Archive for October 13th, 2011
Cops find ammo during ‘intelligence’ led raid
CNS): Police discovered two types of small arms ammunition on Tuesday following what an RCIPS spokesperson described as an “intelligence led operation” in the district of West Bay aimed at reducing gun crime. The search, which reportedly lasted several hours in the Birch Tree Hill area, covered a number of houses and open land and resulted in the discovery of what the police described as a small quantity of ganja as well as the abandoned ammunition. Police also stated that an arrest was made during the operation but confirmed it was not in connection with the recent spate of murders in the district, but for drugs. CNS has asked the RCIPS a number of questions regarding various reports of complaints in relation to the raid. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
The police stated that if anyone believed they had grounds for complaint in respect of the actions of the RCIPS they should contact the Professional Standards Unit and the matter would be fully investigated.
Police are currently prioritising the murder investigations and it is understood that the twenty UK officers who have been shipped from the north of England to help what the British press have dubbed Cayman’s “desperate detectives” have now all arrived on island. According to Jon Murphy, the UK chief constable and ACPO representative that has supervised the secondment of the officers, they will not be telling local cops how to do their jobs but partnering with local officers in an effort to bring the shooters in the most recent spate of murders to justice.
Police charged 18-year-old Chakame Jamelle Scott with the murder of Asher McGaw on Tuesday and he has been remanded in custody and is dues to appear in Grand Court on Friday. McGaw was the fifth victim of a series of fatal gang shootings which took place over an eight day period in September. Police are still looking for the killers of Robert Bush, Andrew Baptist, Preston Rivers and Jason Christian.
Senior officer have not yet stated if they believe any of the victims of the shootings may also have been perpetrators.
Seasoned archaeologist takes museum top job
(CNS): Dr Margaret Leshikar-Denton, who previously worked at the Cayman Islands National Museum for 16 years as an archaeologist, doing research and developing displays, has taken the museum’s top job. The anthropology doctor returned just over a week ago to take up the post in familiar surroundings. Leshikar-Denton also worked on the Cayman Islands’ shipwreck register and was instrumental in developing the maritime trail. “I have great respect and appreciation for the heritage and culture of the Cayman Islands. It is therefore a privilege to be entrusted with the leadership and vision of the National Museum,” she said.
A serving member of the Cayman Islands Visual Arts Society, Orchid Society and National Gallery, she is also life member of the Cayman Islands National Trust. The new museum director holds a doctorate in Anthropology (Nautical Archaeology) and honed her archaeological skills in many countries, including Mexico, Spain, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos and Turkey.
National Museum board chairperson Jeana Ebanks said that during her previous tenure Dr Leshikar-Denton showed a deep personal dedication to, and respect for, Caymanian culture. “She is adept at forging partnerships to attain major programme objectives and enjoys the widespread respect of her peers and colleagues. In addition, she has earned the complete confidence of the Board of Governors to guide the museum competently,” Ebanks said as she welcomed her appointment. “My expectations is that she will provide strong leadership for our National Museum.”
The museum expert first came to the Cayman Islands in 1980 when a team from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (based at Texas A&M University) was invited by the government to survey the islands’ waters for shipwrecks. Six years later, she accepted a full-time position at the museum and moved permanently to the Cayman Islands.
Mark Scotland, the culture minister, said Dr Leshikar-Denton’s knowledge combined with her unique experience would ensure that the National Museum remains one of Cayman’s premiere cultural entities. “We expect that under her leadership we will see many meaningful initiatives that will support the preservation of Caymanian culture,” he added.
Dr Leshikar-Denton is a member of the Register of Professional Archaeologists, has worked as an independent researcher and has served as the senior representative for Central America and the Caribbean on the World Archaeological Congress. She was also the UNESCO representative at the Latin American and Caribbean Technical Commission on Underwater Cultural Heritage Meetings in 1998 and 1999.
In 2001, she served on the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) delegation during development of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. She co-edited, with Pilar Luna of Mexico, Underwater and Maritime Archaeology in Latin America and the Caribbean (2008) and contributed Caribbean Maritime Archaeology to the Oxford Handbook of Underwater Archaeology (2010).
Currently, Dr Leshikar-Denton serves as secretary for ICOMOS’ International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH), as an emeritus member of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology (ACUA), and director and board member for the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA).
Foundation to launch campaign as equality law signed
(CNS): The Estella Scott-Roberts Foundation will launch its annual awareness campaign this weekend in the wake of the long awaited gender equality bill, to be implemented in January, becoming law. The governor signed the law on Monday, which aside from seeking to secure equal opportunity and reward in theworkplace also legislates on sexual harassment. This is which is the focus of the ESRF’s campaign, "I am not the one who should be ashamed", which is intended to raise awareness and give victims the confidence to speak out. The campaign also aims to educate the public as to what exactly constitutes sexual harassment and urge those who are suffering to no-longer feel ashamed. (Photo: the late Estella Scott-Roberts, a tireless advocate for gender equality)
“We are aware that sexual harassment is a prevalent issue in the Cayman Islands,” said Rayle Roberts, Chairperson of the Foundation. “We are hoping to get the public talking about it so that victims learn that their suffering should not go unreported.”
He said that sexual harassment, in any form, should not be accepted in our community as he appealed to anyone who observed sexual harassment to be courageous enough to offer to be a witness and encourage victims to seek help. The campaign also urges the public to support the new legislation and speak to their employers about implementing a policy against sexual harassment in the workplace.
As he signed the law on Monday, Governor Duncan Taylor said it was an important piece of legislation and announced that the governor’s office would be contributing to the public education campaign that the ministry will launch in early November. Throughout the ESRF year-long campaign, it hopes to raise awareness and give victims the confidence to speak out as well as educate the public as to what exactly constitutes sexual harassment and urge those who are suffering not to feel ashamed.
The Foundation also invited Women’s Media Watch to this year’s campaign launch on Sunday 16 October. The organisation seeks to reduce gender-based violence in the media and in society as they work towards a more peaceful and caring society that provides equal opportunities to all.
Pastor Felix Manzanares and Dara Flowers-Burke will serve as the emcees at the launch evening, which takes place at the Harquail Theatre from 5:00-6:30pm, and will include special dramatic performance from Jamaica’s Women’s Media Watch. The programme will include poetry reading by Nasaria Suckoo-Cholette and a performance by the UCCI‟s Choir.
For more information about the ESRF please contact: esrfoundation@gmail.com
Low cost housing in high demand
(CNS): Government officials revealed that 55 applications were received for the first twelve affordable houses which were recently completed in the district of East End. At an opening ceremony at the site of the National Housing Development Trust (NHDT) subdivision where the keys were handed over to some of the new homes it was revealed that nine have already been sold, two are pending sale, and a one-bedroom home is still available but there are many more families wanting one of the houses. At a public meeting on Wednesday evening the premier said his government had built 67 of these homes as he questioned how many the former administration had constructed.
A private government company, the NHDT’s mandate is to assist low-income families in home ownership. There are several other housing projects underway, including the development of 29 homes in West Bay, nine of which are already pending sale and 26 homes are being rebuilt in Windsor Park, George Town. The next development will be in Bodden Town officials said. The Sister Islands branch of the HDT has also built a number of properties on Cayman Brac.
The homes have three, two or one bedroom and are available to first-time Caymanian homeowners, who earn no more than $35,000 annually for single applicants or $50,000 for couples.
On Monday despite the various dignitaries visiting his new home to cut the ribbon on phase one of the development, six-year-old Raseah Bodden was more impressed with having “windows that I can look out of”. He is the first boy to move into one of twelve East End homes which are situated on the ridge behind the district’s primary school.
Raseah ’s dad Rodrick Bodden who has bought one of the two-bedroom homes said it’s been a long to get the house. “But now we can be together most of the time,” he said. He explained that over the years his son was raised in different homes, “by everybody, anyhow” – and especially by Raseah’s great-grandma, who he calls “Mama” as his mother lives in another country.
“This is a dream place for us,” added Bodden, “It’s quiet and my mom recently moved into the area. I know most of my neighbours and now Mama can come up and spend weekends with us here. I look at life much more positively now.”
For more information, contact the NHDT at 945 7649, or email nhdt@gov.ky
Dr Luarca is ‘hungry’ to address violent crime
(CNS): Having used to tool in the past to draw attention to injustices, Dr Luis Luarca has started another hunger strike, this time calling for an end to violent crime. The former medical doctor, who escaped his native Cuba in the 1990s and settled in Cayman, has drawn attention to human rights abuses and issues regarding discrimination both here in the Cayman Islands as well as Cuba several times before by going without food. Once again, Luarca is protesting lawfully, having gained permission from the police, on the site of the former glass house and says he will not eat until the issue of crime, not just on the streets but in the higher echelons of society as well, is addressed. (Photos by Dennie Warren Jr)
In his first hunger strike in 2006, which lasted for over two weeks, Luarca managed to raise the profile of human rights in the Cayman Islands and ended his protest after the committee that was in existence at the time agreed to examine the issues that he had raised.
One of the results of the strike was that the HSA agreed to remove the question about religious affiliations from their job application forms.
Although some of his demands were a little difficult to meet, such as organising a meeting with the Pope, the one time Cuban refugee made people realise the difficulties faced by those who are forced to flee from their own countries and attempt to make a life away from their family, friends and in Luarca’s case his profession. This time Luarca is focusing on issues that he says affect everyone and says violent crime does not just start on the streets. He said it is part of a wider community problem that he believes starts at the top.
Lessons learned help kids ‘prepare for disaster’
(CNS): The deputy governor has called on young people to up to the challenge and get involved in the disaster risk reduction effort which will help them in the future. Lessons learned in Hurricane Ivan revealed just how much children can be traumatized by such events that entirely disrupt their regular schedules. During his International Day for Disaster Reduction message Donovan Ebanks said it was essential the unique perspectives of children and young people are included in disaster risk reduction. The UN day is celebrated each year on 13 October and this year, the theme is: “Making Youth Partners for Disaster Risk Reduction.”
“Studies show that children often find it difficult to cope with unexpected and painful interruptions to their regular schedules. On average each child in the Cayman Islands lost over forty days of school following the passage of Hurricane Ivan.,” Ebanks said.
“New schools and the remodeling of existingestablishments have made school buildings more resilient to the impacts of disasters. Since the passage of hurricane Ivan there has been a strong commitment from the successive governments to take appropriate steps to protect children and to adopt a child centred approach to disaster risk reduction. It is clear that schools must be safe and that education must be interrupted as little as possible.”
See the full message below
CoP to lose sole say on guns
(CNS): The country’s legislators had another rare moment of harmony on Wednesday when they all voted to support a private member’s motion to establish a firearms authority to decide who gets a gun licence. Currently, it is the commissioner of police alone who makes the decision to grant or deny a firearms license to an applicant on Grand Cayman but legislatures have voted to amend legislation which will see the country’s top cop share the decision with at least three local justices of the peace and the president of the gun club. The motion brought by the opposition leader is as a result of what the country’s politicians say is the commissioner’s increasing reluctance to allow ordinary law abiding citizens to own firearms.
The original motion, which was filed by PPM leader Alden McLaughlin and backed by his colleague, East End MLA Arden McLean, received the support of the government with an amendment made by West Bay backbencher Cline Glidden to include the gun club president as someone who could bring expertise to the authority, which the opposition also welcomed, subjectto discussions with the club.
McLaughlin said that he and all members of the House had received representations from their constituents that it was becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to get a firearms licence unless they were a farmer or a member of the gun club. “Over the past twenty years it appears to have grown increasingly restrictive,” the opposition leader said, about who could and could not own a gun. “Although there are no provisions in the law for it, the regulations now seem to support a policy that licences are only granted to farmers and members of the gun club.”
The current and previous police commissioners have made no secret of their opposition to ordinary people having firearms, McLaughlin said, as the senior police believe that more licenced guns on island also seems to mean that more guns can fall into the hands of criminals. He said that as far as he was aware very few private guns had ever been lost or stolen and knew of no circumstance where a stolen or lost licenced weapon was used to kill anyone.
McLaughlin pointed out that criminals prefer unlicenced weapons, given that licensed ones tend to be easier to trace. He also pointed out that as the police appear to have lost at least two of their own guns from the police armoury, they were hardly in a position to prevent law abide local citizens from acquiring a licence on the grounds that they might lose them or not keep them secure enough.
“I do not believe the commissioner of police by himself is the best placed individual to make the decisions,” he said as he called for the creation of the authority.
The motion gained the support of the government, which added the gun club president because Gidden said he would be able to offer advice on the adequate security and storage arrangements for applicants and his expertise would make for a stronger authority. McLaughlin urged the government to draft the bill as soon as possible, despite the possible stumbling blocks it may encounter over the proposal.
The commissioner has made it clear that he does not approve of private firearm ownership as he believes that the more weapons there are the more weapons can fall into the wrong hands. Although there has never been any indication that a legally held gun has been lost and stolen and ended up being used in a fatal shooting, one was used in a robbery last year. The weapon used during the robbery of Mostyns Esso in Bodden Town, which was used to fire at police officers during the getaway, was a stolen gun, officials have said.
In February last year, Ezzard Miller moved an almost identical motion, which asked government to establish a committee that included two justices of the peace and the police commissioner to approve or deny licenses. At the time Miller had proposed the motion on the grounds that a number of his North Side constituents had made representations to him about the difficulties they were having, even as farmers, getting licenses.
Miller also told of a particular incident which had led him to suggest an amendment that the commissioner was not the best person to be making the decisions alone.
He revealed how a former commissioner of police had been questioned about the delays and refusals of such licences at a public meeting in his constituency and defended his position, suggesting that there was no need to have a licence for a 12 gauge shotgun because farmers could kill their cows with an iron bolt or a knife, and they could poison the rabbits. “I can promise you that any respect that the commissioner of police had hoped to get from that community was entirely destroyed by that statement when one old gentleman whispered to me, 'But how can he be chief of police in Cayman, and he doesn’t know that I can’t eat rabbit after I poison it?'" Miller told his legislative colleagues.
At the time his motion was not accepted by government and the deputy governor Donovan Ebanks, who spoke on government’s behalf, suggested that licences were not being refused that often and if they were, there was an appeals process. He also said that while there were emerging and growing views on the purposes for which licences should be issued, which was not something that is prescribed in the law, government was not inclined to broaden the remit.
CNS has contacted the RCIPS for comment regarding the decision to move licensing from the sole discretion of the commissioner and is awaiting a response.
Gun licences on the Sister Islands are issued by the district commissioner and not by the police commissioner.
Miss Lassie’s house becomes world monument
(CNS): Cayman’s site of historical interest, Miss Lassie’s house on South Sound, has been officially recognised by the New York-based World Monument Fund and placed on its prestigious Watch List 2012, but Cayman National Cultural Foundation Artistic Director Henry Muttoo says there should be more recognition for the project at a local level as well. Mark Scotland, the minister for culture, announced Wednesday, that the government would be pledging $500,000 to assist in the site’s restoration, to be paid over a period of four years. Miss Lassie, otherwise known as Gladwyn K Bush died in 2003 and was a prolific ‘intuitive’ painter whose visions from God inspired her to paint not only on canvas but on the walls, doors and floors of her South Sound home, now known as Mind’s Eye.
To preserve her legacy, which is believed to be an important part of Cayman’s heritage, the CNCF and in particular Muttoo has fought to have the property and its surroundings preserved.
Muttoo applied to the WMF, which calls international attention to threatened cultural-heritage sites around the world, for recognition of Miss Lassie’s house, and said the application process was tough with lots of competition. The WMF has 67 sites in 41 countries.
At a press conference announcing the recognition Muttoo said that it was a pity that the islands had to wait for recognition of the importance of the site by an overseas body before local recognition was properly given. “It’s a shame an organisation in New York City can make the house into something we couldn’t do ourselves,” he said.
Calling on government to give greater powers to entities such as the National Trust to allow for better recognition of important cultural and historical sites, Muttoo said the law needed to be changed to give the Trust and others the chance to declare the country’s own national monuments.
Although the WMF’s recognition will not bring cash directly to the project, Muttoo said that the project will benefit from the leverage that such recognition can bring. As a start, he said the CNCF would be requesting funding from the WMF to bring expertise to the site in the field of wattle and daub, in order to preserve the house’s fragile state.
Muttoo added that the $500,000 pledged by the government should assist the CNCF with its three year restoration and preservation scheme, which includes plans to open up the site to the public, a shop and full time staff. “But it depends on how quickly the funds are received,” he noted, saying some aspects of the project were in urgent need of a cash injection. “We’d like to fast track these funds.”
The cultural director also called on other artistic and cultural organisations to work with the CNCF on this project and seize the opportunity to all work together with the same aim for the betterment of the island. “I don’t believe in talk; I believe in action,” he stated.