Archive for December 17th, 2012
Miss Cayman gears up for big time Vegas pageant
(CNS): With the preliminary rounds, including swimwear and the national costume shows, already recorded, Cayman’s Lindsay Japal is now gearing up for the big night on Wednesday in Las Vegas for the Miss Universe contest. On-line voting is still open ahead of the televised event and fans can vote for Miss Cayman Islands on the website. The 61st Miss Universe pageant will be broadcast live on NBC from the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino when Miss Leila Lopes from Angola will crown the new winner from over 88 contestants from around the world. CNS has contacted the tourism ministry to find out if an official delegation is going to support Miss Cayman Islands but there has been no response.
To vote for Miss Cayman and for more information go to missuniverse.com
Click here to see Lindsay Japal's profile
Still no sightings of missing Guyanese man
(CNS): Updated Monday — Despite extensive searches over the last few days the police said there is still no sign of the 31-year-old Guyanese national who was visiting Cayman and was last seen Tuesday. An RCIPS spokesperson said that officers searching for Hemerson Gonzalez are appealing for the public’s help as he has now been missing for six days. As the days pass police said they are becoming increasingly concerned about his health as he had been suffering from severe vomiting before he went missing. There have been no confirmed sightings of Gonzalez since Tuesday afternoon and he has not been in contact with friends or sought medical attention.
Detective Superintendent Marlon Bodden is urging anyone who has seen Gonzalez, or who is aware of his current whereabouts, to contact the police immediately to ensure that he receives urgent welfare and medical attention.
Gonzalez speaks with a Guyanese accent, is about 5’ 8” tall, with a dark brown complexion and curly black hair, which is about 1-1.5 inches long. He weighs about 180lbs, has a tattoo of a compass on his left forearm and writing tattooed on the inside of his left wrist. When last seen he was wearing brown jeans shorts, a t-shirt and blue low cut cloth shoes.
RCIPS officers along with Air Operation Unit carried out an extensive search for Gonzalez Saturday without success. Police also went on the streets handing out flyers with Gonzalez' picture on it and officers are continuing the search.
Gonzalez was staying with a friend in Canyon Dawn Drive in the Spotts Newlands area, where he was last seen around 5:30pm on 11 December. At the time Gonzalez was feeling ill and had been suffering from severe vomiting.
“No matter how insignificant your information may appear to you we would like to hear from you,” the police stated. People can also call any of the police stations or Crime- Stoppers at 1800Tips (8477).
Gonzalez arrived in Grand Cayman on Sunday, 9 December and has not been in contact with any friends since Tuesday evening. Checks with local hospitals have confirmed that he has not sought medical attention for his illness. Although not residing in Cayman, Gonzales is said to be a frequent visitor here.
The lead investigating officer on the missing person case is Detective Sergeant Charmane Huntley, who can be reached at George Town Police Station Criminal Investigation Department 9494222. The RCIPS Major Incident Room has been activated at the George Town Police Station. Anyone with information can call 925-7240 or 926-3975. Police have also created an e-mail account to allow people to send onformaiton on-line directly to the incident room HemersonGonzalez@hotmail.com.
Anyone who knows of his current whereabouts, or can supply any information about his movements since 5:30pm on Tuesday is asked to call or email as soon as possible.
Buccaneers win Heineken Charity Shield
(CRFU): The Advance Fire & Plumbing Buccaneers ended their Heineken Shield drought with a win 14-12 win over the Century 21 Cayman Storm on 15 December. Having competed for the shield 3 out of the 4years the trophy has existed the Buccaneers have succumbed to the Storm and the John Doak Architecture Iguanas in previous battles but it was to be 3rd time lucky for the Buccaneers.Last year the Shield was secured by the John Doak Architecture Iguanas with a hard fought 23-5 win over the Buccaneers but the score line was a much tighter affair this time round.
The Buccaneers had an easy run in the early stages of the game with the Cayman Storm seemingly hell bent on giving away as many penalties as possible and those penalties that were kickable were easily slotted by Mariano Marco to take the score to 9-0 before Marco’s kicking boot lost its sight. 2 more missed penalties could have wrong up a 15-0 score line before half time but DHL Scores against the run of play either side of the half time break gave the Storm a 12-9 lead which they held on to tooth and nail heading into the closing stages.
The Storm could have held on for the win was it not for 2 yellow cards for continual infringement and further injuries in their scrum. Injuries that would prove crucial as the Bucanneers new advantage in the pack led to a push over scrum to bring up the final score of 14-12.
Earlier in the day the Queensgate Pigs Trotters had an easy run against a weakened John Doak Architecture side to win handsomely 40-12. The Iguanas, missing key players in the back line and pack due to a mixture of off island absences and injury started the game with 14 players, went down to 13 with an early yellow card and thanks to further injuries in the 2nd half only enjoyed 1 period of play with a full 15 men on the pitch, The Pigs Trotters, having not beaten the Iguanas in some time took no time in capitalising on the numbers advantage. The Iguanas meanwhile worked hard to earn 2 tries against the odds
Next games:
CRFU annual Boxing Day Match:
26 December 2012 @3pm
Alex Alexander Memorial League Trophy 1st Round:
26 January 2013
Century 21 Cayman Storm vs. Queensgate Pigs Trotters @2pm
Advance Fire & Plumbing Buccaneers vs. John Doak Architecture Iguanas @4pm
All games are streamed live worldwide on www.caymanrugbytv.com
Follow Cayman Rugby on Facebook and Twitter @caymanrugby
Four more new cases of suspected dengue reported
(CNS): Although officials say that the number of dengue cases in Cayman has begun to fall a further four suspected cases were reported to the public health department last week. This brings the total number of cases which have been under investigation for dengue since the beginning of the year to 86. Of the four new suspected cases that were reported since 8 December one had travel history to an endemic area, two were residents of West Bay, one in George Town and fourth is living in Bodden Town. With no results received this week the total number of positive cases remains at 31 with 19 results pending.
So far 25 people have been admitted to hospital suspected of having the disease but only 12 confirmed cases were confirmed as dengue fever. Six of the cases turned out to be something else and officials are waiting on results for the other seven.
Gunman fired multiple shots
(CNS): Police have now confirmed that the 23-year-old man shot dead in George Town last night was Jackson Rainford, a Jamaican national who was living in Spotts Newlands. Rainford was reportedly shot several times by a single gunman while sitting in the passenger seat of a white Honda Civic. A police spokesperson said the gunman made his escape from the scene on foot. A 20-year-old local man was arrested on suspicion of murder shortly after 1.00am Monday in connection with the shooting and remains in police custody while enquiries continue. Detective Superintendent Marlon Bodden is urging anyone who was in the area at the time of the shooting to contact the enquiry team.
The incident occurred at about 10.30pm last night, Sunday 16 December, when Rainford was sitting in the car in Shedden Road near to Printers Way. The shooter, armed with a firearm, approached the vehicle and shot the victim several times before running off. According to the police report, the driver of the civic was not injured in the incident. When police arrived on the scene a short time later, officers tried in vain to resuscitate Rainford and he was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
The crime scene was initially searched last night and then remained sealed off until a further search could be carried out in daylight, but the scene and surrounding roads were reopened around 10:20 am today.
A murder incident room has been established at George Town police station and a team of 15 officers is currently dedicated to the investigation. DS Bodden urged anyone who may have information to call the murder team directly on 649-3057 or 649-4522. Alternatively, people can call the confidential Crime Stoppers number 800-8477 (TIPS).
Only two weeks before the end of the year, this is the first murder to take place in Cayman in 2012.
Students who can’t pay won’t be barred from exams
(CNS): The education department has confirmed that no student will be excluded from taking examinations because of their inability to pay in advance. All internal examinations and tests in our government schools are free to all students. Caymanian students pay no school fees and non-Caymanian students are assessed at what the ministry said was low fees, as provided in law, based on the stage of education. It also noted that at present no students are required to pay book fees but may be asked to contribute to practical fees for certain subjects such as Technology, Home Economics and similar courses.
Students are required to pay the costs for external examination fees these fees are collected by the school but are paid to the external examination boards, such as CXC – the Caribbean Examinations Council.
Officials sad that the education services department as well as the education minister are very sensitive to the economic pressures faced by families and a number of steps have been taken to help make the costs of external examinations more manageable.
Schools are working to send out payment notices well in advance so that parents can budget accordingly. Payment plans are available for parents who find it difficult to pay the full amount in one installment. For cases in which parents are genuinely unable to pay fees, the Department of Children and Family Services has provided support through their programmes.
Students are not restricted from taking examinations, even if the fees have not been paid. However, they cannot collect their certificates or be issued transcripts of external examination results until these debts have been cleared.
It should be noted that the total current annual cost for external examinations for our students is in the region of $250,000, reflecting the dramatic increase in recent years of students who are sitting and passing internationally recognized and accredited qualifications.
UK wastes £millions in Russia corruption clean-up
(Daily Mail): Britain spent £4.5million of its international aid budget on combating corruption in Russia, before civil servants admitted the programme had been largely unsuccessful. The money was spent between 2007 and 2011 on trying to make public administration in Russia, where bribery is rife, more efficient and transparent. It funded training courses for officials run by locally based non-governmental organisations. Information released by Whitehall also reveals that £542,000 of taxpayers' money went on helping Russia give cash to other countries as it became an 'emerging donor'. This included giving technical advice to officials in charge of Moscow's aid to Africa and Asia.
£114,803 was given to a programme designed to enable elderly Russians to influence decision-makers. £6,156 was contributed to the cost of translating documents on labour migration for use by aid organisations based in Russia.
In a report submitted to Ministers, the Department for International Development (DFID) admitted that although the anti-corruption training courses were generally well attended, 'evidence that they are changing behaviour is weak'.
China Harbour faces union dispute in Jamaica
(Jamaican Observer): A dispute is brewing between China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) and the two major trade unions — the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), and the National Workers Union (NWU) — which could create industrial relations problems when construction on the North-South link of Highway 2000 starts next year. On Friday, the two unions wrote to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security seeking its intervention to resolve the main issue of whether CHEC will observe the provisions of the labour agreement adopted by the Joint Industrial Council (JIC) for the building and construction industry. Specifically, they need to know if the Chinese firm will agree to pay workers a 16 per cent end-ofproject bonus.
Their concerns emergedafter CHEC refused to pay the bonus to unionised workers who were employed in the construction of the Rio Grande Bridge in St Margaret’s Bay, Portland, which was opened in October.
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Cop denies taking bribe in corruption case
(CNS): A 28-year-old police officer from George Town pleaded not guilty to four counts relating to bribery when he appeared in Grand Court Friday. Elvis Ebanks has denied taking more than CI$500 from a Filipino national in order not to pursue a possible theft charge and will now face a jury trial next year. Ebanks is the first serving police officer charged under the relatively new anti-corruption law after he was arrested in Savannah as a result of information given to the police by Ebanks’ alleged victim last month. Ebanks, who is suspended from duty, was bailed by the court to return in January for a trial date to be fixed.
The officeris charged with two counts of bribery, obtaining CI$115 and US$31 to interfere with administrative justice, and a further CI$560 on a second occasion, as well as two counts of breach of trust relating to the same two incidents.
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UDP move against Bush
(CNS): The loyalty of the UDP parliamentary members to the premier reportedly cracked this weekend and it is understood that the caucus has ousted McKeeva Bush from office. Having been silent for five days on the issue and with Bush’s continued refusal to resign in the wake of his arrest, party members began moves to push Bush from the party leadership. Although no official announcement has yet been made, it appears that the UDP has finally agreed to replace him with Juliana O’Connor, while back-bencher Cline Glidden is tipped to take on Bush’s portfolio. Rolston Anglin, who is facing his own legal troubles with a DUI charge, will take on the post of deputy premier .
The UDP members are expected to be meeting with the governor this morning however, It is not clear if Bush has accepted the party’s decision and whether he will be taking a back-bench government seat. Nor is it certain that the UDP will continue to stay united in the decision to force the premier out of office. If not, any division will see the UDP administration fall as it will not be able to command a majority and therefore force early elections.
The opposition leader wrote to the speaker on Friday asking her to call a special meeting of the Legislative Assembly to debate the situation with a no confidence motion. There is still no word on whether or not Mary Lawrence will take the step of calling the emergency meeting of the country’s parliament in face of the national political crisis without direction from the government .
With the eyes of the world on Cayman and the premier’s arrest, along with his subsequent defiance and protestations of innocence that the arrest is fuelled by a vindictive governor and political enemies, there has been increasing pressure on the UDP to remove him.
Check back to CNS for more on this story.