Archive for March, 2011
Buccaneers storm into Waterford Final
(CRFU): The Krys Global Buccaneers earned a spot in the Waterford Trophy final with a thrilling win over the DHL Storm on 26 March.Having finished in 3rd place in the Alex Alexander Memorial Cup season the DHL Storm were looking to bounce back in the knockout cup competition and stay in with a chance of earning a 2nd trophy this season. It wasn’t to be, however, and the DHL Storm season ended on a low note for the team touted by many as favourites to win a first ever treble after having dismantled the John Doak Architecture Iguanas in the Heineken Charity Shield match early in the season. The Storm controlled proceedings for the first 20 minutes of the game and kept the Buccaneers pinned into their own half of the field. (Photo by Caroline Deegan)
The early hard work paid off with the Storm scoring first but the Buccaneers shrugged off the early big match jitters and ended an error strewn first quarter by marching up the field and scoring in the corner through former Buccaneer Captain Mick Kehoe.
The try was unconverted and lead to a spell of missed kicks for the Buccaneers, which handed the Storm a lifeline as their control of the ball was being increasingly taken away by the Buccaneer pack, who were dominating the lineout and scrum.
As the clock ticked down the match heated up. A further unconverted DHL Storm try and penalty gave the Storm a slender lead for the 2nd time in the game with only 7 minutes left on the clock. Yet again, however, an unfazed Buccaneer squad moved up field to allow kicker Morgan Hayward to end his kicking woes. A well placed penalty kick took back the lead and with a Sam Sage try the game was won by the Buccaneers 24-15.
The Buccaneers now face off against the 2011 League champions the John Doak Architecture Iguanas and look to end the Iguana dreams of winning their first ever double.
All games are available to watch free on www.caymanrugbytv.com
Next games: April 2, 2011 at the Cayman Rugby Club
Waterford Trophy Final
John Doak Architecture Iguanas vs. Krys Global Buccaneers at 4pm.
Rapper’s Cayman departure planned, says publicist
(CNS): International media reports that rapper Foxy Brown was kicked off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the Cayman Islands last week are untrue. Black Star Communications said that Brown was always scheduled to leave the ship and fly back to the States once it arrived in Grand Cayman. Reports that the rap star was thrown off the cruise stemmed from comments made by radio host Tom Joyner, who was hosting the Fantastic Voyage Cruise, a specialist annual trip for listeners to his show. Joyner said Brown, who was one of the celebrity performers, was booted off because of an altercation aboard ship with a nail salon attendant. However, the radio personality admitted yesterday that Brown was not put off the ship.
The Cayman Islands Immigration Department confirmed that rap star Foxy Brown left from Owen Roberts Airport last week after arriving in George Town on the cruise ship Voyager of the Seas.
"We reported that Foxy got put off – she did not get put off – she did not get put off. That was incorrect," Joyner said on his show yesterday. "She was scheduled to get off when she got off." Joyner’s co-host Sybil Wilkes went on to say that stories of a nail salon altercation with Foxy and staff also were untrue. "A lot of was reported was blown out of proportion," Wilkes said.
Brown had responded to Joyner via Twitter previously tweeting, "I tore the stage down! That’s the thanks I get?? U wait til’ I leave the ship and then 2 days later your on the air …”
Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, has been in trouble before, however, over a manicure. In 2008 she was charged with misdemeanour assault for allegedly attacking workers in a New York nail salon after arguing with them over the bill.
Dart to lease beach bar till new resort opens
(CNS): Following the recent purchase by Dart Realty of more than one hundred acres of land from Stan Thomas along the West Bay Road, including the former Courtyard Marriott site, the firm says it will be more than 18 months before the new resort planned for the site opens. As a result, Blossom Estates Ltd, a new company formed by Dart which now owns the former Marriott, will be leasing the site’s beach bar. The Gecko Bar, which is sandwiched between Calico Jacks and Tiki Beach, will be available to a local operator to run on a one year lease. The opportunity to submit proposals ends today but the developer said it is already examining nine different potential ideas for the bar submitted at a recent open house.
Dart says it is committed to redeveloping the hotel and is currently undergoing feasibility studies. The firm has denied signing any official MOU with government in connection with the proposed development, but the premier has said that his government is prepared to move the road for the developer so the new hotel will be a beach front resort.
In the meantime, the developer says the first step is to clean up the site and a liquidation sale of the remaining furniture, fixtures and equipment will be held this weekend. But with 18 months before the new hotel will be a reality, Jackie Doak, Chief Operating Officer for Dart Realty, said the beach bar offers a great opportunity for a short term business to utilize the beautiful location on Seven Mile Beach and address the dilapidated site.
“Anyone walking the stretch of Seven Mile Beach between Calico Jacks and Tiki Beach will have noticed the dilapidated state of the Gecko Bar … The property closed after Hurricane Paloma hit in 2008 and since then it has become an increasing eyesore and public safety hazard,” she said. “We anticipate being able to commit to a year term at a minimum for the interim use as eventually the beach bar will once again become one of the amenities of the future hotel operations.”
“Dart is committed to being a strategic partner to the Cayman Islands and assisting the government with the short term economic turnaround as well as playing a significant role in the long term economic sustainability of the country,” said Doak. “The addition of a new beachfrontbar and restaurant and ultimately a new hotel will enhance the overall tourism experience for visitors to the Cayman Islands, and create jobs and other opportunities for Caymanians and other residents.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the Gecko Bar Request for Proposals or the Liquidation Sale can contact Naomi Mitten at 640-3644 or Naomi.Mitten@drcl.ky. The liquidation sale starts at 8am Saturday and continues Sunday.
Law not enforced against hustling taxi drivers
(CNS): Local taxi drivers who are following the rules and regulations at the cruise terminals say they are losing out to drivers who are breaking the law and no one is enforcing the laws to stop them from bullying their way to more business. Joseph Woods, the Manager of Cruise Operations and Security for the Port Authority, told Cayman 27 that since he joined the authority some eight years ago, drivers have never complied with the law to only pick up passengers from the designated taxi queue by the North Terminal. Woods said the Port Authority doesn’t control the areas outside the port side and it is the RCIPS and the Public Transport Unit that should be enforcing the law.
The law says that from 6am to 6pm taxis working between Fort Street and Boilers Road, the cruise ship area, are only supposed to pick up customers in the queue by North Terminal and not from anywhere else in the zone. However, the drivers that are following the rules say they lose out on business to taxis flagrantly breaking the rules and randomly picking up and hustling for passengers in the area without taking their turn in the queues. They claim drivers breaking the law are being rewarded with bigger takings than those toeing the line.
Taxi drivers said they have formed several associations over the years to address the issue but they have failed to curb the illegal soliciting.
Adrian Barnett of Royal Cayman Islands Police Service Traffic Management told the TV news station that officers do patrol the area and work alongside the Public Transport Unit to penalise people who break the law but try to handle the issue outside the courts.
However, the local drivers said they don’t see police or public transport officials enforcing the regulations and laws and now more drivers are hustling on the streets than using the taxi stand.
Access denied to LA register
(CNS): A member of the public has filed a complaint with the governor after he was refused access to the register which records the business interests of the members of the Legislative Assembly. Despite making an appointment on the telephone with the LA office to see the Register of Interests, which is a public document, the voter was denied his right when he arrived at the Assembly building, having travelled from East End last Friday. The man was told by LA staff on arrival that he would not be able to look at the register as it was “being updated”. Shocked by the refusal, McCarron McLaughlin was not prepared to take the dismissal lying down and contacted both the Governor’s Office and the information commissioner to formally complain.
According to the law, any member of the public who makes a request to see the Register of Interests should be allowed to do so. An appointment usually has to be made because viewing of the register has to be supervised in order to prevent people from taking sheets from it or copying the contents with a camera, but once an appointment is confirmed the requester is at liberty to scrutinise the contents.
Each member of the LA files a list of the businesses they own and the various directorships and shareholdings they have in commercial entities, as well as the property they own over and above their normal residence. The register is designed to prevent conflicts of interests and allows the public to judge if their representatives may face conflicts of interests over their business and public service.
McCarron McLaughlin told CNS he was very surprised that, after making a firm appointment, he was refused access to the register, despite claims that it was being updated. “I could not understand why I couldn’t see the register ‘as is’,” McLaughlin said, adding that while he was no legal scholar he believed it was against the law to deny a person their right to see the register. “I feel if my appointment was accepted they have no reason to stop me from seeing the register.”
Section 3(3) of the Register of Interest Law 1996 states, “The register shall be open for public inspection at the office of the [LA] at all times during normal business hours.” Even if the staff were updating the register it should not have interfered with McLaughlin’s right to see it.
The register itself is merely a ring-binder with sheets containing the details that each of the members have disclosed prior to each election and, as is required during their period of office, when their business circumstances, property ownership, share-holdings or directorships change.
The updating of the register should not involve any removal of previous information about a member. As a result, there appears to be no reason why any member of the public who has a confirmed appointment to see the register should be refused access.
The Commission for Standards in Public Life revealed the difficulties it had also encountered in its efforts to see the register in particular entries. In its first report the CSPL pointed out that it was unable to verify if there were any perceived conflicts of interest or anomalies in relation to any of the declarations made by members in the past or present, as mandated by the register of interests law (ROIL), or if the register was compliant with the law.
The news of the denial comes in the wake of revelations by the independent member for North Side that the legislative committee which is supposed to oversee the register, chaired by Ellio Solomon, has never met since its formation almost two years ago. Despite being obliged under the law to have produced at the very least one report, the committee members have never come together to discuss a report, never mind write one, making the committee in breach of the ROIL.
This latest refusal by the LA to allow McLaughlin to see the register fuels speculation, headded, that government is, despite claims, frustrating the mechanisms which allow for openness and transparency in government. McLaughlin submitted his complaint on Friday but has not yet heard from the Governor’s Office; however, the ICO has contacted him and has already begun investigating the refusal.
CNS Contacted the LA to ask why McLaughlin was refused but no one from the Assembly has responded to our enquiries.
PSPB makes no disclosure
(CNS): With only ten days to go before the disclosure deadline on a freedom of Information request made by CNS, the Public Service Pension Board has still not supplied the documents relating to which current and former MLAs are claiming their pensions. The Information Commissioner’s Office has also confirmed that the board has made no indication that it intends to apply for a judicial review of the information commissioner’s decision. The 45 day deadline which is given to a public authority (PA) after the commissioner rules that an FOI request must be met is not designed to allow a PA to drag its feet over releasing the information but to give the government entity an opportunity to request the courts intervene. The PSPB now has until Friday 8 April to reveal the information or ask for the JR.
If the board does not hand over the documents before that date or ask the courts to review Jennifer Dilbert’s decision the ICO will themselves then apply to the courts to force the handover by the PA. If this happens it will be the first case of a government entity being forced by the courts to comply with an IC ruling under the freedom of information law.
So far only one government entity that was forced to release documents regarding an FOI request that had been refused has filed for a judicial review of the Information Commissioner’s decision. The Department of Agriculture attempted to deny access to a document regarding the husbandry of dolphins kept in captivity. However, before the case reached the courts the department reconsider its decision and released the documents to the applicant.
The DoA disclosed its intention to apply for a judicial review in the immediate aftermath of the ICO’s decision, but the office confirmed today that there has been no indication from the PSPB that it intends to go that route, though it is still within the authority’s rights to make that challengewithin the next nine days.
The request, which was originally made by CNS in June 2010, asked for a list of current and former MLAs who were receiving a pension as a result of their time in the Legislative Assembly and the length of time they had served, but the PSPB refused the request stating that it was personal information and exempt under the law. When it was revealed that an internal review could not be conducted because of the involvement of a chief officer, CNS requested a hearing. On the 22nd of February, Dilbert revealed her decision and ruled that the board should release the information.
However, the board has so far continued to sit on the information. Two serving members of the Legislative Assembly have already revealed that they are claiming their pensions but there are other members who are entitled under the law that are currently sitting as MLAs. One is Ezzard Miller, who said he was not taking his when he raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly last year and referred to the practice of MLAs drawing pensions while serving as "double dipping", which he said may not be illegal but was morally wrong.
While he said he did not know which members who were over 55 had made the decision to take their pension, he said he was aware some members were. “Although I may be entitled, I have no intentions of claiming my pension until I leave this House for good,” Miller told CNS. “I believe it is immoral and unethical and I will be bringing a private member’s motion to the House to change the law to prevent it happening in future.”
MLAs were first given access to their pensions while remaining in office in 2004, when a change to the law provided for MLAs to claim their pensions once they had served a single term and passed the age of 55, even if they continued to serve in the Legislative Assembly. In the past legislators had died while still in office and were never able to claim the pensions which they had earned through their years of service.
Unlike the civil service, there is no official retirement age for politicians, who can stand for election at any age, and since MLAs cannot be certain they will returned to the Assembly from parliament to parliament, the law was changed to give them access to their pensions before they retired in case they never did.
While Kurt Tibbetts and Anthony Eden have admitted drawing their entitlements, it is not yet known if the other two eligible MLAs, West Bay government backbencher Captain Eugene Ebanks and Premier McKeeva Bush, have opted to take their pensions as well. However, once the PSBP release the information as requested under the FOI and as decided by the commissioner, it will be.
Rotarians sponsor character building read
(CNS): The Rotary Sunrise Club of Grand Cayman has teamed up with local writer and artist, Nasaria Suckoo-Chollette, to create a book designed to help youngsters build character and to encourage literacy. All the Joy in the World which is a character development book, the service club said, is designed for children up to 12 years of age and depicts a young girl’s efforts to deal with tragedy by following the Rotarian 4-Way Test. This helps the young heroine work through the true meaning of joy by assessing each step of the test: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? The book was funded and published by the Rotary Sunrise Club of Grand Cayman to promote literacy as well as Rotarian values to children.
To add a Caribbean flair, Suckoo-Chollette was chosen to write and illustrate the story and she has added "how-to" activities, such as building a simple kite and making a yo-yo pattern quilt.
Maree Martin, Rotary Sunrise Director of Literacy, said the creation of the book forms part of the club’s ongoing commitment to promoting childhood literacy in Cayman.
Rotary Sunrise President Michael Levitt explained that the service club vision for the book was to plant the seeds of service to others, which if nurtured would create a future that we would all be proud of.
On Saturday, 9 April, Suckoo-Chollette will read from the book and sign autographs at Books & Books in Camana Bay at 10:30am. Parents are encouraged to bring their youngsters to meet and hear the author.
Report says UK is subverting global financial reform
(CNS): A new report published today argues that the UK is subverting progress towards a safer financial system, and has become a major barrier to international efforts for reform. Subverting Safer Finance by the new economics foundation reveals that compared with other major financial centres, including even the US, the UK is part of the problem in key areas of financial reform, rather than leading the search for solutions. The think-tank’s report says that in areas including potentially damaging speculation in food, energy and minerals, the Alternative Investment Market, ‘naked short-selling’ and the operations of British tax havens, the UK is holding back urgently needed regulation.
NEF head of finance Tony Greenham said the UK can’t blame other nations for standing in the way of reform when the reverse is more likely to be the case. “…the UK itself is a ‘haven’ that threatens the stability of the global economy,” he said as he called for the UK to live up to its image as a pre-eminent global financial centre and demonstrate strong international leadership on better regulation instead of pandering to vested financial interests.
The report reveals that the UK is actively choosing not to tackle tax havens. “While the UK claims it cannot influence tax havens, many are UK Crown Dependencies or Overseas Territories,” the report says where a past history of intervention suggests otherwise along with reserve powers enshrined in the constitutions of the overseas territories that can affect and block legislation.
“If the government wants a safe and stable financial system it should stop the UK dragging down international efforts toward financial reform. If it doesn’t we are in danger of being seen by our neighbours as a financial rogue state, subverting safer finance,” said Andrew Simms, nef fellow and a co-author of the report.
In order for the UK to demonstrate that it wants to deliver a safer financial system, nef calls for a range of minimum necessary actions to be implemented immediately which include eliminating tax havens that are under UK control, and work with the US, the EU and other international authorities to co-ordinate regulation of global tax evasion and avoidance.
Mac inducts six dive pioneers for 2011 hall of fame
(CNS): Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush and the Board of Directors of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame have announced six dive industry pioneers as the inductees for the 2011 Hall of Fame. Andre Laban (France), Bev Morgan (USA), Alan Power (Vanuatu), Clement Lee (Borneo) and Howard and Michele Hall (USA) will join the growing line-up of feted industry members who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame since it started in 2000. The board has also cited three of the dive industry’s early pioneers for induction. They are John Scott Haldane (Scotland), who developed staged decompression tables; Louis de Corlieu (France), who iscredited with inventing the swim fin; and Hugh Bradner (USA), who developed the wet suit.
Dive industry fans from all over the world are invited to join the inductees at a gala Dinner and Induction Ceremony, which will take place in Grand Cayman on 8 November.
"This latest slate of inductees are men and women who are pioneers, innovators, inventors and household names in the international scuba diving industry, as much as their counterparts in previous years have been,” Bush said. "The ISDHF Board is pleased to recognise them as the best in their field and to place their names alongside the other outstanding individuals who have been named to the Hall of Fame over the past 10 years."
Founded in 2000 by the Cayman Islands Ministry of Tourism, the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame recognises international and local Cayman pioneers who have made outstanding contributions to the recreational scuba diving industry, in a yearly ceremony held in the Grand Cayman.
André Laban, a world-renowned French diver, photographer, author and painter was a pioneering member of Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s Calypso team, serving as chief engineer and diver. He developed early underwater cameras that were used in shooting ‘The Silent World’, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 1956. He shot several films in the Cousteau Odyssey series and co-directed three. His distinctive bald head can be seen in several Cousteau films.
From 1956-1966, he was Director of the French Office Underwater Search. From 1966, he began to paint his underwater images, which are internationally acclaimed and collected worldwide. In 1996 he won the Palme d’Or at the World Festival Underwater Images in Antibes for his film, ‘Iris and Oniris’. A collection of the photographs he produced from 1973 to 1983 has been published as ‘One Bald Man,’ released in 2007.
Bev Morgan’s ideas and inventions have had a huge impact on commercial and sport diving for nearly half a century. He began free diving and surfing in 1949, a year after leaving high school and became a Los Angeles County lifeguard in1952. That year, he purchased an early Aqua Lung scuba unit and founded the Los Angeles County Instructors programme, which was the first scuba instructor’s programme available to the public. He wrote the first instruction manual, which was based on the Scripps Institute programme and also authored ‘Underwater Safety’, a standard diving book of the 1950s.
Bev also began manufacturing wetsuits and developed what would become the Body Glove. As an early diving writer and photographer, his work appeared in Skin Diver magazine. He also dove commercially for abalone and in the oilfields. In 1966, in association with Bob Kirby, a former Navy diver, he began The Kirby Morgan Corporation, a company that would change the face of commercial diving forever with its development of lightweight, comfortable, professional diving gear. It also produced the diving equipment for the movie, ‘Sphere’.
Today, the company is the world standard for surface supplied diving helmets and its products are employed in every ocean in the world. Kirby Morgan is a name that has become synonymous with outstanding diving equipment and remains the company through which Bev Morgan continues to serve the diving industry.
Alan Power’s inclusion in the 2011 International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame recognises his over 40 years spent diving the wreck of the President Coolidge and making it into one of the best known and safest dive sites around theoceans of Vanuatu. Over 40 years ago, he visited Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu on a salvage expedition and remained to become ‘caretaker’ of the President Coolidge, a 200 m long luxury passenger liner that sank in 1942 after hitting a mine as it was about to enter the Segond Canal.
The President Coolidge has been declared a Marine Reserve and is renowned throughout the world as one of the most accessible wrecks thatdivers can explore. Alan Power has done over 15,000 dives on the wreck and has taken over 20,000 divers to visit the Lady Godiva panel alone, a decorative part of the wreck’s salon décor.
Clement Lee is recognised as a leader in the development of diving in Southeast Asia. With extensive diving experience in Sabah (Malaysia) waters, Clement Lee became a dive master in 1985 and later that same year, a PADI Instructor. In August 1991 he became the first PADI Course Director in Malaysia.
As Managing Director and a founding partner of Borneo Divers and Sea Sports, in 1989 he was among the first to build a dive resort on the famous Sipadan Island.
He has received numerous awards for his achievements and contributions to the diving industry. These include the PIRA Excellence in Dive Resort Operations Award, for Significant Leadership and Innovation in the Dive Resort Community (1994); PADI Outstanding Achievement Award, for 12 Years of Excellence in Dive Retailing & Dive Travel (1996), the DEMA Reaching Out Award (2008) and a Malaysia Tourism Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Tourism Industry (2000).
Underwater filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall are hailed for their marine cinematography contribution to over 100 films. Howard has received six cinematography Emmy awards for films produced for television and Michele has received one Emmy. They have authored several books about diving, underwater photography, and marine wildlife. Howard has authored and illustrated three children’s books — ‘The Kelp Forest’, ‘Sharks’ and ‘A Charm of Dolphins’. Michele has authored two – ‘The Shark Project’ and ‘All About Sharks’. She has also published several books of photographs of marine life and directed numerous films for PBS and National Geographic.
The couple has also created two critically acclaimed IMAX Productions – ‘Into the Deep’ (3D) and ‘Islands of the Sharks’. They also appear in a third one, ‘Coral Reef Adventure’, which was directed by Howard, with Michele as the location manager. Released in 2003, the film continues to be played in IMAX theatres around the world.
For more information on the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame visit http://www.scubahalloffame.com
Sports boss makes changes to school meet
(CNS): Some 300 athletes from ten local high schools will be facing off on the track and in the field this year at the Interscholastic Track and Field Meet. The meet takes place in two weeks time and Cayman’s future athletic stars are currently preparing to be the fastest and strongest in their specific events and the anticipated fierce competition. Director of Sports Collin Anglin has revealed that there are a few changes this year, including the fact that the event takes place after the schools own in-house meets, allowing them to select the athletes currently at the top of their game to represent them in the national contest, which will go across two days for the first time.
“We took onboard some of the feedback received from athletes and coaches and decided to make a few modifications,” said Anglin. “The biggest improvement, I believe, is the fact that this year the meet will be held over two days instead of just one. By allocating sufficient time for all, we hope that this adjustment will result in a less rushed and more focused event,” he explained.
In addition to creating a better event for the athletes, organisers are also aiming to energise officials and supporters.
“This year we have made a concerted effort to recruit student volunteers to help administer the competition. They will work alongside qualified track and field officials, gaining valuable experience. Supporters are also expected to turn out in larger numbers, creating what we hope will be an electrifying atmosphere,” Anglin said.
Sports Minister Mark Scotland said participation in such an event was invaluable for the young athletes.
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“There is no doubt in my mind that it is an important ingredient in a child’s educational experience. As such I encourage all students, whether athletes or supporters, to attend both days of competition. I also want to encourage parents and the wider community to come out and support the athletes,” he said.
Students from John Gray, Clifton Hunter, Triple C, St Ignatius, Cayman Prep, Cayman Brac, Grace Christian Academy, Cayman Academy, Cayman International School and Wesleyan Christian Academy will participate in the meet which is set for Thursday, 7 and Friday, 8 April.
For more information and a full event schedule go to www.intersecondarytrackmeet.ws