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Issue 158

Tuesday, 20 October, 2015

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Economic and environmental concerns highlighted The speakers Janine Martins, a young Cayrotestors from various manian whose forbearers died in walks of life united in the Wreck of the Balboa – which is their opposition to the slated to be removed if current CBG dredging of Hog Sty plans proceed, spoke at the rally.

Bay’s reefs at a peaceful pro“This is our fight. This is our test against proposed Cruise time to say we’re not going to just Berthing Facilities (CBF) on sit down and let you destroy that the George Town waterfront on which is so beautiful and integral Saturday 17 October. to our culture, our history and our With many holding placards moral values,” Ms Martins said. “I encouraging a more ecological- feel if my grandmother was here ly friendly port solution, the today she’d be out with her pot or turnout from a cross section of her pan and a wooden spoon bangCayman’s population endured ing, saying ‘No - that is Cayman’.”

Ms Martins told the crowd, “I the heat of the afternoon sun to show their stance and listen don’t want to have said that I don’t to speakers including Janine care about, and that I’m not beneMartins, Bud Johnson and Bo fitting from the gifts they have left Miller.

° Rory J McDonough

P Caymanian demonstrators held their message to passing traffic.

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CAL’s new plane grounded ° Reshma Ragoonath

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ayman Airways’ newest plane, the 34-seater Saab 340B+, remains grounded nearly two months after its presentation in August.

Deputy Premier and Minister of District Administration, Tourism, and Transport Hon Moses Kirkconnell, speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, confirmed that the Saab 340B+ remains in its hanger.

The reason, he said, was the fact that the pilots and crew for the new aircraft are yet to receive their certification and complete their training to operate the newest addition to the Cayman Airways fleet.

The 34-seater Saab 340B+ aircraft, which landed in August and was branded with the iconic crest of the Cayman f lag emblazoned on its tail, was listed to service the Grand Cayman/Cayman Brac route exclusively.

According to the Cayman Airways website, the Saab will begin its flights when active service is launched to replace the 30-seat Embraer E120 service, which is currently operated under a wet-lease arrangement with Inter-Caribbean Airlines.

However Mr Kirkconnell told the LA that the Saab cannot be operated on its assigned route at this time because of the training and certification of the personnel.

He also explained that the de-registering of the aircraft, which was registered to operate in the US, and the re-registering to operate in Cayman was a time- consuming process.

However he assured that customers using the Grand Cayman/Cayman Brac route will have the comfort of the new aircraft soon.

“The pilots went to Miami to get through the training and they have to have (to get) their check up rights and their certification before they can fly, which is what they are waiting on. Cayman Airways crews are being trained to fly the Saab,” the Deputy Premier said.

He said the four pilots assigned to the Saab have gone through their simulations and exercises and have the expertise to operate the aircraft which will be fully manned by Cayman Airways staff.

The minister, in response to a question from Opposition Leader Hon McKeeva Bush, said the total cost of the Owen Roberts International

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4 Kellie McGee

YCLA winner Cayman Airways’ newest plane –a 34-seater Saab 340B+ which remains grounded.

Airport expansion project is budgeted at CI$55M, which is inclusive of construction, consultant and government fees.

He said Cayman Airways also purchases ramps which would assist the elderly and wheelchair-bound passengers with easy access while boarding and disembarking.

The ramps, he said, exclusively belong to Cayman Airways and were purchased at a cost of CI$50,000 for the ramps compatible with the 737300 jets and CI$25,000 for the ramp to be used with the Saab.

He said the estimated life span for the ramps as 10 to 15 years.

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Issue 158

Tuesday, 20 October, 2015

LOCAL

Law Society dismisses McLean’s allegations ° Reshma Ragoonath

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he Cayman Islands Law Society has disputed claims by East End MLA Arden McLean that Caymanian attorneys are being stifled and sidelined by foreign firms.

In fact the Society, in response to questions from The Cayman Reporter, said it, as well as its members, continue to contribute to the development of the human resources and the legal fraternity in Cayman.

The Society, through a brief statement, said Caymanians are promoted and have opportunities of advancement, contrary to what Mr McLean claimed.

“The Cayman Islands Law Society and its member firms encourage, promote and provide every opportunity for Caymanians to thrive and advance within the legal profession based on merit,” the Society said.

Last week Mr McLean, during his contribution to the debate on the Legal Aid Bill in the Legislative Assembly, contended that

increased rights to free legal representation enshrined in the Cayman Islands Constitution of 2009.

Changes in the Legal Aid Bill allow for the creation of a new director post for the administration of legal aid and disbursement of funds; a cap of $20K on legal aid expenditure per case; and moving responsibility for the legal aid budget from the judiciary to the executive branch of government.

Mr McLean objected to these issues in his contribution. He claimed legal aid is often the only means by which some Caymanian PHOTO: FILE attorneys can survive because of President of the Cayman the larger foreign firms who get Islands Law Society Alasdair the lion’s share of money.

Robertson.

He claimed that Caymanian attorneys are not made partners Caymanian attorneys are being at foreign firms and are often squeezed out of earning a living sidelined in favour of new foreign by big foreign firms and those attorneys despite being employed employed within those firms at the firm for longer periods. are overlooked for professional However the Society chaladvancement. lenged these claims from the MLA. He voted against the Legal It said that foreign firms do Aid Bill, through which govern- promote Caymanian attorneys ment seeks to reduce spending on to partners and over the years the legal aid while also adhering to the number of Caymanian attorneys

are licensed attorneys currently practising at law firms in the Cayman Islands, with over 60 of these at partner level. Employment growth in the financial services sector increased by 6.3% in 2014 from 2013,” the Society said.

The Society also denied claims by the MLA that they do not make meaningful contributions to the development of Cayman or the profession.

The Society pointed to the number of scholarships and opportunities that are afforded to Caymanians in the legal PHOTO: FILE profession.

“Cayman’s law sector also proEast End Member Arden vides scholarships, further educaMcLean who accused foreign law firms of stifling and sidetion and legal experience opporlining Caymanian attorneys. tunities for Caymanians working within the profession. Between in those positions has increased. 2007 and 2012, Cayman Islands The Society said that there is a Law Society member firms high number of Caymanian part- granted 110 legal scholarships, 203 non-legal scholarships and ners practicing in Cayman.

“The Cayman Islands’ finan- 27 opportunities for Caymacial services sector, including the nian lawyers to be seconded to legal sector, is the largest employ- firms overseas - a 133% increase er of Caymanians. In the legal from 2007 to 2012,” the Society sector, over 200 Caymanians explained.

Unemployment rates rise, underemployment falls

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h i l e u n d eremploy ment rates have seen a slight decrease, the unemployment rate in the Cayman Islands has creeped up nearly a full percent from Fall 2014 to Spring 2015, according to “The Cay man Islands’ Labour Force Sur vey Report Spring 2015.”

In Fall 2014, unemployment was at 4.7 percent, which inched up to 5.6 percent in Spring, 2015.

“The number of unemployed residents reached 2,248,” stated the Minister for Finance and Economic Development Hon Marco Archer.

“This is higher by 389 persons compared to Fall 2014.”

He added that the majority of the increase was comprised of both

Non-Caymanians and Permanent Residents who have rights to work.

Also of note in the “The Cayman Islands’ Labour Force Survey Report Spring 2015”, underemployment rates have fallen slightly.

Underemployment, is defined to be when a person has part-time work, but is seeking full-time employment.

The report also defines underemployment by ‘involuntary part-time’ work.

The Economics & Statistics Office reports that the rate of 4.9 percent of underemployed workers in Fall 2014 fell to 4.5 percent in Spring 2015.

Of the underemployment rates, males comprised 2.7 percent and females, 2.3 percent. Also, Caymanians reported a higher rate of underemployment at 3.4% than Permanent Residents with right to work at 2.8%

and Non-Caymanians at 1.5%. People 65 and older report an underemployment rate of 7% while those who have only completed a middle year education report a rate of 8%.

Minister Archer added that, “Notwithstanding an increase in unemployment, total employment expanded by 0.5 percent to 37,900, an indication that the local economy remains on the growth path.”

Former MLA assistant claims unfair dismissal

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he former personal assistant to George Town MLAs Winston Connolly and Roy McTaggart has filed an unfair dismissal claim against the two politicians with the Department of Labour and Pensions (DLP.) Christine Rae-Smith was arrested in August on suspicion of two robberies. She was held in police custody for four days and released without charge. To date, she has not been charged with a crime.

Ms Rae-Smith, who was employed as both personal assistant and constituent liaison officer in the two C4C affiliated representatives’ MLA Constituent Office, filed an unfair dismissal claim with the Department of Labour on 12 October.

Employed with the MLAs since 1 July 2013, Ms Rae-Smith was in a position of trust with the constituent office and also formed a separate beach-cleaning company with Mr Connolly prior to her arrest.

She alleges that her former employers wrongfully terminated her employment and owe her compensation.

Along with her complaint, Ms RaeSmith attaches correspondence with the lawyer acting for the two MLAs, Mr Michael Alberga of Thorp and Alberga.

The former political aide says that she has not had a face-to face meeting or any communication from her former employers, but has solely been in contact with Mr Alberga to sort out the terms of her “separation agreement.”

She includes in her filing a copy of an email she sent to Mr Connolly and Mr McTaggart on 12 August, noting that

neither of the two men had answered or returned her telephone calls to them.

Ms Rae-Smith also attached a copy of a draft separation agreement sent to her by Mr Alberga to her complaint filing with the DLP. She did not agree to the original version of document and claims that her former employers owe her more money than they were willing to pay her in the draft agreement.

In later proposals, Mr Alberga advised Ms Rae-Smith that the MLAs’ constituent office was being closed, and therefore her position was being made redundant. Ms Rae-Smith disputes this claim, saying the representatives have not announced the closure of their office, and that the recent gas price petition listed the office as a location for dropping off signed petitions.

Mr McTaggart and Mr Connolly were contacted by The Cayman Reporter for comment on Ms Rae-Smith’s labour complaint, but a response had not been received by press time.

At the time of Ms Rae-Smith’s arrest, the duo issued a statement saying, “We are shocked and saddened to learn of the serious allegations made against her by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS).

These allegations are unrelated to the work she performs as our Personal Assistant in the MLA office. We hope that the RCIPS can complete their investigations expeditiously so that justice may be served and the matter resolved in a timely manner.”

While she was not a civil servant, Ms RaeSmith’s prior post was a political appointment publicly funded by the constituency allowance that all MLAs receive in order to set-up and staff their constituent offices.

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Politician beats policeman in boxing match

PHOTO CREDIT: TAMM Y WELDS

Bodden Town MLA Alva Suckoo (L) faced off with policeman Michael “Bobby” Peart (R) and won.

° Monique Spence

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odden Town MLA Alva Suckoo faced off with policeman Michael “Bobby” Peart in what the former described as a “fun” but “not easy” fight at Saturday’s (17 October) charity event ‘Saturday Fight Night’. After fighting all three two-minute rounds it was decided that the politician trumped the policeman.

The first installment of the event series, held at the Lions Centre, also featured local boxers including Tafari Ebanks and Hopkins Ebanks, alongside boxers from the United States, the Bahamas and Trinidad & Tobago.

Mr Suckoo said he participated in the event to raise funds for the Cayman Islands Amateur Boxing Association and also to help open a community gym in

Bodden Town.

“The boxing programme is always in need of money, and events like this give us an opportunity to showcase our young boxing talent, and at the same time raise much needed funds.

The event turned a decent profit, and that will go to help the programme. Young up-and-coming boxers really need to get off island to gain experience, to grow their skill set, so money raised will help us achieve that,” said Mark Woollard of Silverlight, organiser of the event with the Cayman Islands Boxing Association.

Though younger, less experienced and shorter than his opponent Mr Suckoo, 44, who weighs 215 pounds and is 5 feet 8 inches tall managed to get the upper hand in his match against Mr Peart, 48 who weighs 210 pounds and is 6 feet tall.

Describing the experience Mr Suckoo said, “I had fun but it was not easy. Mr Peart is a former pro and has a lot of experience. I hurt him in the first round but he almost had me in the canvas in the third. I got tired and just couldn’t get out of the way of the punches and he was just getting his second wind by then.

“I actually thought I lost the fight at the end but the first two rounds helped me. I have a lot of respect and admiration for Michael. He was also one of the referees and worked before and after the fight.

He supports the programme wholeheartedly and through his day job of being a policeman I know his passion for our young people comes from his experience on the streets,” said Mr Suckoo.

The event was originally billed as Cayman against the Bahamas.

However, due to the larger build of the Bahamian team who did not match up well with the Cayman team’s smaller build, organisers had to resort to other countries.

“When we encountered some issues with Tafari getting called up to the World Champs, and Eduardo and Roger Watler getting injured on the run-up, we had to look elsewhere for match-ups, to maintain a full boxing card for the night. So we brought boxers in from Trinidad and the USA to ensure we delivered a quality night of boxing,” explained Mr Woollard.

In the other matches Chamberia Dalhouse beat Hepseba Angel by a split decision; and Rashawn Powery beat Brandon Cunha of East End for the second time having fought him earlier this year.

Blaze Bodden beat Patrick Hughes in a very good bout. The experienced Bahamian heavyweight Davan Hamilton beat Andre Hind of Tropical Gardens; and in a barnstormer of a fight, Christian McDonald of Trinidad beat Fernando ‘Kid’ Calderon of the USA in an Elite bout.

Hopkins Ebanks stole the show with a unanimous win over the talented Reynold Belcon of Trinidad.

With over 250 people in attendance ‘Saturday Fight Night’ was a success but organisers hope that the event series will

PHOTO CREDIT: CHRISTEN SUCKOO

(L-R) Tessa Suckoo, Alva Suckoo and Elkie Rose.

“These young people are the real fighters and we are doing this for them,” he said adding that even Premier Hon Alden McLaughlin got in on the action and did a mitts demonstration with Coach Norman Wilson.

“Boxing is an excellent avenue to keeping our kids physically and mentally focused and I know it has saved a number of young men from going down the wrong path,” Mr Suckoo added.

The next show, Elite Marble & Granite - Saturday Fight Night II, is already slated for 19 February.

This time organisers are bringing a team in from South London, England to fight Cayman’s best.

Mr Suckoo noted that Mr Peart PHOTO CREDIT: TAMMY WELDS asked for a rematch at this show but the politician admitted that Premier Hon Alden McLaughlin got in on the action and did he took quite a beating from the last match and needs more time a mitts demonstration with Coach Norman Wilson. to consider it.

“Based on how I feel today I will grow by reputation as it continues have to give that some thought, I throughout the year. am pretty sore and bruised. Boxing “Overall the event went well, may look easy, but take my word I wanted to see a much bigger for it, it’s not!” he said. crowd come out to support our Any company or individual boxers but each event will grow interested in sponsoring the Febin popularity and support,” said ruary event are asked to contact Mr Suckoo.

Mr Woollard on 938-6700.

Kellie McGee named 2015 YCLA recipient

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ellie McGee, 27, was named the 2015 Young Caymanian Leadership Award recipient at the annual gala event held at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.

Her humble acceptance speech was conveyed in a gentle, but emotional voice. “We’ve seen tonight the four people I’ve had the honour of standing beside,” she said, paying tribute to the other nominees.

“I know it wasn’t an easy decision.

I’m so honoured to have met you guys. You guys are incredible.”

Ms McGee spoke about the importance of mentorship during her acceptance speech, noting a friend who mentored her when she spent her final two years of high school in Swaziland, Africa as a United World College Scholarship recipient. Her friend, was also a scholarship recipient and helped her through math and chemistry, as she was struggling academically for the first time.

He went on to study with a full scholarship at Harvard University, constructing incubators for premature infants, and later went on to work for the Clinton Foundation.

“I too am just an ordinary young lady from Savannah Newlands, who just happened to be fortunate enough to have a series of incredible mentors that believed in me and saw potential, even sometimes when I sometimes didn’t see it myself.”

Her friend and mentor, she recalled, was from a humble family, and grew up with no running water in his house. His family had an outhouse and he had to share a bedroom with his ‘many siblings.’ Still, she said that his mentors saw the potential in him even though his family had nothing.

Ms McGee said she is looking forward to “returning the gift of mentorship to the youth of Cayman.”

“I am a 120 per cent believer that there is a world of potential inside each and every one of our youth, regardless of family circumstance, background or disability,” she emphasized.

Her YCLA nomination came during a record number of nominations.

Of the 39 nominations, the other four finalists were: Taylor Burrowes-Nixon, 36, of George Town; Robbie Crib, 25, of South Sound; Rebekah Jefferson, 33, of West Bay; and Stephen Watler, 35, of Savannah.

The nominees were all carefully examined, based on a number of criteria including possessing an outstanding moral character, personal and professional achievement, volunteerism and community involvement, as well as a strong overall commitment to mentoring young people.

Ms McGee currently works for Ironshore Pharmaceuticals and Development Inc. She also serves as a consultant to the World Health Organization in

Kellie McGee Geneva and is engaged to be mar- “Sometimes it simply takes that perried early in 2016. son that mentor to help someone She pledged to continue the realize their full potential,” she legacy of mentorship that has said, “and I just can’t wait for the helped her during her own journey. journey over the next year.”

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Legal aid changes just a “band-aid” says defence attorney ° Tina Trumbach

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ocal defence attorney Peter Polack says the recently approved Legal Aid Bill 2015 will do nothing to support the rights of accused persons, and will instead limit defence attorneys.

The country’s lawmakers approved the bill at the current Legislative Assembly session last week.

Prior to the LA debate on the bill, which saw both the government and Opposition Leader united in support of the changes, Mr Polack called it a “band-aid” for a broken legal system.

“The Attorney-General’s tardy attempt to put more bandaids on the legal aid system only oppresses those charged with ultimate responsibility for criminal defence of accused persons, the number of which continue to rise unless it involves theft from a charity and you are from the UK,” said Mr Polack, referring to the recent decision by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) not to prosecute the former manager of the Pines Retirement Home for an alleged $300K theft.

Mr Polack, a vociferous and often caustic analyst and critic of the local criminal justice system, said, “This is a thinly veiled attempt to shore up a non-performing Portfolio to hamstring defence lawyers and their attempts to exercise the full rights of an accused person under our system of justice.”

The Legal Aid Bill 2015 transforms the country’s legal aid system.

The bill gives new oversight to an as yet unspecified Cabinet minister and puts the disbursement of funds under the control of a newly created director of legal aid.

“This poorly thought out idea followed other acts of genius which sought to destroy our legal system such as the removal of preliminary inquiries or immediate transmission of certain cases to the Grand Court without the

necessary provision of a proper court building and the resources to staff it,” Mr Polack said.

While the need for legal aid has arguably grown through increased rights to legal representation under the Cayman Islands’ 2009 Constitution, the Legal Aid Bill 2015 aims to control costs and is explicit in its limitation of legal aid grants.

To approve expenditure over $20K in any one case, the legal aid director will require written approval from the court administrator and the clerk of the court.

While the bill increases the standard hourly rate for legal aid work to $160 per hour (it is currently $135) it stipulates that “no attorney at-law should be paid for more than ten hours of services in one day.” The bill also limits the hiring of foreign counsel.

Further limits are placed on providing legal aid in family law matters, and the bill clearly states that “Legal aid will not be granted in divorce proceedings or for ancillary matters in such proceedings which do not relate to the care of a child.”

Under the new law, legal aid will also not be provided in some civil cases, specifically defamation, realtor actions, proceedings relating to any election, and other civil matters.

There is also provision to appeal denials of legal aid, to either the Chief Officer of the relevant ministry or in some cases to a judge in chambers.

The Legal Aid Bill 2015 addresses the constitutional obligation to provide “duty counsel” offering legal advice to people who have been arrested prior to being interviewed by police. It states that individuals must be informed of their right to legal counsel by arresting officers, and must be given access to a lawyer, free of charge if unable to pay.

The government legal aid budget increased dramatically in the 2015-2106 budget year to $2.7 million, from a previous annual average of approximately $1.5 million per year.

The Cayman Reporter has also previously reported on concerns voiced by Stefan Baraud regarding potential abuse of the legal aid system. Mr Baraud told us that his estranged wife should not qualify for legal aid, but has been receiving public funds to pay her attorneys in their divorce and child custody proceedings. This despite a clear statement on the

Attorney Peter Polack says recently approved changes to the legal aid system will “hamstring” defence lawyers.

This was revealed in the LA in May by Attorney General Hon Sam Bulgin, who said the rise in costs was largely due to increased requirements for legal representation enshrined in the 2009 constitution as well as the new Children Law. As the demand for legal aid has grown, complaints on the equity of its distribution have also surfaced.

As the Cayman Reporter has previously reported, Jeremy Bodden, after being denied legal aid several times, has called for an audit of the current system and formally presented his concerns in a letter to Minister of Finance Hon Marco Archer and Leader of the Opposition Hon McKeeva Bush earlier this year.

Mr Bodden said he is concerned, based on his personal experience, that “there is no proper regulatory oversight” on the method by which legal aid is awarded.

His personal experience refers to an ongoing civil dispute relating to child custody. He said he first applied for legal aid in August 2012 and was granted aid up to the amount of $5,000 at the time.

Subsequently, he has had to represent himself.

Attorney General Hon Samuel Bulgin judiciary website stating that legal aid is not provided in family matters unless child endangerment issues exist.

When asked for his views on problems with the current system, Attorney General Hon Sam Bulgin said, “Notwithstanding the challenges, in general the Law is working to fulfill the intended objectives which includes to ensure that in appropriate cases where persons are unable to afford private legal representation the state provides the funding to allow them to be represented before the courts.”

Asked in September how the legal aid bill will address concerns about equity and fairness in the provision of legal aid, Mr Bulgin said, “The fundamental changes that the bill will be seeking to promote will be more fully discussed during the debate in the Legislative Assembly.”

During the LA debate on the legal aid bill, East End MLA Arden McLean voiced his concern

that the provisions could “erode” the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of government, given the involvement of a Cabinet minister in legal aid policy.

Mr McLean and North Side MLA Ezzard Miller, both independent representatives, were the only two lawmakers to vote against the bill in the LA. The minister to be given oversight of legal aid, the title of whom is not specified in the bill, will not have direct control over decisions on the grant of funds, but rather “after consultation with the Cabinet, may give such general directions as to the policy to be followed by the Director in the performance of his functions…”

Cabinet, in conjunction with the Chief Justice, will determine the income threshold for the grant of legal aid, as well as the “amount of any contribution an assisted person may be ordered to pay.”

The Cabinet minister with responsibility for legal aid may also use his or her discretion in deciding whether or not to recover contributions owed by legal aid recipients and can take into account any potential hardship caused by enforcing repayment.

In the former UDP administration, control of the country’s legal aid budget was placed under the control of the former minister of community affairs, Mike Adam. It remains to be seen which ministry and minister will receive this responsibility under the current Progressives-led government.

Under the UDP government, a proposal was made to completely overhaul the legal aid system by creating a public defender’s office staffed by a roster of attorneys paid by the government. The proposal was never implemented and received significant opposition when mooted in 2009, notably by current Premier Hon Alden McLaughlin.

Currently, responsibility for the legal aid budget falls directly under the courts, led by Chief Justice Hon Anthony Smellie.

Motorcyclist in serious condition after accident

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mergency personnel responded to a report of a motorcycle accident around 4 p.m. on Sunday, 18 October 2015.

According to the RCIPS, emergency services in the Eastern Districts were notified of a motor collision in Frank Sound near the junction with Seaview

Road. W hen they arrived, they fell from his motorcycle.

He is in serious condition and discovered that a 25-year-old male from Spotts Newlands, has been transferred to the Health Bodden Town received serious City Medical facility for further injuries after losing control and treatment.

The matter remains under i nvest igat ion by u n i for m officers from the Bodden Town Police Station.

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The Cayman Reporter seeks to promote social and economic development, better understanding and unity among all the people of the Cayman Islands.

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Editor: Tammi Sulliman Letters to the editor and online forum policy The Cayman Reporter invites correspondence on all issues.

In the interest of openness and transparency, we will not accept correspondence that is unsigned. We request that all letters be submitted with a name for publication regardless of content, and names and contact details of the writer be supplied.

We will in special circumstances protect a writer’s identity only after we have established good cause for anonymity, otherwise we will not be able to publish the correspondence.

Letters can be e-mailed to news@ caymanreporter.com Writers may also drop their letters into the Cayman Reporter offices at #222, Mirco Centre on North Sound Road in George Town.

Recently released data shows the unemployment rate has climbed some 1 per cent over the last six months, leaving an extra almost 400 people out of work.

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hat’s more than 2,200 people in a jobless state.

Caymanian unemployment sits at more than 1,500. As a result, the unemployment rate climbed to 5.6 percent earlier this year.

So much for the budget projection that unemployment would drop and stay below 5 per cent.

While the underemployment rate has dropped to 2.5 percent, there are still nearly 1,000 people with part-time work looking for work to put in more hours.

This data f lies in the face of anyone who thinks the struggle is not real for more than just a handful in our community.

Regardless of whether the recent increase is comprised of permanent residents with the right to work, we are still talking about thousands who are unemployed.

These are Caymanians, status holders and permanent residents who cannot feed their families,

pay their bills, keep roofs over their heads.

Nothing operates in isolation.

We only have to look at figures revealed by government earlier this year when 17 properties were foreclosed on within the first three months. One wonders how many to date have been taken back by the banks? It certainly appears we are on track to beat last year’s record which hit 23 reported for 2013.

What is most concerning is that while there is an increase on the jobless front, the social services are still lacking in resources and manpower to cater to its people.

At a press conference back in July, Finance Minister Hon Marco Archer said the number one reason given by families who have lost their homes in foreclosure is the breakup of the family unit, particularly in cases involving divorce where alimony or child support is not

The success story many come here to find is out of reach for too many of those who have called these islands home for generations. received. The second most common reason is job loss.

At that same press conference, the minister acknowledged the social impacts from these numbers are great. As a result, government is now offering financial advice to homeowners struggling to make ends meet.

At some point, when will the country take its head out of the sand and take a hard look at what

The three gravest threats facing our world

° John Lloyd (REUTERS) he Nobel Prize for economics, the dismal science, went this year to an optimist: Angus Deaton, of Princeton University. His book, “The Great Escape,” is in large part fanfare for the common man and woman: They have done much better over the past century than they ever have before. As David Leonhardt, the editor of The Upshot at The New York Times wrote, Deaton’s book shows that “by the most meaningful measures — how long we live, how healthy and happy we are, how much we know — life has never been better. Just as important, it is continuing to improve.”

It’s nice to read that, because it cuts against the trend in global punditry. Deaton’s book is like the song of the lark — the sweeter for rising, if only for a minute, above warnings of doom.

Still, even for Deaton, it’s hardly all sunshine. His largest fear — global warming — has become so familiar that it’s easy to forget the sheer magnitude of its potential destruction. No, it’s not going to blow us up. But most scientists believe it could prove much more lethal to masses of people than any terrorist group has so far. A recent warning from the Committee of Concerned Scientists — and most scientists who work on the environment are concerned — put it starkly: “Unless we take immediate action to reduce global warming emissions, these impacts will continue to intensify, grow ever more costly and damaging, and increasingly affect the entire planet.”

presents itself on the landscape?

We have hidden poverty stricken areas, carefully tucked away behind the veneer of opulence and “first-world” amenities. It’s so easy to ignore the harsh reality of some people’s lives when we are not forced to see it every single day.

This country is polarised between the “haves and havenots”. And the majority of those who “have” don’t spare the time to see what’s happening on the other side of the tracks.

The success story many come here to find is out of reach for too many of those who have called these islands home for generations. This is obvious by the latest data which shows more than half of the entire workforce in Cayman earns less than $2,800 a month, with over 40 percent being local workers.

It’s time to raise the curtain and expose the hidden worlds that are convenient to forget.

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Residents walk through the Breezy Point neighborhood which was left devastated by Hurricane Sandy in the New York borough of Queens, November 12, 2012.

You may be able to live with — even if you are moved by — future flooding in far-flung parts of the world: But when New York City becomes regularly f looded in events like Hurricane Sandy(three years ago this month: 200 dead, $75 billion in damages), then sympathy will turn to horror.

In Africa and parts of the Middle East (not to mention California), however, water is not everywhere but rather nowhere. Violent struggles over its availability are already evident, and will get worse. This isn’t a fear voiced by ranting liberal ecologists — it’s a truth acknowledged by the United States military.

Jihadist terror, centered in but not confined to the Middle East, has nothing on that scale. But when the better-organized groups acquire weapons of mass destruction, we will witness a paradigm shift in their menace. Already civil and religious wars are roaring through the Middle

East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, the Caucasus — and terrorist outfits are probing into China, Europe and North America.

Skeptics note that the leaders of jihadist groups are ignorant of the complexities of biological, chemical and nuclear weapon development. But since Islamic State is now estimated to earn $1.5 million per day from what the FT calls “minutely managed” oil production for which it “actively recruits skilled engineers,” it seems unlikely that it cannot attract skilled nuclear scientists, if the price is right.

Can’t the United States, indispensable nation as it is, do something? Yes, it can and it does. But the United States’ military intervention against ISIS, as the group is also known, has failed to stem the militant group’s growth.

W hile the United States remains the paramount global military power, its inf luence is

eroding at a time when there is little world consensus on climate change and terrorism. Russia, among major powers, seems least disposed to common action: Its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and its continued sponsoring of the rebellion in the country’s east have so weakened a state still mired in corruption that serious people now speak of another popular revolt.

Strength seems more efficiently deployed by Russia (in spite of its economic decline) and growth is still high (relative to the rest of the world) in China, in spite of its slowdown. By contrast, crucial U.S. allies in the European Union now face continuing uncertainty in the common currency and a massive refugee crisis. These issues have fuelled fears that the union may dissolve back into separate nation states.

Europeans have never had a great attachment to the

European Commission and the European Parliament, other than taking advantage of the former’s largesse for national projects.

National politics remain the focus of what loyalty there is to the democratic institutions in the EU – but even that is fading. The Economist noted that “between 1980 and 2000 the cause of democracy experienced only a few setbacks, but since 2000 there have been many. And democracy’s problems run deeper than mere numbers suggest. Many nominal democracies have slid towards autocracy, maintaining the outward appearance of democracy through elections, but without the rights and institutions that are equally important.”

Even the threat of nuclear Armageddon, a relic of decades past, has reared its head again, as the U.S. and Russia race to modernize their nuclear forces. Sam Nunn, the U.S. senator and veteran nuclear disarmament activist, said earlier this year, “trust has been eroded to the point of almost being destroyed. You got a war going on right in the middle of Europe. You got a breakdown of the conventional forces treaty, you got the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) treaty under great strain, you got tactical nuclear weapons all over Europe.

It’s a very dangerous situation.”

We have not had, for nearly three decades, an existential threat held insistently over our heads. Now, even as the luckier of us live in what most of our grandparents would have seen as luxury, we have several. To live beyond these threats rather than die en masse because of them will take much more focus than we have wished to muster.

THE CAYMAN REPORTER

COMMENTARY

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Issue 158

Tuesday, 20 October, 2015

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Page 7

THEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY Bishop Nicholas Sykes

The healing mission

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n a rather sad report about two decades ago, coming out of central or South America, some of the indigenous peoples had set up a posthumous trial of Christopher Columbus. They found him guilty, and then proceeded to shoot arrows at his effigy, being the nearest they could get to actual execution. Elsewhere in that country, “Hispanic Day” was being observed in a manner that honoured the memory of Columbus. But in many United States locations what was “Columbus Day” has been given different designations, such as “Indigenous People’s Day”.

Columbus’ memory has been sullied because of his association with a mission that has turned sour for subsequent generations of indigenous peoples in this hemisphere. There is no question that it is mistaken to judge the happenings of one historical period with the perspectives of another. Nevertheless, it seems undoubtedly true

that the European mission to the new world, both in Columbus’ activities and later, involved for the people of the Americas conquest, servitude, sickness, encroachment on their lands, a deteriorating quality of life, and violent induced death. It is true that in the midst of this trouble, some godly men were sent by the Church to do good for the people and to protect them somewhat, as well as to bring them the Good News of eternal salvation, but the coverage of such missions or sub-missions was very patchy.

Ironically, the people who came to conquer, sometimes referred to as the conquistadors, often thought and spoke of their own mission as the coming forth into a new land of the Cross of Christ to conquer. Understandably, the repercussions of this have been serious, up to the present day.

The post-Christian mind of our own time points fingers at all this for proof that the Christian religion is at best no less warlike than any other religion, and at worst historically the most destructive of all. The Name of Christ has been dishonoured amongst the world’s peoples (cf. Romans 2: 23-24) because of many such activities of those who might be identified with the Faith through their Baptism and their cultural ethnicity, rather than through their spirit and their desire to please God. So are the judgements against Christianity of these voices of today’s post-Christians correct?

The scriptures we will draw upon here give us a perspective on the

matter that is most important.

These describe comings and goings, but in no case does a human enforcement of religion enter the picture. If in the European mission to the new world there were those that claimed a religious or a Christian motive for their conquering, it appears they did not consider scriptural texts such as these, as providing a model for them. This seems to have been a mistake of theirs.

Considering such texts may help us to avoid making comparable mistakes, or mistakes of a similar character, ourselves.

Especially whenever we recall St. Luke the Physician and Evangelist we should appropriately consider the overall mission of the church that he records to be fundamentally one of healing. Jesus gave that power to the 72 (or 70) going in pairs as his advance party to places He intended to visit (S. Luke 10: 1-9).

Not only were they to declare in these places the imminent Kingdom of God, but they were to demonstrate that Kingdom by their acts of healing. Moreover, the style of these missionaries was to be the very opposite of enforcement. In a phrase that says it all, Jesus told them He was sending them as LAMBS IN THE MIDST OF WOLVES (v.3). Far from having armour or indeed any kind of protection they were to go without provision, money or spare footwear. They were to be wholly dependant on the willing provisions of those to whom they went with their powers to heal and their news of

the Kingdom of God. What if the prospective hosts were unwelcoming? They would indeed be warned that they were making the gravest mistake of their lives.

But then the missioners would decisively leave them and move on. If those to whom they went chose to mistreat them, they had nothing other than spiritual and moral force to react to it. The “wolves” would have to choose to desist from mauling the “lambs”.

On this fundamental model of mission it is indeed unfortunate that the European mission to the New World, identified (rightly or wrongly) as a Christian mission and undertaken to those without knowledge of Christ, was often undertaken not as lambs to wolves, but rather as the reverse.

Interestingly the New Testament itself may describe (Acts 16: 6ff) the very first intentionally Christian mission ever undertaken after the Resurrection into Europe – at least it is the first we have any reliable record about, because S. Peter and others may have reached Europe before this.

How did St. Paul’s mission to Europe begin? Possibly as the answer to a prayer from a European, a man from Macedonia, whom St. Paul saw in a vision. In the vision, “a man of Macedonia was standing beseeching him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’” The mission to Europe was certainly not with the intention of conquest or gain. St. Paul and St. Luke, Silas and Timothy went to Europe to HELP the people of Europe with the Gospel. And in their turn Europeans

down the centuries have conducted missions to many other areas.

Many have been conducted with a similar spirit to the mission of St. Paul and St. Luke, Silas and Timothy to Europe. Not a few missions, however, including that of the great explorer Columbus, have been of mixed motivation, when motives of gain and conquest came to overshadow motives of temporal and eternal caring.

Why are we where we are, we should ask ourselves, both those of us who have come here from elsewhere, and those either who have come from here, or who belong here. And we should remember that our whole life is a mission, for from an eternal perspective none of us belongs to the earth, as our true destiny and home must designate us as citizens of eternity. What sort of a mission on earth are we conducting? Is it one after the model of S. Paul, or one after the model of the conquistadors? When the account books are finally opened, will it be said that our mission here on earth was one of caring for people and helping them reach the kingdom of God? Or will it be said that he “did well” for himself but cared little or not at all for those he was sent to? Let us pray that after the example of St. Luke the Evangelist and physician we may bring truth, light and peace to our communities and may be a healing presence.

For when the chips are down, so to speak, it is the eternal perspective that counts.

For commentary, information and devotional material see www. churchofenglandcayman.com

Data potentially available to identify Islamic State leaders ° Aki Peritz (REUTERS) here’s a widely held theory across the Middle East that Islamic State’s command structure is dominated by Saddam Hussein’s former military officers. This is regularly cited as one possible reason for the group’s military success. Some claim “ex-Baathist Saddam loyalists” now control Ramadi. One anonymous Baathist member said the group was key in capturing Nineveh province.

Paradoxically, this might suit Washington just fine because it would give the U.S. military a better sense of who the enemy is, what their weaknesses are and how to more accurately track them down. If Islamic State is a neo-Baathist organization run by Hussein’s former Sunni military officers, there should be a long paper trail. In fact, the United States might already have information tying many Islamic State militants to family, friends or hometowns.

Hussein’s militar y kept extensive personnel records on high-ranking officers, files that the U.S. military likely captured during the occupation of Iraq or over the past decade. If Islamic

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State commanders are former Iraqi military officers, Washington might have far more data on them than first assumed.

The Baath Party also kept significant records because 10 percent of Iraqis were party members. Additional patterns might emerge when comparing lists of who was captured and held at U.S. military detention facilities during the occupation.

Many Iraqis probably also know who various Islamic State leaders are. During the occupation, the U.S. military repeatedly discovered that Iraqis on both sides of the terrorism dynamic were linked through blood, clan or marriage.

The connections are convoluted – akin to a “Billy and Whitey Bulger” scenario writ large.

In that complicated family saga, William (Billy) Bulger served as president of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Senate even as his brother, Whitey, was a powerful organized-crime boss and an FBI informant. (Johnny Depp is now starring in a movie based on the tangled family relationships, Black Mass.)

Granted, no one wants to rat out his brother/cousin/lover/ neighbor/close friend, especially to outsiders, unless placed under great pressure, which the

United States could bring when occupying Iraq. Nonetheless, a great deal of information probably exists if intelligence analysts comb through the old files.

Terrorist leaders were, in the past, often related to Iraqi government and security force officials. For example, one high-ranking al Qaeda in Iraq chief, Khaled al-Mashhadani, was related to the then-speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. The female suicide bomber who tried and failed to blow up hotels in Amman, Jordan, in 2005, was a member of the same tribal confederation as the founder of the Anbar Awakening, the anti-al Qaeda in Iraq organization.

Other troves of information might be hidden in basements and apartments across Iraq itself. A 2004 New Yorker article by George Packer, for example, described how certain people kept piles of Baath Party paperwork to protect themselves and to bear witness to its crimes following the invasion.

It’s unclear what happened to that documentation.

By crunching available data, U.S. intelligence analysts might be able to construct top Islamic State chains of command.

Overlay that immense dataset

with current intelligence, and Washing ton might be able to know far more about the group. And technical advances since 2004 would also allow for quicker and more thorough data mining.

But is the United States actually combing through these vast datasets? That remains unclear.

According to a 2006 Senate Intelligence Committee report, the United States recovered more than 120 million documents after the 2003 invasion, which the Defense Intelligence Agency examined. Only about 25 percent of the pages, however, were actually translated and summarized for intelligence analysts.

To be sure, this Islamic State connection with Hussein’s Baathist military remains largely theory. It also doesn’t explain why the organization has spread across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Nor does it explain the prominence of numerous Syrians and foreigners within its command structure.

The theory would also mean the average Islamic State leader is relatively old for an insurgent commander. Anyone who joined the Baathist Party during the 1990s would now be at least middle aged or older. To put this in perspective, the founder of

al Qaeda in Iraq – the Islamic State fore-runner — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was 40 when he was killed in 2006. His successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was in his late 30s when Iraqi forces caught up with him. The current chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is in his mid-40s.

But if the theory proves true — and these old men are using the simulacrum of a jihadist organization as a vehicle to catapult back into power — they could be setting themselves up for a massive bloodletting. The war between the crypto-secularists and the true believers will likely be gruesome and violent. Despite Islamic State’s rosy propaganda, there could be no stable end-state on the horizon.

Hussein might well be rolling in his grave — had Islamic State not destroyed it. But if Americans can find the documents and splice the data, Washington might obtain granular knowledge about who Islamic States leaders are, where they live, how to flip them or how to take them off the battlefield.

To be sure, this effort might result in a dry hole. That said, it’s certainly worth looking back in time to determine the future. It could also prove financially more efficient than current U.S. efforts.

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THE CAYMAN REPORTER

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Issue 158

Tuesday, 20 October, 2015

COMMUNITY

Port protest draws crowd ÛCONTINUED FROM PG.1

behind. My mother’s generation brought in democracy, brought in tourism and an influx of financial investment - and I will not stand by and see my generation let us destroy everything in one day.”

She said, “I just want to say I’m really thankful to everyone that came out. Caymanians, non-Caymanians, children, elderly people - every age group is represented here. This is not an issue for Cayman only. This is a world-wide issue. This is our environment.

This is not just about money. This is about the planet that we live on.”

Ms Martins said the protest was important, because “If we don’t take pride in that which was given to us and what gives us so much sustenance, and life, and economic growth - then we are saying that we don’t care, and the government will continue to make decisions like this.”

Bud Johnson, General Manager of Atlantis Submarines, encouraged the gathered demonstrators to “read the information and discern for yourself.”

“When in church and the minister says take out your bible and read along with me, I understand it now. He doesn’t want you to take his word for it, he wants you to learn for yourself, discern for yourself, understand the information,” said he said.

Mr Johnson said, “What I want to talk about is the carrying capacity of Cayman, and the economic value of cruise tourism.”

“My objection is not to a cruise pier, it is not to cruise tourism,” he noted. “My objection is that we do not have an overall plan for tourism in the Cayman Islands.”

Mr Johnson said he’d written to “every single one of the MLA’s” to express his objections, and encouraged others to do the same.

“My summary concern is that Cayman has a limited carrying capacity, and pursuing cruise tourism can overcrowd it, and negatively impact our air arrivals,” he said. “It’s an economic message I’m bringing to you.”

Mr Johnson noted that Cayman’s high cost of living meant that it was also an expensive place to do business, “but our overall business strategy is to spend $150 million to chase one of the lowest spending tourist groups in the world.”

He compared the statistics of cruise ship spending versus stayover air arrival tourist spending, saying cruise passenger spending

accounts for 22-28 per cent of Cayman’s tourism product versus air arrival spending, which accounts for 72-76 per cent of Cayman’s current tourism product.

Mr Johnson said such a large investment for a one to three per cent increase in the cruise portion of the overall tourism product - as outlined in the project’s Outline Business Case and Economic Impact Assessment - “isn’t worth it.”

“If we overcrowd the destination, those people can and will find somewhere else to go,” he said. “I don’t think one to three per cent is anywhere near enough of an upswing to put our environment at such a risk.”

“That being said, not all cruise ships are the same - we can’t say that ‘No cruise passengers don’t have money’,” continued Mr Johnson. “We need a tourism plan for the country to allow us to target passengers whose incomes can afford to pay the prices that we need to be charging in this high cost-of-living destination.”

“Our summer arrivals are about 600,000 and that’s not going to change, the liners go to Alaska, Europe,” explained Mr Johnson. “To get to an increase to 2.3 million visitors, you would need to get 1.7 million passengers between November and April.”

“Coming up here Wednesday, 11th November,[we have] 13,000 cruise ship passengers. In order to reach 2.3 million you would have to have that number of people - five days a week - six months of the year,” said Mr Johnson. “Either it doesn’t happen or our stay-over visitors are going to go some-place else.”

Mr Johnson explained to the crowd that the area to be directly affected by the currently proposed CBF spans from where the fishermen clean and sell their catch by Cayman Cabana, to the Cayman Craft Market on the corner of Boilers Rd. Former political candidate Derrington “Bo” Miller commended the young protest organisers for taking an active role in the future of their country.

“I think it was excellent,” said Mr Miller after the protest. “I would have done it a little later, and I told the young people, it was a little hot.”

“But you know what, a hand full of them put this together, on their own. Excellent start. You learn from your mistakes, you improve as you go along because this has to be a campaign - not just

one event, and I’m hoping that’s going to happen. I commend them. It’s their future on the line, not mine anymore,” he said.

“There were a lot of young people - that Facebook is powerful,” Mr Miller said.

“It matters because if the people don’t pay attention, decisions get made that are not in their best interest, and then it’s too late,” said Mr Miller when asked about the importance of the people’s participation in such events and/or demonstrations.

“When you are playing around with the natural environment you just can’t take the risk,” said Mr Miller emphasising the importance of the people’s participation in such matters.

“So everybody needs to focus - this is going to be your bread and butter in the future - it has been in the past and it will be in the future. You can’t go back and un-dredge it. Once that happens, forget it,” he said.

Mr Miller suggested putting money instead into a domestic infrastructure fund for the next generation of development, citing sufficient government revenue from various sources “W hy must we always be going outside looking for investors, or foreign conglomerates to own us. W hen we have $10billion sitting in the bank here, $1.2 billion sitting in a pension fund in New York where them boys are playing with it like it’s roulette. Bring 30 per cent home, it’s our money - invest it in your country,” he said.

“We need a billion dollars according to Ernst & Young, turn that into economic opportunity where we all become sha reholders,” M r M i l ler continued.

“Open it up. Why is the government so afraid of the people to become Participants instead of spectators. I am sick and tired of being a spectator,” he said.

“Give everyone an opportunity.”

The Environment Minister Among the crowd of protestors was Minister for Financial Services, Commerce and Environment Hon Wayne Panton, who lauded the efforts of the organisers and acknowledged that “there are many people who want to see changes made” to the current port plan.

“It’s a ref lection of the society in terms of the people who are here,” said Mr Panton of the crowd’s demographics.

The protesters assembled round the taxi rank cabana to hear the speakers.

“I think everybody who I saw here this afternoon has a genuine interest, have a love for the country, they have a genuine concern for the future of the country and they’re here expressing that,” he said.

“I encourage that, I welcome that. It is the finest form of democracy and something that I have participated in myself in the past and I wouldn’t discourage them,” the minister said.

“I saw people here who are thoughtful educated people who care about the environment, who care about the country and its future and the issues that are relevant to the country. And they are here saying, this is what I think on this particular issue. I think that’s fair and I welcome that,” said Mr Panton.

W hen asked by The Cayman Reporter if his presence was a ref lection of his stance on the proposed CBF, Mr Panton said that as a representative of the people he had come to hear what they had to say and to “share views.”

“Well, obviously it’s clearly completely relevant to my ministry, and I certainly wanted to hear what the people had to say,” said Mr Panton. “I wanted the opportunity - if asked - to contribute. I wasn’t asked and that’s fine, but I wanted to be available to the people answer questions to share views - that’s really why I’m here.”

“I’m a member of the Cabinet and many of these people are constituents - some in my district, but certainly the whole country that I am supposed to ref lect the interests of. I’m here to share views and to listen to what they have to say,” said Minister Panton.

The Minister for Environment addressed the economic aims of the CBF proposal,

saying, “I believe a significant element of it, as I have had it put to me, is that we want to attract the larger ships with the higher spending passengers.”

“I think it goes without saying that there would have to be some sort of commitment that those ships would be coming in,” he added. “If the larger ships do not come then clearly we have failed in one of the major objectives of such a project.”

Minister Panton said the thinking is that there will be “more spending and indirect economic benefits to the island as a whole.” However the minister also noted that the possibility this may not come to fruition was being considered.

“If we don’t get those economic benefits, then the equation is substantially altered, and we may have - to some extent - done it in vain,” said the Minister for Environment. “If part of the conclusion or rationale behind doing this is to preserve our ability to maintain our current level of cruise business going forward then I suppose we could probably still achieve that.”

W hen asked by The Cayman Reporter how the project would be paid for, and whether the cruise companies would put down capital for it, Mr Panton said the development was “certainly going to be a partnership.”

Mr Panton said, “Government is not in the position to fund the whole project.”

“Whether it means the cruise lines will put up capital for the initial construction, that is not necessarily the case,” he said. “I think what is more likely to be is something more like a guarantee to bring those numbers of passengers in, which would generate sufficient amount of revenue to make the port facility self funding, and self paying.”

Some merchants closed for protest

I Kirk Freeport car park closed during protest.

n response to the planned protest, George Town harbour front shops made the decision to close for the day.

Vocally pro-CBF Kirk Freeport stores, owned by the Kirkconnell family, decided to shut their doors due to staff concerns.

“We were discussing at a senior staff level, maybe shutting down our stores earlier in the week,” said Chris Kirkconnell, explaining that there had been concerns expressed among staff of Kirk Freeport and other locations about being singled out in the media spotlight.

“We had considered extra security due to some concerns of staff. Eventually, after discussing the options with senior staff members we decided that wouldn’t be necessar y,” said M r K irkconnel l, who said that, due to the lack of cruise ships in as well as the commotion in town, the shops would close slightly earlier than usual.

Island Companies’ waterfront stores were also closed for the protest. Island Companies is owned by Dart Group.

THE CAYMAN REPORTER

COMMUNITY

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Issue 158

Tuesday, 20 October, 2015

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Page 9

Air traffic controllers celebrated

Air traffic controllers at Charles Kirkconnell International Airport.

T Air traffic controllers at Owen Roberts International Airport.

he importance of air traffic controllers was highlighted and celebrated on 20 October as the Cayman Islands Airports Authority’s (CIAA) Air Traffic Control (ATC) unit joined peers from around the world to celebrate the International Day of the Air Traffic Controller.

Despite their critical role in the aviation industry, the job of an Air Traffic Controller is largely unknown. The dedicated men and women of CIAA’s Air Traffic Control unit are tasked with ensuring the safe, orderly and

Cayman Insurance Centre’s life agents receive top honours

Tony Mosley is consistently recognised in 1st place in life insurance sales.

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hree life agents from Cayman Insurance Centre (CIC) were honoured in the TOP 100 Life Agents at the recently concluded Americo Life Insurance Company’s (Americo) Summit held in London.

Americo has more than 14,000 Independent Life Agents in the US Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and Cayman.

CIC had all 4 agents in the TOP 100, with 3 of our agents within the top10. Congratulations to Tony Mosley for earning 1st place honours in life insurance sales, followed by Winston Pamphile in 6 th place and Michael Webster in 9 th Place.

Established in 1974, Cayman Insurance Centre Limited (CIC) is known for its commitment, teamwork and dedication to service, with both customers and associate partners worldwide.

Cayman Insurance Centre is an insurance brokerage house tailored to assist in all of Cayman’s insurance needs. It offering all lines of insurance from Group Health and individual life, to general insurances for businesses; homes; stratas; liability coverages and professional indemnity.

For more information about CIC, and its products and services, please visit: w w w.cic.com.ky

expeditious flow of aircraft in the Cayman Islands.

CEO Albert Anderson highlighted the contributions made by CIAA’s ATC unit and stated, “The Airports Authority is dedicated to a strong safety culture and I would personally like to thank the Air Traffic Controllers both at Owen Roberts International Airport and Charles Kirkconnell International Airport for their hard work and dedication in ensuring the safety of our travelers.”

While the profession of an Air Traffic Controller can be very rewarding, it can also be

challenging. CIA A’s ATCs use a traditional method to separate aircraft called procedural control, which means the controllers are heavily reliant on pilot reports of their position. With this information, they then perform concise and complex calculations to ensure adequate separation is maintained between all aircraft on the ground and in the air.

CIAA’s air traffic controllers would also like to thank the public for their support throughout the years as they continue to do their part to maintain safety in the skies.

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THE CAYMAN REPORTER

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Issue 158

Tuesday, 20 October, 2015

REGIONAL

Clean up complete, water supply restored after dead fish found in St. Lucia river

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ASTRIES, St. Lucia (C A R I BBE A N3 6 0) – Water supply to residents of the south eastern village of Micoud was restored yesterday, three days after dead fish in a source river prompted a shutdown and tests.

The Water & Sewerage Company Inc. (WASCO) said in a statement that it had turned back on the water around midday, following “elaborate cleaning and f lushing” and monitoring.

WASCO had disclosed last Thursday that dead fish were discovered in the river source within the Micoud watershed A St. Lucia water company has turned back on the water after area and the water supply had dead fish in a source river prompted a shutdown.

been compromised. It said that the Water Resource Management Agency and the Environmental Health Branch of the Ministry of Health had been informed so they could immediately begin investigations.

However, WASCO made no mention in its statement about what the investigation had uncovered, only what steps were taken before the water supply was restored.

“The restoration followed elaborate cleaning and f lushing of the treatment plant, reinstatement of the fish monitoring pond and fish, the monitoring of the fish in the pond for several hours, and the continual testing of the

raw water as well as the treated water, in order to have been fully satisfied that all the necessary indicators were met before distributing the water to consumers,” the company said, adding that it would “continue to monitor the water supply closely, as it does with all of its other systems to ensure the supply of water remains safe.”

But just as it did when the dead fish were discovered, WASCO reminded the public that the use of any poisonous substances to harvest fish and crayfish for sale is a very dangerous practice which compromises the supply of water and the lives of people, and should be stopped.

Rich and famous to host The Destination Experience in Jamaica

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INGSTON, Jamaica (CA R I BBE A N360) – Following the successful launch of The Destination Experience at the legendary GoldenEye Resort in 2014, the region’s “premier networking event” will be hosted in “Montego Bay”, Jamaica on January 14-16, 2016. The Destination Experience, through its platform of curated social discovery experiences will connect decision makers to a dynamic network of people, ideas and opportunities.

The Destination Experience will be partnering with business titans Arthur Wylie & Michael Rollins, of Rose Hall Development Ltd., the largest land owners in the Caribbean, to continue to catalyze and support more international business and socially impactful initiatives for Jamaica and the Caribbean. The Arthur Wylie Foundation and its partners provide scholarship and mentorships to aspiring entrepreneurs and young leaders, making this the perfect pairing. The Foundation will support entrepreneurial initiatives run by organizations including The Branson Center for Entrepreneurship, The Prince of Whales Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative.

The Arthur Wylie Foundation’s “Celebrity and Global Leader Golf Tournament”, chef tasting

and flagship party as well as other social discovery and networking experiences will be co-hosted

by NBA Legend Julius Erving, Amanda Cole from the Kenneth Cole Foundation and Malik Yoba from Empire.

A ‘Billion Dollar Round Table’ session will feature members of the Rollins Family, who hold one of the largest real estate portfolios in the Caribbean as well as other global holdings and John Mazarinno, Founder and Managing Principal of Cherokee Investments, a $3 billion fund based in North Carolina.

Other notable guests and partners include Paula Kerr Jarrett and family, the business moguls leading a US$500 million investment to transform Montego Bay in a Technology and Business Hub; Yanik Silver, serial entrepreneur and founder of the Mavericks, a group of high performance entrepreneurs (some of whom have experienced US$100 million exits); Jon Levy, host of New York’s exclusive Influencer Dinners which cater to some of the world’s most influential leaders, and Kaci Fennell, Miss Universe Jamaica 2014, who shot to fame after her fifth place finish in the Miss Universe competition.

Other global figures are being added as excitement builds for this momentous occasion.

Michael Rollins of Rose Hall Development Ltd. and Final Destination Creator Jeffrey Reddick ($1 billion brand) The Destination Experience has been recognized by the White House as a unique business catalyst and an innovative platform for the promotion of entrepreneurship.

Event co-founder, Kirk-Anthony Hamilton, of the Infiniti

Partnership was recognized at an event at the White House

by President Obama as one of seventy-five Emerging Global Entrepreneurs from around the world; Hamilton was the only attendee from the Caribbean to receive this recognition.

The Destination Experience 2016 seeks to elevate the profile of the Caribbean by encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, partnerships, networking and charity and represents a powerful integration of people, brands, food, music and unique activities.

Sargassum now affecting tourism, fishing, marine life on both sides of the Atlantic

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A beach in Sierra Leone covered with Sargassum.

ENYA, Africa (CARIBBEAN360) – The proliferation of Sargassum seaweed is now affecting tourism, fishing, and marine life on both sides of the Atlantic, scientists say.

Sierra Leone’s white sand beaches may not be as famous as those of the Caribbean, but their hitherto unspoilt beauty had until quite recently exerted a magnetic attraction on locals and tourists alike.

Now, however, large areas of the scenic West African coastline are being fouled by thick brown algae that scientists link to the invasion affecting beaches thousands of miles away on the other side of the Atlantic.

In some places along the waterfront in Sierra Leone, the strong-smelling algae is piled

up several feet deep, attracting detritus and causing havoc for fishermen, according to a report in The Guardian.

Local rumours claiming that the seaweed is caused by pollution from iron ore mines are dismissed as unfounded by Vincent Sweeney, an official with the UN Environment Programme (Unep) in Nairobi, Kenya.

“This is not a localised phenomenon,” he said of the Sierra Leone invasion. “It is not as if there is a plume [of pollution] coming from a river and then seaweed grows. This is naturally occurring; it is a transatlantic phenomenon.”

Sweeney said that Unep had taken note and Sargassum was on the agenda: “It is one of the things we are considering as an emerging issue at the next UN

environment assembly next May. “Sa rga ssu m is nat u ra l ly occurring. But before 2011 this quantity has never been w itnessed. It is the intensity of it right now that is causing concern; 2015 is one of the most intense years we have seen and it’s affecting tourism, marine life and fisheries,” he said.

Marine biologists are also concerned that it is affecting the marine ecosystem, particularly turtles.

“Young turtles cannot climb over it to get to sea,” said Sweeney. “It is also affecting fisheries. Propellers get entangled in the seaweed.”

Authorities in the Caribbean have described the outbreak as a “natural disaster” threatening the largely tourist-dependent economies of the islands.

THE CAYMAN REPORTER

INTERNATIONAL

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Issue 158

Tuesday, 20 October, 2015

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Page 11

Egypt in second day of ‘election without voters’ ° By Lin Noueihed

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AIRO (REUTERS) Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said on Monday that turnout during the previous day’s parliamentary election was just 15-16 percent but should rise now after public sector workers were given a half-day off to vote.

Voters, however, appeared to be shunning the ballot box for a second day on Monday in what one newspaper called “an election without voters”, highlighting growing disillusionment since the army seized power in 2013 and promised to restore democracy.

Sunday and Monday’s voting levels were extremely low, a in sharp contrast to the long lines of the 2011-12 election.

Younger Egyptians who comprise the majority of the population, stayed away with many people dismissing it as a sham.

Coming days after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged Egyptians to cast their ballots, the low turnout suggested the former general, who once enjoyed cult-like adulation, was losing some of his appeal.

In 2013, then-army chief Sisi overthrew Egypt’s first freely-elected president, the Muslim

Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi, and promised a “roadmap to democracy”.

He then launched the fiercest crackdown on dissent in Egypt’s modern history, jailing thousands of Mursi’s supporters as well as activists at the forefront of the 2011 revolt that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule and ignited hopes of change.

Last year’s presidential election was extended for a third day in order to boost turnout, with pro-government media pushing Egyptians to show up. Sisi won 97 percent of votes.

This time, even Egypt’s largely loyalist press focused on the lack of interest in the polls. Analysts say Sisi may try to spin the apathy to his favor by arguing that Egyptians place more faith in the presidency.

“An election without voters,” said a front page headline in the business daily Al-Mal. “Elections without queues,” read a headline in Al Shorouk.

Even the pro-government Al Ahram zeroed in on the absence of young people at the ballot box.

“We don’t know anything about these candidates so I’m not going to give my vote to someone who doesn’t deserve it,” Michael Bassili, 19, from Alexandria.

“As youth we’re trying to fix the country and we’ll work to do this...

REUTERS/ASMAA WAGUIH

Police ask women to fold their flags before allowing them into a school used as voting centre in Alexandria, Egypt, October 18, 2015. but these guys are just interested in money and themselves.”

DISSOLVED Egypt has had no parliament since June 2012 when a court dissolved the democratically elected main chamber, then dominated by the Brotherhood, reversing a key accomplishment of the 2011 Tahrir Square uprising.

R epeated ly post poned, Egypt’s elections are now taking place over two rounds on Oct 18-19 and Nov 22-23. This week, voters cast their ballots in 14 regions including Egypt’s second city of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.

Critics say an electoral system that puts the emphasis on individuals is a throwback to Mubarak-era politics, which favored candidates with wealth and connections.

Of the 568 elected seats overall, 120 will be contested by closed winner-takes-all lists. But even these are expected to be dominated by loyalists.

Outlawed and branded a terrorist group, the Brotherhood, which won almost half the seats in the last election, is boycotting as is much of the secular and liberal opposition.

An alliance of socialist opposition parties that had been due to contest for seats eventually pulled out.

“There is obvious refusal to participate, which is proof that the people know what is going on right now is a farce designed to make the current regime look democratic,” said Mohamed Soudan, an exiled Brotherhood official.

“For the Love of Egypt”, an alliance of loyalist parties and politicians, is contesting all list seats and is expected to dominate.

The Islamist Nour Party, which came second in the last election, has taken part and there was anecdotal evidence of marginally higher turnout in some poorer areas where Islamist sympathies run deep. Nevertheless, Nour is not expected to scoop up Islamist votes that would have gone to the Brotherhood because it endorsed Mursi’s overthrow.

Even some who voted for Sisi last year are not planning to cast a ballot this time.

“There is security since Sisi took power and that’s good but its not just about security. A lot of things need to change, the economy, tourism, the high prices in the country,” said Ahmed, a 35-yearold father of three.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Eric Knecht, Ahmed Aboulenein and Michael Georgy.; Editing by Michael Georgy/Jeremy Gaunt)

Eritrean mistaken for gunman killed in Israeli bus station attack U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, due to hold separate meetings this week with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said on Monday it was vital they clarify the status around the compound, also revered by Jews as the location of two destroyed biblical temples.

Netanyahu has said he seeks no change to the decades-old status quo in which Israel bans Jewish prayer at the al-Aqsa site in the walled Old City of East Jerusalem, captured REUTERS/RONEN ZVULUN Israeli security personnel stand guard at the spot along a street along with the West Bank in a 1967 that on one side is a Jewish neighbourhood and the other is the war. He says religious incitement, outskirts of Jabel Mukabar, a Palestinian neighbourhood in Jeru- speeded by social media, has fueled the bloodshed. salem October 19, 2015.

“What we see here is a combination of extremist Islam and the By Maayan Lubell Prime Minister Benjamin Netan° yahu, whose right-wing government Internet. It’s Osama bin Laden meets ERUSALEM (REUTERS) has deployed soldiers to reinforce (Facebook founder) Mark Zuck- An Eritrean migrant, shot by municipal police and encouraged Israe- erberg,” he said at the Likud party a security guard and kicked by li civilians with gun licenses to go about meeting. an angry Israeli crowd that mis- armed, warned against vigilantism. took him for a gunman, was identi“We’ve a country of law. No one HEAVY SECURITY fied on Monday as one of the dead will take the law into his own hands,” In a bid to stem the most serifrom an attack on a bus station in he told his party’s lawmakers in ous Palestinian attacks on its streets since an uprising a decade ago, Israel the southern city of Beersheba. broadcast remarks.

The Eritrean agricultural workThe almost three weeks of vio- has poured hundreds of troops into er was named by his employer as lence has killed 41 Palestinians, its cities and set up roadblocks in Mila Abtum. In what some Israeli including assailants and demon- Palestinian neighborhoods of East media described as a lynching, cap- strators at anti-Israeli protests, eight Jerusalem.

In Gaza, Fathy Hamad, a Hamas tured on amateur video on Sunday, Israelis and now one Eritrean. It was the attack on Abtum underscored a set off in part by Palestinians’ anger leader, praised Palestinians who carmounting sense of panic and anger over what they see as increased Jew- ried out attacks. “This intifada (uprisover a wave of Palestinian attacks ish encroachment on Jerusalem’s ing) will not stop, this Jihad will not stop,” he said at a public ceremony. that shows no sign of abating. al-Aqsa mosque complex.

J

The Islamic State militant group released a video urging: “Jihad should not be a reaction that may soon fade away. You should use explosive devices and booby-traps in addition to hitting them (Israelis) with cars and stabbing,” one fighter said.

In the most recent incident, an attacker who police said was a Bedouin citizen of Israel entered the heavily guarded station armed with a pistol on Sunday and shot dead a soldier before snatching his rifle and opening fire on the crowd, wounding nine people.

Police shot the assailant dead, and initially reported there had been a second gunman. On Monday, they said there had been no other attacker and an investigation had been opened into the Eritrean man’s death.

Amateur video showed a security guard shooting the Eritrean. Lying on the ground bleeding, and with armed paramilitary police surrounding him in an apparent effort to protect him, he was kicked in the head several times by people who slipped through the loose cordon.

Nitza Neuman-Heiman, Deputy Director General of Soroka Medical Center, told Army Radio the Eritrean died of gunshot wounds and the injuries he sustained from the kicks.

Sagi Malachi, his employer, described Abtum as a quiet, modest man who had traveled to Beersheba

to renew his visa. “The country is in a state of chaos. Civilians are confused, people are taking the law into their own hands,” Malachi said on the radio.

Israeli police erected a 10-metre (33-ft)-long concrete barrier on Sunday on a street that borders the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Jabel Mukabar and an adjacent Jewish neighborhood, calling it a temporary precaution to prevent rocks and petrol bombs from being thrown at the Jewish dwellings. But it caused outrage at a meeting of Netanyahu’s security cabinet on Sunday, political officials said, because it was seen as essentially dividing Jerusalem.

Netanyahu, one official said, ordered police not to extend the barrier after right-wing cabinet ministers came out against the measure, which they deemed a de-facto division of Jerusalem.

Israel considers all of Jerusalem, including the eastern part that it annexed after the 1967 conflict, as its “indivisible and eternal capital”, a status not recognized abroad. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they seek to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Janet Lawrence)

Page 12

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CLASSIFIEDS SALES@CAYMANREPORTER.COM

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Responsibilities ‡ 5HVSRQVLEOH IRU DOO ´QDQFLDO UHSRUWLQJ LQFOXGLQJ WKH UHYLHZ RI WKH PRQWKO\ ´QDQFLDOV DQG analysis thereon. ‡ /HDG WKH ´QDQFLDO SODQQLQJ DQG DQDO\VLV RI DOO DVVLJQHG EXVLQHVV XQLWV DQG HQVXUH WKLV LV LQQRYDWLYH DQG HIIHFWLYH WR GULYH ´QDQFLDO SHUIRUPDQFH ‡ Train, mentor and coach direct reports and be ultimately responsible for their performance DQG GHYHORSPHQW ‡ 6HW EXVLQHVV DOLJQHG JRDOV IRU GLUHFW UHSRUWV ZLWK D YLHZ WR FRQWLQXDOO\ HQKDQFLQJ WKH HI´FLHQF\ DQG HIIHFWLYHQHVV RI SHRSOH DQG SURFHVVHV ‡ )RVWHU VWURQJ UHODWLRQVKLSV ZLWK QRQ ´QDQFH WHDP PHPEHUV DQG EHFRPH D WUXVWHG DGYLVRU WR them. ‡ Form strong relationships with external partners including bankers, regulators and auditors where necessary. ‡ 'LVFXVV NH\ YDOXH GULYHUV LQ UHODWLRQ WR ´QDQFLDO SHUIRUPDQFH FKDOOHQJLQJ EXVLQHVV assumptions where appropriate. ‡ Communicate and coordinate policies, practices, and procedures with department and company managers.

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THE CAYMAN REPORTER

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Issue 158

Tuesday, 20 October, 2015

TECHNOLOGY

China tried to hack U.S. firms even after cyber pact: CrowdStrike ° Joseph Menn

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(REUTERS) ackers associated with the Chinese government have tried to penetrate at least seven U.S. companies in the three weeks since Washington and Beijing agreed not to spy on each other for commercial reasons, according to a prominent U.S. security firm.

CrowdStrike Inc said software it placed at five U.S. technology and two pharmaceutical companies had detected and rebuffed the attacks, which began on Sept. 26.

On Sept. 25, President Barack Obama said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed that neither government would knowingly support cyber theft of corporate secrets to support domestic businesses. The agreement stopped short of restricting spying to obtain government secrets, including those held by private contractors.

CrowdStrike Co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch said in an interview that he believed the hackers who attacked the seven companies were affiliated with the Chinese government based in part on the servers and software they used.

The software included a program known as Derusbi, according to Alperovitch. Other analysts have said Derusbi previously turned up in attacks on Virginia defense contractor VA E Inc and health insurer Anthem Inc

H

A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this February 28, 2013 illustration file picture.

(ANTM.N). Alperovitch said the hackers came from a variety of groups including one that CrowdStrike had previously named Deep Panda.

The “primary benefits of the intrusion seem clearly aligned to facilitate theft of intellectual property and trade secrets, rather than to conduct traditional, national-security-related intelligence collection,” CrowdStrike said in a blog post to be published on Monday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying repeated that the Chinese government opposed all forms of hacking or stealing commercial secrets.

“Internet hacking attacks are marked by their secretive, cross border nature,” she told a daily news briefing.

CrowdStrike said it had notified the White House of its

findings but declined to identify the targeted companies.

A senior Obama administration official said the government was aware of CrowdStrike’s findings but declined to address the company’s conclusions.

“As we move forward, we will monitor China’s cyber activities closely and press China to abide by all of its commitments,” said the official who did not want to be identified by name.

Another U.S. cyber security company, FireEye Inc (FEYE.O), said the state-sponsored Chinese hackers that it monitored were still active but it was too soon to say whether their aims had shifted.

“It is premature to conclude that activity during this short time frame constitutes economic espionage,” FireEye spokesman Vitor De Souza said.

Facebook requests a say in Austrian student’s privacy case ° Julia Fioretti

The NCVO’s Nadine Andreas Foster Home houses boys and girls who need care and protection, generally for reasons of abuse or neglect.

The NCVO home can house up to nine children from five to seventeen years of age in residential care.

The NCVO relies heavily on donations and fundraising activities to sustain this programme so please consider assisting.

For more info: NCVO Office 345-949-2124 or Foster Home Care Manager ncvofosterhome@ncvo.org.ky www.ncvo.org.ky

(REUTERS) acebook Inc on Monday requested the chance to voice its opinion in a legal challenge mounted by an Austrian law student against the Irish privacy regulator for refusing to investigate the U.S. company’s transfers of data to the United States.

Major U.S. tech companies such as Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc as well as Facebook came under fire after revelations in 2013 of the U.S. government’s Prism program, which allowed U.S. authorities to harvest private information directly from those companies.

Austrian law student Max Schrems challenged Facebook’s transfers of European users’ data to its American servers, because of the risk of U.S. snooping in light of disclosures by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Schrems filed his complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) because Facebook has its European headquarters in Ireland.

“We will request an opportunity to join the proceedings in the Irish High Court where the Irish DPC’s investigation is to be discussed,” said a spokeswoman for Facebook.

An Irish High Court judge referred Schrems’ complaint to the European Union’s highest court, asking if national authorities could suspend data transfers if they concluded that privacy safeguards in the destination country were not sufficient.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) responded two weeks ago, delivering a landmark ruling that declared invalid a system used by thousands of U.S. and European companies to transfer personal data to the United States, because of insufficient privacy protection there.

F

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of the logo of the European Union in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 15, 2015.

Under EU data protection law, companies cannot transfer EU citizens’ personal data to countries outside the bloc deemed to have insufficient privacy safeguards, of which the United States is one.

The Irish High Court now has to decide how to proceed with Schrems’ complaint against the Irish watchdog, having been told by the ECJ that national authorities have the power to investigate and suspend data transfers to countries outside the EU. Court proceedings resume on Tuesday.

“We believe it is critical that we join the proceedings so that we can provide accurate information about our procedures and processes, as well as to correct inaccuracies that already exist,” the Facebook spokeswoman said.

Facebook has repeatedly denied providing the NSA with “backdoor” access to its servers, and says its data transfer processes have already been audited by the Irish DPC. Without the Safe Harbor framework struck down by the ECJ, companies have to use more costly and time-consuming legal channels to transfer personal data to the United States.

THE CAYMAN REPORTER

SPORTS

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Issue 158

Tuesday, 20 October, 2015

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Page 15

Red Bay U11, NorthEast Schools U9 teams remain undefeated

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everal FPL games played on 17 October were highlighted by equalising plays, or close plays as an attempt to equalise scores.

Primary school football had an impressive line up during 2015/2016 CUC Primary Football League (PFL) and Girls’ Primary Football League (GPFL) regular season games on Saturday.

The PFL and GPFL expressed a special thanks to the youth referees who have been doing an excellent job with officiating all the games so far.

The featured games in Group B at the Annex Field paired the Crusaders from Triple C against Red Bay Primary. In the Under 11 game, Red Bay continued their perfect start to the season with two goals each from Dequan Messam and Christian Ferguson and a penalty from Alejandro Holness as Red Bay defeated Triple C 5-1. Bradley Erskine added a sixth late in the game for Red Bay, but with the ‘Mercy Rule’ enforced, the score recorded would be 5-1. Amalee Mendoza-Williams from Triple C scored his school’s lone goal.

Triple C and Red Bay Primary Under 9s battled to a 1-1 draw.

In the Under 9 encounter, Isaac Pert from Red Bay opened the scoring early in the first half.

Triple C came close to equalising, but found Red Bay’s goal keeper and defenders up to the challenge and were unable to overcome the resistance. The post also came to Red Bay’s rescue on a few occasions but deep into the second half, Justin Parsons from Triple C notched his team’s well-deserved equalizer, much to the delight of the contingent of Triple C parents and teachers who came to support their young heroes.

In other Group B games played at the Annex Field, NorthEast Schools’ perfect start to the season also continued as they defeated South Sound Schools 5-1. Derek Russell bagged a hat trick and Johnathon Ebanks and Antwan Jennings each contributed a goal each. Jagger Alban kept the score line close for South Sound Schools in the first half with a well-taken effort that cut the lead to one prior to the break.

In the Under 11 game, South Sound Schools and NorthEast Schools shared the points after a

pulsating 2-2 draw. Following a goalless first half, Christopher Jackson opened the scoring for South Sound Schools early in the second half before Derek Russell grabbed his fourth goal of the day and NorthEast’s equaliser. South Sound’s Ryan Bennett gave his school the lead only to see Johnathon Ebanks score his second goal of the day and the all-important equaliser.

Other Group B games results were: Bodden Town Primary 0 vs.

Cayman Prep 4 (Under 9 – ‘Mercy Rule’); Bodden Town Primary 0 vs.

Cayman Prep 4 (Under 11 – ‘Mercy Rule’); and Prospect Primary 3 vs. Cayman Brac 0 (Under 11).

In Group A games , it was Sir John A. Cumber Primary 4 vs. George Town Primary 0 (Under 9); Sir John A. Cumber Primary 4 vs. George Town Primary 0 (Under 11); Cayman International School 1 vs. St. Ignatius Prep 1 (Under 9); and Cayman International School 4 vs. St. Ignatius Prep 1 (Under 11).

In the Group B CUC Girls’ Primary Football League (GPFL) game played at the Annex Field, NorthEast Schools defeated Sir John A. Cumber Primary B 1-0 thanks to a solitary strike from young Tegan Williams. In the other GPFL Group B game, Cayman Prep edged Bodden Town Primary 2-1.

In Group A, Sir John A. Cumber Primary defeated George Town Primary 4-0 (‘Mercy Rule’) and Cayman International School beat St. Ignatius Prep 5-1 (‘Mercy Rule’).

The fourth round of the 2015/2016 CUC PFL and GPFL seasons continue on Saturday, 24 October 24. Games will be held at the Annex Field, Old Man Bay Field, Bodden Town Primary, Prospect Primary and Cayman Prep.

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