Archive for July, 2012
Gun suspect sent to jail after judge revokes bail
(CNS): A suspect charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm who was then arrested and charged with a burglary while on bail was sent back to jail on Friday by a Grand Court judge. Marcus Manderson, is already facing a long jail sentence if found guilty of possessing the weapon but while bailed for that offence he is alleged to have broken into a George Town grocery store and stolen cash and goods worth around $700. Manderson appeared in court on Friday in connection with his firearm charges, still on bail as he had been released by the summary court following the burglary charge but the crown applied for that bail to be revoked.
Objecting to the crown’s failure to inform her and her client of its intention to ask for bail to be revoked, Anderson’s attorney asked for an adjournment to argue for her client to remain on bail. Lucy Organ of Samson McGrath said her client complied with all the conditions of his bail including a curfew, that he had been released by the summary court and most importantly he had not yet been found guilty of anything.
The crown stated however, that he had been charged with burglary which occurred at McArthur’s Grocery store on North Church Street in May; an offence which was sufficient grounds for his bail to be revoked. Kenneth Fergusson the prosecuting counsel said the crown had significant evidence against the defendant including his finger prints on the shop’s cash register.
Despite the defence attorney’s argument justice Paulette Williams agreed that on the face of it the burglary charges constituted a breach of his bail conditions according to the law and remanded Manderson in custody. She ordered a bail hearing on Wednesday morning to give his lawyer an opportunity to make a case for her client to return to the community until his cases are tried.
Employers warned to give tips to hospitality staff
(CNS): Following a number of complaints filed with the Department of Labour and Pensions government officials are reminding employers to follow the law and ensure that service staff are being given their gratuities. An important part of many workers’ earnings, the government department said hospitality employers should be submitting their systems and plans for distributing tips to employees to the department to ensure they are compliant. Those employers who are not following the law can expect to face heavy fines, it warned, if they are convicted of any labour law offence. The director of the department said his office hopes to ensure that everyone is aware of the law so there are no excuses for rogue employers.
“The Department realizes that some businesses may be new, or have new managers or employees who have not been given proper training or awareness on the Labour Law, or due to business pressure may tend to overlook some legal obligations,” Mario Ebanks said.
Having received a number of confidential complaints he said they were being investigated but the goal was to ensure full compliance with all employers and ensure employees also know their rights.
“At times these infractions are only uncovered when and employee is terminated or resigns, and then they make a complaint with the Department, including details of a host of infractions, including improper recording and distribution of gratuities,’ Ebanks revealed. “The Department is ensuring that businesses are fully aware of the Labour Law, so that as enforcement of the Law becomes more robust it will not be possible for anyone to claim ignorance. The proper recording and distribution is important, since gratuities often form a significant portion of a service-workers income.”
According to the law any wages or gratuity payments earned by an employee must be given to the employee within one week of the making of payment. The employer also has an obligation to give employees precise statements in writing showing how payments were made. Employers who collect gratuities must also display a notice for customers stating the rate of gratuity.
Any service employer who fails to display a notice in a place where it may be easily seen by a customer is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of $10,000.
Employers who have discontinued their gratuity service, or If they have switched from one distribution plan to another, the modifications must be approved by the Director of Labour of the impending changes.
Penalties also apply to the other sections presented here. Employers who require assistance or guidance in these matters should contact the Department of Labour and Pensions which is now located on the 2nd floor of Mid Town Plaza on Elgin Avenue and is open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday-Friday; telephone: 945-8960, fax: 945-8961, confidential hotline for labour and pensions complaints: 945-3073.
CS still crunching new budget
(CNS): The UK economist visiting Cayman for the last three weeks to assist in the preparation of a budget left on Saturday, but the budget is still not complete. A spokesperson for the governor’s office confirmed Monday that a revised budget has not been submitted to the UK for approval. He stated that meetings are taking place with civil servants and ministers this week and the conversation is also continuing with the UK about the Cayman Islands government’s spending plans for the next fiscal year. The premier, who is also minister of finance, was responsible for submitting a budget that had UK approval to the Legislative Assembly before the fiscal year end but, since the UK rejected his last minute spending plans, he failed to do so.
Premier McKeeva Bush was then forced to bring an emergency government motion for a stop-gap budget, which ends on 31 August.
The governor’s office said it hopes the revised budget will be with the FCO sometime next week in order to give officials there time to review and approve the proposal before it comes back to the Cayman Islands to be presented at the Legislative Assembly and scrutinized in Finance Committee.
The governor has not yet delivered his traditional Throne Speech, and although the LA session for this parliamentary year opened in June, it did so without the usual pomp and circumstance as government had no budget to present.
Although the government has not revealed how it intends to balance the budget and submit a spending plan with no borrowing which also produces a surplus, Bush has toyed with the idea of raising liquor licenses and cutting some public services but he has stated that no public sector jobs will be lost. The recruitment freeze, however, is still in place.
The most recent minutes from the deputy governor’s office indicated that all senior civil servants were being asked to consider any possible cost saving measures to help balance the public books.
Bush had attempted to submit a budget to the UK which, although had a small operating surplus, contained both a short term loan, namely an overdraft facility of up to $28 million, and a long term borrowing requirement of a further $59 million. As minister of finance, the premier was well aware that the UK was expecting a surplus budget this year with no borrowing as he had said on numerous occasions that his government was not going to increase the country’s debt burden.
As a result, Bush was forced to bring in an interim spending plan of $127 million of appropriations for July and August to give him and his government time to come up with a new budget in which operating expenses have been reduced.
Track stars fine tune ahead of London games
(CIOC): The London Olympics start this weekend and the five Cayman Islands athletes are fine tuning for the biggest challenge of their careers. Track queen Cydonie Mothersill runs in the 200 metres from 6 August, Ronald Forbes is in the 110m hurdles from 7 August and Kemar Hyman is in the 100m from 4 August. Swimming brothers Shaune and Brett Fraser are the first Caymanians in action, in the 200m freestyle on Sunday. At the Spectrum Sports track in Guildford, 30 miles south of London, on Monday, Forbes and Hyman were working hard with last minute adjustments under the watchful eye of track technical director Kenrick Williams and Joey Scott, Forbes’s specialist coach.
“I’ve sent a link on Facebook for all the fans watching,” Forbes said. “When me, Kemar and Cydonie go at it, we’re on track.“Our training sessions have been going good. The weather, believe it or not, has more or less been on our side. I’m finally glad to see that I’m back in full training. The injury I had earlier this year has gone and I’m just going to go out there and give it my 100 per cent as usual.
“Hopefully, I’ll pull off a personal best performance which I think I’m capable of achieving and I really think my team-mates can do the same, especially Kemar who has been having a great year.
“I think we should all be very proud of him and also the whole of Cayman Islands contingent in London. These Games are certainly going to be very exciting. I’m not an amateur anymore. I went to the last Olympics in Beijing and kind of know what to expect with the opening ceremony on Friday. I do hope that London can top what Beijing did.
“The opening ceremony is fit to be a blast and I’m really looking forward to it and the Games really kicking off. “
Hyman said: “I’m the Cayman Islands 100m record holder with 9.95 seconds. Training has been great for me and Ronald. We’ve put in a lot of hard work throughout the year.
“I’ve had a really successful year so far and for him I want to see himdo his best and hopefully get to the final. For me, I’ll just try to get through the rounds.
“My first major meet was in 2009 and hopefully, I can bounce back and in these Olympics make it through the rounds and maybe surprise some people who doubted me and make it to the latter rounds and surprise myself.”
Hyman’s improvement this year has been phenomenal. He has shattered the Cayman Islands 100m record and gone from a fringe competitor to genuine world class performer.
“My progression throughout this year has been immense. My coach always said that the times I do in training if I could produce that in races then I could be a champ. I really doubted him without worrying about my times and it produced my personal best in Madrid three weeks ago with the sub-10 run.
“I really don’t know what to expect but hope to go faster than 9.95 seconds and give the Cayman Islands another record. I just want to keep shocking myself and stay injury free.
“Even after the Olympics, I’m definitely sure Ronald and I can get in meets in Europe. I’m looking forward to that and in the years to come. I just came out of school in June. This is fresh and new to me and Ronald is like a mentor right now. He can teach ne and hopefully he will be good for me in the upcoming years.”
Coach Williams said: “I’ve noticed that Ronald and his coach Joey are getting on well and look ahead of what he was at Beijing when he made it to the second round. Hopefully, this time he can go straight through to the finals – and this time we can get a least a third of the pie.
“Kemar was working with his personal coach in Birmingham and I’m just supervising him until he links up with him again in the Olympic village. The only drawback for us was that in the first week it was very cold and coming from a hot and humid climate.
“Two days ago the weather improved and I hope it transpires for the Olympics.
“On Thursday we have a flag-raising ceremony, the day before the opening ceremony. We know the athletes have been training really hard. Cydonie is not here with us at the moment, however, she will join us in the near future and we hope that the track and field team will do great things for the Cayman Islands. “
Coach Joey Scott said: “This is my first season with Ronald. I got him just before the Commonwealth Games and he has actually improved a lot and is more mentally mature.
“Ron has overcome a lot of injuries this year and setbacks and now our training is going 100 per cent. When we go into the village on Wednesday we will still have plenty of time to get ready for competition.
“Ron has not had as much competition as we would have liked, but we’re going into the mindset that he is going to represent the Cayman Islands in the best way possible. Ronald doesn’t have any aches and pains – apart from when I kill him on the track. We set out a schedule and hopefully he will be able to go through the rounds and end up on that podium.”
Ron Shillingford is the Cayman isalnds Olympic Committee pool journalist who will be covering the London games for all local media.
Plan will merge 3 districts
(CNS): In order to have even numbers in the new nine district proposal put forward by the premier the districts of East End, North Side and most of the eastern part of Bodden Town will need to be combined into one district. Following last week’s referendum result the premier announced his intention to set up a bi-partisan committee to examine the possibility of double member constituencies of around 1900 voters, where each voter gets two votes. However, the current member for North Side has pointed out that in order to do that his district would be submerged in a greater geographical district covering well over half of Grand Cayman.
Ezzard Miller said that he and Arden McLean, the member for East End, would now begin campaigning to have their districts constitutionally protected as single member constituencies in an effort to preserve them and the distinctive district representation.
If North Side and East End are combined with the greater part of Bodden Town, using the electoral boundary commission’s recommendations for the boundaries of single member constituencies, they will become part of a mammoth eastern district. Based on the goal suggested by the premier of around 1900 voters for each district, this new constituency would stretch from the junction of Shamrock Road and Carlton Road all the way to East End and North Side.
Miller said that he could not support the latest idea by the premier and pointed out that McKeeva Bush and the UDP government had spent $100,000 of the people’s money campaigning to keep the system that Bush had said was not broken.
“He said it wasn’t broken, that it worked well,” Miller said. The independent member and leading advocate for one man, one vote in SMCs said that even after the premier had fixed the ballot result to say the ‘no’ vote had won and the people didn’t want change, he now says he will make a change that can’t work.
“He cannot insult the people of the country in this way,” Miller stated. “We will be agitating to protect our district representation,” he added referring to his parliamentary colleague Arden McLean, who is the opposition member for East End.
Despite aiming for equal size constituencies when it comes to voters, the premier’s latest suggestion would still see some imbalance as Cayman Brac and Little Cayman would remain one constituency returning two members while having less than a thousand registered voters. The Sister Islands have been given special protection under the 2009 Constitution that ensure the constituency will always return two members, despite its small population. In contract to the 980 or so voters currently registered on the Brac, the new district of Bodden Town, East End & North Side would have over two thousand voters.
Based on the existing boundaries drawn up by the commission in 2010, the new proposal by the premier would see what would have been the single member districts doubled up, starting in West Bay and moving out to the eastern districts, where the merge of the three districts into one constituency would occur in order to accommodate the other seven districts, in particular in the growing areas east of George Town, such as Savannah and Newlands.
The proposal would see West Bay divided into two double-member constituencies, George Town into three, a new district in Red Bay & Prospect and another new district covering the areas of Savannah and Pedro.
Speaking to Cayman 27 on Friday evening following his announcement on Radio Cayman on Thursday evening, the premier acknowledged that it may be problematic merging the existing single member constituencies of East End and North Side.
"We have to figure out what to do with East End and North Side, who have single members, and we have to work with them so they are not disadvantaged in any way,” Bush told the TV news channel.
Elections office releases final result in OMOV poll
(CNS): The elections office has released the official results for last Wednesday’s referendum which ended with a majority of people voting ‘Yes’ in five out of six districts, but which failed to provide a binding result under the criteria set by government. The office has confirmed that on polling day the register of electors stood at 15,161 people and 8676 of them came out to vote 57.23% of the entire electorate. Of those people who came to vote 5631 or 64.9% voted ‘Yes’ while 3001 of 34.5% people voted ‘No’ and 44 votes were rejected as spoilt ballots. The ‘yes’ vote converted to 37.14 per cent of the entire electorate and the ‘no; 19.79 per cent.
This mean nether the yes or the no votes carried the day., However the premier has clearly stated that he perceives the result to be a binding ‘no’.
Across Grand Cayman the “Yes” vote came in at more than two to one in favour in George Town, Bodden Town and East End, at five to one in North Side an even split slightly favouring ‘Yes;’ in the sister Islands but a marginal ‘No’ in West Bay.
In Bodden Town of the 3,467 total registered voters 2,021 were polled while 8 spoiled papers there were 1,396 yes votes against 617 no. In West Bay of the 3,685 registered voters, 2,093 voted 1,027 voted yes 1,053 no and 14 voters spoiled their ballot paper.
George Town 3,367 voters from an electorate of 5, were polled, 13 papers were spoiled while 2,360 people voted yes and 993 no. In Cayman Brac and Little Cayman there are 956 registered voters but only 461 were polled in the lowest turnout of all districts. Two papers were spoiled but 256 voted yes against 203 who voted No
Meanwhile, in North Side 397 people from the 551 registered voters went to the polls representing the largest turnout. 335 people said yes while only 56 said No with six votes rejected. In East End of the 588 registered voters 337 were polled with 257 voting yes and 79 voting no and just one rejected ballot.
The results are now available here or on line at the elections Office Website
Teenager charged with grocery shop robbery
(CNS): Continuing their run of success in rounding up and charging suspects in a number of recent robberies a spokesperson for the police said Monday that a 19-year-old man is expected to appear in court tomorrow (Tuesday 24 July) charged with the robbery of a local grocery store last month. The teenager is accused of holding up the Hills Grocery and More store in West Bay on 12 June. The suspect, who was arrested in the afternoon following the crime, is said to have entered the convenience store on Stadium Drive, at lunchtime with what appeared to be a handgun. He threatened staff before making off from the premises with a small sum of cash.
The man from West Bay has been charged with robbery and possession of an imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence.
Anyone who has information on any crime in the Cayman Islands is asked to call the police on the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS).
Thieves nab luxury boat
(CNS): A boat worth more than $500K was stolen last week from Governor’s harbour. Police have now opened an investigation intothe theft of the 55-ft Sea Ray named Hana, which was reported stolen on Thursday, 19 July. Early enquires suggest that the thieves nabbed the luxury raft around 10:30 on Wednesday night from its mooring in Jellicoe Quay.
Officers from the RCIPS are now liaising with partners both at home and abroad in an attempt to trace the boat.
The police are urging boat owners to be extra vigilant and reminded to fuel their boats immediately before they use them as fuelling them to remain in situ for prolonged periods increases their vulnerability.
They also advise securing boats to the dock using chains, cables and padlocks and for owners to keep keys and the kill switches in their possession when the vessels are not in use, even if on a trailer. Trailers should also be padlocked, whether or not the vessel is on the trailer as they have also been stolen before, especially empty ones.
Police said owners should make sure there is sufficient lighting where boats are stored or moored because criminals do not like bright lights.
Boat owners should also make sure you they have all hull, engine and electronics serial numbers stored for reference in case of theft, as well as photos of the vessel, engines and trailers. Police also advise owners to inscribe, rather than write, personal ID numbers on the engine block and inside the hull in a place only known to them.
“There are several items on the marine market for tracking vessels. Most of the marine and security services dealers on Island should be able to assist with obtaining these systems, some of which are relatively inexpensive,” the RCIPS stated.
Anyone who has information which could assist the police in this enquiry should contact West Bay CID on 949-3999. Information can also be passed via the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers 800-8477 (TIPS).
Corruption enquiry widens to more UK newspapers
(The Guardian): The Scotland Yard investigation into alleged illegal payments by journalists to police and other public officials has been extended to Trinity Mirror and Richard Desmond's Express Newspapers, the Leveson inquiry has heard. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, who is leading the Metropolitan police investigations into alleged illegal activity by journalists, said Operation Elveden, the probe into corruption, had gone beyond Rupert Murdoch's News International to include payments from other newspapers. In one case a prison officer at a high security prison, who has now retired, had allegedly received payments from News International, Trinity Mirror and Express Newspapers totalling nearly £35,000, Akers told the Leveson inquiry on Monday.
She said the public official's former partner appeared to have facilitated the payments into their bank accounts, receiving "numerous payments" from NI, Trinity Mirror and Express Newspapers between April 2010 and June 2011.
She said further payments had been made after the official had retired, the last of which was by Express Newspapers in February 2012.
CO2 emissions at all time high
(UPI): Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming, increased to an all-time high of 34 billion tons in 2011, European researchers said. As part of a global increase of 3 percent last year, emissions in China reached 7.2 tons per capita, putting that country in the company of the major industrialized countries, whose emissions vary from 6 to 9 tons per capita, the European Commission Joint Research Center said in a release Thursday. Of the industrialized countries, the United States remains one of the largest emitters of CO2, with 17.3 tons per capita despite a decline due to the recession in 2008-2009, high oil prices and an increased share of natural gas, the researchers said.
In the European Union CO2 emissions dropped by 3 percent to 7.5 tons per capita, they said. The 3 percent increase in global CO2 emissions in 2011 is above the past decade's average annual increase of 2.7 percent, the researchers said.