Archive for November, 2011
Cops crack down with operation Christmas cracker
(CNS): The seasonal police road safety initiative codenamed Operation Christmas Cracker begins on Monday, 28 November and has a wider remit this year. Senior RCIPS officers said that last year the disregard by road users for safety during the Christmas holiday period fuelled some of the new safety measures that have now been included in the Traffic Law passed by in the Legislative Assembly last week and expected to come into force by January. The police are also encouraging everyone who drives and has a phone to but a hands free set at the top of the Christmas wish list in preparation for the law’s enforcement. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
“Last year we were so disappointed by the blatant disregard that people showed for safety on our roads that we called for a multi-agency national road safety strategy to be developed,” said Superintendent Adrian Seales.
“Since then the working group has worked closely with Government and we’re pleased to say that many of the recommendations we made to make Cayman’s roads safer have been passed in the new Traffic Law. We’re particularly delighted that the cell phone driving epidemic is being addresses. That’s why we are calling for people to be responsible and use Christmas as an opportunity to give a gift that could save a life this year.”
Outlining the plans for the holiday safety campaign, Seales said that all aspects of safety and security will be addressed.
“People are well used to us launching our festive road safety initiative in November,” he said. “But this year we’re taking a slightly different approach. Road safety will still be pivotal to the campaign, but we will also be looking at personal safety, home and business security and safety at sea.
“It’s a much more rounded campaign where, through our programme of education and enforcement , we hope to reduce the opportunities for criminality and make people much more aware of the role they can play in making the Cayman Islands’ festive season a safe and crime free one for everyone.”
Chief Inspector Angelique Howell, the operational commander of the initiative said that throughout the five week period safety and security will be actively targeted every day and night. “Each week of the campaign will have a dedicated theme where we will raise awareness of the simple steps people can take to stay safe,” Howell said.
“The first week of the campaign sees road safety at the forefront and we will be out in force getting the safe driving and don’t drink and drive messages out there. High visibility patrols and road checks will be commonplace. These checks not only help us to detect offences, they also give us another opportunity to search for illegal drugs, guns and other weapons.”
Operation Christmas Cracker will run from Monday, 28 November until Wednesday
No charges as UK cops leave
(CNS): The police commissioner has confirmed that twelve of the UK officers who came to assist the RCIPS in the wake of five murders in just over a week in September have already left Cayman. As the officers go home following the end of their six week term agreed with the forces in the north west of England there have been no further charges in the gang related shootings. David Baines said that they had, however, helped to speed up lines of enquiry, eliminated some and focused attention on others. Since the spate of gang violence the police have arrested three men. One was charged with the murder of Asher McGaw in East End but two others arrested for the killing of Andrew Baptist have been released on police bail. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
Although most of the officers had left Cayman by Wednesday, Baines said that eight officers will remain in Cayman until 10 December to allow them to complete the specific actions that they have been involved in.
"The further period of their deployment has arisen due to the continuing lines of enquiry that have been revealed and progressed jointly with the RCIPS detectives,” the commissioner said. “Their efforts have complimented and supported their RCIPS colleagues, with whom an obvious camaraderie and professional rapport has been established, with each benefiting from their collective effort, sharing of experiences and training.”
The deployment was always intended to be only a temporary situation to assist local officers in the early stages of the investigation with the workload and not to take over the enquiries.
"The injection of experienced detectives to an overstretched investigation team, faced with five murders simultaneously, has enabled all lines of enquiry to be progressed expeditiously, some to be eliminated quickly and others to be the focus of our attentions,” Baines said.
The commissioner thanked the forces and officers involved for the assistance provided to local RCIPS officers which he said had “worked and continue to work unstintingly to bring those responsible for the violence to justice,” he added.
Since the UK officers arrived in October the RCIPS have also arrested one man for the murder of Kerran Baker, a 25-year-old Jamaican dental practice nurse who went missing in July. The man was arrested last Thursday but no charges have yet been brought in what is now believed tobe the first murder of 2011.
The gang related violence began in West Bay on the night of 13 September when Robert Bush (28) was shot in the head by at least two gun men while sitting in a blue Honda civic at the junction of Capts Joe and Osbert Road in the Birch Tree Hill. Less than 48 hours later Andrew Baptist (24) was shot multiple times by two masked gunmen while he was sitting in a yard in Sand Hole Road. Then Preston Rivers was also gunned down by masked men in Anderson Road in the district on Saturday 17 September.
The next two victims were shot while sitting in a van in the Crewe Road area teenager Jason Christian who was shot in the head and body was killed at the scene while his friend Keith Montague survived multiple gunshot wounds and was able to stagger to a nearby police patrol car for assistance.
Asher McGaw (21) who was gunned down in East End as he walked along John McLean Drive was dead when an police patrol car found him in the early hours of Thursday 21 September the last of the victims in the spate of gun violence. Police charged 18-year-old Chakame Jamelle Scott who was arrested before the arrival of the UK officers with McGaw’s murder in October. Two suspects were arrested by police in targeted operations in West Bay and Newlands on 2 November but both men have since been released on police bail.
Diver dies near Kittiwake site in West Bay
(CNS): Police have confirmed that a 54 year old diver was pronounced dead yesterday afternoon at the Cayman Islands hospital. Emergency services received a report at around 3:25 pm on Wednesday afternoon that John O’Sullivan, of Laporte, Texas, who had been pulled from the water was unconscious and had been taken aboard the vessel Cayman Sky, which was in the vicinity of the Kittiwake Dive Site. The Texan diver who was visiting the Cayman Islands was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Detectives from West Bay CID have started an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death.
Dart in talks over golf course with Ryan
(CNS Business): Dart Enterprises, the Cayman Islands’ largest developer, has not confirmed signing any deals with the Ritz Carlton’s developer over the future of the North Sound golf course but the firm has admitted to being in talks with Michael Ryan about investing in the facility. Mark VanDevelde, CEO of Dart Enterprises, said that the developer recognized that golf facilities were “very important, if not a necessity, to a tourism destination” and said they wanted to provide visitors and future home owners with a course. But the CEO pointed out the economic issues for a small jurisdiction where it would be difficult to make a golf course profitable. Read more on CNS Business
Trouble over trash
The Coalition to Keep BT Dump Free is again asking the government to unconditionally cancel the agreement with Dart to move the George Town garbage dump to Bodden Town. For Dart, moving the dump means that they can further extend Camana Bay and develop their “Future Residential Area”, which faces the present dump. But a new dump would threaten the integrity of historic Bodden Town, challenge an already inadequate infrastructure, and threaten the central wetlands.
The Dart public relations machine is trying to mislead us into believing that the dump must be moved. This is not true! What is true, as repeatedly made clear by Dart, is that once they hand the new site over to the government, they’ll have absolutely nothing to do with its management or the operation of any recycling facility, leaving this to the same governments which have grossly mismanaged the present dump. We urgently call on the Government to do what’s best for the people of Bodden Town, and not what’s best for the profits of a private company.
Selecting Bodden Town as the site of a new garbage dump ignores all common sense precautions and considerations:
Dumps should be located in an industrial area, like the present site — not in a residential or farm area. The agreement would require the rezoning of Midland Acres;
A dump should be located as close as possible to the source of the waste (George Town, West Bay and Seven Mile Beach), and the present site is ideally located;
A dump should be as close as possible to major transportation links (air, ship, highway), as is the present dump in George Town;
The site should have immediate access to a major roadway, and the George Town dump borders on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway;
A dump should never be near nature and animal preserves, but Meagre Bay Pond, one of the island’s key bird sanctuaries, is less than 1500 feet from Midland Acres;
Areas of cultural and historic value should be avoided. Bodden Town is the original capital of the Cayman Islands, and home to Pedro Castle, the Mission House, Gun Square, Slaves Wall, the Guardhouse, and several historic homes;
Wide open areas vulnerable to natural disasters (like hurricanes) are to be avoided. Imagine how far afield the garbage from Midland Acres would have been after Hurricane Ivan;
For both supply and possible resale of recycled power, a dump should be as close as possible to the energysource, and the present site is about 1500’ from CUC;
A dump should be as close as possible to the public sewage network, and the sewage plant is next door to the George Town dump;
More importantly, a dump should be located where property owners and residents have prior knowledge of the proximity of a waste disposal facility;
At the very least, the population of Bodden Town should be asked for their prior consent – and no such consultation seems forthcoming;
But, the cardinal rule is never relocate a dump, don’t contaminate a new site, exhaust all conceivable avenues allowing the dump to remain where it is; any new and improved waste management technology touted for a new site should be implemented (and tested, risk-free) at the existing site.
Relocating the dump to Bodden Town makes no sense at all. In fact, among the countless solutions put forward since the dump in George Town was established in 1983, moving the dump anywhere was never proposed by anyone – not until Dart wanted the George Town dump removed from sight and smell of Camana Bay.
No one ever claimed that the present dump had to be moved until the idea was floated last year by a group called WISE, claiming to be a “non-profit advocacy group”. According to the Caymanian Compass of October 4th 2010, the group admits that its proposal was based on “research” it commissioned from Apec Consulting Engineers Ltd., and Apec’s major client is Dart and Camana Bay. One of the key WISE spokespersons is Pilar Bush, head of AtWater Consulting and a paid spokeswoman for Dart and Camana Bay.
This group may be “non-profit”, but we suspect that it’s far from objective – that the “need” to move the dump is pure fiction invented by the Dart PR machine. And, cynically calling the proposed Bodden Town garbage dump an “Eco Park” is another PR trick, like calling a cemetery an amusement park.
In October 2010, the Government invited tenders to redevelop the GT landfill and create a waste-to-energy facility. Proposals were specifically limited to dealing with the landfill on the current site. It is understood that the only proposal to move the dump to Bodden Town, submitted by Decco, Dart’s construction company, ended up in 6th or 7th place, and did not even make the Central Tenders Committee’s “short list”.
It did not meet the parametres of the Request for Proposals, and there were “concerns about the potential environmental impact of locating a new dump in the central wetlands area”.
The tenders procedure ended with the government announcing in December that the winning bid was submitted by Wheelabrator Technologies to build and operate a hi-tech waste-to-energy facility on the present site, which would sell the energy created to CUC.
What changed all this?
Along came the spinmasters from Dart with the need to move the dump, while its executives admitted that the present dump was the “single most commonly stated hurdle for potential purchasers of various residential units at Camana Bay”. There we have the only reason for moving the dump!
We are not against new development, but moving the garbage dump to Midland Acres offers no jobs or economic growth. Quite the opposite. It will be an immediate obstacle to new businesses being established in the district, and to new residential developments. Bodden Town will face a major increase in truck traffic, noise and pollution, along a main road already critically dangerous and overtaxed. While Dart’s real estate will increase in value, Bodden Town will likely suffer a decrease in property vealus.
Bodden Towners will be exposed to possible toxic air emissions, a stench which, with winds from the East, could easily extend well beyond the village of Bodden Town towards the west, the risk of fires and explosions, disease through rodents and other pests, potential contamination of the water table extending into the central wetlands, and a possible disaster in the event of a major hurricane. Who would want to “Go East”?
Don’t Dump on Bodden Town! Keep BT Dump Free! No to rezoning Midland Acres! Not a single vote to any candidate who supports a dump in Bodden Town! The proposed dump must be stopped!
Bush admits need to improve own health
(CNS): When the premier called on the Cayman public to do more to help reduce government’s financial health care burden, he admitted that he had been guilty of neglecting his own health and needed to do more. He said he had allowed his own weight to reach 360 pounds and was forced to seek a gastric by-pass. “I had been a bad boy,” McKeeva Bush said at thenational healthcare conference last week. “At 360 pounds everything was going the wrong way. When bariatric surgery was suggested, I thought my world had ended. I had never been sick in my life, never been in a hospital.” Having undertaken the procedure, the premier said he felt 100 per cent better “I can even run!” he said.
Despite the costly surgery, Bush conceded that, like a lot of people in Cayman, he did not exercise enough and a lack of exercise was endemic in the Cayman population because of people’s busy lifestyles.
Speaking at the opening of the Healthcare 20/20 conference at the Ritz-Carlton, which this year focused on the economics of the issue, he said healthcare was a very expensive business for government and it was everybody’s responsibility to get their heads together to discuss a way for Cayman to build a sustainable healthcare model.
“In a perfect world everybody would get the best possible healthcare and nobody would be turned away,” the premier said. Senior citizens would not have to worry about whether they could pay their bills and mothers would not have to worry about whether they could afford healthcare for their children. “Unfortunately there is no such thing as a free lunch,” he said. “In fact, when it comes to healthcare, lunch can be very expensive.”
Healthcare spending is rising faster than incomes in most developed countries and the Cayman government’s own “staggering” healthcare burden at around $93.4 million (2090-2010 figure) is just less than a fifth of the total budget and unsustainable, the premier said. “Just imagine if half of that sum could be spent on scholarships or other social programmes,” he added.
The premier said that various pressures were pushing up costs, including increased public demand for healthcare, increased insurance costs, specialist technology, new costly drugs and unhealthy lifestyles, resulting in a growing need for medical care. Healthcare was an issue that could easily be neglected, especially when incomes were dwindling and times were hard.
“The fact that our healthcare is usually at the bottom of our lists is ironic, given that the cost of healthcare gives the government one of its biggest financial headaches,” Bush said.
Health minister Mark Scotland also had stark words of warning for the audience when he said that if Cayman’s current model of healthcare did not change soon it would find itself handicapped and cause an inevitable decline in care. “It cannot continue,” he said, stating that everyone needed to embrace a culture change.
Elite sports club become table toppers
(CIFA): Elite Sports Club of West Bay had a week to remember on the football field as both their Senior Men and Women’s teams picked up wins that took them to the top of their respective leagues. The Elite Women’s team met league leading Sunset on Saturday evening at the Ed Bush Sports Complex in West Bay. As expected this game was full of incident and very physical as both teams were fighting for victory. Early pressure from Sunset paid off when Elite’s Marissa McLaughlin handled the ball into her own net after she failed to deal with a Sunset cross come shot that had struck the post. Mclaughlin’s misfortune gave Sunset a deserving lead that saw them coming into the dressing room at half time with the advantage.
Elite began the second half with more assertiveness and got themselves back in the game on the 58 minute mark courtesy of Shanice Monteith who latched onto a through ball from Courtisha Ebanks.
Two minutes later Monteith completed her brace after gliding past two Sunset defenders she calmly slotted the ball past Sunset goalkeeper Jovani Hessing to give Elite the lead.
In the 70 minute Shanelle Frederick also got her name on the score sheet again giving Elite a 3:1 victory and three points that sent them to the top of the Cayman Islands Women’s league.
A Brittni Ebanks hat-trick helped Future secure their first win in the Cayman Islands Women’s league as they downed George Town 8:1. Monique Roberts, Kimberly Rivers, Erin Logan and two from Breean Wright gave Future an impressive win. Zoenief Walker was on target for George Town.
Elite’s Men were in action the following day against Roma United, Elite were looking to maintain their excellent form that has seen them win their last four consecutive games, and central to their success is midfielder Jedd Ebanks who has had a formidable year thus far. Ebanks has been a consistent performer for the Cayman Islands National Team in their 2014 FIFA World Cup Campaign, ever present in all six of the Cayman Islands World Cup Qualifying games; Ebanks is now focused on being a part of Elite’s title defense in the Cayman Islands Premier League.
After losing in their opening league game to Roma, Elite found some redemption with a 2:0 win against Roma this Sunday. Elite have now taken 19 points from a potential 24 to top the league and overtake Scholars International. Dwayne Wright and Alex Belcher scored to give Elite their fourth consecutive win.
Scholars International surrendered their position in top spot after only managing a draw against second from bottom Cayman Athletic. Scholars Aldene Forbes and Nahun Rodriguez goals weren’t enough as Matthew Suberan and Santangelo Bush responded for Cayman Athletic who moved 3 points clear of bottom side Future who lost 1:0 to George Town.
David Harding’s fifth goal of the season made sure that George Town picked up another valuable three points as they try to keep pace with the leagues front runners. Bodden Town put up another impressive score line and maintained third spot in the league as they ran out 5:0 winners over Tigers FC who finished the game with only 8 players after receiving 3 red cards. Bodden Town is the Cayman Islands Premier Leagues most prolific attacking team, scoring 28 goals in 8 games. BT’s scorers this week were Danu Smith, Jordan Thompson, Jorronie Mclean and a double from Charlo Mclean.
John Doak Architecture Iguanas flying high
(CRFU): The John Doak Architecture Iguanas secured the Heineken Charity Shield for the first time on Saturday 19 November with a hard fought 23-5 win over the Krys Global Buccaneers. Both teams had played for the shield once before against the DHL Cayman Storm but neither had any previous success as the Storm have kept a firm grip on the trophy since its inception. However, having finished 3rd in the domestic league competition last year the DHL Storm were unable to earn the opportunity to retain the Shield for a 3rd consecutive season. The Iguanas, current holders of the Alex Alexander Memorial League Trophy and the Buccaneers, current holders of the Waterford Knockout Vase kicked off in the afternoon having enjoyed a fiery encounter earlier in the day when the DHL Storm took on the Queensgate Pigs Trotters in the new “Heineken Wooden Spoon” competition.
The high-scoring fixture, tabled to be a friendly, was anything but as tempers flared on more than one occasion.
The Pigs Trotters, looking to overturn last years lacklustre season had moments of brilliance with good offloading in the tackle and strong backline running testing the DHL Storm defence but it was again the individual brilliance of DHL Storm stalwart Vanassio Tokotokovanua who kept the scoreboard ticking over in favour of his team with the help of Josh Clarke, Michael Sumares and newly re-positioned Storm fly-half Keswick Wright.
The final score of 47-33 in favour of the Storm was not the one sided affair some expected against the Pigs Trotters and surely announces the Pigs as a team with real ambition to contend for silver-wear this domestic XV’s season.
In the main match of the day the Iguanas and Buccaneers faced off in the knowledge that the game would be a test of endurance as neither team was playing with a subs bench and players normally suffer from a lack of fitness early in the season and whereas the Buccaneers had won the A.R. Scott 10’s competition and a handful of the Buccaneers players including Dan Bond and Phil “Boo” Fourie had recently returned from National 7’s success in Barbados the vast majority of the Iguanas had not played competitive rugby in a year.
Regardless, the Iguanas preparation for the game clearly paid off and the likes of Chris Palmer and Jon Murphy found little of their usual success against an Iguana backline that held strong and marched into the half time break with a 10-0 lead thanks to a Johnny Doak penalty and a Tom Mann converted try.
Whilst the Buccaneers finally got on the score board thanks to a James Gibb try the Iguanasmanaged more points in the 2nd half with an Etienne Duvenage converted try and 2 more penalty kicks to bring up the final 23-5 win and the first trophy awarded of the 2011-2012 domestic season
Next games:
Alex Alexander Memorial League Trophy 1st Round:
26 November 2011
DHL Cayman Storm vs. John Doak Architecture Iguanas @2pm
Krys Global Buccaneers vs. Queensgate Pigs Trotters @4pm
All games are streamed live worldwide on www.caymanrugbytv.com
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Bacardi National Laser Championships
(CISA): This weekend, the 26th and 27th November 2011, the Cayman Islands Sailing Club will be hosting the 2011 Bacardi National Laser Championships. Close and competitive racing is expected from the twenty competitors that are registered to take part. The increase in wind strength over the last few weeks has timed itself perfectly for a fast and wet event. This year’s fleet is evenly divided between the Laser Standard and the smaller sail Laser Radial class. The expected twenty knot forecast for Saturday will have a number of the Radial class members looking forward to racing past many of the more overpowered standard rigged boats. Winds are expected to moderate on Sunday.
Seven races are scheduled to be sailed over both days. Trying to predict the overall favourites or winners for the event is very difficult, however strong performances are expected from Tomeaka McTaggart and Eduardo Bernal in the Laser Radial. In the Laser Standard, Raph Harvey and Nick Taylor will be picking up where they left off last year when they fought tooth and nail in the 2010 Bacardi Laser Nationals, Taylor finally taking the trophy with a one point difference.
The best spot to view the racing on the North Sound will be from the Cayman Islands Sailing Club or by private watercraft around the race area. Racing begins at 2pm on Saturday 26th November and at 1pm on Sunday 27th November.
Caymanian wins prestigious scholarship
(CNS): Oxford graduate, Shmona Simpson has won this year’s prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, an internationally renowned post graduate award that targets exceptional students. The twenty three year old Caymanian student has already earned herself a first in her degree from London University of London and recently graduated from Oxford with MSc in global health. She was presented with the award at Barbados’ Government House on 22 November by the scholarship’s selection committee. Offering his congratulations education minister Rolston Anglin said she was a testament to the success which can by gained through hard work.
“On behalf of my ministry and the government, I would like to congratulate Shmona on this most outstanding achievement,” Anglin said in a release. “This is a huge honour, not just for Shmona but also for our country as a whole. Shmona is one of our own national scholarship recipients, and it is exciting to see her academic and leadership achievements acknowledged in this way. She is a true testament to the success that can come through hard work, dedication and a commitment to excellence.”
The scholarship is named after the English-born South African and founder of the De Beers diamond company and considered one of the world’s most prestigious. It targets applicants with “proven intellectual and academic achievement of a high standard, who also show integrity of character, interest in and respect for their fellow beings, the ability to lead,” as well as the energy to use their talents.
Past recipients of the Rhodes Scholarship include American President Bill Clinton (1968) and the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies Rex Nettleford (1957).