now confined to one area in the district of North Side.
Prisoners come through for East End dogs
(CNS): A group of local volunteers have coordinated a project in East End to provide local dogs with their own kennels. The “home to call my own” project is an initiative of CARE – Cayman Animal Rescue Enthusiasts and helped by Ogier’s Animal Welfare Fund as well as the inmates from HMP Northward. Volunteers said the dogs in East End were targeted by CARE over the past few months which included a spay and neuter programme. They also recognised th need to protect some of the younger dogs from the elements and enlisted the skills of Northward’s craftsmen.
NRA plans to make West Bay road safer
(CNS): Plans to make the West Bay road safer by lowering the speed limit and introducing crossings are now on the table. The National Roads Authority said over the next 12 months it will be introducing safety measures that include a roundabout at the junction near Tikki Beach which leads to the bypass, at least one crosswalk near the Strand shopping plaza and a 30mph zone from Eastern Avenue in George Town up to just North of Tikki Beach. News 27 reports that the NRA is taking calls regarding the need to improve pedestrian and traffic safety on the road seriously. The project is expected to cost up to $30,000.
Sailing club opens doors for summer nights
(CNS): After a successful open day last month the Cayman Islands Sailing Club (CISC) is hosting Summer Nights, a twice monthly open house on Friday evenings in July and August 2010. The evenings will feature live music, drink specials and free sailboat and windsurfing rentals. There will be snacks available. Sailing Director, Michael Weber, says that Summer Nights is a unique family happy hour. “This is the only spot where you can enjoy live music while sailing with your family and then have a few drinks and watch the sunset,” he said.
Constitutional change comes at a cost, says premier
(CNS): In his message to the country for its first Constitutional Week the premier said the country’s new constitution was not a perfect document and came at a cost. Since the Cayman Islands Constitution 2009 was put before the people, McKeeva Bush has said he was not in favour of it and voted “no” in the May 2009 referendum. However, To mark last Monday’s Constitutional holiday he acknowledged the importance of a country’s constitution and that it reflected the support Caymanians had for democracy. (McKeeva Bush becomes premier under the new Cayman Islands Constitution)
Family to press on with Cayman Net News
(CNS): Despite the sudden death of its editor in chief, Desmond Seales, the newspaper man’s family are determined to ‘press on’ with Cayman Net News. The family has established the Seales Legacy Trust in an effort to assist his widow, Susan Seales, to keep the paper alive. Seales will be laid to rest this Saturday afternoon (10 July) at 3pm at the Agape Family Worship Centre, Fairbanks Road, George Town, followed by an interment at the Eden Cemetery. Seales, who was 71, died on Saturday 3 July in hospital in Miami following surgery for a heart problem. A controversial local character, Seales’ came to the Cayman Islands in 1969 from his native Trinidad via the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
He began the Nor’wester magazine in 1971. The publication was the first of its kind in Cayman, covering politics, culture and history, and was a hit with the local community. Despite its continued success for many years, the magazine came to an end in 1984 as a result of financial troubles, but not before Seales received an MBE in 1982 for his services to publishing.
Seales then turned his hand to television in the early 1990s but a complex set of financial problems with the station led to dark times for Seales, who served a period of time in jail. However, although he was down for a short time, Seales was certainly not out and came back with vengeance in time for the new millennium. In 1999 he launched Cayman Net News on-line before introducing the print edition in 2000.
Over the last decade the paper has undergone a number of changes in size, shape and style – as Seales always said “change is good” – and it enjoyed mixed fortunes. The recent recession hit the Cayman Net Group hard but Seales never gave up and despite the constant battering from government and struggles to keep the paper financed, Net News still rolled off the press in Miami.
Seales fought a number of hard battles with the authorities through his long career as a publisher and is considered by many to have been a voice of the people and to have advanced the cause of free press in the Cayman Islands.
Mac may lift Jamaican visa
(CNS): As the Cayman Islands’ premier prepares to leave Jamaica following this week’s CARICOM heads of government meeting, McKeeva Bush has revealed that he has plans to remove the requirement for Jamaican nationals to have a Cayman Islands visa if they already have one for the United States. Following comments made in the Legislative Assembly recently about the discrimination he maintained Jamaican’s have received in Cayman, he said that any moves he made towards a visa waiver for Jamaicans would be met with opposition. Bush has told the Jamaican Gleaner that it would not be well received by the PPM.
Second tropical depression stirs up in the gulf
(CNS): A second tropical depression formed in the Gulf of Mexico last night and the National Hurricane Centre is now issuing warnings for the coast of Texas south of Baffin Bay to the Mouth of the Rio Grande and the coast of Mexico from the mouth of the Rio Grande to Rio San Fernando. Although poorly organized the NHC said the tropical depression could become a tropical storm before moving inland today. At 7am this morning (Thursday 8 July) it was moving toward the northwest near 15 mph with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph with higher gusts.