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Mac says people must give something to get something

Cayman News | 14/09/2010 | 56 Comments

(CNS): The country’s premier has said that people need to make sacrifices in order for the country to improve its economic fortunes. Speaking to tourism stakeholders last week at an industry lunch, McKeeva Bush berated the community when he said everybody wanted something but no one was prepared to give anything. He said some people didn’t recognise the importance of the cruise industry but it was very important and government was focusing on the need to turn cruise visitors into overnight guests. He said the cruise project was essential and if “we are going to have to lift some piece of coral out of the way” then that’s what would happen. “To get something we have to give something,” Bush said.

He said his government was dedicated to an integrated tourism industry as research had shown it was fragmented and there was an absence of a defined brand for Cayman. “When we took office last May, we knew immediately that turning around the tourism industry would be one of our biggest challenges as well as one of our biggest opportunities. We knew from the outset that we wanted to develop collaborative, practical solutions with the full engagement of our private sector partners,” he said. .

Bush noted that there were still those who remained unconvinced as to the importance of cruise tourism to the economy but he said statistics from Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association’s (FCCA) for the third quarter of 2009 and estimates of the fourth quarter indicate that a record 13.445 million passengers cruised the Caribbean in 2009, an increase of nearly half a million (440,000) over 2008. The industry’s growth is led by the Caribbean region, which continues to rank as a dominant cruise destination, accounting for 37.02% of all itineraries in 2009.

Of the 1.45 million cruise passengers that called on Grand Cayman during the 2008-2009 cruise year around 90 percent disembarked, he revealed. “With an anticipated 214 vessels expected to call on our islands for the remainder of 2010 (between Sept – Dec), the forecast is for 575,626 passenger arrivals to our shores,” he said. “According to the Department of Tourism’s 2008 exit survey report, the average spend per cruise passenger was US$101.13 per person, which is marginally higher than the average spend across the Caribbean of US$97.26 recorded by the Business Research & Economic Advisors report (BREA) and I should point out that this calculation does not include pre-paid tours.”

He also stated that 35% of crew members disembark and spend an average of $108.81 per person on items such as jewellery, cosmetics and clothing. Crew personnel visiting the Cayman Islands spent $21.8 million during the 2008/2009 cruise year, the premier said figures had shown.

“Based on these statistics, there can be little doubt as to the value of cruise tourism to the Cayman Islands economy. But even so, we cannot realise the full possibilities and benefits of cruise tourism with our present facilities,” he added. “The need for cruise berthing facilities as part of the overall development of the Cayman Islands tourism infrastructure has been talked about for some seven years now and this government is committed to ensuring that the talks will lead to action.”

He said the berthing facility is a critical necessity as government had been repeatedly advised that ships in the Oasis class will not place destinations on their itineraries that don’t have berthing facilities. “Most of our Western Caribbean competitors such as Honduras, Montego Bay, St. Lucia and Ocho Rios already have walk-on cruise facilities and our Islands are at a competitive disadvantage the longer we delay in addressing this issue,” Bush told stakeholders.

“The development of the cruise berthing facility will not only ensure that the mega ships will include the Cayman Islands as a port of call, but it will provide a seamless disembarkation experience for passengers, which in turn will improve their overall view of the destination. This is the kind of experiential difference that influences whether those visitors will choose to return to the Cayman Islands as stay-over guests in the future,” the premier stated.

He said plans had been completed to launch a programme aimed at converting cruise visitors to stay-over guests. “This is a two-year pilot programme which will be spearheaded by the Department of Tourism to help to stimulate the local economy.”

Bush admitted there was still an incredible amount of work ahead with regards the tourism sector but he said he was committed to it. “Tourism is a bridge to a better quality of life for the people of the Cayman Islands. We can create opportunities for our young people, as well as our more mature citizens. There is a place for almost everyone in tourism – whether an artist or an accountant, a dive master or taxi driver,” he said.

Law aims to protect kids

Cayman News | 14/09/2010 | 9 Comments

(CNS): Although the new Domestic Violence bill, which has gained support from both government and opposition, was driven by the issue of gender violence in the country, the minister responsible said it would also protect the islands’ children. Presenting the new law to his legislative colleagues last week, Mike Adam said many of society’s current problems were down to children growing up witnessing or experiencing violence and abuse in the home. He said these kids learned no other way of dealing with conflict but through violence and the goal of the legislation was to eradicate abuse from the domestic setting and protect the children as well as other family members from it. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)

The Protection from Domestic Violence Law 2010 aims to provide protection for specified categories of people living within a household residence from any kind of domestic violence by allowing them or third parties to apply for various protection orders.

Bringing the bill before the House, Adam explained that the law went beyond physical violence but included emotional, psychological and financial abuse as well as sexual violence. He said that the elderly, people residing in a home who weren’t direct relatives and children could all apply for protection orders of varying kinds if they were subject to abuse of any type in the place where they live. The law also provides for those being abused to remain in a home, even if the abuser is the owner or tenant, and removes the abuser.

The goal of the legislationis to try to eliminate the things which entrap mostly women and children in homes with abusers.

Adam said the legislation was a truly collaborative effort. Based on the recommendations of the special committee appointed by the previous administration in the wake of the violent murder of Estella Scott Roberts, the former director of the risis Centre and advocate on gender issues, the law seeks to expand protection for those in situations of abuse.

The minister pointed to the wider implications for society of children growing up in violent and abusive situations. “Some children only know how to deal with others in violent ways,” he said, adding that the report by crime expert Yolande Forde had pointed to violence in the domestic situation as the major contributing factor to criminality and violence in adults.

He said the bill would not only serve to protect people in the midst of abuse but it was also a piece in the puzzle of improving crime prevention in the wider community. Adam explained that nearly all of the children passing through the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre (95%) had behavioural problems and most of the people perpetrating the abuse were themselves abused.

The police dealt with 167 cases of domestic violence last year, but the minister told legislative colleagues that this figure was likely to be only the tip of the iceberg as domestic abuse is notoriously under reported.

With the passing of this legislation Adam also explained that those who were abused in non-violent ways, who are controlled through psychological, emotional and increasingly financial means, would also be able to seek protection orders from their abusers. The protective net is also cast considerably wider, the minister explained, than in the previous more restrictive law, to include children, the elderly, the disabled, and other vulnerable people. It also takes into account modern family structures, so even if an abuser is not resident but is visiting the home the protections can still apply.

He explained that third parties may also apply for protection orders when they know of abuse but the abused is unwilling as a result of battered women’s syndrome or unable through fear or other circumstance to come forward themselves.

The aim of the law is to ensure that all people who could suffer at the hands of an abuser in their home can gain protection from the courts.

“Domestic violence is not acceptable,” Adam said. “This law will ensure that the court is empowered to deal with it.”

He said this type of violence could no longer be considered private or cultural. It was a community wide problem that was undermining the community as a whole and the law would offer greater protection to people from what was believe to be one of the worst abuses of human rights.

Right to silence lost

Cayman News | 14/09/2010 | 80 Comments

(CNS): The long held right for someone who is arrested to remain silent without incriminating themselves has been lost. Although serious concerns have been raised in the community, the controversial Police Bill, which includes the change, is shortly to become law. In future, remaining silent or speaking can all be used against an individual who falls foul of law enforcement and is arrested .The attorney general defended the clause which will enable prosecutors to point a jury (at trial) towards an adverse inference or a negative reason for a person’s silence at arrest, saying it was not new and had been in place in the UK since 1994. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)

The Police Bill 2010, which repeals the police law of 2006, covers a wide spectrum of police and criminal related issues, from the powers of the police commissioner and the process of complaints about the police to the rights of those arrested. The bill contains a number of controversial clauses, the most contentious of which is the introduction of clause 148. When a person fails to mention something which could be important later on in the case when it comes to court, a jury may “draw such inferences from the failure that may appear proper”, the clause reveals.

Defending the removal of the right to silence without incrimination, Sam Bulgin said this particular right was nowhere to be found in the European Convention on Human Rights. He said people may feel it is traditional but it was not in that convention.

He pointed out that, even with the clause, people would still not be compelled to testify or to speak, but he said there were times when it was reasonable for a person to answer a question or explain themselves. Now if they did not when it was clear they should, an adverse inference could be made during the trial. In other words, a jury could conclude a defendant did not say anything because he was hiding something, which implies guilt.

“We are living in changing times and traditions have to be tweaked,” Bulgin told the Legislative Assembly when he tabled the bill on Friday afternoon. He said the way things were done forty or sixty years ago were no longer appropriate in a modern democratic society and he said as far back as 1994 the UK had put thisin place.

The AG also anticipated comments by the opposition and in particular Alden McLaughlin, whom, he said, had agreed with the need to change legislation when he was in office but now, sitting on the opposition bench, had the luxury of adopting populist sentiment.

The opposition did raise a number of concerns about the bill but they were not alone. The Criminal Defence Bar Association had offered its comments regarding the problems associated with the introduction of an adverse inference in April of this year in a letter to the solicitor general.

With no legal aid available to those arrested in Cayman until they are charged and taken to court, most suspects have no legal representation at the arrest, detention and interview stages. In order for this to be implemented fairly, the defence bar said that legal advise would now have to be freely available to all those who are arrested and detained before being questioned.

The defence lawyers also raised a number of other issues about the potential problems of disclosure to the suspect before questioning and the need to train local officers about the implications of not disclosing information to defendants about the reason for their arrest before they ask questions.

The introduction of a right to draw adverse inference will also require a change to the Cayman Islands Constitution. The leader of the opposition, making his reply to the tabling of the bill on Monday afternoon, pointed out that at present the Constitution clearly states in section 5 (3) that a person has a right to remain silence and there is no follow on saying that if they do stay silent then it can be used against them. Kurt Tibbetts told the AG that if the law was passed it would be unconstitutional.

Alden McLaughlin, who could not be in the House to debate the bill because of family commitments, told CNS this weekend that he had serious reservations about Clause 148. When the AG said McLaughlin was taking the populist position in opposing the proposed erosion of the right to silence, he suggested that he had had a different position when in Cabinet, but McLaughlin emphatically denied this was the case.

“In this assertion the AG has been disingenuous and I challenge him to provide one example of how my views on this issue have changed over the years," McLaughlin said. “In one of my very first major speeches in the House, in July 2001, I set out my objections to the erosion of the age-old right to silence. That was when then AG, David Ballantyne attempted to introduce provisions similar to those now being proposed by Sam Bulgin.”

He said that not only had his views not changed but, given the attitude of the current government to legal aid, his concerns are greater now than were 9 years ago.

“The provisionscontained in the Police Bill will allow the court to draw adverse inferences from an accused’s failure to assist the police with their case by remaining silent. This is a fundamental departure from the common law position and is based on the UK Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994. It is worth noting that that statute has been the subject of much criticism and concern in the UK,” McLaughlin added.

He said the change in the law would lead to serious consequences, which havebeen highlighted by a number of legal experts. The former cabinet minister also pointed out that, while the UK has had similar provisions operating for the past decade and a half, there are significant practical obstacles to introducing the adverse inferences provisions to Cayman law.

“Firstly, legal aid is not available to suspects until they are charged and taken to court. Therefore persons arrested, detained or interviewed at the police station may have adverse inferences drawn from their failure to answer questions without having had the benefit of independent legal advice as to the consequences of remaining silent,” he said, agreeing with the criminal defence bar but going further when he pointed out the attitude of the current government to legal aid.

“Another potential problem is what happens when an attorney who is present at the interview of a defendant is required to give evidence at the trial regarding the advice given to the defendant at the police station in order to avoid an adverse inference being drawn against his client,” McLaughlin said.

“This situation frequently occurs in England and Wales but in that jurisdiction the solicitor at the police station is distinct from the barrister at trial. Here in Cayman, the attorney who had appeared at the police station would most likely also be the trial attorney and so would potentially be forced to become a witness in his own case, and thus may find himself unable to continue to act as the trial attorney.”

Go to police bill

Witnesses truthful, says SG

Cayman News | 14/09/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): The solicitor general described the evidence of the crown’s two teenage eye witnesses as “remarkably similar” as she made her closing statement in the Grand Court on Monday. Summing up the prosecution’s case against Brandon Leslie-Ebanks, Patrick McField and Osborne Douglas for the murder of Omar Samuels, Cheryl Richards QC said the differences related to an independence of recollection rather than because they were unreliable or untruthful. She said witnesses can only say what they remember. Richards said the suggestion they were lying was implausible and did not bear scrutiny.

“Why would the witnesses, in all of Cayman, choose these three young men?” Richards asked rhetorically and why, she added, would one of them have chosen her relatives to blame. “It doesn’t make any sense.” Richards said there was no reason why they would choose these three unless they were there. “It is a terrible thought that they would deliberately frame these young men,” the solicitor generalstated.

Speaking for one and a half hours this morning as she closed the prosecution’s case against the three men for murder, Richards also dismissed the questions raised by the defence about the possible involvement of Martin Trench in this shooting. She questioned why, if the man who they admitted was their friend was responsible, would they go to the police at all. Instead, she suggested, they would have remained quiet.

She dismissed the inconsistencies between the forensic evidence with that given by the eyewitnesses’ evidence, suggesting that the expert witnesses had not pinpointed the actual location of the shooting. Richards also dismissed the inconsistencies between the two eyewitnesses’ statements, pointing to their similarities rather than differences.

Richards described Marcus Manderson as a hostile witness who, she said, had failed to recollect any of his statement to the police about Patrick and Omar arguing in Pepper’s nightclub and the events on the night of the murder but chose only to remember something new — that Samuels had really told him the name of his killer. The solicitor general said he had come to the court deliberately to say that for his own reasons.

She warned the jury that they had to decide the case with careful unbiased judgment, reaching a true verdict following the evidence.

Trevor Burke QC, representing Patrick McField, was the first of the three defence attorneys to sum up on behalf of his client. He noted that the crown had only considered Manderson a hostile witness because his evidence contradicted the crown’s case. Burke said Manderson had been seen with Omar as he lay in the road after being shot and it is very likely his friend would have told him the name of his shooter, but thinking he would not die was probably expecting to take care of the issue himself when he came out of hospital.

Burke said if Manderson was lying it was a remarkable coincidence that the name he revealed was the name of the man whose palm print was found at the scene and who was revealed as the boyfriend and friend of the crown’s eyewitnesses, two things that Manderson could not possibly have ever known. Burke also noted that Manderson’s account to the police of seeing a disagreement between Samuels and a man named Patrick, aka Chico, was clearly not Patrick McField, whose street name was well known to be Apache.

Burke also pointed the jury towards various admissions (points agreed) made by the attorneys, not least the various statements that indicated that Samuels had been drunk and aggressive that night and had picked arguments with and threatened at least six other people with the gun earlier that night.

He pointed to the inconsistencies between the eye witness statements with each other as well as the forensic evidence. He said there was no gunshot residue on McField’s clothes, which he had given to police, and even though the eye witnesses said the gunmen were not wearing gloves, there were no DNA or finger prints from Patrick McField at the scene.

He said there was no corroborating evidence that the defendants were friends or that his client had anything to do with the shooting. “The prosecution has wholly failed to implicate Patrick McField in this murder,” Burke said as he warned the jury not to convict an innocent man because ofthe surge in violent gun crime on the island.

Alastair Malcolm QC, representing Osbourne Douglas, reminded the jury that three separate young men were on trial and they could not be considered as a whole. He said that there was only one eyewitness account about his client, as the second crown witness had not identified him at the police station. He also pointed out that the man who the crown’s witness had said was Douglas was reportedly wearing a mask and uttered only four words in a dark area.

He said the eye witness account was wholly uncorroborated and there was not a shred of physical evidence to place his client at the scene. He said all of the other witnesses had testified that the scene was dark and that the area was noisy and that even if the eyewitness was truthful about being at the scene and seeing the shooting, she could very easily be mistaken in the identification as he questioned the credibility of it, given the circumstances.

Malcolm also pointed to the inconsistencies in the forensic and eyewitness evidence and warned the jury to be careful of cherry picking the evidence when all of it was so contradictory to the crown’s main witness and the only connection to his client. The attorney reminded the jury that the forensic evidence placed whoever shot Samuels right in front of where the teen witness had claimed she had hidden from the gunmen during the shooting, and not where she had told the court she had seen the shooting start. He said all of the other evidence in this case pointed away from the crown’s main witness

“There is no supporting evidence whatsoever that Osbourne Douglas was there,” Malcolm told the jury. “There is no credible evidence to put Osbourne Douglas at the scene or to say he was party to this shooting.”

The court adjourned as Malcolm finished his statement until Tuesday morning at 10am when Nicholas Rhodes is expected to close for Brandon Leslie-Ebanks.

Jobs to be saved for locals

Cayman News | 12/09/2010 | 169 Comments

(CNS): The labour minster said government is backing a private member’s motion to look at making some jobs the preserve of Caymanians only. The day after the premier had publicly berated protectionist attitudes in the country that were driving people and businesses away, his Cabinet colleague stated in the Legislative Assembly last week that government was setting up a committee that would look at which types of professions and specific jobs could be reserved for Caymanians only. Rolston Anglin acknowledged that there would be detractors but, he said, given the levels of Caymanian unemployment and the changing economic fortunes, it was time to look at the issue.

The motion was brought by government backbencher and George Town MLA, Ellio Solomon, who said he knew the importance of diversity and harmonious relationships between foreign workers and locals, but it should not just be politicians’ or the deputy governor’s jobs that were reserved for Caymanians. Government, he said, had a responsibility to find other positions to reserve for the country’s people. He pointed to positions such as the chief immigration officer or the head of the Water Authority as possible posts but added that he wasn’t going to pre-empt what the committee might come up with. He suggested, however, that he expected the jobs would be in the public and private sectors.

He said he believed there were certain jobs that the committee would recommend had to be designated for Caymanians. He told his legislative colleagues that he was only proposing a committee and hoped people would not twist the spirit of the motion.

Dwayne Seymour, government backbench MLA for Bodden Town who seconded the motion, said there were many examples in other countries where the indigenous people were given advantages. He said it should also be the case for Caymanians, reflecting that they were special. He said there were “plots to employ friends and family in jobs Caymanians could do” but he believed if a Caymanian could do a certain job no one else should have it.

Anglin, who announced that government was supporting the motion and would be moving toward establishing the committee, pointed out that, while the subject was likely to cause people to take sides, it needed to be examined. At the risk of accusations of protectionism, Anglin said, the goal was to find out what practical steps would be taken to assist local people. He said employers had a tendency to always want to employ fully trained individuals who were ready to do the work right away rather than face their obligation to train people.

In the past, he said, Caymanians had been able to succeed because of this type of policy and he gave the example of the laws that prohibited work permits for trainee accountants, ensuring Caymanians were trained and then ultimately able to qualify and follow careers in the accountancy profession. He asked members to imagine what might have happened if past legislators had not made those provisions. He said there had been no decisions on which posts would be reserved for Caymanians but this was merely a first step in examining where positions could be reserved to once again help today’s young Caymanians into work.

While Leader of the Opposition Kurt Tibbetts said he and his colleagues supported the spirit of the motion, he wanted to hear more from the government about the proposals and whether it would apply to spouses of Caymanians and how it would work in practice.

Alden McLaughlin also offered some support but warned that the balance between the needs of businesses, both locally as well as foreign owned, to have the most talented staff with the prospects of the wider local population was challenging.

“Not everyone will agree with me but there can be no future for this country that does not include those that are of this country otherwise, what is the point?” McLaughlin asked, agreeing with the spirit of the motion but warned it was not an easy problem to solve otherwise it would have been fixed a log time ago.

He pointed out that the premier always says the country is going to run away business with such protectionist policies but it was an important issue that had to be examined.

The former employment minster pointed out that the main risk to making specific jobs the preserve of Caymanians had to do with numbers. He said it would be difficult to know if there would always be sufficient numbers of Caymanians willing and able to fill any specific jobs designated Caymanian only.

What was needed, he suggested, was to get the immigration system to work better so that each case was properly followed up but he acknowledged that immigration had not really been effective for more than forty years.

The Legislative Assembly was adjourned part way through the debate and is expected to continue next week. Premier McKeeva Bush, who will be giving an address to the country on Tuesday evening about the state of the economy, has not yet contributed to the debate.

OCC: NPO has failed public

Cayman News | 12/09/2010 | 58 Comments

(CNS): The Complaints Commissioner submitted her first own motion report to the Legislative Assembly on Friday highlighting the systematic failure of the National Pensions Office (NPO) to enforce the pensions law and bring justice to hundreds of people whose employers have literally stolen their contributions. Nicola Williams found that the NPO had failed to use its powers under the law effectively, as well as a lack of political will to address the problem, a break down of inter-agency communication and a host of other problems that has led to a complete loss of trust by the public in the NPO. Despite the worrying findings in the report presented to members by MLA Cline Glidden, he made no comment about them and there was no debate in the House.

The Legislative Assembly has never once debated a report produce by the Office of the Complaints Commissioner since the establishment of the office in 2005. Although this is Williams’ first Own Motion, her predecessor John Epp also published a widelist of reports highlighting various failures in government systems that were also ignored by the members of the LA.

However, the report is now a public document which can be obtained from the OCC at the Piccadilly Centre. It reveals how administrative failures have allowed employers to take contributions from employees but not pay that or their matched obligation into a pension over and over again and escape prosecution.

Williams says that the system has given delinquent employers too many chances pay back arrears which has never happened and simply seen the debt grow, and when a decision to prosecute had finally been made it has taken too long.

“Too many chances are given to non-compliant businesses to pay the pension arrears, which are routinely ignored,” the OCC wrote in her report. “In the meanwhile, the outstanding level of arrears increases. Once a decision has been made to prosecute a delinquent employer prosecutions through the court system are too slow and are not an effective enough deterrent to prevent non-compliance.” She pointed out it could take as much as five years for a case to be heard.

While the OCC said the legislation and the regulations regarding the pension law needed substantial revision, she also pointed to other remedies earlier in the process which have not been utilised.

“There is still clear evidence of the inability of related government departments (immigration and health) to share communication,” the report stated. It notes that there has been a lack of will to withhold work permits from delinquent employers or to force them to pay their pensions or cease trading.

The OCC further warned that many employees fear being victimized if they take action against an employer and there is little or no protection for whistleblowers.

Williams explained that the report was initiated as a result of numerous complaints received by the office, which she described as theft. In one case a complainant had reached retirement and found his pension empty because of the failure of his employer to pay the contributions he had collected from him as an employee as well as the employer’s share.

“This is far from an unusual story,” Williams stated. “This is a ticking time bomb for the people of Cayman.”

Despite complaints and evidence that numerous employers are not complying, many of them are still issued trade and business licenses as well as work permits, and some have even received government contracts. She also points out that the problem has spanned a ten-year period and both political parties have failed to tackle the problem.

Recommending a complete overhaul of the system and the law and noting that simply throwing money at the problem wouldn’t work, Williams said that employers were taking advantage of the weakness of the system. She acknowledged that resources had been a problem and that there had never been enough inspectors at the NPO from the start, but the commissioner said the problems with the system went far beyond a shortage of staff.

Williams also said that at the start of the investigation the NPO estimated 670 businesses were non-compliant but as the OCC investigation progressed, Williams said, it became apparent the figure was wide of the mark.

“At present the NPO does not know exactly how many complaints against delinquent employers they are charged with investigating,” the report revealed.

The OCC’s annual report for year ending June 2008 was also submitted to the Legislative Assembly and is now a public document. During the year 2007-08 the office dealt with almost 500 complaints and undertook three own motion investigations.

Read report here

Robbers strike at local store

Cayman News | 12/09/2010 | 38 Comments

(CNS): The manager of a small grocery store in George Town was knocked out by a gunman during an armed robbery late Saturday night (11 September), police said on Sunday morning. George Town detectives are now appealing for witnesses to the incident, which occurred at 22:15 outside the convenience store in the vicinity of Money Gram on Shedden Road. Two men, one armed with a gun, held up the operator of the store as he was leaving. They ordered him to hand over the money and he gave them the bag he was carrying, which contained an undisclosed sum of money, a Blackberry phone and keys. He was then struck on the head by the man with the gun and was unconscious for a short while.

The men escaped on foot in the Myles Road area.

The store’s operator, who received a minor laceration to his head, was treated at the hospital and released. The men, who were wearing dark clothes, gloves and masks, are described as about 6’ tall and stocky, Anyone who was in the area at the time and might have witnessed the men leaving the scene are asked to call the George Town CID at 949 4222 or Crime Stoppers at 800 TIPS (8477).

Turtle farm goes back to roots

Cayman News | 10/09/2010 | 38 Comments

(CNS): The management team at the Turtle Farm says it is dropping the name Boatswain’s Beach and returning to the original name of The Cayman Turtle Farm. Announcing a rebranding of the facility this morning, Managing Director Tim Adam said it was about returning to a simpler more relevant title for both locals and overseas visitors. He added that the rebrand was the start of the next phase of the facility’s development. With the cost cutting exercise over, the farm crew was focusing on attracting more visitors. Adam, who has been in post since January this year and already has a reputation for tackling the difficult issues, spearheaded the move for a return to the original name, which is likely to receive popular support. (Photo Dennie WarrenJr)

With a tightening budget and well aware of the size of the subsidy the facility receives, Adam said it was now time to boost the number of guests coming to the park and improve revenues. The first step towards that was the rebranding exercise. “We will change the name of the facility, dropping entirely the Boatswain Beach reference returning to an earlier, easier, and frankly simpler title of The Cayman Turtle Farm,” the MD said. There will be a short subtitle to indicate the parks other attractions of “Island wildlife encounter”, which describes the interactive nature of the facility.

Adam pointed out that among locals the name had never gone away and overseas guests were merely confused by the name, especially with the reference to ‘beach’ as that was clearly misleading. AS the world’s only turtle farm and a really unique facility, Adam said everyone from cruise line partners and others were all in agreement.

Ken Hydes, a former MD of the facility and now chairman of the board of directors, put his hand up and admitted he had been part of the team that had made the name change. “It is not often that one gets the opportunity to correct one’s mistakes, but now I have,” he said.

With a return to a name that more accurately describes the facility, Adam said that was the first step in a new marketing effort to sell the facility to stay-over tourists, which he said were traditionally under-represented. He said the name change was only the first step in a series of initiatives and programmes at The Cayman Turtle Farm that would enhancie the customer experience and raise our revenues.

Aware of costs, Adam told the press the rebrand and the marketing programme would be phased and would be sensibly managed, keeping costs to a minimum. “Our strategy includes improving local public opinion, specifically by emphasising the world class science, research and wildlife rescue at the Farm,” he said,adding that it would be seeking to segregate the research facilities as a trustworthy charitable non-profit endeavour, enabling easier access to funding from various organisations and international grants.

Adam admitted that despite the programme to enhance traditional cultural events at the facility and to introduce local entertainment, plus an all out push to bring in new visitors, it would be some time before the facility was self-sufficient. He said it was too early and very difficult to say what the optimum number of visitors would be to achieve that goal as it depended on a number of variables. However he said everyone at the farm was committed towards reducing the government subsidy.

Hydes noted that after a number of very tough decisions the farm had already reduced the subsidies and loans which it received from $12 million down to $9 million. But turning the deficit around would take some time. The management team pointed to the debt acquired as a result of the development of the new facility, which was still taking its toll and represented a significant part of the park’s operating costs.

Police call off search for missing prison chef

Cayman News | 10/09/2010 | 9 Comments

(CNS): The RCIPS said this evening that it has called off the search for Brian Ricardo Rattray, who was reported missing yesterday. The man who was a victim of arson recently and a chef at Northward Prison, was last seen by his wife yesterday at around 9am. Police launched a search operation but now say enquiries have concluded that Rattray "is safe and well" and no longer considered to be a missing person. No other details were offered by the police but his family is now aware of his whereabouts. Rattray and his family lost everything when their home was completely destroyed by a fire that is under investigation and believed to have been set deliberately. (Photos courtesy of News27).

Police have not yet confirmed the suspicions but CNS understands that the investigation into the fire may be connected to Rattray’s work at the prison.
The blaze which destroyed the home in Midland Acres, Bodden Town, was set on Monday 30 August while the family was visiting a friend’s house. The 911 emergency centre received the call at around 9pm and dispatched fire and police officers from Bodden Town to the address at 95 Periwinkle Drive. Arriving at the scene, fire officers said the one bedroom concrete structure was engulfed in flames.

Although no one was hurt, the family was left homeless by the fire and lost all of their possessions. A local security firm recently coordinated a fundraising effort to help the couple and their two young children with food, shelter, clothes and toys.

Anyone with information or knows where Brian is can contact the George Town Police Station at 949-4222, Bodden Town Police Station at 947-2220, West Bay Police Station at 949-3999 or Crime Stoppers confidential number at 800-8477.

Ritz owes $6m to public purse

Cayman News | 10/09/2010 | 108 Comments

(CNS): The developer of the Ritz Carlton has defaulted on his outstanding customs payments due to the Cayman Islands government, it was revealed in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday morning. Answering a question from the opposition about government’s collection of various deferred payments on customs duties re agreements made between property developers and the government, the premier admitted the payments had not been made by Stingray and Condo Co. McKeeva Bush said that as a result of the difficult economic circumstances the developer, who owesover $6million to government, had asked for the payment plan to be extended and had not made any payments since March last year.

“With the exception of one entity the government is collecting all deferred payments and customs duties as they become payable in accordance with the specific terms of agreement,” Bush said in response to the question asked by the George Town member, Alden McLaughlin. “The entity that has temporarily suspended payments on its agreement is required to make quarterly payments of $347,818. To date the total amount repaid by the entity is $3,825,996.”

The premier said however that more than $6milllion remained outstanding.

Asked to name the developer, he said it was the Ritz Carlton developer and added that he had submitted a request for an extension to the plan for him to pay back the customs duty he owes. He has also offered to pay interest on it, the premier stated, but a decision had not been made. The difficult economic conditions were cited as the problem and the developer has not requested any write-off of the amount, Bush said. The premier said he did not believe the extension posed any risk that government would not receive all the money owed.

A decision has not yet been made over the deferment, Bush added, as a rate of interest had not been worked out and it had not yet gone to Cabinet for discussion.

But the premier criticised the opposition, as he said they gave the waiver in the first place and had hidden it from the public and the current government did not find out until it took office. But he also said that giving incentives was important to help develop the country, so his government would likely grant the payment plan extension.

Nevertheless, Bush accused the opposition of being misleading and criticised them for offering waivers for schools and churches at the Ritz Carlton Dragon Bay development, which he said would never be built but they had done it to disguise the other concessions. He accused the opposition of being “a dirty bunch” but was forced to withdraw the comment by the speaker.

McLaughlin told CNS, however, that these defaults have nothing to do with the Dragon Bay development.as none of these waivers have yet taken effect since theproject has barely started.

He said the deferred payments related to the original hotel and condo development, which expired during the previous administration and which McLaughlin said the PPM government had insisted the developer begin paying back. The former minister said that payments had been made regularly until they left office but since the election no more quarterly payments had been made.