TCWN May 31- June 6, 2014

Weekly News Volume 28 | No. 22 | May 31 - June 6, 2014

Price $1.00

Turks and Caicos

FOR ADVERTISING CONTACT:

tcnews@tciway.tc

trial

the national newspaper of the turks and caicos islands

ON THE WEB tcweeklynews.com

delayed

again

UK lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths (left) and his client, Michael Misick

Juctice Paul Harrison has set October 6 this year for the commencement of the trial of former Premier Michael Misick and ten other defendants, fingered in widespread corruption under Misick’s administration.

PAGE  5

Thousands remember JAGS on National Heroes Day PAGE 14

TCI is not talking annexation with Canada right PAGE now - Premier  4

Debt repayment will be a world first – Deputy PAGE speaker 7

Police salute JAGS McCartney during the National Heroes Day celebrations in Grand Turk

TCI prepares for imminent virus strike

PAGE  8

2

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

3

4

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

TCI is not talking annexation with Canada right now - Premier SPURRED on by reports from the Canadian press, the local rumour mill had the Governor’s office and the Premier, who left on a tourism blitz to Canada and the US, both denying that the trip was to further talks of the TCI becoming a Canadian province.

On Tuesday, the Premier’s press office told the Weekly News that the Premier, Rufus Ewing was very open and candid to the local press about the purpose of the North American visits, which were organised in conjunction with the Hotel and Tourism Association.

Ewing left for Ottawa on Friday (May 23) along with 30 representatives from several hotels and the tourist board.

He met with the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper and other government officials while there.

The trips, it was reiterated, were to further economic and other ties with Canada.

The Premier’ office categorically stated that the TCI Government would not engage in talks with the Canadian Government about possible annexation until the people of the TCI call for it.

However, there has never been any official national conversation on this issue.

Asked why none has ever been held given the historical speculation in the press about annexation, the Premier’s office said that this is a possibility, but there was no indication on when the Government intends to talk to the people officially to gauge the mood.

The office said that right now, this does not form part of the TCIG’s agenda, rather, the Government is focused on

Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper and TCI Premier Rufus Ewing having discussions during a recent tourism promotion blitz in North American (Photo courtesy of the Office of the Premier)

bringing in investment and greater opportunities into the country.

The Weekly News learned that during the visit with the Prime Minister and the TCI delegation, discussions were held on how the two countries can establish a working group to examine areas to expand their good relationship.

The Governor’s Office also addressed the annexation rumours in a press statement issued on Tuesday (May 27).

According to the statement, there has been no formal expression of interest from the Canadian or TCI Government to do this.

“TCI and Canada have historical links and TCI is a popular holiday destination for Canadian visitors, particularly given Canada’s winter. There are also a number of Canadian businesses and investments in TCI. “We welcome the efforts that Canada has shown in supporting UK work on good governance, for example

Published by Turks & Caicos News Company Ltd. Cheshire House, Leeward Highway, Providenciales P.O. Box 52, Turks & Caicos Islands, BWI W. Blythe Duncanson - Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Faizool Deo - Sports Editor (At Large) Daisy Handfield - Staff Reporter Cord Garrido-Lowe - Graphics Consultant (At Large) Dilletha Lightbourne-Williams - Office Manager Email: (Advertising) tcnews@tciway.tc, (News) tcweeklynews@yahoo.com, tcweeklynews@gmail.com Tel. 649-946-4664 (office), 649-232-3508 (after hours) Website address: www.tcweeklynews.com

their support for the TCI Commissioner of Police and former TCI Deputy Commissioner of Police.”

The Governor’s Office further reminded of the steps to be taken for the severance of constitutional links by any UK territory.

The statement read: “As set out in the UK Government’s 2012 White Paper ‘The Overseas Territories Security Success and Sustainability’ any decision to sever the constitutional link between the UK and a territory should be on the basis of the clear and constitutionally expressed wish of the people of the territory.

“Where independence is an option and it is the clear and constitutionally expressed wish of the people to pursue independence, the UK government will meet its obligations to help the territory to achieve it.

“This principle is also relevant to expressions for a change of sovereignty.”

Over the years, the TCI government has consistency denied it is moving in the direction of becoming a part of Canada, but the idea has been around for almost a century.

In 1917 then-Prime minister Robert Borden first suggested annexation, then in 1974 Canadian MP, Max Saltsman broached the idea again when he called for a feasibility study for an economic association with the TCI. This past week, the Canadian press reported that these calls have been renewed by Conservative MP Peter Goldring, who has been calling for TCI to become Canada’s 11th province over the past decade.

“Canada really needs a Hawaii. The United States has a Hawaii. Why can’t Canada have a Hawaii?” Goldring reportedly said. (DI)

May 31 - June 6, 2014

NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

A smiling Clayton Greene as he leaves the Supreme Court

Former Government ministers, Lillian Boyce and Jeffrey Hall as they leave the court.

5

‘Chal’ Misick (right, with tie)

Corruption trial for Michael Misick and others set for October JUCTICE Paul Harrison has set October 6 this year for the commencement of the trial of former Premier Michael Misick and ten other defendants, fingered in widespread corruption under Misick’s administration.

On June 23, the judge will deliver his judgement on an application for the accused to face a trial by judge, instead of a jury.

The October trial date - initially set for July 7 - takes into account any potential appeal of Harrison’s judgement.

The trial is expected to take up to five months.

This week, Misick’s lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths delivered the last of the arguments against the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT) application for a bench trial.

The former Premier also pleaded “Absolutely 100 per cent not guilty” to all nine charges when they were read to him on Tuesday (May 27), in a Providenciales courtroom.

Also appearing in court were Misick’s co-defendants – Floyd Hall, McAllister Hanchell, Lillian Boyce, Jeffrey Hall, Clayton Greene, Thomas ‘Chal’ Misick, Lisa Hall, Melbourne Wilson, Earlson Robinson and Norman Saunders Jnr. Under the Trial without a Jury Ordinance 2010, enacted by former Governor Gordon Wetherell, the accused are not automatically entitled to a jury trial.

The Weekly News learned from the Director of Public Prosecution, JoAnn Meloche that, barring this case, no application for a trial without a jury has been formally taken before the court since Wetherell enacted the ordinance.

However, she did indicate that consideration has been given to applying for bench trials in other cases, but that none has been done

so far.

Legal experts in the TCI are of the firm belief that the new law denying a defendant automatic right to a jury trial was put in place specifically for the trial of Michael Misick and his co-accused.

“There can be no doubt,” one such expert, who chose to have his name withheld, told this publication.

However, the same expert said they are hopeful of a favourable ruling after hearing the level of the arguments put forward in court by the former Premier’s lawyer this week.

Asked what he sees the chances of the defendants receiving a trial by jury, Griffiths told the Weekly News that it is virtually impossible to say.

“I think that the judge is aware of the fact that either way it goes there is likely to be an appeal, because this application is of such importance towards the way in which the trial is going to go ahead,” Griffiths said.

With the October date for trial so near, and taking into account an appeal of the judge’s decision on the SIPT’s application, there is question as to whether the defence attorneys will have enough time to prepare their cases.

Griffiths said that time will definitely be tight.

“The counsels involved, particularly those from the United Kingdom, and indeed those from the TCI would necessarily be involved in other work in between time because it is not as if we can keep our diaries free.

“So consequently, any way one looks at it, time is going to be extremely tight for all involved.”

Asked if he believed the Crown is rushing the case through the system without giving the defendants adequate chance to prepare, the lawyer said this is particularly so as

it relates to his client.

“The prosecution has had several years in which to get their case together. Whereas, for some defendants, particularly Michael Misick, the time available – bearing in mind that he only returned to the jurisdiction in January and the legal team was only instructed in late April

– we won’t have anywhere near the same amount of time to prepare as other parties in the proceedings.

“That is a disadvantage given that he is first on the indictment and that the allegation is clearly that he was the ring leader of the corruption which the prosecution says exposed his Government,” the

lawyer said.

The nine charges against the former Premier were on Tuesday joined to those of the other defendants.

Queen’s Counsel Andrew Mitchell is leading the Crown’s case, along with Mark Weekes, Robert Rinder and Rebecca Dix. (DI)

Education Ministry announces changes to GSAT exams – Opposition urges Government to put them on hold CHANGES to the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) will come into effect immediately despite calls to put them on hold.

The primary school examinations will now take two rather than three days and will include less papers, according to a press release from the Ministry of Education.

The ministry announced the results of the Department of Education’s recent policy review on Thursday (May 29).

Several changes will be incorporated following an in depth five year analysis of statistical data, comments from invigilators, markers, principals, grade six teachers and parents.

The mathematics exam has been changed from two papers to one paper and will be structured in three sections.

The science exam will be a single paper instead of two papers, there will be minor changes to the English papers and an overall reduction in the number of days of the test from three to just two.

“During the last five-year period the department was asked by the majority of primary schools and parents to consider incorporating the changes mentioned above,” the statement read.

In schools where mock tests were administered the changes were incorporated into the design of the papers and the children were tested using the specified time periods.

“The department will monitor the time that the majority of students actually spend on this paper and is prepared to make adjustments, where necessary for future papers.”

According to the release the review will help to maintain high standards.

It added that the reduction in the number of papers, and the subsequent reduction in the number of days for the administration of the test are not linked in any way to budgetary constraints.

“Expenditure on the administration of the GSAT remains within the annual estimates.

“The amount allocated for

this year has not been reduced when compared with the amount allocated during the same period last year.”

Last Thursday, May 22, Clarence Selver, National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Movement expressed concerns over the changes in a statement to press.

He suggested that the alterations had been done without consultation with all the stakeholders and also submitted that they were because of financial restraints.

“We further urge the Government not to make this change simply for financial concerns in an attempt to save money and reduce the cost attached to the examinations,” he wrote.

He said that longer exams and less days would be a “mammoth task” for the children and said that they were not prepared for changes.

“We there for sincerely urge the Ministry of Education to delay the change for another time…”

GSAT is the TCI’s national high school entrance examination. (RB)

6

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

A Weekly News column that puts you on the spot for your opinions on the issues of the day

Become part of Canada?

THIS week several Canadian news agencies reported that a collaboration with the TCI had been discussed during a TCI Government trip to the North American country.

Ewing was reported as telling Canadian media that he is “not closing the door completely” to a merger – however previous attempts have been rebuffed by Canadian officials.

Would the TCI benefit from becoming part of Canada? What are your thoughts?

It’d never happen

My uncle brought me a newspaper article from 1977 when this idea was discussed in brief.

I do not believe that anyone in Canada actually thinks this would ever happen.

A good option

Yes, I would rather be with Canada any day than with the Bahamas, or Jamaica. Those two countries have more domestic, economic, unemployment, and crime problems than ‘Van Camp have pork n beans’.

I also prefer Canada to the USA. Canadians are less aggressive and their healthcare system covers everyone and they have a great relationship with England.

The above reasons may benefit us.

Nonsense

When will this nonsense stop? One only need look at the relative nobodies who bring it up from the Canadian side to understand how little credibility it has!

Why would Canada want to take on a financial basket case?

Why would the TCI want to switch one set of ‘white oppressors’ for another?

When will the Government start to deal with issues that matter, instead of pipe-dreaming?

Just another sign that the world has gone mad!

Lots to consider

It would seem that Canada is not very interested in an alliance, but if they were, there are a few things to consider.

We would be much more than just an overseas territory, like we are to the Brits.

There would actually be some rules of conduct in place and actual good governance, not just more words and speeches about that.

Would our local politicians be happy with an alliance that had them take responsibility for their actions or lack thereof? I doubt it.

The Canadian government would not stand for the antics down here for more than a month!

We would get many benefits, but we would also have to pull up our socks substantially.

The next item is the constant influx of Haitian refugees. The Canadian navy would

probably love the duty down here, patrolling our southern waters, but once the costs of such patrols and the expense of repatriation dawns on them, they may not be too happy with an alliance with us.

All in all, it could be very good for the TCI, but with that sort of alliance comes huge responsibility and accountability on our parts.

We would not just ‘receive’.

What about the USA?

Any change would be an improvement but the PNP big shots are only pretending. All we need is more Farquhars, Fortis and Interhealth Canadians.

The TCI uses the USA dollar and Obama could pay off our debt from his petty cash drawer. We are closer to the USA than Canada by more than 1,000 miles and our culture incorporates the years of the USA bases and service people here.

US justice is swift and they would build the needed schools and open the door to scholarships, sports and a huge increase in US tourism.

However the PNP could never survive the oversight of a USA paying close attention.

What would Norman and Mike do as they are not welcome in a US territory?

Canada offers more problems and the USA offers huge benefits and a better style of government than this warmed over Westminster systemic weakness.

Waste of money

Canada, no thank you. The Government is milking the country right now. Every time the PNP visits Canada it costs us millions.

We have thousands of TCIs in the USA and few in Canada. Let’s join the USA and watch a million US tourists come in without the need for passports.

Trading masters

I personally think the Premier was wrong for acting as if he is king and not an elected official.

Any discussion on this subject should be down with the general consensus of the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands first.

Additionally what’s the point of trading in

Canadian Conservative MP Peter Goldring is gunning for the two countries to join together (photo from Postmedia News)

one master for another?

What next?

It makes no sense speculating on this issue.

What we need to hear is how the two countries could possibly organise the link.

Then we can start to talk about whether it could be beneficial to us in the TCI.

Only salvation

Maybe not such a bad idea. In fact it could be our only salvation.

Currently the Islands are heading for the financial abyss. Depopulation (unless you happen to be in favour of Haitian illegal immigration) in critical areas.

No incentives or any common sense being applied to improve the situation. The reason? We are run by bureaucrats four and a half thousand miles away in London, who simply don’t give one iota about the Islands and are happy to see them degenerate into an in overdebted, overtaxed and over regulated quagmire.

In fact the evidence is that they have contrived this and are happy to see us become a subjugated vassal state controlled by the European Union which currently plagues them.

Just look at Europe and the mess they are in. There is nothing happening here and people are suffering severe financial hardship (sorry Government officials and real estate agents, but that is the truth).

Our locally elected Government is hamstrung, and few favour independence for obvious historical reasons. Also Government is totally dysfunctional.

Ill conceived plan

The Premier and his cohorts are missing the real reason why they are MP representatives; and just in case if they have forgotten, let me tell them.

They are administrators and managers of the peoples’ desires and trust, and not planners.

Manifestos were offered, and accepted by the people of TCI; and included in that was not annexation efforts, therefore any such action, should be via referendum.

That did not happen and the delegation was out of way and place to even discuss annexation in the slightest.

The real reasons for their thoughts are to get from under the British with the hopes of avoiding prosecution.

That plan is ill-conceived, as all others (taxes, fees and criminal forgiveness) of the Ewing’s administration.

It is not too late to make amends.

Unexpected benefits

First, I think we must look at the fact that the idea of a merger with Canada has been examined on several occasions and each and every case it was determined that the TCI has nothing of value to bring to Canada other than sun and sand; something that all Caribbean and dozens of other countries can also offer Canada.

As a part of Canada the TCI would be placed under much more strict fiscal control than what the British have imposed on the TCI. Canada has highly regulated legal and financial systems in place plus the rule of law is more rigidly applied.

That is why the global economic down turn had a comparatively minimal impact on Canada.

There is also a division between what the federal government in Ottawa and provincial governments can control.

The TCI would be treated like a province with limited ability to control money or enact certain laws.

Things like the blatant discriminatory ‘protected’ categories of businesses would not be allowed by Ottawa.

Similarly, the unrecoverable loss of Government tax money as is happening with increasing frequency in the TCI would not be tolerated.

Political corruption or poor fiscal management would be promptly dealt with.

Would the TCI benefit from becoming part of Canada? Yes, definitely, but not in the way the Premier expects!

 Become a contributor Want to become a contributor or have a suggestion for a Talk Back topic for us? What questions do you think we should be putting to the public? And what are your thoughts on it?

Call our news team on 946 4664 or email tcweeklynews@gmail.com

May 31 - June 6, 2014

NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

7

Debt repayment will be a world first – Deputy speaker says tax increase is fiscal madness THE TURKS and Caicos Islands will be the only country to have ever reduced its national debt by 60 per cent within the space of five years if it succeeds come 2016.

This was revealed by Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Josephine Connolly last week during an impassionate delivery on the debate of the Hotel and Restaurant Taxation Amendment Bill 2014.

Connolly said she found this out when she put the question to the team from the ministry of finance during a presentation two Fridays ago in the House of Assembly.

“I asked the presenter this exact question, is any other country in the world on this type of repayment schedule. The answer I received was that no other country had done what

Turks and Caicos had done.

“No country in the world is trying to reduce its national debt by 60 per cent in five years,” the Deputy leader said.

The TCI is on a trajectory to reduce a public debt of $215 million in 2012 to $86 million in 2016.

The PDM member drew attention to the average ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) in the Caribbean, which is 79 per cent according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while the TCI’s is closer to 50 per cent.

She said it is not clear why the Government is taking such drastic action in tax imposition and increases when other nations that have higher debt ratios are not taking such steps.

“The reason why no other nation is

Governor Peter Beckingham with members of the TCI Criminal Justice Advisory Group

Justice advisors meet for second time A GROUP of leading officials dedicated to the enhancement and promotion of criminal justice met for the second time on Tuesday (May 27).

Governor Peter Beckingham chaired the meeting of the members at his official residence Waterloo in Grand Turk.

The TCI Criminal Justice Advisory Group will gather every four months to consider particular topics of interest across the criminal justice system.

Together the body’s ten members will advise the Governor on the implementation of his vital constitutional roles.

Attending the meeting were Commissioner of Police Colin Farqhuar, Superintendent of Prisons Ian Sargent, Raymond Grant, Acting Superintendent of Her Majesty’s Prison Grand Turk, Julian Miller, head of the Caribbean Territories and Bermuda Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Grand Turk Magistrate Kally Cheema, Clemar Hippolyte from the Attorney

General's Chambers and Director of Public Prosecutions JoAnn Meloche.

Topics that will be discussed include the crime reduction strategy for the TCI, sentencing and noncustodial options, rehabilitation initiatives, juvenile justice, interventions for the mentally ill, victim and witness support and training and professional development for officials.

The effective and efficient administration and development of criminal justice in the Turks and Caicos Islands is the overall aim of the group The Governor is appointed by the Queen to be her representative and to carry out key duties to support the people of the Islands such as chairing Cabinet and ensuring the good governance of the territory.

The constitution also reserved to the Governor responsibility for defence, external affairs, the regulation of international financial services, and internal security including the police force.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Josephine Connolly”

reducing public debt so dramatically is not that these nations are not financially prudent, not because they are not mature, and not because they do not want fiscal stability.

“In fact, it is the complete opposite.”

She posited that these nations are mature enough to be aware of the devastation such a debt reduction programme would do to their economy.

They understand that it would be incredibly imprudent to ruin their economies with such an impossible taxation burden and that there is no fiscal stability in a declining economy, she added.

She said there is a limit to how much tax can be collected before it has a negative effect on economic growth.

The IMF identifies that there is a limit on the ability of Caribbean countries to raise more taxes when they are already very high.

In a paper on debt reductions in the Caribbean, Connolly added, the authors noted that “some countries have very little room for strong fiscal efforts on the revenue side given that tax collections are already very high. Tax collections in Barbados, for instance, amount to 26 per cent of GDP in 2011”.

“Implementing a debt reduction programme based on substantial increases in tax when we are among the most taxed people in the region is fiscal madness,” she said.

“The previous PNP administration seriously wounded the economy with uncontrolled expenditure and this administration seems intent on finishing the job with a taxation policy that ignores the economic realities of this country.

“It is amazing how the pendulum has swung.”

She added that the last PNP administration had little time for the UK government, while the current one, according to pronouncements by the Premier, needs to demonstrate to the UK that the TCI is a mature nation, financially prudent and fiscally stable.

She said that given the recent history of the PNP she could see why this Government is working hard to establish credibility with the UK. However, she added, in their desperate need for acceptance they have ignored the economic realities of the country.

In its bid to establish its credibility with the UK, this Government has presented more tax and fee increases

Under the tree

to the House of Assembly than any other government in the history of the Islands.

“The PNP should consider renaming themselves. Perhaps they should call themselves the PMT, which could stand for Pay More Taxes.

The deputy speaker suggested that the Government should instead engage the UK on the current issues and not destroy the economy of the country.

“We can stop the madness today and go back to the UK and discuss what is a rationale debt repayment schedule, reform the economy so that we attract inward investment, simplify and streamline doing business in TCI.” She said this would lead to increased tax revenue, jobs, businesses opening and the repayment of the debt.

Connolly believes that a unified, cross party approach would result in the UK taking a second look at the repayment schedule.

She said if the Premier and the Minister of Finance believe that such an approach to the UK is not possible, then they should stand down and leave it to people who can get the job done.

“The Minister of Finance opened his ministerial statement at the last House of Assembly meeting by saying we are ‘between a rock and a hard place,’ well I agree.

“The hard place is the UK intransigence and the rock is this Government.

“The people of this country need to remove the rock and find a better place with the UK.” (DI)

By Benneth Williams

8

NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Prevention of Terrorism Bill passed THE TURKS and Caicos Islands are well on the way to fulfilling the international obligation of ensuring that terrorist financing and money laundering operations do not prosper.

Earlier this month the Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2014 was passed in the House of Assembly after little debate on the provisions.

The bill’s passage is in line with recommendations made at the G7 Summit in Paris, which, along with the establishment of an independent financial agency, is to come into force, by the end of May. The recommendations were made by a taskforce established at the summit. They were tasked with examining money laundering techniques and trends, review action already taken at national and international levels and set out measures that countries still need to take to combat terrorism.

Attorney General Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles – who presented the bill for passage - said when the TCI was evaluated, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) assessment revealed a need for a more detailed provision.

A decision was then taken to follow the approach of other jurisdictions and supplement existing legislative provisions by an ordinance.

Following a review of its standards, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommended

strengthened global safeguards to protect the integrity of the financial systems by providing governments with stronger tools to take action against financial crime.

The recommendations take into account new threats such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and provide more clarity on transparency as well as tougher mechanisms to deal with corruption.

The AG noted that the nine recommendations on terrorist financing have been fully integrated with the measures against money laundering, and has resulted in a stronger and a clearer set of standards.

“The TCI will be evaluated against these new recommendations in the second quarter of 2016,” she added.

LEGISLATIVE PROVISIONS The new legislation provides for the implementation of the United Nations convention respecting the suppression of financing of terrorism and the UN Security Council resolution on counter terrorism measures 1373.

The bill is divided into seven parts and is modelled after the UK Terrorism Act of 2000 and the Terrorism Jersey Law of 2002.

Part one adopts a wide definition of terrorism, recognising that terrorism has religious or ideological as well as political motivation

covering actions which may not be violent in themselves, but which can in a modern society have a devastating impact.

These could include interfering in the supply of water or power where life, health or safety may be put at risk, disruption of key computer systems and actions involving firearms or explosives.

The bill makes it clear that firearms and explosives do have to be designed to influence the Government or intimidate the public or a section of the public. This is to ensure that the assassination of key individuals, among other such incidences, is covered.

Provision is made for the definition of terrorism to be covered throughout the world.

Terrorist property, under the bill, can include property to be used for terrorism as well as proceeds of acts of terrorism.

These proceeds of an act of terrorism cover not only the money stolen in a terrorist robbery but also any money paid in connection with the commission of terrorist acts.

The new legislation also makes it clear that any measure of a proscribed organisation (these are organisations banned under law) is covered, not only the resources used from bomb making, arms purchases or others, but also money set aside for non-violent purposes, such as

CJ upholds charges against Rodney Adams FORMER Deputy Police Commissioner, Rodney Adams has been ordered to stand trial on November 10 after the Chief Justice quashed an application by defence attorneys challenging the charges against him.

In March, Ariel Misick QC challenged the details of the Crown’s charges against his client, further delaying the plea and directions hearing.

Misick and the prosecutor, Canadian, Andrejs Berzins QC were ordered to present their written arguments to the court.

Last week Friday (May 23), Chief Justice Edwin Goldsbrough rejected the defence submissions on alleged changes to original charges and bonded the police officer over to trial.

The Integrity Commission charged Adams with five counts of corruption last year.

They related to Adams’ conduct during a police investigation of the murder of Kaziah Burke, in which his son was a suspect.

It is alleged that Adams performed his duties in a public body for the purpose of obtaining a benefit for another person sometime between April 13 and May 24, 2013.

“Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rodney Adams”

The allegation is that for the purpose exonerating his son Roderick ‘Rico’ Adams, the veteran police man did not excuse himself from the case although he was aware that his son was implicated or suspected of being implicated in Burke’s murder.

He is also accused of recklessly allowing his private interest to improperly influence his conduct.

The Crown alleges that Adams obtained information on the police investigation of Burke’s murder while his son was a suspect.

Another allegation is that between April 13 and 19, Adams “accepted

responsibility” for ensuring that his son attend the office of the investigating officers at 10am on April 17 but did not ensure his attendance that day or the day after, thereby delaying his arrest.

Adams is charged with acting contrary to the instructions of the Commissioner of Police, which were that he should not be involved in the police investigation.

He is also accused of interviewing and recording a statement from Dorell Williams, a suspect in or witness to the murder with a view to exonerating his son.

Last October 11 the Integrity Commission questioned Adams on reasonable suspicion of committing offences of corruption contrary to the Integrity Commission Ordinance.

Questions arose from the senior police officer’s involvement in the Burke investigation for which his son was initially charged along with Cortez Simmons.

He was arrested and charged on November 11, following which he was placed on administrative leave.

He remains on $30,000 bail with one surety.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has since dropped charges against Adam’s son. (DI)

paying rent etcetera.

Part two of the bill looks at the offences related to proscribed organisations, membership of and support of such organisations, wearing items of clothing that a give the impression that a person is a member of or supports these organisations, such as Al Qaida.

Part three deals with offences related to financing terrorism, and provides for offences related to fundraising and other kinds of financial support for terrorism together with power for a court to order forfeiture of any money or other property connected with those offences.

Provision is made under this section for the duty to disclose information; it requires businesses to report any suspicion that they have that someone is laundering terrorist money or committing any of the other terrorist offences.

Another provision ensures that the offence is focused on suspicion that arises at work, while yet another preserves this assumption in respect of legal advisors’ privileged material, narrowly defined to be consistent with the TCI’s other legislative regimes, such as the Proceeds of Crime Ordinance.

The bill ensures that businesses can foreclose information to the police without fear of breaching legal restrictions.

It allows for the activities of informants who may have to be involved with terrorist property not to be found out, and for the protection of others who may be innocently involved.

The bill states that someone who is involved with such property avoid prosecution by telling the police as soon as is reasonably possible, and if asked to do so by the police, continues their involvement.

Part four of the bill looks

at terrorists investigations and provides the police with the power to set up cordons in relation to such investigations.

It also gives power to the police, for a period, to designate and demarcate a specified area as a cordoned area for purposes of a terrorist investigation, for instance in the wake of a bomb. It further makes it an offence to breach a cordon.

Power is also vested in the police to investigate terrorism by searching premises and seeking explanation of items found.

They also have the authority to investigate terrorist finance based on existing power to investigate proceeds of crime.

Part five of the bill deals with counter terrorist powers and provides the police with powers to arrest and detain suspected terrorists, and broader powers to stop and search vehicles and pedestrians and to impose parking restrictions.

These examination powers also extend to ports.

Provision is further made in the bill for the treatment of suspects who are detained and for judicial extension of the initial period of detention.

Part six deals with terrorist offences and provides for offences of terrorism, weapons training for terrorist purposes including recruitment for such training, directing terrorist organisation, possessing articles for terrorist purposes, possessing information for terrorists purposes, inciting of terrorism overseas, hoaxes, and harbouring or concealing of terrorists.

Part seven details miscellaneous provisions containing various technical and other matters, related to general powers for the police, customs and immigration officers.

(DI)

Police meetings with public poorly attended FEW residents have taken up the opportunity to speak with Police Commissioner Colin Farquhar and several of his senior officers at town hall meetings this month.

But officers hope that the final few assemblies will see more people attending to discuss the topics of crime and policing in a public forum.

Meetings have already taken place in South Caicos, Middle Caicos and Grand Turk.

In Providenciales just five people attended the event in Blue Hills last Friday, May 23, while four residents spoke to officers in Five Cays on Tuesday (May 27).

On Friday, May 30, there will be a meeting at the Gustarvus Lightbourne Sports Centre in Providenciales and on Tuesday, June 3, at the Tropicana Auditorium in Grace Bay – both at 6pm.

Finally on June 5 at 6pm the

police are holding their last town hall meeting at Adelaide Oemler Primary School in North Caicos.

They not only allow the force to hear public concerns and opinions but also help them to form a new strategic plan.

“Please pass this information along to all of your local membership groups, friends, neighbours and family. All are welcome and encouraged to attend,” a police press release read.

“Commissioner Colin Farquhar and his staff look forward to discussing your concerns and opinions relating to crime and policing in the various communities.”

Any questions regarding these meetings can be directed to the police on 941-4448 or public relations officer Audley Astwood at audley.astwood@tcipolice.tc.

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

NEWS

9

Strong opposition to tourism services tax OPPOSITION members in the House of Assembly held no punches back last week when the Government presented yet another means of increasing revenue through taxes and making it harder on locally owned businesses to prosper.

The amendment to the Hotel and Restaurant Taxation Ordinance was taken to the assembly on May 19 for its second reading and was hotly opposed.

Its passage, as is, is in serious doubt as members pointed to flaws in the drafting of the bill, some of which do not take into account the growth of small and locally owned businesses, which Government has continuously said it supports.

Threats of voting it down were issued, but the Government benches acknowledged none, although the Premier did concede some flaws as pointed out by the elected member for Five Cays.

The bill proposes the imposition of a12 per cent tax on tourism services provided by independent service providers and for all restaurants to register to collect tax, with some exemptions.

Tourism services providers whose proceeds do not exceed $50,000 in any year or $4,000 in any one month can apply for exemption from collecting the tax.

And restaurants whose proceeds do not exceed $200,000 in any year or $16,000 in any month may also apply to be exempted from collecting the tax.

All restaurants will be required to register to collect restaurant tax, despite only some restaurants needing to actually collect.

The bill also requires all tourism providers and restaurants to keep up

to date and detailed records.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS Member for Five Cays Sean Astwood pointed to a number of stipulations in the bill, which he said, would have several negative effects on community-based restaurants.

“Undeveloped neighbourhoods such as Five Cays, Blue Hills and Kew Town, and the same would hold true for the other islands, should be exempt from this bill regardless of the amount of revenue,” Astwood told the assembly.

Using his own constituency as an example, he said the cost involved in travelling to the Five Cays area alone is high.

“Can you imagine the effort and the resources it must have taken to get tourists and locals alike to visit Bugaloos in Five Cays?

“In fact, if you had asked any member of this PNP Government just a couple of years ago they would have told you that this was impossible and cannot be done.”

He questioned if the Government, in drafting the bill, considered the cost a tourist incurs visiting one of the local establishments.

“A taxi ride for a family of five to come to Bugaloos in Five Cays is a whopping $200 round trip and that is before they get to look at the menu.

Getting people in these areas to visit these restaurants is not easy; it is not cheap.

“This Government in their endless quest for money wants to treat our small local restaurants like the big ones that exist in the heart of our tourist industry.

“This is not right, it is unfair and most of all it goes directly against this Government’s claims of supporting

small businesses.”

Astwood said the bill is yet another example that the Government is out of touch with the people of the country and the realities of businesses, not to mention lost when it comes to solutions that can drive the economy forward.

“What was once a tourists’ tax will now become a tax on locals as well, and the Government knows quite well that these community based restaurants enjoy a large local customer base, which is bigger than the tourist customer base that they have.

“What do you think will happen to these local customers when restaurants have to increase their prices because of this tax?” he questioned.

He recommended that the Government find ways to exempt the community based restaurants and allow them the opportunity to grow.

Once the communities are developed and business is thriving, then the Government would be free to levy whatever tax or fee they see fit, he said.

TAXATION MADNESS Governor’s appointed member, Lillian Misick who, along with several others voiced sentiments similar to Astwood’s, pointed out that the Government needs to reach out to the people more when they are making these sorts of legislations.

Deputy Speaker of the House and Opposition member, Josephine Connolly pointed out that the bureaucracy involved in every business having to register and keep detailed records, even though they are exempt from collecting the tax, cannot seriously stimulate small

business growth.

“How does it help the small local businesses to have to register and keep detailed records for a tax they will always be exempt from? It does not.

“How does this help Turks and Caicos Islander owned business struggling financially to keep their heads above water? It does not.”

Connolly predicted that these small operations will not keep the required records and the effect will be to turn small entrepreneurs into lawbreakers.

“We do not need any more of our people worrying about breaking the law. We need to be cutting the red tape for small businesses, not tying them up with it.”

She also pointed to the Government’s admitted failed attempts at proper and effective compliance, and questioned who will ensure compliance with the increased bureaucracy the bill will spawn.

“I believe this house… has a unique opportunity to stop the taxation madness that has taken over this Government.

“We cannot afford to wait until the Minister of Finance presents his next budget with more tax increases.

“We as a house need to draw a line in the sand and say no more taxation and reject this bill,” the member encouraged her colleagues.

“I am sure that the Minister of Finance will remind us all of the dire consequences that will follow the rejection of this bill - the sword of VAT hanging over our heads, the potential for drastic cuts in government expenditure.

“Am I concerned? Yes I am. Am I frightened? No I am not.”

The Deputy Speaker called on all members to vote down the bill and show that they are not afraid to represent their constituents.

Premier Rufus Ewing acknowledged the contributions to the bill, singling out those raised by the Five Cays member for further consideration by the members when the bill is sent for consideration and possible amendments in the committee of supply.

However, he acknowledged that while the bill seeks to broaden the tax base beyond hotel accommodation and restaurant into other services, the risk is that most of the services in terms of the volume of transaction are relatively unknown.

“We have to be careful and cautious as to how we go about setting limits, rates and levels – and that is one of my concerns.”

He added: “I think there are a number of amendments that we can make to this bill in the committee of supply that will make it easier on our people.

“Because we do support small business and want to see them get established and grow without being heavily burdened or without becoming victims of a system because it is so rigid.”

He recommended that members consider going back to the system of designating restaurants as opposed to having everyone that is registered automatically become designated, and then have to register for exemption or register to be dedesignated.

The bill is expected to come up for more consideration when the assembly meets again, sometime in June. (DI)

Sloop tragedy investigation not yet complete A COMPREHENSIVE investigation into the Christmas Day sloop tragedy which left 17 Haitian migrants dead has not yet been completed.

Police had hoped to release the report by the end of April but according to head of CID Superintendent Clifford Ashton there is more to be done.

The wooden vessel capsized off the south coast of Providenciales in the early hours of Christmas morning as marine police towed it to shore, tipping dozens of people into the sea.

Thirty-three people made it safely to shore but sadly 17 men and women drowned before rescuers could reach them.

Acting Superintendent Ira Baptiste had been leading the inquiry supported by members of the TCI’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

In February police press officer Audley Astwood said that progress had been made on the investigation into the incident and

analysis of information was “near completion”.

However the report was not released in the following six to eight weeks as indicated and Baptise is now away on extended leave.

The Weekly News contacted several senior officers this week but they were unable to provide a completion date for the report.

Over the past five months the investigating team has been looking into whether the captain, the passengers or the marine police were in any way liable for the tragic deaths.

They are also assessing where improvements can be made in the actions of all of the agencies involved in the rescue operation.

Once completed the comprehensive report will be presented to Commissioner of Police Colin Farquhar before dissemination to the public.

On Tuesday (May 27) before a town hall meeting in Five Cays, Farquhar explained: “In those types of investigations we look at what

areas we can improve on.

“It’s not always just about finding fault – its everything to do with the initial call out and how that response was, the different agencies that responded, how they did.

“So it’s more than just the reasons why the boat overturned, it’s the whole file. It’s quite comprehensive.”

He went on to say that there are always things that the force can do better and together they will ensure that happens.

This February Governor Peter Beckingham said an independent inquiry into the incident was considered and dismissed.

“The reasons for this are several.

The many witness statements gathered all confirm the course of events – that this was a tragic accident caused by those on board the overloaded sloop, moving suddenly to one side causing it to capsize,” he stressed.

“The coroner has confirmed that the cause of death is drowning in all 17 cases.”

He added that the Commissioner

of Police raised this with the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, but decided that an independent investigation would reveal no more than is already known.

“Indeed, the Haitian consul has been in contact with the survivors throughout and nor has he requested an independent investigation,” Beckingham added.

On Christmas morning (Wednesday, December 25) at about 3.21am the marine branch of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) intercepted a wooden boat overloaded with passengers from Haiti.

Officers attached a towline to the boat and a police vessel pulled it towards South Dock in Providenciales.

At about 5.17am tragedy struck and the boat rolled over onto its side tipping dozens of people into the sea.

Seventeen people were killed and 33 were rescued from the water and were taken into custody

at the Government’s immigration detention and removal centre in Five Cays.

Several boats, a US Coast Guard helicopter and aircraft were deployed to continue the search for bodies but no more were recovered.

The survivors and the bodies were repatriated to Haiti.

In July 2009, a sloop with an estimated 200 Haitians aboard ran aground on a reef off Turks and Caicos, resulting in the deaths of at least 15 people.

And in May 2007, more than 60 people perished after their rickety boat, overloaded with passengers, capsized in shark-infested waters off Providenciales during a night-time thunder storm.

The tragedy was described as the worst the TCI has ever seen.

Last year’s incident pushed the global number of migrants who died in 2013 while attempting to cross a border to a record 2,378 according to International Organisation for Migration (IOM) figures. (RB)

10 NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

TCI prepares for imminent virus strike WHILE no cases of the unpleasant chikungunya virus have been yet confirmed in the TCI, health experts expect it to strike soon.

Residents are warned to take precautions to protect themselves against the mosquito-borne virus which can leave its victims seriously ill and incapacitated.

Director of Health Services Dr Nadia Astwood told the Weekly News on Wednesday (May 28) that the health department will continue to periodically check for the disease.

Chikungunya was first identified in Saint Martin in December 2013 and has since spread to 14 other countries in the Caribbean including TCI’s neighbours, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Close to 3,600 cases have been confirmed across the region while health officials suspect the number to be closer to 40,000.

Last month World Health Organisation representative Gerry Eijkemans hosted a press conference at the Ministry of Health along with members of the ministry to discuss the virus.

She explained that chikungunya is an emerging disease that has never been in the Americas or the Caribbean before.

“This has happened because of climate change, because of travel, and tourism is a very big factor.”

She stressed that it is preventable if everyone works in collaboration – the Government, the hotel sector, the cruise ship companies and the community.

David Barnardo, primary healthcare medical officer and acting

director of the health service, said the disease is similar to dengue fever but joint pain is notorious.

“It could last for weeks, months and even in some cases for years,” he stressed, “it could disable a patient from their routine work.”

Minister of Health Porsha Stubbs Smith, who was also at the press conference, said that the people of the TCI are living in “a paradise in the middle of a global village”.

“With that in mind we have to be very conscious of diseases, illnesses that we too are susceptible to as a country.”

She urged the public to help in preventing the spread of the chikungunya virus by following health tips and by keeping homes and communities clean.

In January the Ministry of Health and Human Services released a statement advising the public to protect themselves from bites.

It read: “Chikungunya is a viral disease, carried mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito which is widely dispersed in the Caribbean region including the Turks and Caicos Islands. This is also the vector that causes dengue.

“Symptoms of chikungunya virus include sudden high fever, severe pain in the wrists, ankles or knuckles, muscle pain, headache, nausea, and rash.

“Joint pain and stiffness are more common with chikungunya than with dengue.”

It went on to say that symptoms appear between four to seven days after the bite of an infected mosquito.

The majority of clinical signs and

symptoms last three to ten days, but joint pain may persist longer.

Severe cases requiring hospitalisation are rare, but anyone experiencing any of the above signs and symptoms should visit their doctor or a healthcare clinic immediately.

There is no vaccine or treatment available for chikungunya so the best way to stay protected is prevention.

“Prevent mosquitoes breeding in and around your home environment,” the statement urged.

“Wear long-sleeved clothing or long pants, use insect repellents liberally, use mosquito nets at night, inspect your home and yard weekly, keep water drums and barrels tightly covered, check your gutters.”

The ministry also advised residents to throw out stagnant water from flower vases, old tyres, and other containers that might act as breeding sites.

And finally call the Environmental Health Department to treat large bodies of stagnant water on or around property.

The Ministry of Health and Human Services along with other Caribbean health authorities are working with Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to implement public health measures.

These include identification and clinical management of cases, vector control measures, enhanced surveillance and public education.

In February the ministry held two day-long awareness workshops to update health staff on identifying the disease along with prevention and

The mosquito-borne virus can leave its victims seriously ill and incapacitated

control advice.

“Let us all work together to prevent mosquito-borne diseases.

Protect yourself, your home and environment today,” the statement read. (RB)

continued

The ultimate goal Dear Editor, I would like to take this opportunity to express the feelings of patriotism and gratitude that came over me on National Heroes Day. The powerful and moving tributes to our National Hero encouraged us to step up and play our part in building our Turks and Caicos Islands.

The response to the Raise/ Rock Your Flag campaign, and the participation in the Providenciales taxi drivers’ motorcade were both phenomenal! I am very grateful that I was able to participate.

I urge all of us to display this level of patriotism each and every

day of our lives.

We can do this in the way we carry ourselves, the way we treat others, by supporting and celebrate each other, by giving our best on our jobs and by working together to keep our country clean, beautiful and strong.

Through these simple acts and others like them, our patriotism will be seen in everything we think, say and do. And this in my opinion is the ultimate goal.

Kind regards, Sabrina C Palmer-Isaac Blue Mountain, Providenciales

COMMENTARY

Wars won and lost

ON NATIONAL Heroes Day I watched US television viewing some WWII war films which fascinate me.

Yvette does not understand my fascination with that terrible time.

I was an early primary school student when the war was on and my dad’s job and illness kept him out of the war.

Nevertheless I remember those times clearly - the scrap drives, rationing, the soldier and sailors in uniform everywhere as the licence plate frames declaring ‘Remember Pearl Harbour’.

Later photos of the burned and broken bodies of the Japanese came home with a cousin’s

soldier husband.

My older neighbour and friend had flown 50 missions in B-24 Liberator bombers. You were obliged to fly 25 missions to earn your black leather jacket but for reasons not explained friend Jerry flew two terms of duty and owned two jackets.

He told me that as they neared the target, anti-aircraft flax explosions loomed in front of them.

“The larger explosions were B-24s hit while full of bombs,” he said.

The population of the USA, Britain and the free countries of the world sacrificed and died to prevent Germany’s Hitler and Japan’s Tojo from ruling everyone’s lives.

SPACE IS LIMITED!

Those folks did what they had to do for the future of their families.

The right to do their own thing and prosper.

The unfortunate aftermath was when a war sick world ignored the warnings of Generals Patton and MacArthur and turned western Europe and China over to the commies.

Soon the USA was back at war in South Korea and later Vietnam.

Early in my career we built parts for the war planes of the Vietnam War era.

The Cold War grew and it took president Reagan’s military build-up to smother the Soviet empire without a bomb being dropped.

In WWII America spent the blood

By David Tapfer

David is a retired mobile hydraulic engineer and business executive. He has been married to Middle Caicos native Yvette Robinson Tapfer for 25 years and has lived in Conch Bar, Middle Caicos, since 2002. David formerly served as branch chairman of the PDM from 2008 to 2011

of tens of thousands of young men to wrestle the Philippines back from the hands of Japan in 1945.

In 1946 the Philippines were given their freedom. Then Japan, economically reborn, was given free rein to overrun and eliminate the US auto, steel and appliance industry.

The USA deserved what it got because we chose the wrong politicians.

Britain’s pre-war prime minister Neville Chamberlain had ignored Hitler looming and after Winston

Churchill led Britain’s victory he was voted out of office.

Here in the TCI we made poor choices and re-elected the same party and close relatives of those that caused the serious financial problems and who are now on the way to court.

Now our schools are jammed with disappointed youths as we face horrible taxes to pay back 11 years of spending on credit with no real development. We lost our war!

Please keep your letters to a maximum of 450 words or we may not be able publish it.

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Residents urged to prepare for hurricane season THIS year’s hurricane season begins on Sunday (June 1) and residents are urged to take all necessary precautions to protect themselves, their families and their properties.

While weather experts expect it to be a quiet few months, Governor Peter Beckingham warned people not to become complacent.

“It takes only a single storm to potentially devastate the lives of our people here in the TCI,” he stressed.

Last month Dr William Gray and Dr Philip Klotzbach, of Colorado State University at the National Tropical Weather Conference predicted just nine named storms and three hurricanes.

Of these only one is expected to be a major category three, four or five.

Klotzbach said a predicted El Niño is one factor that led to their quiet forecast. This is a climate pattern defined by warmer-than-normal water in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which tends to suppress Atlantic hurricanes.

In a press release on Tuesday (May 27) Beckingham said: “Turks and Caicos Islanders have witnessed for themselves the tremendous damage that a hurricane can inflict – and almost all of our inhabited islands have seen these disastrous effects.

“Grand Turk, South Caicos and Salt Cay still bear the scars of a hurricane in 2008; the vital causeway linking family island’s North and Middle Caicos was practically washed away by the storm surge that deluged that area.

“I implore every resident and business in the TCI to make sure that they are ready for this year’s Atlantic Hurricane Season.”

He urged residents to listen to the advice and the warnings issued by the TCI emergency management services and to take the steps necessary to protect themselves, their families and their property from the impact of the

storms, whether wind, rain or floods.

“As I have already said, it takes only a single storm to potentially devastate the lives of our people here in the TCI.” Over the next few weeks the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies (DDME) will be running a hurricane preparedness campaign.

It will practically demonstrate the importance of community preparedness and resilience in hurricane risk reduction in homes, communities, schools, Government ministries, agencies and departments, the public and private sectors.

“This crucial work follows on from months of planning and preparation

by TCI officials with colleagues from across the region, as well as with the men and women of the Royal Navy warships that will be patrolling the region to provide assistance to any of the UK overseas territories, which may have the misfortune to be struck by a hurricane.”

A press release from the DDME last month encouraged residents to begin preparations.

“It is important therefore that all residents and business owners begin ensuring that their insurance policies and disaster plans are in place, begin property inspection of roofs, walls and shutters and begin all minor repairs for the upcoming hurricane season.

“The DDME would like to remind everyone that it only takes one hurricane impacting the Islands to bring severe damage and disruption to normal daily routine.”

Hurricane season begins on June 1 and ends on November 30.

The following names will be used: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine, Kyle, Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paulette, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky, and Wilfred.

Angus steak patties could cause death PATTIES containing Angus ground beef could cause serious illness or even death, the Government’s Department of Agriculture warned this week.

About 1.8 million pounds of dodgy meat was produced between March 31 and April 18

by Wolverine Packing Company of Detroit, Michigan, and an unknown quantity was shipped to the TCI. The US Department of Agriculture issued a Class I recall for the beef this week because of possible contamination with the deadly E Coli 0157:H7 bacterium.

The recalled products bear the establishment number ‘2574B’ and will have production date code between ‘03 31 14’ and ‘04 18 15’.

USDA notes that a Class I recall means that there is a “situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse

health consequences or death”.

Given the advisory, the TCI’s Department of Agriculture has taken steps to inform relevant importers of the situation and to ensure that the products bearing the identification are recalled or disposed of.

Other relevant ministries and the Environmental Health Department have also been advised.

The E Coli 0157:H7 can cause severe health problems and including diarrhoea, vomiting, severe abdominal pain and more seriously, renal failure.

It can also result in debilitating effects on the elderly and the young. For further information on keeping safe, please contact the Ministry of Health.

The Department of Agriculture is also reminding importers that they must obtain an import permit before the importation any of animals and animal products into the Turks and Caicos Islands.

NEWS 11

Overseas police officers review Been murder file TWO officers from the British Virgin Islands flew into the country last week to assist local police with two investigations.

The inspector and sergeant spent six days in the country reviewing the Robert Been murder file and helping out with another older case.

Police Commissioner Colin Farquhar told the Weekly News on Tuesday (May 27) that he is unable to talk about the second matter as it is an ongoing investigation and details are “sensitive”.

However just before the Five Cays town hall meeting he touched on the Been homicide case stating that the officers were “quite content with how the investigation’s going”.

He explained that they made a few suggestions on administrative issues such as how to structure the file, and added that they will be returning to the TCI next week to follow up on their visit.

Robert ‘Robbie’ Been Senior was killed behind his own shopping centre and apartment block on Tuesday, March 4, in a violent point blank shooting.

To date no one has been arrested in connection with the horrific incident and police continue to search desperately for leads.

“CID is constantly working on that file,” Farquhar explained, “they’re investigating the different avenues and they’re following up on people’s statements.

“Sometimes there’s certain

Robert ‘Robbie’ Been Senior was killed behind his own shopping centre and apartment block on March 4

evidence that’s gathered whether it’s CCTV or DNA, so they’re following up on all those type of investigations too.

“We’re waiting for material to come back and reports to come back on those.”

The commissioner requested assistance from officers of a nearby British overseas territory in early April to investigate Been’s brutal murder.

Farquhar’s initial appeal went to Larry Covington, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office law enforcement advisor based in Miami.

Two experienced investigators were expected to arrive in the TCI on the week beginning April 19 to review the case file and be on hand to offer advice – but the visit was delayed until last week due to logistical problems.

Just before 8pm on March 4 multiple shots were heard being discharged in the vicinity of

Turquoise Point Plaza on Dolphin Road, Providenciales.

The three story road-front shopping centre houses TP Liquor Store, Stacks nightclub, Cash Wiz pawn shop, Girls R Us hairdresser and Jerkies restaurant, and residential apartments.

Been, the 47-year-old complex owner, was attacked while he was getting into his car at the back of the building in Grace Bay. Following his slaughter the killer and his driver sped away from the area in a silver Toyota Hiace van with grey stripes.

Emergency services were called to the scene of the incident and they found Been with multiple gunshot wounds to his body and head.

He was taken to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre but doctors were unable to revive him and he was pronounced dead.

Police have said that the motive was not robbery and more than once person is being sought.

Anyone with information on this incident can call Crimestoppers on 1-800-8477 or use the Crimestoppers online reporting page www. crimestoppers.tc.

Information will be treated in the strictest of confidence. All calls are answered by Miami Dade Police and no one from the RTCIPF will know who called.

A Crimestoppers cash reward of $40,000 is on offer for anyone that provides information that leads to the arrest and charge of his killer. (RB)

New teen pageant to debut in the TCI YOUNG ladies who have always dreamed about becoming international beauty queens now have the opportunity to participate in a Miss Teen Turks and Caicos Islands pageant.

The Miss Teen Turks and Caicos Organisation announced the first annual event at a press conference at Blue Haven Resort on Providenciales on Wednesday (May 28).

The winner of the competition will represent the country at Miss Teen Universe 2015.

Organisers explained that they hope to encourage positive achievement by helping to nurture and reward the talent, creativity, communication skills, community service, healthy lifestyle, and academic achievement of young women aged 15 to 19.

In a brief press statement president and creative director, Oehleo Higgs, said that Miss Teen Turks and Caicos Islands is much more than a beauty pageant.

“The choreographed show will give us an opportunity to discover the Turks and Caicos’ most outstanding young women, and provide a platform for national achievement and international recognition.”

Higgs went on to say that this event will encourage young women to be

involved within their communities and will reflect their attitudes, styles and everyday life.

The organisation’s executive team also consists of vice president and director of finance and sponsorship, Beryl Handfield-Charles, marketing and entertainment, Sanajah Forbes, contestants and production manager, Sessilly Pratt, recruitment and training, Jerritt ‘Jermell’ Williams, and web and graphics designer, Roger Harvey.

The programme will incorporate months of educational seminars, stage deportment and etiquette training, media training, question and answer techniques, community service initiatives, intensive grooming, coaching and preparation that will culminate with the coronation of a goodwill ambassador.

The winner of Miss Teen Turks and Caicos Islands will represent her country at the Miss Teen Universe pageant, at promotional and charitable events.

In collaboration with the Department of Youth Affairs, and the Edward C Gartland Youth Centre the winner of Miss Teen Turks and Caicos will also spearhead various campaigns and initiatives aimed at helping young people develop strong values, leadership skills,

social conscience, self-worth and conviction about their own potential.

Director of Youth Affairs, Jasmine Parker said that she was elated that the department is part of this initiative.

“As the main Government agency in ensuring youth development and empowerment, part of our mandate from Caricom’s Youth Development Action Plan is to promote youth talent and excellence.”

She said she firmly believed this pageant is one avenue in which the female population can embrace, express, and incorporate their development through leadership.

The first annual Miss Teen Turks and Caicos Islands pageant is slated for September 27 in Providenciales, to coincide with activities planned for this year’s National Youth Day. Fundraising events, charity drives and other activities will precede coronation night.

All interested young ladies are encouraged to apply online at www. missteentci.com or though the Miss Teen Turks and Caicos Facebook page’s ‘Apply Today’ app.

The first recruitment social and screening session is scheduled for Saturday, June 21, at the Edward C Gartland Youth Centre from 10am.

12

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

13

14 NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Thousands remember JAGS on National Heroes Day

Photos courtesy of grandturkevents.com

PATRIOTIC residents across the country recognised the life and achievements of the country’s first Chief Minister James Alexander George Smith ‘JAGS’ McCartney on Monday (May 26).

Some raised the Turks and Caicos Islands flag, others expressed themselves in words, dance or song during the annual National Heroes Day celebrations.

The main event took place in Grand Turk place at the JAGS McCartney National Memorial Park from 10am.

Hundreds of members of the public joined Governement officials to celebrate the theme ‘Discipline, production, tolerance - Visualizing and embracing new possibilities’.

Guest speakers included the dynamic Reverend John Malcolm, Acting Premier Akierra Missick and Leader of the Opposition Sharlene Cartwright Robinson.

The commemorative day organised by the National Honours and Awards Committee included an unveiling ceremony to reveal new fixtures in the monument and a parade led by all of the Islands’ uniformed groups.

In his blog on the Foreign and Commonwealth office website on Thursday (May 29) Governor Peter Beckingham wrote that the event was memorable and the event brought new dimension to the JAGS’ achievements.

“In speeches by the Acting Premier, the leader of the Opposition and, not least, the Rev John Malcolm the Chief Minister’s inspirational

personality was brought to life in a series of moving accounts.

“Pastor Malcolm’s personal encounters with the National Hero were vividly described, and his comparisons with the life of Che Guevara memorable.”

He said that one aspect of JAGS’ life that struck him forcefully was the sheer energy and productivity that he brought to everything that he did.

“In leading a strike of hotel workers – with someone from Britain – in the Bahamas to founding the Junkanoo Club to inspire young people to work and play, or negotiating a new constitution. He packed an extraordinary amount into his tragically short life.

“I can’t help but wonder what more he might have achieved for Turks and Caicos had he still been with us.

“I was delighted and honoured to meet his gracious widow and other members of his family.”

He went on to reveal that the TCI national flag was flown over the main Foreign Office building in the heart of London, a stone’s throw from Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament, on Monday.

“That building has been the sight of many historic events, including the signing of peace treaties after World War One, and negotiations with India for its independence.

“I’m sure the Turks and Caicos National Hero, JAGS McCartney, would have relished the fact that his national flag was flying proudly over London this week in his memory,” he said.

Flags could be seen flying throughout the country on Monday as part of the PDM party’s Raise

Your Flag campaign.

Opposition Leader Cartwright Robinson said: “As we celebrate our named hero the Hon JAGS McCartney we also honor and demonstrate respect for those who served and serve in many aspects of our country’s life.”

There was also a motorcade led by TCI’s taxi drivers in Providenciales to support the celebrations.

Also commemorating JAGS on Monday was the Turks and Caicos Islands Postal and Philatelic Bureau Services.

The department released postage stamps featuring JAGS which are available at post offices across the TCI. JAGS McCartney was the island’s first Chief Minister and held that position from August 1976 until May 9, 1980, when he died in a plane crash over New Jersey aged 34. (RB)

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

NEWS 15

Public areas may soon be smoke free – Restaurants, bars and airports all listed under draft policy

‘Clean our classrooms!’

– Students and teachers protest over lack of cleaners PUPILS took part in a vocal protest outside Oseta Jolly Primary School in Blue Hills on Wednesday (May 28) to draw attention to their filthy classrooms.

One staff member told media that the Government had not provided any cleaners at the public facility for months and the dirt was out of control.

She said that it covered floors and windows, caused a powerful stench and led to both students and teachers falling ill.

The Government later chastised members of staff for taking public action and said it violated “all principles of cooperation”.

The protest began when scores of pupils were dismissed from classes and asked to gather outside the school to demonstrate against lack of Government cooperation.

Many held multi-coloured paper bearing statements such as ‘Education Department where are you?’ ‘We are the cleaners,’ ‘Garbage 4 days,’ and ‘Flies love us’.

Kindergarten teacher Stelvina Hall said the situation had become unbearable and they were getting no response from Government officials.

“We have dirt caking up on the vents, the walls, the windows, dirt is literally on the ground, the carpet alone is horrible, the smell is unbearable.”

She explained that no cleaners

had worked at the school for months despite repeated requests to the Ministry of Government Support Services.

“We are upset because literally for months now we have been cleaning our own classrooms,” she told media.

“We are not getting any response back from the department. We’ve written letters, we’ve voiced our complaints to the principal, to the vice principal and it’s like it’s not being heard.”

She said that the children have been helping staff to clean their classrooms but it has just caused the situation to get worse.

“It’s just frustrating now. We’re literally getting sick, the kids are getting sick. It’s enough now, we’ve had enough, we’re tired of it and we just need something to be done.

“The kids are not focusing and because we have to be in the classroom, we do it. Because we want the kids to be healthy, we want us to be healthy.”

During the protest pupils repeatedly shouted ‘Clean our classrooms!’ and some spoke to media about their concerns.

One said: “I’m here to say that I’m getting sick in these dirty classrooms.

Will the cleaners do their job?”

Another confessed: “Every morning I come to school, my class is dirty. I help to clean it. My teacher even said that I should get the

cleaner’s pay cheque.”

On Thursday (May 29) the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sport and Library Services issued a press release saying it would not take the protest lightly.

“Although the ministry understands the frustration regarding lack of cleaners we were informed that at the time the principal was with the Ministry of GSS identifying a relief cleaner.”

It went on to say that the Ministry of GSS has indicated that the matter is resolved and additional cleaners were sent to the school on the same day.

“The action violates all principles of cooperation designed to strengthen work between the department, ministry and other ministries who work closely with us,” the release said.

“While we understand the frustration of teachers we believe that there are options for settling administrative matters without compromising the purpose for which children are at school and for engaging the students without permission from the authorities or their parents.”

Oseta Jolly Primary School has more than 530 pupils and 28 staff members including principal Rachel Handfield.

Handfield was unavailable for comment until time of press. (RB)

NON-SMOKERS may soon be protected from second hand smoke thanks to the creation of new guidelines for tobacco use.

Under the 100 per cent SmokeFree Environments Policy, which is currently in its draft stages, smoking will be prohibited in and around all public areas.

Restaurants, bars, airports, Government buildings and public parks are all included in the plans to safeguard the health of the country’s residents and visitors.

A team from the Ministry of Health put together the draft policy in line with international recommendations and plan to move it through Cabinet over the coming months.

A release from the ministry read: “The aim of the smoke-free policy is not to penalise smokers but rather to provide a framework for the protection of smokers and non-smokers from the negative health issues that are related to tobacco use, and more specifically the protection of non-smokers from the dangers of being exposed to second-hand smoke.”

In 2001, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) launched its Smoke-Free Americas initiative, which aimed to create awareness about the escalating health issues that were being seen manifesting from the use of tobacco and tobacco products.

Many countries around the world embraced the initiative, including the UK, which in 2003 officially adopted and ratified it.

By virtue of the UK’s adoption and ratification of the PAHO initiative, the Turks and Caicos Islands became party to it.

In 2004 the Government embarked upon an assessment of the impact of tobacco in the TCI, specifically as it relates to the exposure of non-smokers to secondhand smoke.

The Ministry of Health in consultation with the World Health Organisation (WHO) began laying the ground work for the implementation of a comprehensive 100 per cent smoke-free policy.

In addition the ministry investigated anti-tobacco legislation that would provide the legal framework through which to bring about the enforcement of the policy and the regulating of other related matters.

The aim of the smoke-free policy is not to penalise smokers but rather to provide a framework for the protection of smokers and non-smokers.

Many of these people who work in hotels, restaurants and bars and other places, are unsuspecting victims of second-hand smoke.

“While it is hoped that this policy will help smokers to quit, it is particularly designed to safeguard those who do not smoke, but who might be ordinarily exposed to second-hand smoke in the process of the performance of their work

related duties,” the statement from the ministry read.

The conceptualisation of the TCI 100 per cent SmokeFree Environments Policy is underpinned by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Many other countries in the region and internationally, including the United States have adopted the WHO convention guidelines and have subsequently implemented similar policy initiatives and supporting legislation.

PUSHING FORWARD In 2009, a team within the Ministry of Health, including the Under Secretary, the Health Planner, the Health Education Officer and the Drug Coordinator, was tasked with preparing a first draft of the policy for the TCI. Upon completion of the draft it was presented to wider constituents in the Ministry of Health for consultation.

An attempt was also made to present the draft policy to corporate stakeholders, inclusive of the Hotel Association, operators of restaurants and bars, and wholesalers and retailers of tobacco and tobacco products, for consultation and feedback.

“Unfortunately, the interest was not forthcoming and the attendance at consultation was minimal on their part,” the statement read.

To date the Ministry of Health has adopted the policy and pending a more comprehensive stakeholders consultation and the launching of a community awareness campaign, will move the process forward for the acceptance and ratification by Cabinet.

The main component of the draft policy is the raising of awareness of the health issues that relate to the use of tobacco and tobacco products, and more specifically to create awareness of the dangers of exposure to second-hand smoke.

The core requirement of the policy is that smoking be prohibited in Governments buildings, hospitals or medical facilities, all airports, public reception rooms, lobbies or areas, meeting or interview rooms, corridors, toilet areas, stairways and elevators, public lounges or canteen areas, bars, restaurants, pool halls, schools, government vehicles, vehicles used for public transportation, public transport terminals, public parks, sporting complexes, such as stadiums, ball parks, basketball courts and workplace facilities.

Additionally, the policy will seek to prohibit smoking within 100 feet of the entrances of all the places stipulated above.

“It is anticipated that this initiative, when fully implemented, will progressively and appropriately undertake the promotion of a better quality of health for the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands.” (RB)

16 NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Deputy Governor thanks guardians of Government coffers STAFF from the Treasury received warm thanks for all of their work from the Deputy Governor this week.

On Wednesday (May 28) Anya Williams highlighted their immense “duty and responsibility” as part of her plan to spotlight a different Government department each month throughout 2014.

“Although widely viewed simply as the department solely for the processing of payments, there is much, much more to the Turks and Caicos Islands Government Treasury,” she said.

“With a staff complement of 30 spread across four islands, our Treasury colleagues have a duty and responsibility that goes deep into every department and function of Government.”

Government accountants received some flak in the news recently when the annual Government audit report for 2012/2013 revealed that many millions of dollars in unpaid revenue had gone uncollected due to bad accounts.

But Williams stressed that they are doing a good job and publically thanked members.

“That they are responsible for the accounting of the tax-payers dollar,

the compilation and management of the Government’s accounts and the processing of payroll for over 1,700 members of staff and to thousands of vendors, is no small feat,” Williams said.

According to a press release from the Governor’s Office, Treasury staff are at the heart of good governance and accountability in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

They prepare monthly reporting packs for loan financiers, quarterly and annual financial reports - all of which are now produced on time and published on www.gov.tc.

The Treasury in recent years has undergone a major restructuring exercise aimed at equipping the department with vital modern day technical skills for effective treasury management and accounting services.

Professional training and development is a key component of the restructuring exercise, and in the past two years the department has benefitted from the placement of eight accounting and finance degree returning students.

It has also worked towards the personal development of all other staff through local training and international agencies.

The team at the Treasury have an immense “duty and responsibility”

Members of the Treasury staff regularly take part in international professional development training, the release continued.

Today’s Treasury has three core functions which are payments and payroll, revenue and asset management, and finance and accounting.

In addition, specialist Treasury finance managers have been

appointed to each ministry where they work alongside the Permanent Secretaries and their heads of departments.

Every month Deputy Governor Anya Williams will recognise different civil servants through a new scheme launched in January.

‘Spotlight: TCI Civil Service’ is part of the strategic vision and plan for 2014 that Williams highlighted

last year.

It aims to celebrate the contributions of staff across the Islands and will feature a particular ministry, department or staff member every month.

Williams launched the programme by thanking the Ministry of Health staff, particularly the five in house doctors for their “hugely positive contribution”.

Travellers give back to communities in need OVER 265 lbs of books and school supplies were donated to Enid Capron Primary School last week thanks to the Sandals Foundation and its corporate charitable partner ‘Pack for a Purpose’.

The event which took place in collaboration with a weekly Reading Road Trip saw the participation of more than 40 resort guests and volunteers who helped to improve the literacy, comprehension and vocabulary of local students.

The partnership between the Sandals Foundation and Pack for a Purpose creates a way for guests travelling to the TCI to bring along much-needed supplies for the resort’s adopted schools.

Public relations manager at Beaches Resort, Elanor FinfinKrzanowski, explained that the Sandals Foundation has adopted two schools on Providenciales.

“Our partnership with Pack for a Purpose has allowed us to further assist these schools with basic equipment such as pens, pencils and paper and has even extended to general first aid products.”

Finfin-Krzanowski said that last year with the help of this programme and through the Reading Road Trip, more than 3,000 books were donated to Enid Capron Primary School.

She said that resort staff are very

grateful that their guests are not only visiting the Turks and Caicos Islands but they are also helping to promote literacy.

Founder and chairperson of Pack for Purpose, Rebecca Rothney, said that the organisation is extremely pleased to have all of the Sandals and Beaches resorts featured on their website.

“This partnership will allow us to reach thousands of Sandals and Beaches guests who wish to make a meaningful contribution to the communities they visit and will impact the lives of the Sandals Foundation’s adopted school children in a big way!”

Rothney also explained that because the resorts are used for destination weddings and honeymoons, couples are persuaded to bring school supplies with them on their honeymoon.

“What more wonderful way to celebrate a union, than by sharing all it represents with children in need.”

Pack for a Purpose is a non-profit organisation that provides supply lists to travellers by destination based on local-community projects.

This paves the way for charitable involvement for vacationers around the globe through the website www. packforapupose.org.

The organisation encourages travellers to pack up to five pounds

Resort guests take part in a Reading Road Trip to Enid Capron Primary School

of materials in their suitcases, such as school supplies, medical supplies and sports equipment.

In the two years since Pack for a Purpose launched, travellers have delivered more than 5,500 pounds worth of needed supplies throughout five continents.

The Sandals Foundation, a nonprofit organization, was created to continue and to expand upon the philanthropic work that Sandals Resorts International has undertaken.

One hundred per cent of the money contributed to the Sandals Foundation goes directly to programmes benefiting the Caribbean community.

To learn more about the Sandals Foundation visit www. sandalsfoundation.org.

Students at the Enid Capron Primary School diligently work

May 31 - June 6, 2014

NEWS 17

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Dame Marguerite Pindling here for church anniversary

BY DAISY HANDFIELD THE WIFE of the Bahamas’ first black premier, Marguerite Pindling, visited the Turks and Caicos Islands this week to celebrate St Monica’s Anglican Church’s 25th anniversary.

A women’s luncheon, which hosted by television journalist Diana Swann, was held at the Tropicana Club in the Bight on Sunday (May 25).

The event was attended by a host of ladies from across the country, including the Deputy Premier Akierra Missick.

Lady Pindling flew down from the Bahamas to serve as a guest speaker for a special celebratory luncheon.

When on the podium, she said that she was honoured to recognise the landmark anniversary with the ladies.

“As wives, mothers, leaders in the home, in education, religion, and yes, even politics, our greatest testimony is our life’s example as Anglican Church women,” she said.

Lady Pindling added that as Christians, they must continue to be the social conscience of their communities and speak out against all forms of injustice and societal ills wherever and whatever they may be.

“Gender based violence, gender equality, child abuse, wayward youth and human trafficking are just a few examples.”

She said that at home they must use their collective efforts to

Dame Marguerite Pindling celebrates the St Monica’s Anglican Church’s 25th anniversary with women of the TCI

intensify their commitment on a national level to combat the crimewave and the other social disruption, which continues to fracture their peace and harmony and weaken their social fabric.

Marguerite Pindling was born to Reuben and Viola McKenzie in the settlement of Long Bay Cays, South Andros, on 26 June 1932.

Moving to Nassau in 1946, she lived with her sister Louise and attended the Western Senior School.

After leaving school, her first job was with noted photographer Stanley Toogood.

Later she worked for Colyn Rees and soon met Lynden Pindling, a London-trained lawyer.

Following a courtship of a little over a year, they married on May 5,

1956.

Shortly after the wedding, Lynden Pindling was elected to the House of Assembly and would serve until 1997, when he retired after being elected nine consecutive times.

In 1967 he became premier and later prime minister, a post he held until 1992.

Throughout his term in office, Lady Pindling gave her husband her determined, energetic and loyal support.

Besides the devotion she showed to Sir Lynden and his political career, she undertook much charitable work, cared for her children and became a Bahamian icon.

She was honoured by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2007, being named a Dame Commander of the

Marine school awarded $10,000 grant for sea turtle study A $10,000 grant has been given to the School for Field Studies (SFS) in South Caicos to study the effects of climate change on sea turtles.

The school’s Centre for Marine Resource Studies was awarded the grant by the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation.

This is the second instalment of a two-year grant that supports the ongoing study of climate change impacts on the nesting turtle population of the TCI. Kathleen Wood, director of the Department of Environmental and Maritime Affairs (DEMA), said: “We are thrilled that SFS has obtained funding to continue the important work they are carrying out.

“TCI is currently in the process of implementing new legislation to allow for better management of turtle populations, including protection for breeding adults.

“The continued monitoring of nesting areas within TCI for turtle populations is critical to the ongoing sustainable management of these vulnerable populations and to assess the effects that revised legislation will have.”

The waters of the TCI support regionally significant foraging aggregations of green (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles, and, to a lesser extent, loggerhead turtles (Caretta

The waters of the TCI support significant numbers of green turtles

caretta).

Studies have predicted that climate change will have real and direct impacts for sea turtle populations by altering both nesting habitat and sex ratio of hatchlings.

In the first year of the grant, staff and students at the SFS Centre for Marine Resource Studies began monitoring nine beaches frequented by nesting turtles and measuring beach profiles to examine changes in erosion and accretion patterns, beach area, and temperature.

The two-year grant has benefited the TCI by providing data and

understanding of how global changes affect the local environment.

Additionally, the centre is working with island communities to increase their understanding of the environment through the application of science and scientific data analysis, and to help develop communications between local groups, researchers, and policy makers.

Continued support for long-term data collection is critically important and beneficial to these stakeholders as they undertake marine turtle management and conservation, said SFS centre director Dr Heidi Hertler.

The extension of the grant also allows for US undergraduate students on SFS’s programme in the TCI to continue engaging in fieldbased climate change research.

“To many people, climate change is merely an abstraction,” said SFS president Dr James Cramer.

“To our students involved in assessing its impact on threatened marine species, climate change is a significant ongoing process with major implications not only for nesting turtles, but for an important ecosystem and its capacity to maintain a level of biodiversity essential for sustaining a rich array of marine life and the people the depend on it.

“This is real world science at its best.”

During the luncheon, Lady Pindling converses with Deputy Premier Akierra Missick in the presence of Minister of Health and Human Services, Porsha Stubbs Smith

Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George.

The Pindlings had four children -

Obi, Leslie, Michelle and Monique and Dame Marguerite is now a proud grandmother of six.

The Towers of Babel “An ancient city in the land of Shinar in which the building of a tower intended to reach heaven was begun and the confusion of the language of the people took place.” Gen 11:4–9.

The Towers of Babel is a collective of voices consisting of various artists prepared to display their exceptional art forms and foster the inner artist in other individuals; providing a venue for the outpouring of their undeniably unique gifts.

This group brings to the stage and page productions rarely displayed on stages in the Turks and Caicos Islands melding with some of the most unique artists the country has to offer.

For more information email towersofbabel101@gmail.com or visit www.towersofbabel.weebly.com

How long shall I wait for you

By Before Sunrise How long shall I wait for you...

I will wait as long as your smile softens my heart, As long as just a glimpse of you fills me with hope.

How long shall I wait for you...

I will wait as long as a stolen touch of your skin makes me feel warm all over, As long as the thought of being in your arms brings me enough peace to make it through even the stormy days...

How long shall I wait for you...

I will wait as long as we continue to speak a language understood only by us two, As long as the memories are so vivid that they invade my dreams and I awake longing for you.

How long shall I wait for you...

I will wait as long as it takes for you to realise that my heart belongs to you, As long as it takes for you to clearly see that my name is imprinted on yours.

How long shall I wait for you...

I will wait for the day when the question of time seems so distant and far away.

I will wait for the day when waking up in your arms is as normal as the sunrise and just as beautiful.

I will wait for the day when a whisper in my ear is how you share your joys and sorrows with me.

I shall wait for the day when pride, distance, fear and failure are but obstacles overcame by our love.

How long shall I wait for you?

I will wait a lifetime on My Forever...

Lifestyle...

18

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

GARDENING 

May 31 - June 6, 2014

How does your garden grow

How to grow ginger root GROWING ginger root is not that complicated. Ginger loves a sheltered spot, filtered sunlight, humidity, and rich, moist soil.

You can get started using store bought ginger root. And you can easily grow ginger in pots or tubs.

Make sure you select fresh, plump rhizomes.

Look for pieces with well developed ‘eyes’ or growth buds (the buds look like little horns at the end of a piece or ‘finger’).

Some people recommend to soak the rhizomes in water over night.

That’s not a bad idea, since shop bought ginger might have been treated with a growth retardant.

Whether you grow your ginger root in a pot or in the ground, you do need really good soil to start with.

It needs to be rich enough to feed your ginger, it needs to hold enough

BY DENIS Belanger - NATURE SPLENDOR

Denis is a passionate landscape architect who enjoys the creative process and his clients’ joy when projects come to life. Contact Denis at Nature Splendor for your landscaping, installation or garden maintenance needs.

For more information call 332-3381 or email denis@naturesplendor.net.

moisture so it doesn’t dry out, but it needs to be free draining so the ginger roots don’t become water logged. Good compost is of course ideal.

When you plant, make sure you select a spot where the plants get plenty of light but no direct sun, and where they are protected from wind.

You can cut or break up the ginger rhizomes in little pieces with a couple of growing buds each. Or just plant the whole thing.

Plant your ginger root three to six inches deep, with the growing buds

YOUR DIET 

Weekly Recipe Katherine Withers Green, 27, is a mum of one 14-monthold avid pasta lover. She knows from experience that finding meals that are nutritious, quick and easy to make, and that can be frozen for a later date is tough.

These recipes are aimed at mothers looking to make the transition from baby food to ‘real’ food.

Homemade fish fingers STORE bought fish fingers can be full of additives. If you make them yourself, you know exactly what ingredients have gone into them and can use the best quality fish.

Also by baking them instead of frying - you reduce the fat. The omega oils in fish will help grow healthy brains in your babes!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 lb white fish such as cod, skin and bones removed • 1tbsp cornstarch (or all-purpose flour would work too) • 1 egg, beaten • 2 cups dried bread crumbs • 1 tbsp oil

METHOD

• Cut the fish into finger sized strips.

• Place the cornstarch, egg and breadcrumbs into three separate shallow bowls.

• Dip each fish strip into the cornstarch, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs.

• Preheat oven to 400F, place

facing up.

Growing ginger doesn’t take up much room at all. Every rhizome you plant will first only grow a few leaves, in the one spot.

Over time it will become a dense clump and very slowly get bigger, but only if it isn’t harvested.

The rhizomes underground also don’t seem to mind if they become a bit crowded. Ginger only grows to about two to three feet in height.

Ginger needs a lot of moisture while actively growing. The soil should never dry out.

Don’t overwater, though, because

the water that drains away will take nutrients with it. Ginger is a slow growing plant and easily overgrown by others.

If you are growing ginger in good, rich soil it shouldn’t need anything extra. If you don’t have good soil, or if you are growing ginger in some standard bought potting mix, then you have to feed it regularly.

Work in some organic slow release fertiliser at planting time.

After that you can use some liquid fertiliser like seaweed extract or fish fertiliser every few weeks.

If you are growing ginger root in the garden you can start stealing little bits of it once it is about four months old. Just dig carefully at the side of a clump (this ‘green ginger’ does have a lot less flavour than the mature stuff, though.). But usually it takes eight to ten months to get ready.

When they are ready, break up the

coated fish sticks onto a baking pan, brush with a little oil.

• Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, turning over half way, until cooked through and golden brown.

• Makes eight or nine fish fingers which are easy for toddlers to grab and feed themselves - just make sure they aren’t too hot.

• Serve with peas and mashed potatoes or mac and cheese. Yum! • Can be stored in fridge for two days or frozen, but make sure to defrost thoroughly when reheating.

The Weekly News is looking for a restaurant, café or personal chef to contribute weekly recipes to the newspaper. For more information call 946-4664 or email tcweeklynews@gmail.com.

Tamika has a Master’s Degree in Dietetics and Nutrition from Florida International University and is a registered dietician with the American Dietetic Association (ADA). She is currently executive director of Nutrition in Demand, a non-profit aimed at increasing awareness to health and healthy eating. For more information email tamikahandfield@yahoo.com or visit www.nutritionindemand.com.

rhizomes, select a few nice ones with good growing buds for replanting (you can replant them straight away), and keep the rest for the kitchen. You can also freeze them.

When growing ginger as outlined above you won’t see any flowers. A clump needs to be about two years old to flower. So if you want to see your ginger flower leave it in the ground, and just dig very carefully at the edges of it to harvest bits here and there. But the flowers of culinary ginger are green and insignificant anyway.

There are however some spectacular flowering gingers. If you are after great flowers get some of those.

They are grown exactly like the culinary ginger, but just forget about the harvest.

ASK TAMIKA

BY TAMIKA HANDFIELD

Cementing your bones IN THE United States, one of the health related observances recognised during the month of May, is older Americans.

Well, obviously we are not Americans, but I feel it is still fitting to discuss a topic that is of great concern to the senior adults among us - calcium and its effects on the bones.

The calcium requirements in children are the highest throughout the lifespan because they are forming lots of new bones as they grow.

However, as adults, the calcium need is lowered since we are only maintaining the bone mass we have already built up.

As we age though, the requirement goes up a bit again because the bones tend to become brittle and prone to breakage; this is especially true if the bones were not given a good supply of calcium during early life.

So, what’s the big idea about calcium anyway? Well, calcium is to the bones what cement is to a brick wall. The body uses calcium, along with other vitamins and minerals, to

make the bones strong and hard.

The bones function almost like the foundation of a house; they provide a solid and sturdy structure for everything else to be built around.

Without adequate calcium deposits, into our bone bank, we may become susceptible to osteoporosis later in life.

For most of us, we know that eating foods like milk and its products (cheeses and yogurts) will give us a great supply of calcium.

What some people may not know is that calcium can also be found in non-dairy foods as well.

Foods like broccoli, spinach and other ‘greens’ are very good sources of the mineral. Other forms of milks, like soy and almond milk, are also an excellent source of calcium and its helper, Vitamin D because they are fortified with the extra nutrition. Another unlikely

source of calcium is sardines and its soft bones.

Calcium can do very little for the bones without the help of its partner in bone mineralisation - Vitamin D. Two of Vitamin D’s main roles are to help with calcium’s absorption and to maintain the blood levels of calcium. Therefore, it is important that we not only focus on calcium but also on Vitamin D. Fortunately, many foods with calcium, that may be naturally low in Vitamin D, are also fortified with the vitamin to ensure calcium’s absorption.

There are not many foods that are naturally high in Vitamin D, but there are a few: mushrooms, tuna, sardines, eggs and salmon are some, but thankfully for us in TCI, the sun is the best source of the vitamin.

So, as you age, make sure you think about your bones.

Nutrition in Demand. A non-profit organisation helping you to 'Eat healthy today...live longer, better tomorrow'. Call 242-3978 or 442-3978.

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Lifestyle...

FASHION AND BEAUTY 

19

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

The Dentist and you 

By Easher Parker

Easher is a Turks and Caicos Islands native with a natural talent for writing and a love for all things beauty and style. If you have any questions or suggestions for a topic email easherparker@gmail.com. To find out more visit itseasher.com or follow twitter or Instagram @itseasher for fab instant updates.

Mascara: The ugly truth and how to navigate around it MASCARA claims are outrageous and in the world we live in, this is no surprise.

While it would be nice to throw away the skepticism when it comes to the exaggerated ads, the slack cosmetic regulations that remain prevalent worldwide allow companies to continue to lie. One example, false lashes being used in mascara ads.

Let’s make up a brand to further put things into perspective: ‘New sexy volume with extra growth goop mascara: For bold, long, sexy lashes that last all day!’

The name suggests that in addition to getting sexy long lasting lashes, the product will also grow them but where’s the solid proof?

Even with clinical studies, women are not fully represented. So there is no telling what the claims will actually do for you until you try the product and in order to try it you’re usually forced to buy it.

Now, how do we navigate around this to find a good mascara?

Firstly, take a good look at the container.

If you’re able to have a look at a tester, examine how much product comes out on the wand.

If there is too much you will definitely end up with clumpy lashes, unless you gently wipe off the excess formula.

If there is too little, the struggle continues and most likely you will be fighting with that tube.

Companies claim to have newly designed containers that remove excess formula as you pull out the wand but I have found this to be false with some brands.

Testers are great, to an extent If you’re lucky enough to be allowed to test mascara, that is great!

What isn’t so great is that the little disposable wands are usually not the same wands that come with the actual mascara.

If you find yourself in that situation, make sure to examine how the formula works with your lashes.

So is the wand for you?

These days new packaging allows for us to get a preview of mascara wands.

If you have short lashes, like myself, would you purchase a wand with large bristles? Why not something a little more slim, trimmed and tapered to get a closer application?

This is vice versa for those with long and lovely lashes. Slender wands may cause you to work a little more.

What are some great starts?

I turned to my favourite makeup artists to answer this one. Local professional Thea Gangasingh recommends Maybelline’s ‘Lash Stiletto’ to achieve length and it’s waterproof! That is essential in our islands!

Also on her list, L’Oréal’s ‘Telescopic’ and as for everyday wear Gangasingh recommends Maybeline’s ‘Great Lash’. I have received endless compliments with this one.

It is also loved by another local pro, Tiana Williams, who has a few high end favourites.

They’re namely Dior’s ‘Show,’ Benefit’s ‘They’re Real’ and Lancôme’s ‘Hypnose Doll Lashes’.

Happy hunting!

Mark Osmond BDS (Lond) LDS RCS (Eng). Mark Osmond Dental Clinic - (649) 432 3777, drmosmond@gmail.com or Find us on Facebook

By Dr Mark Osmond

Dental sports injury THE JOURNAL of the American Dental Association reports that up to 39 per cent of dental injuries are sports related, that these injuries are twice as likely to occur in a male as a female and the most common dental injury is to the upper front teeth (incisors).

There are a number of ways the teeth can be damaged whilst playing sports: Hard object contact - a stick, hard ball or puck hitting the teeth generally results in a tooth being chipped.

Soft object contact - eg. elbow, knee, foot and this is more likely to result in tooth displacement.

Tooth-to-tooth injury - falling or banging the jaws together can result in tooth fracture and splitting.

Occurrence of these injuries can be reduced or eliminated by the wearing of a sports mouth-guard.

In some sports the wearing of a mouth-guard is mandatory although for many it is a matter of personal choice (in the US the National Federation of State High School Associations mandates mouth-guards for only four sports - American football, ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey).

However, studies have shown that mouth-guards are an effective protection for teeth for many other sports including rugby, basketball, soccer, boxing and skiing.

Mouth-guards can either be custom made or a self-molded generic mouth-guard from a sports shop or pharmacy.

It is important that the mouthguard covers the whole of the teeth and extends beyond the gum margin to cover the gum as well.

This means that the force of any

blow is spread onto the supporting bone and not just the teeth.

In the event of injury, if there are chipped teeth ideally the broken pieces should be gathered up and kept so the treating dentist can see if all the fragments are present and nothing is either embedded in the soft tissue or inhaled.

If the tooth is displaced (has moved) then carefully try and reposition it back to the original position.

If the tooth is completely out, keep the tooth in milk or saliva and contact the dentist for an emergency appointment.

Do not wash or brush the tooth.

With swift action there is a chance the tooth may be able to be reinserted back into the socket with the hope that it will heal back into position.

POLICE SAFETY TIPS

How to teach your teen to be media literate PARENTS play a significant role in the ways that the media influences their teenagers.

While a parent can’t always be there to determine what shows their teen watches or who their teen admires, a parent can arm a teen with critical thinking skills that will enable them to think through the harmful messages which are aimed their way.

Be involved with your teen. This isn’t to say that you should be with your teenager every minute of the day.

It means that you should know what’s going on in their lives. Spend time together, talk to your teens and keep those lines of communication open.

Set limits at home for viewing television, magazines and listening to music. Don’t allow violent messages in any media to become what your teen watches or listens to. Limit the amount of time you allow your teen to watch television.

Help your teen become media literate. Pick out an ad in a magazine or on television and ask your teen these questions: Who’s behind it? What is their

By Audley Astwood Audley is a former police detective and broadcaster. He is currently the public relations officer for the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force. and has dedicated his time at work and much of his free time focusing on crime prevention and community policing.

For more information call 941-4448 or visit www.tcipolice.tc.

motivation? What do they want from you? How does this song, movie, television show or commercial make you feel? Do they want you to feel that way? Why? Encourage your teen to think about the people that they admire and put them in perspective.

Why does your teen admire them?

How did they get to where they are?

What values does the people that they admire have? Do the people that they admire add value to your teen’s life or do they make your teen feel like she needs to change to fit in?

As a parent, you must model good media literacy behaviour. Don’t fall for ads or messages that get you to buy the latest and the greatest new gadget. Make the people that they admire earn your recognition and respect through good work, not how they look.

Offer alternative people for your

teens to look up to by involving them in a mentoring programme.

Avoid having a television or computer in your teen’s room where you will not be able to manage the media message given to him or her.

Stay current with the trends.

When the media’s message is personal to your teenager – say it’s about a celebrity your teen admires – you need to have the whole story, and then talk to your teen about it.

If you make insinuations about something your teens enjoys, they will shut you out. It’s very hard to open the lines of communication up again when this happens.

Parents should always set a good example for their teens. After all, parents should be good role models not only for their children but for others as well.

20

Regional News

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Deputy Pm: ‘FNM Gov’t knew of NSA spying’ – Minnis denies claim DEPUTY Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis suggested this week that the former government “was aware of” an arrangement to accommodate alleged cell phone spying conducted by the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) on the Bahamas.

However, Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr Hubert Minnis insisted that the Ingraham administration knew nothing about the reported spying. He called on the government to make public any information it has that implicates the former government.

Mr Davis said an investigation US officials conducted into the claims at the request of Bahamian officials has ended. He said the findings should be turned over to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week.

Mr Davis said a meeting held last week with the Bahamas’ Ambassador to Washington Eugene Newry, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and US representatives proved to be fruitful in terms of revealing whether or not permission had been granted for the recording of Bahamian phone conversations.

“That meeting did take place and a certain sharing of information was agreed upon,” Mr Davis told reporters on the sideline of a memorial for fallen US servicemen at Clifton Pier.

The Bahamas’ Deputy PM Philip Davis said: “I have not gotten an explanation as yet.

But what they (the US) have said is that this is a result of an arrangement that the government was aware of. But we’re still awaiting a full report on it.”

“I have not gotten an explanation as yet. But what they have said is that this is a result of an arrangement that the government was aware of. But we’re still awaiting a full report on it.”

When pressed on the issue, Davis said, “With all the speculation out there, I just want the full and complete thing before I comment any further. We (the government)

are waiting. We’ve agreed to abide by the undertakings and wait, first of all, to determine whether or not the allegations are true. But if true, based on when the arrangements took place, what was the purpose of it all?”

Mr Davis added that “whatever happened, happened prior to May 7, 2012”, the date of the general election.

After the claims of spying emerged, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell said the Ingraham administration may have questions to answer about the reported surveillance.

Minnis responded to the claims.

“They (the PLP) are now the government,” he said. “So rather than accusing us of anything, they have access to the files. So all they need to do is review those files and they can show it to the public if they think there was any involvement with us.”

The spying claims are contained in documents said to be leaked

by Edward Snowden, a former employee of the NSA now living under asylum in Russia.

According to the leaked documents, the NSA was using a system called SOMALGET to collect and store cell phone data for up to 30 days.

Jamaican student arrested in stabbing death of 14-year-old following ‘love fight’ JAMAICA police have detained a 17-year-old female student after she stabbed a 14-year-old girl in a fight allegedly over a lover.

The police said 14-year-old Ashley Morris was stabbed in the neck and pronounced dead at hospital on Monday night.

Media reports said the two girls were fighting over a man when the knife was used to stab Morris.

Last week, police charged a 14-year-old boy in connection with the death of nine year old Romain Robinson, in Plantation Heights in the western parish of St. James.

The victim’s mother said the killing may have been over a pair of shoes.

May 31 - June 6, 2014

VAT at 7.5%, delayed until next January in the Bahamas THE Bahamas’ Prime Minister Perry Christie announced on Wednesday that VAT will be delayed until January 1, 2015 and brought in at a rate of 7.5 per cent.

In his Budget communication, the Prime Minister said: “The key features of the proposed Bahamian VAT are as follows: There will be one single VAT rate across the board (other than the zero rate for exports) that is being substantially reduced to 7.5 per cent from the originally proposed 15 per cent.

Along with the significantly

reduced VAT rate, the Ministry of Finance is proposing much fewer exemptions. The full list of these will be released shortly.

As for the implementation date of VAT, I should point out that we are resourcing the Ministry of Finance to be at full administrative capacity and readiness within Government

by October 1, 2014. However, to allow sufficient time for the needed more in-depth public education campaign and private sector preparation, the VAT will come into effect on January 1, 2015.” (Tribune242)

Chikungunya and dengue to headline Caribbean health symposium THE Trinidad-based the Caribbean Public Health Agency, (CARPHA), describing the chikungunya virus and dengue fever as “growing public health threats in the Caribbean” says it will convene a special networking symposium focusing on these viruses in June.

It said the June 12 event is bein held in collaboration with the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network, (CKLN).

“The symposium will enable clinicians, researchers and network engineers to share experiences tackling and managing dengue fever and the chikungunya virus in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Importantly, practitioners will learn how the dedicated, high bandwidth research and education (R&E) networks in the region – C@ribNET and RedCLARA – can support and facilitate the collaborative work among the various health-related communities and researchers,” CAEPHA said in a statement.

It said the symposium follows the lead of R&E partner network the Trans EurAsia Information Network (TEIN) Cooperation Center who jointly organized a dedicated dengue fever workshop at the Asia Pacific Advanced Networking (APAN) in Indonesia in January.

CARPHA said the symposium will focus on areas of most need in the region including surveillance, a regional overview of the viruses and how and why the two diseases have emerged and spread in the Caribbean and Latin America.

“The primary outcome of the Caribbean Dengue Symposium is to initiate the establishment of medical/health related communities focusing on aspects of managing the dengue fever and chikungunya virus and which use the R&E networks available regionally and globally, to continue to collaborate, conduct research, share and analyze large data all towards better managing these viruses in the region. “

Chikungunya virus detected in Guyana Haiti’s Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe with one of the new tablets.

Venezuela makes “major order” of Haiti-produced tablets PETROCARIBE President Bernardo Alvarez made a 24-hour visit to Haiti on Tuesday to announce a “major order” placed by Venezuela’s government of tablet computers made in Haiti.

Alvarez, Venezuela’s former Ambassador to the United States, is both the president of the Venezuelaled PetroCaribe programme and the Secretary General of the regional ALBA alliance.

Alvarez was received by Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe in

the country; his visit was highlighted on Tuesday with a stop at the Surtab tablet company, maker of the first tablet computer built in Haiti.

Venezuela will be buying 10,000 Surtab tablets, Lamothe’s office said.

The two were joined by Venezuela’s Ambassador in Haiti, Pedro Antonio Canino Gonzalez.

Haiti and Venezuela’s relationship has continued to deepen in recent years. Lamothe last visited Venezuela in March for a meeting with President Nicolas Maduro. (Caribjournal)

GUYANA has confirmed two cases of Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne disease, in the Canje, Berbice area, according to Health Minister, Dr. Bheri Ramsarran.

He was quoted by the Government Information Agency (GINA) as saying that in the wake of the discovery, a team has been dispatched to fog the area over the next two weeks.

The two cases, a toddler, and a woman said to be in her forties are from Cumberland and Canefield, Canje, Region Six. Ramsarran told news briefing that the discovery was made last week after some 30 samples were sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency in Trinidad for testing.

He indicated that the Ministry has decided to heighten their vector

control exercise in the Berbice area.

In addition, the Minister said the Ministry has already identified all port of entries for strict monitoring, as well as health centres have been alerted.

The Ministry is encouraging citizens to appropriately discard tyres, unwanted containers, and to keep their surroundings clean so as to eliminate breeding grounds for the vector.

The most common symptoms of Chikungunya are fever and joint pain. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash. Outbreaks have occurred in countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In late 2013, the illness was found for the first time in the Caribbean, and now several countries have reported cases. (Demerara Waves)

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Regional News

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Taskforce outlines roadmap for Jamaica to decriminalise marijuana within 120 days THE Jamaica government is being urged to enact legislation that would decriminalise marijuana as well as establish a medical marijuana industry.

The Cannabis Commercial and Medicinal Research Taskforce, which organised a three-day meeting on marijuana decriminalisation together with the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), says the Portia Simpson Miller administration should move within a four month period to decriminalise marijuana.

The taskforce has issued a 12-point roadmap it believes the government should follow. It wants the government to immediately expunge criminal records for all Jamaicans convicted for possessing small amounts of marijuana.

The task force said Jamaica would significantly benefit from a regulated medical marijuana industry.

Jamaica and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders will discuss the issue of decrominalisation of marijuana for medicinal purposes when they meet in Antigua in July for their annual summit.

The leaders during their intersessional summit in St. Vincent in March discussed a preliminary

The task force said Jamaica would significantly benefit from a regulated medical marijuana industry.

report prepared by the CARICOM Secretariat that indicated decriminalising marijuana for medicinal purposes could help boost the region’s economy.

The St. Lucia government has already said it is important for CARICOM to adopt a regional approach to settling the issue of the legislation of marijuana.

Black group supports reparations in Caribbean A SENIOR official of the New York-based Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) says the demand by Caribbean countries for reparations for slavery from Europe “possess enormous moral authority”.

Don Rojas, the IBW director of communications writing in the Nation, considered the most prestigious and influential progressive magazine in the US, noted also the Caribbean “can’t claim much in the way of economic clout”.

Rojas, the former press secretary for slain Grenada left wing prime minister Maurice Bishop, also noted that the region has “suffered over 400 years of slavery and colonialism at the hands of European powers, mainly Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Sweden.

“Reparations for centuries of brutal oppression and exploitation of enslaved African people in the Americas is, undoubtedly, the great moral imperative of our time,” said Rojas, a former executive editor of The New York Amsterdam News newspaper and the first director of communications of the National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People (NAACP), the largest and oldest civil rights group in the United States.

“The so-called pragmatists, who argue that the question of reparations is impractical, unachievable, utopian, a waste of time and energy, are those who are ignorant of the moral power of a cause whose time has come,” he added.

Rojas said throughout the Caribbean discussions of reparations are starting to “alter the political narrative, reformulating analysis of economic history, linking the challenges of future socioeconomic development with the need for reparatory justice, indeed reshaping the very fundamentals of public discourse in the region”.

He, therefore, urged that, in the United States, “a revitalized reparations campaign can and must become a critical component of the civil and human rights movements of the 21st Century.

“Reparations is not history, a thing of the past, it is about historical justice. And until justice is done, reparations will always be relevant, will always be a struggle for today and for tomorrow.

21

Minnis ‘would limit PM to two terms in office’ THE Bahamas’ opposition leader Dr. Hubert Minnis says he would push legislation to the limit as prime minister to a maximum of two terms in office if he were elected to lead the country.

The FNM leader maintained on Tuesday that his declaration was not a swipe at former Prime Minister and FNM leader Hubert Ingraham who served from 1992 to 2002.

Mr Ingraham was re-elected for a third, non-consecutive term in 2007 and served until the FNM’s defeat to the Progressive Liberal Party in 2012.

Dr Minnis said term limits on a prime minister will ensure that the country evolves with the best interests of Bahamians as a priority.

“It should only be two terms and then out after that,” Dr Minnis said.

“This has always been my position simply because everyone reaches a certain level when they would be maxed out, suffer from brain drain and become stagnant.

“If someone remains in office for let’s say 20 years, they can only take you to a particular point. Yes, you might have advisors and persons on your team who know how certain things should be done, but the point is that occupying the office for long periods of time won’t be effective.

With that, you also see situations where people think that they own the

country and are less inclined to work in the best interest of Bahamians.

“A maximum two terms in office would allow the generation of new ideas, new views and keep this country moving forward.”

Dr. Minnis praised Mr Ingraham for his impact on the country, saying that generations to come will benefit from the decisions made under his leadership.

“What Ingraham has done for this country, I don’t think anyone could have done,” Dr Minnis. “His legacy will forever be remembered in history. He will go down in history as one of the best prime ministers.

He changed the entire Bahamas. He freed Bahamians.”

As for Prime Minister Perry Christie, Dr Minnis said he was unsure of the legacy the PLP leader will leave behind.

“I am still trying to figure out what his legacy is going to be. (The) only thing he has become known for is lateness and being unable to make hard decisions. I guess he will go down in history as a shuffler to Junkanoo music,” Dr Minnis said.

Mr. Christie first served as prime minister from 2002 to 2007. He was re-elected in 2012. Although Mr. Christie has suggested he will not run for re-election, it is unclear if this will be his last term in office.

Sir Lynden Pindling was the first

Strong earthquake shakes Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic THE recent string of strong earthquakes in the Caribbean is continuing.

The latest was a 5.8-magnitude quake in the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with an epicentre about 50 kilometres south of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic at around 4:15 PM local time on Wednesday afternoon.

The quake caused reports of some of the strongest shaking in the Caribbean in almost four years, focused in the eastern portion of the Dominican Republic and the northwestern portion of Puerto Rico.

Reports of shaken buildings came from across both countries, although there was no warning of a tsunami and there were no reports of injuries resulting from the quake.

The quake was felt across the northeastern Caribbean, with reports

of shaking in St Maarten, St Croix, St John, St Thomas and the British Virgin Islands.

The executive director of Puerto Rico’s State Agency for Emergency Management and Disaster Administration said there were no reports of emergency situations resulting from the quake.

A group of buildings was evacuated in the Dominican Republic’s capital, according to reports.

“We ask everyone to keep calm and exercise the ‘crouch, cover and hold’ in case of an earthquake,” the director said in a statement.

“Also, keep a backpack ready with everything you need for any emergency.”

It was the latest strong earthquake in the region, following a 6.0-magnitude quake that rattled the region on May 16.

Opposition leader Dr. Hubert Minnis said term limits on a prime minister will ensure that the country evolves with the best interests of Bahamians as a priority.

black premier of the Bahamas from 1967 to 1969 and was Prime Minister from 1969 to 1992. (Tribune242)

Cuban migrants create ruckus in the Cayman Islands

FOUR Cuban migrants were arrested in the Cayman Islands and three remain in police custody after yet another major disturbance among the detainees who are awaiting deportation.

The Cayman News Service (CNS) said police, immigration officials, customs staff, prison officers and even fire crews were all called to the Fairbanks Immigration Detention Centre on Thursday after a near-riot broke out at the facility.

“The men were said to be threatening to injure staff and to burn down the facility as tensions among the migrants mounted as a result of deportation problems,” it said.

Premier Alden McLaughlin said local authorities are due to meet with Cuban officials next month to review the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), stating that the repatriation timelines need to be addressed.

“I recognise that the situation was extremely volatile and praise the staff who were able to manage the incident and diffuse it without any injury,” he said.

“It is my understanding that tensions have been rising for some time now,” he added.

“This is largely due to the wait times for the Cubans to be repatriated back to Cuba and the uncertainty of when this will occur.”

The Premier warned that the arrival of any more migrant Cubans could make matters even worse.

22 NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Scotiabank rep, Yoshi Ono, Clare Radford, Chanda Tolani and TCI Scotiabank senior manager, Bruce Humber

Yoshi Ono, Clare Radford and Chanda Tolani who is presented with her cheque by TCI Scotiabank branch senior manager Bruce Humber

Cash prizes awarded to Scotiabank competition winners DURING the Christmas holidays Scotiabank hosted a promotional campaign for businesses that made transactions through their credit cards.

A press conference was held at the bank’s main branch on Leeward Highway,

Providenciales, on Tuesday (May 27) to announce the winners of the competition and to present them with their cheques.

The winners were those that spent the most on their cards and in total there were six; a

grand prize winner of $2,500 and five winners of $250.

Ingrid Thompson of Turks and Caicos First Insurance collected the grand prize while the other winners were Yoshi Ono of Yoshi’s Japanese Restaurant, Chanda Tolani of

Jai’s Jewellery, Clare Radford of Domino Creative Interior Designs, Claudel Seymour of Clement Howell High School and Leslie Watts with Nila Destinations.

Ono said that he used his credit card all the time because

it was a safer method rather than walking around with cash.

“This $250 dollars came out of the blue, so I feel happy,” he enthused.

Radford said that she was surprised and pleased to

get the call and Tolani also expressed gratitude for being chosen as one of the winners.

Senior manager for Scotiabank Turks and Caicos, Bruce Humber, made the cheque presentation to the winners. (DH)

Ten courageous boys and girls vie for the titles of Little Mr and Miss Enid Capron Primary School

Pupils to compete in primary school pageant A MOTORCADE to introduce the ten students vying for the titles of Mr and Miss Enid Capron Primary School road through the streets of Providenciales last week.

The afternoon of Thursday, May 22, was a fun day for the competitors from the school in Five Cays who dressed in glitzy Mardi Gras attire and waved to their supporters as they drove past.

The vehicles left the Enid Capron Primary School, headed down to Airport Road and turned at the Sam’s Complex, onto New

Millennium Highway.

The cars then turned by the Methodist Church, went up the old Blue Hills Road, Leeward Highway and down the Lower Bight and ended at the Fish Fry where they were greeted with cheers.

The annual pageant is scheduled to take place at the Williams Auditorium on Friday (May 30) at 7pm, under the theme Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras is a colourful cultural festival celebrated all over the world, but made popular by the state of Louisiana, which includes the practice was wearing

masks and costumes.

The contestants will be competing in two categories, male and female.

The female contestants are Shanya Jean Marcellus, Aaliya Delva, Rasheek Rigby, Alexia Prince, Zenaire Forbes, and Shellande Fleuridor.

The male contestants are Michael Robinson, Obed Leopold, Alexy Aquino, and Wooslyn Harvey.

Tickets are available at the Enid Capron Primary School in Five Cays and cost $12 for adults and $8 for children.

(DH)

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

23

24

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

THE MINISTRY OF GOVERN THE DEPARTMENT OF DISASTER M

SOUTH BASE, GRAND TURK, TELEPHONE #649 946 2177 FAX 649 946 1230 OR 1416 CUSTOMS COMPLEX, LEEWARD HIGHWAY, PROVIDE

Hurricane Preparedne Message from

Message from The Honorable Dr. Rufus Ewing Premier Turks and Caicos Islands

The Hon. Anya Williams Deputy Governor Turks and Caicos Islands

A

s you know June 1st marks the beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. Whilst disasters may strike at any given day and in many different forms, as a Caribbean island we are most vulnerable to the threat of hurricanes and whilst this is predicted to be a fairly quiet season with few named storms, let us not become complacent as it only takes one storm!

Having had the experience of both Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike in 2008, it was most telling the devastating effect that a hurricane can have on our Beautiful by Nature islands. It is to this end that I am asking all civil servants and people across the Turks and Caicos Islands to be prepared this hurricane season.

The Department of Disaster Management will be observing Hurricane Preparedness Month during the month of June under the theme “My Community is Getting Ready” and have planned a series of events to help communities across the Turks and Caicos do just that, beginning first with a church service on June 1 and leading into various State of Preparedness Meetings with both government and private sector stakeholders; there is also a series of training programs being held and various island wide clean up campaigns; these island wide campaigns are very important not only in ensuring from a disaster perspective that all derelict and hazardous materials are removed, but assist in tidying and beautifying our islands.

A

During this hurricane season I urge you to be prepared, support the Department of Disaster Management in the various activities they have planned this Hurricane Preparedness Month and all God’s blessings to you and your families for a safe Hurricane Season.

Message from Dr. Virginia Clerveaux Director Disaster Management and Emergencies

J

une 1st will mark the beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane Season and the launch of Hurricane Preparedness Month Campaign in the Turks and Caicos Islands. To mark this event this year the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies (DDME) has selected the theme ‘My Community is getting ready… are you? emphasizing prioritization of the need to build safe and resilient communities through enhancement of the capacities of local communities.

Safe and resilient communities have the following key characteristics: • Understanding of the disaster risks that they face and the capacity to assess and monitor these risks so as to make themselves safe and minimize losses and damage when a disaster strikes.

• Ability to perform basic preparedness, emergency response and recovery functions on their own and can sustain basic community functions and structures despite the impact of disasters.

• Capacity to ‘bounce back ‘from the impact of a hazard and

constantly strive towards the reduction of future vulnerabilities and ensuring that vulnerabilities continue to be reduced for the future.

• Recognition that the building of safety and resilience is a longterm, continuous process that requires ongoing commitment. In the face of imprecise predictions such as the effects of climate change, or the degree of urban growth and environmental degradation, there is appreciation of local capacity to adapt to future problems and challenges by building on their current knowledge.

• Appreciation that being safe and disaster resilient means that there is a greater chance of meeting development goals which, in themselves, will greatly add to safety and resilience.

The TCI like many other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) within the Caribbean region, is heavily dependent on tourism as the main income generator. Tourism resources and related assets and activities are coastally orientated and as such, are extremely exposed and vulnerable to the ravages of climatic hazards. Let us be reminded that the effect of hurricane impact

on tourism is not confined to related infrastructure and assets, but will cascade throughout the entire economy and every aspect of our livelihood. Let us not forget the devastating impact on our economy, society and environment as a result of the passage of Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike in 2008 which resulted in total impact representing 25.8% of GDP, 96.2% of tourism GDP, which is quite significant, 54.4% of gross domestic investment, 35% of consumption and 350.6% of public debt. The total impact of Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike on the Turks and Caicos Islands was estimated at 213.6M and from which we continue to recover.

Let us understand that the level of impact to our well-being from events such as Hanna and Ike is inversely related to our level of preparedness and the extent to which our resilience capacity has been established. The more

s many of you may know, International Disaster mitigation offices around the world define a disaster as a sudden, calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, destruction and devastation to life and property.

Sometimes the damage caused by disasters is immeasurable and varies with the geographical location and climate. Typically, disasters influence the mental, socio economic, political and cultural posture of the affected area and generally carries with it the following effects: including but not limited to disrupting normal day to day life, negatively influencing the emergency systems and drastically affecting basic needs and processes like food, shelter, provision of health care depending on the intensity and severity of the disaster.

We must continue to brace

prepared we are and the more we invest in building resilience, the less will be the impact we suffer and better able we will be to bounce back following impact.

In continuing efforts to enhance the status of our preparedness and build requisite resilience capacity, the DDME in collaboration with its partners have recently implemented a number of measures to strengthen our disaster risk reduction capacity.

Such measures include: • Vulnerability Capacity Assessment (VCA) in Grand Turk and Providenciales and plan to do similar in Salt Cay soon through the TCI Red Cross Disaster Risk Reduction Project.

• Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training in Providenciales, Grand Turk and South Caicos which consisted of First Aid, Basic Fire Suppression, • Urban Search and Rescue training • Communities United in Response to Emergency (CURE) Volunteer drive Additionally, the DDME through support from its various Partners have trained over 100 persons in disaster risk reduction techniques, initiated upgrade of our emergency communication equipment, hosted public education campaigns to promote awareness in disaster management, drafted or reviewed 6 national/sectoral plans, provided overseas prioritized training for

ourselves and ensure that we are fully equipped and prepared in the event of an emergency by actively participating in the number of activities that has been planned by Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies.

My Government remains cognizant of these realities and continues to respond to the challenges associated with securing the safety and security of citizens of the Turks and Caicos Islanders.

May God Bless You and these our Beautiful Turks and Caicos Islands.

DDME staff, conducted several table-top and functional exercises, conducted media interviews via radio and television, developed Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and produced public education materials in the form of newsletters, brochures, posters etc. In that regard I want to assure you that the commitment of the DDME and our supporting partners to building resilient communities in the TCI continues to be unwavering.

Fellow residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands let us reiterate our acknowledgement that preparation for emergencies is not only a continuous process but it is everybody’s business.

While the approaching Hurricane Season tends to dominate our preparedness discussions at this time, let us endeavour to be prepared at all times and for all the real and potential threats that we face. Investment in emergency preparedness is not just the prerogative of government, but each of us must make our personal investment in our continued effort to build a disaster resilient society.

Let me take this opportunity to commend the staff of DDME who has worked tirelessly in promoting Hurricane Preparedness Month national campaign and the many other preparedness activities undertaken. May you have a safe Hurricane Season.

May 31 - June 6, 2014

25

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

NMENT SUPPORT SERVICES MANAGEMENT AND EMERGENCIES

ENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS .Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TCI.DDMETwitter: https://twitter.com/DDMETCI Skype: ddmegt

ness 2014

My Community is Getting Ready

Message from Hon. George Lightboure Minister of Government Support Services

T

he theme for Hurricane Preparedness Month this year, My Community is getting Ready” is an interesting one. It is a clear signal on the part of the Government to lead the charge in promoting readiness of communities while highlighting its role and importance in responding to and managing hazards.

The involvement of people as individuals and community as collectives are important to reduce the impact of hazards such as hurricanes. The impact of hazards can be great, affecting people’s lives, properties and livelihoods. Therefore by creating disaster resilient communities, we are in fact building a culture of safety and safeguarding human security.

Community participation and involvement therefore becomes critical and if I might add does not depend on the development level of a country but is driven by a strong humanitarian spirit to help each other and be our brother’s keeper.

It is also common knowledge that people at the community level have more to lose because they are the ones directly hit by disasters,

Grand Turk, CERT Training April 28 - 2 May 2014

whether major or minor.

We have noticed the tendency towards severe dislocation after hurricanes and this will also be true of many of the hazards, which we face. The ultimate price could also be the loss of lives. It is therefore critical that every community be on the alert and be a part of the planning and consultation process to strengthen disaster preparedness in the family, in the home and the wider community. I further urge you to take action to minimize your risk and vulnerability by planning ahead to reduce the chances of injury, and damage to property, businesses and the environment.

The DDME in keeping with its mandate and mission will collaborate with local, regional and international agencies to provide the highest standard of assistance in the event of a hazard or natural disaster. I support the efforts of the DDME in ensuring that adequate preparedness, mitigation response and recovery mechanisms are established.

Let us be reminded of the lessons of the past. Our experience with Tropical Storm Hannah and Hurricane IKE should guide our planning and

preparation efforts. We must also work together to address weak areas in our communities, remembering to observe the Hurricane Preparedness checklist.

I am appealing to all Turks & Caicos Islanders to get involved in the disaster management and risk reduction efforts in an attempt to reduce damage and loss caused by the impact of a hurricane or any of its hazards to ourselves, our community and by extension to our country.

I invite all Turks and Caicos residents to actively participate in the month’s activities, commit to building the unity that will transform our land.

May God bless you all and may he continue to shine his Grace on the Turks and Caicos Islands.

South Caicos CERT Training May 12 - 16 May 2014

Hurricane Preparedness Information to Note The following names will be used for the 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season: Arthur Laura Bertha Marco Dolly Nana Edouard Omar Fay Paulette Gonzalo Rene Hanna Sally Isaias Teddy Josephine Vicky Kyle Wilfred

Terms and Definitions Used During the Hurricane Season

Tropical Storm Watches and Warnings:

• Alert: An alert is issued at 60 hours.

• Tropical Storm Watch: Tropical conditions are possible along the coast within 48 hours.

• Tropical Storm Warning: Tropical Storm conditions are expected within 36 hours.

Hurricane Watches and Warnings:

• A Hurricane Watch: Hurricane Conditions are possible in your area within 48 hours. During a Hurricane Watch, prepare to take immediate action to protect your family and property in case a Hurricane Warning is issued.

• Hurricane Warning: A Hurricane is expected in your area in 36 hours or less. Complete all storm preparations and evacuate if directed by local official.

DISASTER COORDINATORS CONTACT: Grand Turk Salt Cay South Caicos North Caicos Middle Caicos Providenciales

946 2177/2313364 946 6985/2424625 946 3211/2328133 946 7108/2478642 946 6100 946 4521/4177/2324462

List of Shelters LOCATION

PROVIDENCIALES

Blue Hills Seventh Day Adventist Church Blue Hills, Providenciales Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist ChurchShining Star School Downtown, Providenciales Bethel Seventh Day Adventist Church Blue Hills, Providenciales Gustavus Lightbourne Sports Complex Downtown, Providenciales All Saints Mission Church Leeward, Providenciales Messenger Church Five Cays, Providenciales Enid Capron Primary School, Five Cays Five Cays, Providenciales Oseta Jolly Primary School, Blue Hills Blue Hills, Providenciales Precious Treasures School Near Light Industrial Subdivision, Discovery Bay, Providenciales

MIDDLE CAICOS

Conch Bar Community Centre Central Town Area, Conch Bar

Mt. Moriah Baptist Church Central Town Area, Conch Bar Bambarra Community Centre Central Town Area, Bambarra

NORTH CAICOS

Sandy Point Community Centre Central Area, Sandy Point Kew Community Centre Central Area, Kew Lighthouse Church Richmond, Bottle Creek Kew Seventh Day Adventist Church Kew

Providenciales, CERT Training May 1 - 7 May 2014

SOUTH CAICOS

The New Community Centre North/Sarah Hill, South Caicos Maranatha Seventh Day Adventist Church Downtown Area South Caicos

GRAND TURK

Green Door Old Naval Base, Lighthouse Road, Grand Turk

Community College Old Naval Base, Lighthouse, Road, Grand Turk Antioch Seventh Day Adventist Church Godet’s Allotment, Grand Turk

SALT CAY

Community Centre/Club House South District, Salt Cay Methodist Church Hall North District, Salt Cay

26 NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Two boats participating in the boat racing competition

Massive crowd on the island of South Caicos for the annual regatta festival

Dance piece performed by girls from the TCI Cultural Group

South Caicos Regatta 2014 saw huge crowd

BY DAISY HANDFIELD THE SOUTH Caicos Regatta saw a big comeback this week with hundreds attending the cultural event.

Organisers described the annual festival as an opportunity to celebrate the island said they were delighted with the turn out.

Along with music, dancing and boat races, two of the highlights were the Little Miss South Caicos Regatta and Miss South Caicos Regatta beauty pageants.

The festivities commenced on Thursday, May 22, with the Little Miss South Caicos Regatta competition and ended on Saturday, May 24.

This year six beautiful young ladies vied for the title of Little Miss

South Caicos Regatta, and five ladies competed for the Miss South Caicos Regatta crown.

Rising as Little Miss Regatta 2014 was young Jordinae’ Williams and Miss South Caicos Regatta 2014 was Gessie Germain who was crowned on Friday, May 23.

First runner up for the Little Miss South Caicos Regatta was Amberley Jennings, second runner up was Tanell Gray and third runner up was awarded to Melissa Pierre.

First runner up for the Miss South Caicos Regatta was Tarneisha Parker, second runner up was given to Brittany Brianna Gardiner and third runner up was Nakira Gardiner.

Principal of the Enid Capron Primary School, Rachel Taylor, served as MC for the Little Miss Regatta competition.

Miss South Caicos Regatta 2014, Gessie Germain, shows off her beautiful smile when announced as winne

David Bowen, Director of Culture and member of the organising committee for the event, said that he felt that the festival was definitely bouncing back.

“It was good to see the people supporting regatta once again and I believe that it will only grow from strength to strength.”

Aside from the pageants, there were a number of local acts, a performance by the TCI Cultural Group, boat races, dance contests, band performances and junkanoo.

Bowen said his only concern that spans most of the cultural festivals is the lack of respect for time, not only by attendees but also by people that perform.

“I think personally that the committee should start deducting points,” he said.

“If a show is starting at 8.30pm, the contestant should be there no later than 8pm.”

He said that they experienced this situation on both nights of the competitions.

“If these girls are going to go off into professional other pageants, it’s a stepping stone, they must start now to appreciate that.”

For next year Bowen said that he would like to see more boats, more cultural activities and the event being a bit more organised.

In three more years the South Caicos Regatta will turn half a century old in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Organisers are looking forward to a bigger celebration for this milestone.

Little Miss South Caicos Regatta winner, Jordinae’ Williams along with MC, Rachel Taylor.

Miss South Caicos Regatta 2014 contestants in their evening gowns

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Scores of fundraisers attend the sophisticated affair

NEWS 27

Patricia Leacock with the charity’s founders Maxcia Rigby and her husband Almando Rigby

Fundraising evening raises thousands for children with autism PLANS to create a classroom specifically dedicated to children with autism can now surge ahead thanks to the generosity of TCI fundraisers.

More than $26,000 was collected for Hope Foundation for Autism Awareness during a charity night at Seven Stars resort on Grace Bay earlier this month.

Turks and Caicos Banking Company donated a huge $20,000 while a raffle and silent auction amassed an additional $6,840.

The cash will all go to help the charity to reach its goal of catering for all of the Islands autistic youngsters.

Laura Staniforth, events coordinator at Seven Stars, explained how the idea for the special night came about.

“I have now been living in the Turks and Caicos Islands for nearly two years and after taking part in a few charity events I felt I wanted to try and start helping some of the local charities in my community in another way by using my skills as an events coordinator.”

After speaking to friends and colleagues about which charities needed the most help, she settled on the Hope Foundation for Autism Awareness.

“I asked the general manager at Seven Stars, Ken Patterson, if I could host a charity event using Seven Stars as the location and using Seven Stars staff, he agreed and also agreed to provide complimentary food, drinks deals and three fantastic silent auction prizes.”

Scores of fundraisers attended the sophisticated affair which took place on the resort’s deck on Friday, May 9.

They enjoyed cut-price cocktails and free nibbles while they listened to music from popular TCI entertainer DJ Dayoh.

Attendees also had the opportunity to take part in a silent auction and 50/50 raffle to raise funds for the foundation.

“It was a fantastic event and we hope to do more in the future,” Staniforth enthused.

She thanked DJ Dayoh and Lucid Illumination for providing complimentary services, Kenard Cruises for their silent auction prize, The Wine Cellar for their silent auction prize, foundation director Maxcia Rigby, and all her volunteers.

A large portion of the funds gathered from the evening will go

towards building TCI’s first autism structured classroom.

A press release from the foundation explained: “We plan to propose to a private school to allow us to add this classroom to their already existing school and have it funded by a corporate company.

“The cost of this classroom would be $20,000 and we have already identified two persons willing to be trained to teach in this classroom.”

The classroom will have a maximum of 10 students that have been diagnosed with autism.

Michael McGinty, who has been instrumental in the construction of this same type of classroom in The Bahamas, has agreed to assist with this project.

“With much success, we hope to have more classrooms like this one at different schools in the TCI,” the release concluded.

HISTORY OF HOPE The Hope Foundation for Autism Awareness, a non-profit organisation, was founded in the Turks and Caicos Islands on April 16, last year to cater to autism awareness, diagnosis, and treatment.

Members estimate that there are hundreds of undiagnosed cases of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the TCI. These findings are consistent with international statistics which reveal that globally as many as 1 in 50 children may have ASD. “In TCI there is no platform, public or private, for working with families of children with ASD, nor is there treatment available except for the select few who are financially able to travel to the United States for diagnosis and follow-up,” a press release from the foundation read.

“Many children, young and older, are still kept at home and receive no educational services.

“Through our efforts we are hoping to establish partnerships with professional and medical organisations as well as colleges and universities to provide services for our families in TCI with children in need.”

Among the foundation’s aims are education, support, guidance, data collection and Government petitions.

Since it was founded members have already held a number of events including workshops, a fundraising walk and World Autism Days activities.

This summer the foundation will be holding a six week summer training programme for parents,

children and teachers on intervention strategies.

And a free back to school

workshop will be held in September to help teachers to create educations plans for children with autism. (RB)

28

World News

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Leaders agree to review EU agenda at Brussels summit EU LEADERS have agreed to reevaluate the bloc’s agenda after voters “sent a strong message”, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has said.

Mr Van Rompuy said leaders of the 28 member states had asked him to launch consultations on future policies.

He was speaking after a meeting in Brussels to discuss big election gains by populist and far-right parties.

The results of the European Parliament election led to calls for an EU rethink by those leaders who suffered defeats.

But despite gains by anti-EU groups, pro-European parties still won most votes overall.

Tuesday’s summit was the first opportunity for leaders of all member states to discuss the way forward after last week’s polls.

A BBC correspondent says reforms could include less regulation and less focus on economic austerity policies, while measures to boost growth and create jobs could address voter discontent.

Mr Van Rompuy said the results of the European elections had shown “a mix of continuity and change”

Herman Van Rompuy said the message sent by voters was at the heart of EU leaders’ discussions.

and that the Eurosceptic message from voters was “at the heart” of discussions between leaders.

He said the meeting in Brussels had been a “useful first discussion” and that EU leaders had agreed on putting the economy at the heart of the group’s agenda.

“As the Union emerges from the financial crisis it needs a positive agenda of growth,” he said, repeating a common refrain of what is needed to reverse growing anti-EU sentiment.

‘France cannot live isolated’ President Francois Hollande asked

Europe to “pay attention” to France after describing his Socialist party’s defeat to the far-right National Front as “painful.”

The National Front - which Germany’s finance minister described as “fascist” - stormed to victory with a preliminary 25% of the vote, pushing Mr Hollande’s Socialists into third place.

National Front President Marine Le Pen said she would use her electoral mandate to “defend France” and fight “crazy measures like votes for immigrants.”

Speaking after EU leaders met in Brussels, Mr Hollande said the National Front victory was “traumatic for France and Europe.”

“France cannot live isolated and frightened. Its destiny is in Europe,” he added.

Mr Van Rompuy also told reporters that he would hold talks with the political groups to be formed in the European Parliament on who will be named to head the next Commission, the EU’s executive arm.

On the latest projections, the centre-right European People’s Party will be the biggest political group and its candidate is former Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker.

May 31 - June 6, 2014

One third of Britons ‘admit being racially prejudiced’ NEARLY a third of people in Britain admit being racially prejudiced, research has suggested.

The British Social Attitudes survey found the proportion had increased since the start of the century, returning to the level of 30 years ago.

Some 30% of the 2,000 people polled by social research company NatCen described themselves as either “very” or “a little” race prejudiced.

Penny Young, chief executive of NatCen, said the findings were “troubling”.

The survey also found wide variations currently across the country: 16% of people in inner London admitted to prejudice but the figure was 35% in the West Midlands.

Older men in manual jobs were the most likely to say they were prejudiced, but the group recording the biggest rise was educated male professionals.

Levels of racial prejudice increased with age, at 25% for 17 to 34-year-olds compared with 36% for over-55s.

Education had an impact with 19% of those with a degree and 38% of those with no qualifications reporting racial prejudice.

Some 30% of the 2,000 people polled by social research company NatCen described themselves as either “very” or “a little” race prejudiced.

‘Socially liberal’ The social attitudes survey has been carried out every year since 1983 - it recorded an all-time low of 25% of people describing themselves as racially prejudiced in 2001.

People were asked whether they would describe themselves as prejudiced “against people of other races”.

Ms Young told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme self-reported prejudice was “very difficult” to study in detail.

It appeared to be in “inexorable decline” in 2001 as part of “increasingly socially liberal Britain” - but has since gone back up.

Malaysia missing MH370 Kidnapped newborn found plane: ‘Ping area’ ruled out ‘thanks to Facebook’ THE area where acoustic signals thought linked to the missing Malaysian plane were detected can now be ruled out as the final resting place of flight MH370, Australian officials say.

The Bluefin-21 submersible robot had finished its search of the area and found nothing, they said.

Efforts would now focus on reviewing search data, surveying the sea floor and bringing in specialist equipment.

Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Using satellite data, officials have concluded that the airliner, which had 239 people on board, ended its journey in the Indian Ocean, northwest of the Australian city of Perth.

No trace of the plane has been found and there is no explanation for its disappearance.

‘DISCOUNTED’ Four pings that officials believed could be from the missing plane’s “black box” flight recorders were heard by search teams using a towed pinger locator device.

These pings were used to define the area for the sea-floor search,

After the pinger locator heard signals, the robot submersible Bluefin-21 was deployed.

conducted by the Bluefin-21.

“Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday afternoon), Bluefin-21 completed its last mission searching the remaining areas in the vicinity of the acoustic signals detected in early April by the towed pinger locator,” a statement from the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said.

“The data collected on yesterday’s mission has been analysed. As a result, the JACC can advise that no signs of aircraft debris have been found by the autonomous underwater

vehicle since it joined the search effort.

“The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has advised that the search in the vicinity of the acoustic detections can now be considered complete and in its professional judgement, the area can now be discounted as the final resting place of MH370.”

The statement came hours after a US Navy official told CNN that the acoustic signals probably came from some other man-made source. (BBC)

THE woman wore a nurse’s uniform when she walked into the maternity ward.

She left the hospital driving away in a red car with a sign that said “Baby on Board.”

Police say there was a baby inside the Toyota Yaris the 21-year-old was driving Monday evening as she left the hospital in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

But the little girl wasn’t hers.

At the hospital, baby Victoria’s parents were frantic.

Their child was only 16 hours old when she was abducted, mother Mélissa McMahon said in a Facebook post describing the ordeal.

“The worst case scenarios played out over and over in our heads,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, the endings are not often happy, above all in this type of case.”

But just a few hours after the baby went missing, authorities returned her to her parents.

Thanks to “four marvelous people,” McMahon wrote, and “thanks to Facebook.”

“It is the only reason that explains why Victoria is in my arms at this time,” she said.

Publicity about Victoria’s

The little baby girl was just 16 hours old when she was kidnapped.

disappearance started with an Amber Alert sent out by Quebec police.

In social media posts, messages from police described the vehicle and the woman driving it. The newborn, police said, was wrapped in a blue blanket.

It wasn’t long before the alert and a photo went viral.

A group of four friends spotted it on Facebook when they were hanging out on Monday night, Canadian media reported.

“We just wanted to do something for the night, so we went out to find the car,” Charlène Plante told Canada’s CTV network

May 31 - June 6, 2014

World News

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

29

Obama: US must show restraint abroad Edward Snowden said he considers himself a patriot, and he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to reveal secret U.S. government surveillance programmes if he didn’t have to.

Snowden tells NBC: I’m a patriot

TRAITOR or patriot? Low-level systems analyst or highly trained spy?

Slammed by top U.S. government officials and facing espionage charges in the United States, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden defended his decision to leak documents about classified surveillance programs during an interview with NBC “Nightly News” broadcast Wednesday.

“I think it’s important to remember that people don’t set their lives on fire,” Snowden said. “They don’t walk away from their extraordinarily, extraordinarily comfortable lives ... for no reason.”

Speaking to anchor Brian Williams in a Moscow hotel, Snowden said he considers himself a patriot, and he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to reveal secret U.S. government surveillance programmes if he didn’t have to.

“The reality is, the situation determined that this needed to be told to the public. The Constitution of the United States had been violated on a massive scale,” Snowden told Williams. “Now, had that not happened, had the government not gone too far and overreached, we wouldn’t be in a situation where whistleblowers were necessary.”

The U.S. government, Snowden said, is using the threat of terrorism “to justify programs that have never been shown to keep us safe but cost us liberties and freedoms that we don’t need to give up and our Constitution says we shouldn’t give up.”

NSA analysts, he said, “can actually watch people’s Internet communications, watch their Internet correspondence, watch their thoughts as they type,” he said, describing such government surveillance as an “extraordinary intrusion ... into the way you think.”

He didn’t specify when such a program would be used by the agency, but said seeing that program when he worked for the NSA astonished him.

Snowden has been living for nearly a year in Russia, where

the government has granted him temporary asylum.

But he stressed he has no ties with the Russian government.

“I have no relationship with the Russian government at all,” he told NBC. “I’ve never met the Russian President. I’m not supported by the Russian government. I’m not taking money from the Russian government. I’m not a spy.”

In fact, Snowden said, he never planned to stay in Russia.

“I personally am surprised that I ended up here,” he said. “The reality is I never intended to end up in Russia. I had a flight booked to Cuba onwards to Latin America, and I was stopped because the United States government decided to revoke my passport and trap me in the Moscow airport.”

He hasn’t been able to leave Russia since then. Snowden said he would eventually like to return to the United States.

“If I could go anywhere in the world, that place would be home,” he told NBC. Asked by Williams whether he considers himself a patriot, Snowden didn’t hesitate.

“Yes, I do,” he said.

That comment drew a sharp response from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who spoke with the network earlier Wednesday.

“Patriots don’t go to Russia. They don’t seek asylum in Cuba. They don’t seek asylum in Venezuela.

They fight their cause here,” Kerry told NBC. “Edward Snowden is a coward. He is a traitor. And he has betrayed his country. And if he wants to come home tomorrow to face the music, he can do so.”

In another excerpt from the interview, Snowden sought to bolster his credentials, arguing that the U.S. government has tried to downplay his skills and work experience.

“I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word -- in that I lived and worked undercover, overseas, pretending to work in a job that I’m not -- and even being assigned a name that was not mine,” Snowden said.

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has promised a new US foreign policy based on “collective action” with allies abroad.

The US would still lead, he told graduates at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, but would avoid the “costly mistakes” of the past.

He announced a $5bn (£3bn) fund to fight global terror and promised the US “must not create more enemies than we take off the battlefield”.

Under attack for a weak foreign policy, he hailed progress in Ukraine and Iran.

“Sceptics often downplay the effectiveness of multilateral action. For them, working through international institutions, or respecting international law, is a sign of weakness. I think they’re wrong.”

The end of the combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of the year would free up resources to tackle emerging threats elsewhere, such as a new $5bn “terrorism partnership fund” to help other countries fight extremists.

The money would go towards missions such as training security forces in Yemen, supporting a multinational force to keep the peace in Somalia, working with European

US President Barack Obama said that the US would lead, but would avoid the “costly mistakes” of the past.

allies to train a functioning security force in Libya, and helping French operations in Mali, he said.

Turning to the civil war in Syria, he promised to “ramp up support” for those in opposition to the regime of President Assad, although he did not give details about what that would mean in practice.

His speech attempted to recast US foreign policy as one which would use military force when necessary but primarily acts on a platform of international consensus.

“We must broaden our tools to include diplomacy and development;

Pakistan stoning victim’s husband condemns police THE husband of a Pakistani woman stoned to death in broad daylight outside a Lahore court says police stood by and did nothing to stop the attack.

Farzana Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was killed by her family on Tuesday for marrying a man she loved.

“We were shouting for help; nobody listened,” her husband, Muhammad Iqbal, told the BBC. Correspondents say there are hundreds of so-called “honour killings” of women in Pakistan each year.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said she was “deeply shocked” and urged Pakistan’s government to take “urgent and strong measures”.

“I do not even wish to use the phrase ‘honour killing’: there is not the faintest vestige of honour in killing a woman in this way.”

Mr Iqbal described the police as “shameful” and “inhuman” for their failure to stop the attack.

“We were shouting for help, but nobody listened. One of my relatives took off his clothes to capture police attention but they didn’t intervene.

“They watched Farzana being killed and did nothing.”

Arranged marriages are the norm in Pakistan and to marry against the wishes of the family is unthinkable in many deeply conservative communities.

Ms Parveen’s father later surrendered to police but other relatives who took part in the attack are still free.

Mr Iqbal said they were threatening him and his family.

“Yesterday they said they would snatch the dead body,” he said. “We came here with a police escort”.

“We arrested a few of them and others are currently being investigated,” local police chief Mujahid Hussain said.

Ms Parveen’s parents had accused Mr Iqbal of kidnapping her and had filed a case against him at the High Court.

She testified to police that she had married him of her own free will.

Mr Iqbal told the BBC that when the couple arrived at the court on Tuesday to contest the case, his wife’s relatives were waiting and tried to take her away.

As she struggled to free herself they dragged her to the floor, pelted her with bricks and then smashed her head. She died on the pavement.

sanctions and isolation; appeals to international law and - if just, necessary, and effective - multilateral military action.

“We must do so because collective action in these circumstances is more likely to succeed, more likely to be sustained, and less likely to lead to costly mistakes.” The address is the first of a series of speeches from the president about foreign policy over the next 10 days, in an attempt to respond to critics who say current US foreign policy is weak.

On Wednesday, the top Republican on the Senate’s foreign relations panel said there was “an extreme indecisiveness and cautiousness” about Mr Obama “that just worries people”.

“I’m not for policing the world but I do think that our lack of leadership has created a vacuum and I think that into that vacuum problems are being created,” Senator Bob Corker said.

(BBC)

Boko Haram kills 33 security personnel in Nigeria attacks, sources say

MILITANTS with Islamist terror group Boko Haram killed at least 33 security personnel in attacks this week on a military base and a police station in northeastern Nigeria’s Yobe state, security sources said Wednesday.

Monday night’s attacks in the town of Buni Yadi killed 18 soldiers and 15 police, the sources said.

“There were attacks by Boko Haram insurgents in Buni Yadi, but details are still sketchy,” Yobe state police commissioner Sanusi Rufa’i said.

The attacks come more than a month after the group abducted an estimated 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, also in northeastern Nigeria. Dozens escaped, but more than 200 girls still are missing.

Boko Haram translates as “Western education is a sin” in the Hausa language.

The militant group says its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south. (BBC)

30

Job Listings Services Auto sales real estate

Classifieds TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

946-4664 Fax: 946-4661

Email: tcnews@tciway.tc

Website: tcweeklynews.com

FLOWER GIRL

Is looking for a Part-time

FOR RENT

delivery driver

contact: 946-4664

Contact: 231-3788

3-bedroom apartment $1100.00 per month it will be available May 1st.

With own transportation who is interested in making extra cash.

FOR SALE

FOR RENT

3-bedroom apartment $1100.00 per month it will be available May 1st.

contact: 946-4664

Construction scaffold and roof tiles for sale CONTACT: 431-1591 OR 231-3788

May 31 - June 6, 2014

31

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

PRICED FOR Amazing Value!

QUICK SALE Lot for Sale

Beautiful hillside, water front lot in Paw Paw Joe, North Caicos South

$50,000

(or nearest offer) Also additional seven acres plus in Kerr Mount (inland) contact Veronica at 1-242-327-8011 or 1-649-232-3508, (242) 676-3592

In Gated/Planned Community in Long Bay. Flamingo Crossing lot comes with full set of House Plans, all underground utilities, etc.

$49,999 o.b.o.

Call 231-3788

VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY!!

The largest readership in the Turks & Caicos

PRICE SLASHED

PRICE SLASHED $175,000 FOR QUICK SALE

$180,000 CASH! House and ½ Acre land Richmond Hill 1 Bedroom, 1 Bath Fully furnished

Call: 231-3788

NOTICE OF SALE BY PUBLIC AUCTION RBC Royal Bank (Bahamas) Limited of Raleigh House, Leeward Highway, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, hereby gives notice of its intention to sell by Public Auction the following properties pursuant to its power of sale as registered Chargee under the Registered Land Ordinance of the Turks and Caicos Islands CAP 9.01:

1. Registered Proprietor: Jeffrey C. Hall

Block 40205 Parcel 15, Central Bambarra, Middle Caicos.

The property is a single approximately rectangular lot of land with a wider north end and good elevation. The land is generally sloping steadily down from south to north and a distant ocean view is available from most of the land.

The subject land is located within a subdivision comprising various sized residential lots that has been laid out with tarmac or marl roads.

2. Registered Proprietor: Melicia Latoya Fredericks

Block 60809, Parcel 211K4 - Unit #4, Miss Moonies Development, Leeward Highway, Providenciales. The property forms a condominium unit which is located in the Miss Moonies development located in the Bight and Thomas Stubbs area of Providenciales on the Leeward Highway four lots to the east of the Sandcastle Road roundabout on the south side of the road.

The development altogether comprises:

A single retail/ restaurant premises on the Leeward Highway frontage and a two storey rear accommodation block, which houses 6 one bedroom and 2 two bedroom condominium units. In addition, there is a communal swimming pool, deck, parking area, bar, and other associated stores and external ancillary facilities.

Unit K4 comprises:

a ground floor two bedroom, one bathroom condominium unit access to which is provided off the ground floor communal; walkway. It also benefits from pool views from the external communal terrace, open plan living/ dining area and master bedroom.

3. Registered Proprietor: Provo Construction Supplies Limited

Block 60809 Parcel 29, The Bight and Thomas Stubbs, Providenciales. The property has been cleared and is generally rectangular and fairly flat. Surrounding development is mainly residential development at present in the form of apartments or houses. The tier of highway fronting land is commercially zoned on both sides of the highway.

The property is served with power and city water and is close to most usual amenities and within half a mile of the main Grace Bay Road tourist and business area.

4. Registered Proprietor: Jeffrey Christoval Hall

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Block 60715 Parcel 196, Cheshire Hall and Richmond Hill, Providenciales. The property is located in the Behind Glass Shack area of Providenciales. It has been cleared and is a virtually rectangular, narrow and flat parcel with a pointed end to the east. Surrounding development is mainly apartments and residences. The property is served with power and city water which is connected to the properties with units separately metered. The property has the benefit of:

MONTE RESTAURANT

LIVINGSTON LIGHTBOURNE

Is seeking suitable applicants to fill the following openings:

is looking for an

Cook Waitress

Artist

Must have at least 5 years experience.

Belongers only need apply. Must be willing to work extended hours.

Salary is negotiable.

to work 5 days per week salary $5.50 per hour.

Fax: 649941-8388

contact: 243-0506

Applications deadline: June 5th, 2014 9884

DENISE SMITH

MORENCY SALOMON

Is looking for a

Is looking for a

a. one two storey apartment building to the west of the lot; b. one two bedroom house with loft room in the middle; and c. one two bedroom house one the east side of the lot.

5. Registered Proprietor: Club Nowhere Limited

Block 10103 Parcel 81, East Suburbs, Grand Turk. The property forms part of the area known as East Suburbs in the north east corner of the island of Grand Turk. The land is found some three hundred yards to the north of The Arches town home development along Lighthouse Road and is accessed via a lane that runs to the west off this road.

The land is one lot west of the main road and is approximately rectangular enjoying frontage from its longer southern boundary onto the marl access road leading from Lighthouse Road. The land generally slopes down from east to west with a number of undulations and it enjoys good views to the west across the nearby North Creek and also distant views of the ocean to the west.

6. Registered Proprietor: Jeffrey Christoval Hall

Block 60900, Parcel 29, Leeward Going Through, Providenciales. The property holds a residence, which comprises a detached single storey residence and further comprises of: a. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open plan living/ dining area, kitchen and covered deck; and b. A two bedroom guest house with an open deck at the rear of the residence.

7. Registered Proprietor: Provo Construction Supplies Limited.

Block 60809 Parcel 186, The Bight and Thomas Stubbs, Providenciales. The land is located on the north side of the Leeward Highway to the east of the junction with Sandcastle Road and is the second lot east of the roundabout.

The property is a single approximately rectangular lot of land with an angled west boundary. The land is generally flat apart from a slope down from south to north at the north end of the parcel. A distant an ocean view is available from parts of the land and there is approximately 190 linear feet of highway frontage.

The auction will be held at the offices of Karam Missick Attorneys, P.O. Box 926, A 201 - A203 Regent Village, Grace Bay, Providenciales, at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday the 6th day of June, 2014.

A reserve price will be fixed on the Properties. A deposit of 10% is due immediately upon all accepted bids.

Terms and Conditions of Sale by Auction are available by request from RBC Royal Bank (Bahamas) Limited (649) 9417430.

labourer Labourer To work 5 days To work 5 days per week salary $5.00 per hour.

salary $5.00 per hour.

contact: 346-4624

9871

32 CLASSIFIEDS

contact: 343-7748

NEAL’S CABINETRY & SUBCONTRACTING is looking for a

CARPENTER Must be able to work alone. Must be able to verify skills. Salary $10.00 per hour

Contact: 431-1928 9868

PUBLIC AUCTION

ON THE FOLLOWING ITEMS • New Clothes (Gowns, Shirt, Pants, Shoes and etc).

• Pool Table • Rolex watches (Male and Female) To be held at the Supreme Court for the Month of JUNE 2014 until all items are sold. CASH SALE ONLY, No warranties, No Returns

TEL: 946-4215 or 3384895 This Advertisement is authorized by the Bailiff of the Supreme Court, Providenciales.

PAUL HIGGS NORTH CAICOS Is looking for a

labourer to work 5 days per week salary $7.00 per hour

contact: 243-1210

Seeks to employ 2

ALL SEASONS CLEANING SERVICES

ABUNDANT LIFE MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL

is seeking to fill the following positions:

Is seeking a

per hour.

contact: 346-3907

9900

RODEMIDE JOSEPH Is looking for a

greenskeeper contact: 344-0966

9881

To work 5 days per week salary $5.00 per hour.

Must be willing to work 5 days per week off on weekends and holidays for more information contact the office at 649-941-4750 or email: info@almi.tc

ROXY BEAUTY SALON Is looking for

Wages $5.00 per hour. Belongers only need apply.

Contact: 341-5736

HELICOPTER

PILOT • Current PPC (Pilot Proficiency Check-Rotary) issued by Transport Canada • Valid Aviation Medical Certificate • Endorsements: Bell 206 • Long-Lining experience/ water bucketing experience • Remuneration to be negotiated depending upon experience and total qualifications

Interested parties should contact: TCI HELICOPTER LTD. 432-4354 or email: info. tcihelicopters@gmail.com

9905

ISLAND ADVENTURES

L & M CRAFT MARKET

Is looking for the following persons:

Is looking for a

Office Assistant

labourer

Contact: 341-6812

contact: 342-5960

Inventory Controller Must be able to work 6 days per week salary $5.60 per hour.

9895

To work 5 days per week salary $5.00 per hour.

Nell Williams Is looking for a

3 Hairstylists 2 Nail Technicians 1 Barber Must be willing to work 6 days per week salary $6.00 per hour.

Contact: 242-4006

9896

Cleaners Salary $6.00

MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR

10 Labourers 10 Domestic Workers

9902

A & M CLEANING

CLASSIFIEDS 33

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

9903

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Domestic Worker To work 6 days a per week salary $5.50 per hour.

Please contact:

231-0051

MEP Consultant Engineer The successful applicant must have the following Qualifications: • A degree in his/her field obtained from a recognized University.

• A registered chartered engineer with his/her respective Engineering Council.

• Applicants should have a minimum of 10 (ten) years’ experience and proven design track record in MEP design.

• Be a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerant and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) • Applicants must have extensive experience in the installation of, and including testing/ commissioning of electrical and mechanical systems.

• All applicants must be familiar with USA Codes and Regulations.

• Be competent in the design of HVAC systems.

• Competent in design of Power generation and distribution of power supply • Performing electrical calculations, sizing of equipment, fire alarm design and communications systems.

• Computer skills including use of AutoCad software (test may be requested).

The successful applicant must have the technical experience for solving design solutions and work unsupervised in the preparation and issuing of Mechanical and Electrical & Plumbing design drawings.

Contact Information: Please send resume via e-mail: info@bowdens. tc, Include mailing address, e-mail address and phone number. Please include references with contact information and details of relationship

Applicants with suitable qualifications will be interviewed

VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY!!

the largest readership in the turks & caicos

JOB OPENING Grand Turk Cruise Center is currently accepting applications for the position of

Port Facility Security Officer (PFSO) Duties & Responsibilities include:

• Ensuring adequate training needs of GTCC Security Personnel Carrying out Security screening of all new security hires Ensuring GTCC is ISPS compliant • Developing a good working relationship with ship board security personnel and shore • side personnel (GTCC tenants and employees, gov’t agencies, law enforcement agents • etc.) to foster and facilitate a team-oriented atmosphere. Interacting with the CSO and SSO of vessels calling at the GTCC • Preparing, coordinate and run security drills and exercises in accordance with the GTCC PFSP • Oversight of the day to day security operations of the GTCC • Preparing maintenance schedules for the upkeep of the GTCC CCTV surveillance system Ensuring upkeep and adequate equipment/materials required for the day to day operations of GTCC • Ensuring all GTCC safety protocols are followed • Conducting Security Awareness training for all GTCC staff • Maintaining all security-sensitive records and information in secure location • Attending Port Security Committee Meetings • Implementing security measures in response heightened security levels • Interacting with GTCC tenants on all security measures or updates • Oversight of ID badges for GTCC staff, tenants and their employees as well as temporary and visitor passes.

• Maintaining control of all Restricted Area Access locations • Continuously reviewing security operations and make recommendations on how to enhance services • Implementing new policies, SOP’s and company initiatives as assigned • Reporting on all critical guest-related incidents • Ensuring the proper maintenance and upkeep of all security-related logs and records Responsible to the extent possible for ensuring the safety and security of all guests, employees, tenants and the assets of the GTCC • Responding to urgent security incidents as required outside of the normal working hours.

Minimum Qualifications and Preferences:

• Law Enforcement or military background preferred.

• Candidate must have good written and verbal communication skills.

• Must be able to manage, organize and liaise with multiple departments and team members of different nationalities.

• Must be able to work well under pressure and stressful situations • Candidate must be prepared to work long hours, holidays, weekends, days and nights as needed.

Please submit cover letter and CV to: admin@grandturkcc.com 9899

AGNES SWANN NORTH CAICOS

AGNES SWANN NORTH CAICOS

Is looking for a

AGNES SWANN Is looking for a

is seeking to hire a

9863

contact: 649-246-4769

Contact: 246-4769

9880

To work 5 days per week. Salary $5.50 per hour.

ALEISA MUSGROVE Is looking for a

per week salary $5.50 per hour.

Meditation Centre

domestic worker

contact: 246-4769

To work 5 days per week salary $5.50 per hour email: Aleisa. musgrove@gmail.com

CAICOS PETROLEUM

HOLTON WILLIAMS

9876

BACI RESTORANTE

Is looking for a

Is looking for a

Brama Kumaris

Raja Yoga

LABOURER Labourer LABOURER To work 5 days To work 6 days per week salary $5.50 per hour.

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Turks and Caicos Islands

Telephone 946-4760 & 332-4101

www.bkwsu.com Email: bkpadma@bkwsutci.com

Is looking for a

JERMAL FULFORD

JAMES COX

Is looking for a

Is looking for a

FULL- TIME KITCHEN HELPER Must be willing to work shifts, including nights, weekends and holidays Duties: Pot washing, dishwashing and any general cleaning Salary $8.00 per hour

DOMESTIC WORKER

Contact: 941-3044

9875

To work 6 days per week salary $5.50 per hour. contact: 231-6717

Ananda Ltd

9874

LABOURER LABOURER labourer To work 5 days per week salary $5.50 per hour.

To work 5 days per week salary $5.00 per hour.

contact: 232-1053

contact: 347-5541

L & S CONSTRUCTION is looking for a

has the following

6 Sales Assistants

- Friendly and an outgoing person able to deal with customers on a one-to-one basis - Willing to cooperate and work as a joint team with other staff members - Computer savvy - opearate POS systems and willing to learn new ideas - Willing to work extended hours, weekends and holidays - Knowledge of speaking and writing in different languages always an asset - 3-5 years experience in retail trade - Salary $5.00 per hour

6 Labourers

- Must have 3-5 years experience - Salary $5.00 per hour

CONTACT: Ananda Ltd, P.O Box 1151, Providenciales.

Tel: 339-4663 e-mail: jobs@anandaltd.com

Plumber To work 6 days per week salary $10.00 per hour.

Contact: 241-7557

9891

SAM’S SHOP

1) Mechanic 1) Diesel Mechanic 2) Labourers 1) Supervisor Interested candidate may apply through ricardofulford@ gmail.com further details regarding employment

Acting on behalf of our clients: E & Y Contractor, Coyaba Restaurant, Ripple Ltd. is looking for the following persons:

Auto Mechanic To work 5 days per week salary $10.00 per hour.

contact: 341-4725

Ricardo Fulford Consultant Services On behalf of his clients: TCI Waste Disposal is seeking employment for the following:

WARD CONSULTANCY

Is looking for a

9892

4 Store/Warehouse Supervisors

- Responsible for specific day to day activities - Ensure all areas of the shop floor are adequately staffed and customers receive the highest standard of service - Maintaining a presence on the shop floor to assist staff in problem solving and motivating them for improved customer service - Manage accounting and sales aspects of the firm - performing weekly auditing of sales and expenses - Manage inventory along different locations and take control of transfers

9876

To work 5 days per week salary $5.50 per hour. contact: 2410056 or 241-4104

9870

34 CLASSIFIEDS

Seamstress Cook Waitress Labourer Salary $5-$9 per hour Contact: 345-7512

9889

JSMS Is looking for a

Labourer To work 5 days per week salary $5.00 per hour send resumes to P.O. Box 954

May 31 - June 6, 2014

DREAZ

Is looking for a

GLOBAL TARDIF

labourer To work 6 days

ELEVATOR TECHNICIAN

contact: 242-4408

9901

per week salary $5.00 per hour.

9890

To work 6 days per week salary $5.00 per hour. contact: 649-341-2045

FAIRBELL HARVEY MIDDLE CAICOS Is looking for a

Cosmetologist

CLASSIFIEDS 35

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS Is looking for an

Must be willing to work 6 days per week plus on call. Salary $14.00 per hour.

Contact: 231-7041

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS GOVERNMENT

VACANCIES The following vacancies currently exist within the Turks and Caicos Islands Public Service:

Principal (Secondary School)

– Providenciales (Deadline: May 29, 2014) Salary: $32,520 - $37,500 per annum This is a senior professional position which has responsibility for managing and supervising a coeducation institution. The job holder is required to ensure that discipline is maintained among the academic and student body and to prepare and manage the school’s annual budget and supply inventory.

Principal (Primary School)

– Providenciales (Deadline: May 28, 2014) Salary: $27,840 - $31,020 per annum This is a senior professional position which has responsibility for the administration of the daily operations of the primary school. The job holder is required to manage school operations, supervise staff and students, ensure the appropriate instruction and discipline of the student body and manage the school’s finances and supply inventory.

Industrial Arts Teacher

– North Caicos (Deadline: May 28, 2014) Salary: $27,840 - $31,020 per annum This is a specialist position which has unit level responsibility for the teaching of one or more of the school’s curriculum subjects to students.

Exchange of Information Officer

– Grand Turk (Deadline: May 29, 2014) Salary: $43,200 per annum The incumbent in this position will report to the Director of Exchange of Information and will be responsible for assisting with the full range of competent authority functions, including the implementation of new agreements, the execution of requests, the making of judicial applications, and the handling of legal issues arising from any aspect of the competent authority’s work.

Administrative Officer

– Providenciales (Deadline: June 4, 2014) Salary: $26,940 - $29,640 per annum This is a senior administrative support position which ensures the smooth operations and functions of the office. The incumbent in this position will provide administrative support to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Senior Prison Officer

– Grand Turk (Deadline: June 6, 2014) Salary: $23,400 per annum To support the Superintendent of Prisons to maintain security, control, supervision and the safe custody of offenders. The successful candidate will be responsible for looking after Offenders and to help them lead law abiding and useful lives in custody and after release.

Tax Officer

– Providenciales (Deadline: June 6, 2014) Salary: $30,024 per annum The incumbent in this position is expected to conduct the necessary activities to get Taxpayers in default to comply with the requirements under the Revenue Ordinances and Regulations and maintain Compliance and Arrears cases assigned by the Assistant Commissioner/Senior Tax Officer.

Assistant District Commissioner

– Middle Caicos (Deadline: June 6, 2014) Salary: $31,680 per annum The incumbent in this position will be responsible for assisting the District Commissioner in overseeing the administration of Government Services under the “One Stop Shop’ initiative. The incumbent is expected to work closely with the District Commissioner.

Interested persons are asked to visit www.gov.tc for job details and the application procedure.

SALES!!!

Due to change of season we are selling lots of items at discount prices. Towels, curtains, bathroom sets, bathroom coordinates, napkins, cups and glasses, canisters, mixing bowls, serving trays and much more for your house.

DUNCANSON & CO. Barristers & Attorneys

PUBLIC NOTICE DUNCANSON & CO. Barristers & Attorneys are pleased to announce the re-opening of our Leeward Highway Office for ongoing legal services to the public. We are located in our own building across the street from the Supreme Court complex, next door to the offices of TC Weekly News and between that and the St. Monica's Anglican Church.

We specialize in: • Civil Litigation (Particular competencies: Judicial Review and other claims against TCI Government/Departments, Mareva and other Injunctions, Land, Trust & Bank disputes) • Property Matters, Planning Department & Development Issues • Business Law • Immigration • Labour Disputes Telephone: (649) 941-4444 Telefax: (649) 941-4235 Cellphone: (649) 245-1314 email: berynd@yahoo.com DUNCANSON & CO. Barristers & Attorneys

PO Box 52, Cheshire House East 1315A Leeward Highway, Providenciales

VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY!!

the largest readership in the turks & caicos

36 CLASSIFIEDS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

TEL # 649-941-3910 AT THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE Applications are invited from suitably qualified and experienced persons for the following full-time lecturing positions at the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College for the semester commencing 1st September 2014.

Providenciales Campus

Building and Design Technology with AUTOCAD Business Studies (2 positions) Hospitality and Tourism Studies

Grand Turk Campus

Social & Behavioral Sciences Business Studies Education Sciences (including Marine) Dean, Academic & Student Affairs

Lecturers are required to teach across different academic levels from the G.C.E. Advanced level, Caribbean Advanced Proficiency and up to the Associate and Bachelor Degree levels. Multi-disciplinary candidates are particularly encouraged to apply for these positions.

Minimum qualifications for the teaching positions are a Master’s Degree from an accredited and recognized institution plus a Teaching Certificate/Diploma or postgraduate Diploma and no less than three years post qualification teaching experience. A Bachelor’s Degree with a minimum of a second class honors or other postgraduate qualifications, teaching certificate/Diploma and experience in teaching at Tertiary level may be considered.

The job responsibilities and qualifications for the Administrative position for Dean of Academic and Student Affairs is separately attached.

Salary is in the scale Level I US$27,399.90 - $39,102.30 per annum.

Level II US$40,210 - $43,488.40 per annum.

Entry point will depend on qualifications and experience. In the case of staff recruited from overseas, appointment is on contractual terms for an initial period of two years. A gratuity is payable at the end of satisfactory contractual service at the rate of 10% of salary drawn during the period of service. A housing allowance is payable at existing rates.

The College is also seeking Part-time, qualified Lecturers at the Grand Turk Campus in the areas of HVAC Plumbing Electrical Engineering Auto Mechanics Applications with copies of qualifications (including official transcripts), two character references, a police record and a recent testimonial from current place of employment should be sent to the PRESIDENT, TCI COMMUNITY COLLEGE, P.O. BOX 236, LIGHTHOUSE ROAD, GRAND TURK, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS to reach not later than 13th June, 2014. Where possible applicants should e-mail or fax their applications.

FAX 649 946 1661. TELE 649 946 1163 EMAIL tcicomc@tciway.tc

VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY!! the largest readership in the turks & caicos

VEHICLES FOR SALE

Make /model Year License # Color

Price

Nissan March Nissan March Nissan March Nissan March Toyota vitz Toyota Vitz Toyota Vitz Toyota Vitz Ford Escape Nissan March Nissan March Nissan March Toyota passo Toyota Vitz Toyota Vitz Toyota Vitz Toyota Vitz Daihatsu Sirion Daihatsu sirion Mazda Demio Mazda Demio Mazda Demio Mazda Demio Mazda Demio Jeep wrangler Jeep wrangler Daihatsu Terios Nissan March Nissan March Nissan March Toyota passo Daihatsu sirion Daihatsu sirion Mazda Demio Nissan note Nissan note Mazda Demio Mazda Demio Hyundai accent Hyundai accent Hyundai accent Hyundai accent Hyundai accent Hyundai accent Hyundai accent Hyundai accent Ford explorer Suburban Ford pickup Ford pickup Town & Country

$6500.00 $6700.00 $6800.00 $6800.00 $7100.00 $7400.00 $7400.00 $7300.00 $10000.00 $6800.00 $8300.00 $7300.00 $9400.00 $10700.00 $10300.00 $10500.00 $10500.00 $8500.00 $8500.00 $9900.00 $9400.00 $7800.00 $7800.00 $7400.00 $19000.00 $19000.00 $9200.00 $9000.00 $8800.00 $9300.00 $10900.00 $8500.00 $8500.00 $9600.00 $9000.00 $8700.00 $9800.00 $10600.00 $7500.00 $8500.00 $8500.00 $8500.00 $8500.00 $8500.00 $8500.00 $8500.00 $22000.00 $36000.00 $25000.00 $24000.00 $8500.00

2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2006

7724 7725 7727 7728 7738 7740 7742 7743 7012 7726 7729 7730 7010 7014 7016 7435 7655 7329 7330 6759 7441 7731 773 7737 7704 7705 7332 6116 7336 7404 7011 7326 7328 6599 6894 6895 6775 6784 7501 7651 7652 7653 7654 7656 7657 7658 7593 7529 7703 7720 6789

silver silver silver silver silver silver blue silver tan silver silver green white ocean green silver blue grey yellow green silver navy blue green navy blue silver grey grey white purple white blue black black yellow white silver silver navy blue silver dark gray dark blue dark green silver silver dark blue dark green dark blue silver white silver white blue

TEL # 649-941-3910

VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY!!

the largest readership in the turks & caicos

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

CLASSIFIEDS 37

FLOWER GIRL

Wanted urgently

4 FARMERS 1 LABOURER

Floral Designer

Must have thorough knowledge in the floral business with 3-5 years experience.

Must be able to work in North Caicos. Must be willing to work 6 days per week. Salary $5.00 per hour.

Contact: 3431756 or 242-3318

Call: 231-3788

SPOTLESS CLEANING SERVICE Seeks a

HOLE IN THE WALL

Domestic Worker

TDMG CONCORDIA Is seeking suitable applicants to fill the following positions:

To work 5 days per week salary $5.50 per hour.

9887

OJ CAICOS GLASS Providenciales Telephone:231-6260

Carpenter Labourer

Must have at least 5 years experience.

Belongers only need apply. Must be willing to work extended hours Salary is negotiable

Fax: 649-941-8388 Application deadline: June 5th, 2014 9883

labourer contact: 244-2709

9907

Salary will commensurate with qualification Resumes can be faxed to 941-3425 and the Labour Department, Providenciales as soon as possible

ROYAL JEWELS Is looking for a

Janitorial

LABOURER Salary $5.00 per hour.

9886

School For Field Studies, South Caicos

Staff

To work 4 days per week salary $5.00 per hour. contact: 946-4699

SANDBAR Is seeking a

Waterfront Assistant- Center for Marine Resource Studies

Job Summary: The purpose of this position is to provide support in the areas of program delivery, academics, research, program safety and site maintenance.

Qualifications: Active Dive Master Cert. and Insurance, Current CPR/First Aid, BA/BS in Marine Science/ Policy, Small boat experience.

To Apply: Please send your CV to RDAKE@ FIELDSTUDIES.ORG by June 30, 2014.

Start Date: August 2014

COOK Must be willing to work flexible hours including evenings and holidays Salary $7.00 per hour.

Contact: Jonathan @ 232-4933

9872

VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY!!

the largest readership in the turks & caicos

VACANCY SECURITY GUARD

The position exists for a “Security Guard” at Caicos Marina and Shipyard.

DUTIES:

The successful Applicant is required to perform the following: • Patrol the Shipyard premises to prevent and detect signs of intrusion and ensure security of doors, windows, gates, fuel storage, fuel depot, docks - yard and docks.

• Answer alarms and investigate disturbances • Monitor and authorize entrance and departure of employees, visitors, tenants and other persons to guard against theft and maintain security of the premises.

• Write reports of daily activities and irregularities, such as equipment or property damage, theft, presence of unauthorized persons or unusual occurrences.

• Call police or fire departments and CMS Management Personnel in cases of emergency, such as fire or presence of unauthorized persons • Circulate among visitors, patrons and employees to preserve order and protect property.

Applicants must be prepared to work shift hours including weekends and holidays. Starting salary is at the rate of $7.00 per hour. All applications should written and addressed to the Manager, Caicos Marina & Shipyard, supported by three (3) references and delivered to the Caicos Marina Office in Long Bay, Providenciales.

Closing date for applications is June 30, 2014.

38

Entertainment

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Maya Angelou ‘the brightest light’ says Barack Obama US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has led the tributes to Maya Angelou, describing the poet, author and activist as “one of the brightest lights of our time”.

He hailed Angelou, who has died aged 86, as “a brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman”.

She made her name with the memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which charted a childhood of oppression and abuse in the Deep South in the 1930s.

Her family described her as “a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace”.

In a statement on Facebook, they said she passed away quietly at home in WinstonSalem, North Carolina, at 08:00 EST (12:00 GMT).

“Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belaboured by a loss of acuity or comprehension,” they said.

“She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being... The family is extremely appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking down upon us with love.”

Mr Obama gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest

Barack Obama gave Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

civilian award, in 2011.

He said: “Over the course of her remarkable life, Maya was many things - an author, poet, civil rights activist, playwright, actress, director, composer, singer and dancer.

“But above all, she was a storyteller - and her greatest stories were true.

“A childhood of suffering and abuse actually drove her to stop speaking - but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves.”

Raised by her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend at the age of seven.

After she told her family what had happened, the boyfriend was killed.

“I thought my voice had killed him, so it was better not to speak - so I simply stopped speaking,” she said. She remained mute for five years, but read voraciously.

Former President Bill Clinton, who invited Angelou to read at his 1993 inauguration, said America had lost a national treasure and he and wife Hillary had lost “a beloved friend”.

“The poems and stories she wrote and read to us in her commanding voice were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace,” he said.

“I will always be grateful for her electrifying reading of On the Pulse of Morning at my first inaugural, and even more for all the years of friendship that followed.”

Angelou was also a prominent civil rights activist and a friend of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Through her writing and interviews, her strength and eloquence as a role model for those seeking to overcome inequality and injustice won her many admirers.

In her final Facebook post on Monday, she said an “unexpected medical emergency” had forced her to cancel an engagement. (BBC)

Frozen won two Oscars in March, including best animated feature and best original song.

Frozen becomes fifth-biggest film in box office history DISNEY’S animated film Frozen has become the fifth highest-grossing film in box office history.

The Oscar-winning movie, which was released in the US in November, has taken $1.219bn (£723m) worldwide, overtaking Iron Man 3’s total haul.

It now stands behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, with $1.34bn (£795m) in global ticket sales.

The feat comes two months after it was confirmed Frozen had become the highestgrossing animation in history.

The film’s bumper haul has in part been due to its success in Japan, where Frozen has

been number one at the box office for 11 consecutive weekends.

Some 15.6m tickets for the film - released as Anna to Yuki no Joou (Anna and the Snow Queen) - have been sold in the country, with many people reportedly watching both the original and Japanese dubbed version.

It is the third most successful Western movie in Japan, behind James Cameron’s Titanic and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - known in the UK as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - although it is predicted to overtake the latter film this week.

Bruce Willis’s daughter walks topless to protest Instragram’s nudity policy SCOUT Willis is taking a stand without a shirt.

REGISTERED LAND ORDINANCE, CAP 9.05

NOTICE LOST LAND CERTIFICATE TITLE NUMBER SECTION ISLAND 60713/127 CHESHIRE HALL & RICHMOND HILL PROVIDENCIALES Whereas, WILLIAM BRUCE McCOLLUM of Oldwick, New Jersey, United States of America Has declared that the Land Certificate for the above mentioned title number(s) registered in his/her/their name was inadvertently mislaid and cannot be found.

Take notice that I, Tresha-Gaye Ustanny, Acting Registrar of Lands, shall issue a new land certificate for the said title six weeks of the date of the first publication of this Notice in a local newspaper and the Gazette.

Dated this 23rd day of May 2014 Signed .................................................................................................

Witnessed ............................................................................................

The 22-year-old daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis strolled around Manhattan topless Tuesday to protest Instagram’s nudity policy.

The younger Willis tweeted photos of herself in a floral skirt, brown shoes and nothing else walking the streets of Manhattan. “Legal in NYC but not on Instagram,” Willis tweeted about her snaps. She captioned another: “What @ Instagram won’t let you see #FreeTheNipple” Her protest came after the social media platform removed one of her photos for violating its Community Guidelines.

The photo that got deleted was one of a sweatshirt that depicted two topless women, nipples clearly visible.

“My comfort with my body should not be dictated by how others perceive me,” Willis tweeted. “However, I don’t wish to force this view on anyone. If you don’t like what you see, simply unfollow me.”

Willis followed her tweet with grabs of Instagram posts by venture capitalist Dan Bilzerian showing women close to naked.

“Pictures of breast cancer survivors have been flagged +

Scout Willis walked about Manhattan topless to protest Instragram’s nudity policy.

deleted but this is super #sick and #hot amiright?” Willis tweeted sarcastically about a shot of a woman nude except for host pants and suspenders. “@Instagram I’m sure this woman feels super safe and validated by your community guidelines.”

Willi’s Instagram account is not currently active, she has plans for another one.

“Thinking of starting a new Instagram account as an experiment. Only beautiful, artistic nudes. And let’s see how long till I get kicked off,” she wrote. (NYdailynews)

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Entertainment

39

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Dr. Dre sells Beats Electronics to Apple for $3 billion

The Nashville star Hayden Panettiere, 24, began dating the Ukrainian boxer, 38, in 2009.

Panettiere expecting first child with fiance Klitschko HAYDEN Panettiere is expecting her first child with fiance Wladimir Klitschko.

The couple’s pregnancy was confirmed by Us Weekly magazine on Wednesday, when a source revealed that, “Hayden is totally pregnant!”

The Nashville star, 24, began dating the Ukrainian boxer, 38, in 2009, but the couple split in 2011, citing the woes of their long distance relationship. The couple reunited in January, 2013, and were engaged shortly after. The former

“Heroes” star finally confirmed the engagement in October.

“I feel like I was born to be a mother,” Hayden told Glamour magazine for its May 2013 issue.

“Sometimes people speak about [having kids] like, ‘Your life ends — you’re never going to be able to do anything again!’ And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ Motherhood is the most beautiful, exciting thing, and there’s nothing that I feel like I can’t accomplish while having children in my life.”

TI’s wife Tameka (Tiny) Cottle (right) and Mayweather’s 14-year-old daughter.

Mayweather Jr. apologises to T.I.’s wife, says rapper instigated fight over jealousy IT DOESN’T take much to shock Floyd Mayweather Jr. Still, the boxer was reportedly jolted by T.I.’s aggressive approach at a Fatburger on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday morning, reports TMZ. The showdown, that included flying chairs and an exchange of blows between the rapper and boxing champ, was supposedly

sparked by an Instagram photo posted by the “Rubber Band Man” rapper’s wife, Tameka (Tiny) Cottle, on May 5.

“You already know!!!” she wrote. “There’s nothing like being surrounded by ‘THE BEST EVER!!!

Champion s--t @floydmayweather @thatshekinah @thereallraye1 & @ ikitchie #teammayweather”.

DR. DRE is in the monay.

The rap mogul and his business partner, Jimmy Iovine, have inked a $3 billion deal to sell Beats Electronics, which makes the wildy popular Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, to Apple Inc. Dre, 49, and Iovine, 61, are getting $2.6 billion in cash, $400 million in Apple stock, and big time jobs with the company.

“We’ve known these guys forever,” said Apple honcho Tim Cook. “We’ve dated, we’ve gone steady and now we’re getting married.”

Cook called it an “incredible cultural fit.”

“These two guys have a very rare set of skills,” he said. “It’s like finding a particular grain of sand on the beach. It’s that rare.”

The Apple chief didn’t specify what exactly the good doctor and the legendary music producer would be doing for Apple, but he said the Beats’ music streaming service was the main selling point.

This will allow Apple, the world’s biggest seller of tunes, to compete in the lucrative Internetbased streaming business currently dominated by YouTube, Pandora and Spotify.

“Apple might just be paying a reasonable price for a fast-growing company,” said industry expert Brian Colello, an equity analyst at

As he’d announced three weeks ago, Dr. Dre is now the first billionaire in hip hop after selling his company — which makes the Beats headphones like the pair he’s wearing — to Apple for $3 billion.

Morningstar. “They also bring in talented music executives and they might be able to do very interesting things with Beats.”

Another industry analyst, Tom Forte of the Telsey Advisory Group, said Apple was also likely to make a bundle on the headphones, which sell for up to $450 a pair and are already a big hit with the kids.

“The company has a history in

music and an infrastructure with its retail stores and its websites to sell a lot of music accessories,” Forte told the Daily News.

This is the most expensive acquisition in Apple’s 38-year history. But it’s about $200 million less than what had been expected when word first leaked out three weeks ago that the iPhone maker was after Beats Electronics.

Jay Z splits from longtime business partner John Meneilly JAY Z and Solange Knowles may have (publicly at least) squashed whatever beef led to their nowinfamous elevator brawl, but Hova and his longtime business manager are over.

Music industry insiders exclusively tell Confidenti@l that Jay Z has cut ties with John Meneilly, who helped build the “Empire State” rapper’s empire.

According to one well-placed music industry insider, Meneilly didn’t want to go: “It wasn’t his choice.”

A second source close to the split, however, described it as “amicable and mutual” and says the agreement was made “a couple months ago.”

Mutiple calls to Meneilly went unanswered.

Music industry insiders tell Confidenti@l that news of Meneilly’s departure started making the rounds shortly before Memorial Day weekend.

For more than a decade Meneilly sat at the center of Jay Z’s notoriously tight inner circle. The former Provident Financial executive is largely credited with navigating the rise of the Rocawear clothing line,

which Jay Z sold off for $200 million in 2007 while maintaining marketing and licensing rights. Meneilly is also credited as one of the architects behind Jay Z’s huge deal with Samsung last year, which instantly moved a million copies of the

rapper’s “Magna Carta Holy Grail.”

Meneilly was also a chief player at Roc Nation, which has grown from a record label to a talent management group that reps Yankee CC Sabathia and former Bronx Bomber Robinson Cano.

Longtime Jay Z business partner John Meneilly (pictured left) has cut ties with the rapper. Meneilly helped build Jay Z’s Roc Nation, which was born as a record label and transitioned into a talent agency. He also helped build the Rocawear clothing line before it was sold.

40

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Science & Technology

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Global population of obese and overweight tops 2.1bn THE number of people in the world who are obese or overweight has topped 2.1 billion, up from 875 million in 1980, the latest figures published in the Lancet show.

And not one country is succeeding in treating it, said the research.

US, China and Russia had the highest rates and the UK was third in Western Europe, the 188-country study said.

Experts said the rise was due to the “modernisation of our world”, causing “physical inactivity on all levels”.

Researchers across the world were led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Washington, in a study they said is the most comprehensive to date.

Scientists analysed data from surveys, such as from the World Health Organization, government websites, and reviewed “all articles” about the numbers of obese or overweight people in the world.

The study said rates of obesity were rising across the world, although the rates in developed countries remain the highest.

The UK has the third highest rates in Western Europe, with 67% of men and 57% of women overweight or obese, it said.

The study called for “urgent global leadership” to combat risk factors such as excessive calorie intake, inactivity, and “active promotion of food consumption by industry”.

Prof Ali Mokdad, of the IHME, said no country was beating obesity as it was a relatively new problem.

Obesity is affecting children as well as adults in the developed world.

“It takes a little bit of time to see success stories,” he said.

The study reported more obese women than men living in developing countries.

Rates tended to be higher for women in developing countries as they were multi-tasking, looking after the family and working, said Prof Mokdad, so did not have the time to dedicate to managing their weight.

But more obese men than women lived in developed countries, said the study.

Prof Mokdad said rates were higher for men in developed countries because of longer commutes to work, fuelled by a move to the suburbs, and spending more time inactive, using computers, he said.

Prof Hermann Toplak, at the University of Graz, in Austria, said: “Over the past decades the modernisation of our world, with all

The antibody trapped the malaria parasites inside of red blood cells.

the technology around us, has led to physical inactivity on all levels.”

Inactivity caused self-control to spiral, he said.

Children and adults were not building up enough functioning muscle mass, and “classical eating” had been replaced by “uncontrolled food intake” spread over the day. he said.

Prof John Newton, chief knowledge officer at Public Health England, said poor nutrition and lack of exercise were a big risk factor in Britain’s most deprived areas.

PHE ran campaigns to help families be healthy, more active, and cut down on fat and sugar, he said.

He added: “Obesity is a complex issue that requires action at national, local, family and individual level; everyone has a role to play in improving the health and wellbeing of the public, and children in particular.” (BBC)

Drinkable sunscreen protects from harmful rays, company claims RESEARCH shows that cumulative sun exposure can significantly raise your risk of skin cancer. All the more reason to protect your skin from the sun.

But one skincare company claims their product - a drinkable sunscreen in water form - can cancel out about 97 percent of the sun’s damaging UVA and UVB rays.

“It’s a great idea. It’s a lot less hassle and a lot less of a mess it seems,” said Cesar Sanchez, who hates having to constantly put on sunscreen.

Osmosis Skincare’s UV Neutralizer Harmonized Water claims to provide the equivalent of an SPF 30 for up to three hours.

How? Dr. Ben Johnson, the skincare line’s founder, describes how it works in a video posted on the company’s YouTube channel, saying “harmonized water, simply put, is the imprinting of

radio frequency energy onto the molecules of water.”

Marianne Kehoe stocks bottles of the drinkable sunscreen at her skincare store for $30 or $50 a bottle.

She’s been selling the harmonized UV water for a year, but recently it’s been gaining in popularity.

“We’ve really done well with it because now, instead of just using sun block, in addition they’re also using this water,” said Kehoe.

But dermatologists say relying on this drinkable sunscreen to protect you is dangerous.

“I’m concerned that you’re going to get a burn, you’re going to have this false sense of security and actually it’s going to increase your risk of melanoma,” said Dr. Shirley Chi, a board certified dermatologist at the Center for Advanced Dermatology, Inc. Chi says there is no evidence to show the product is anything more than water and she warns her patients

to steer clear.

“This is something that you want to be very careful of. You don’t want to use this in place of sunscreen,” she advised.

The American Academy of Dermatology also released a statement warning consumers about replacing sunscreen with UV Harmonizing water, stating the lack of any scientific proof.

“They are so concerned that people are going to use this instead of sunscreen that they really felt it was important to make a statement like this,” said Chi. Sanchez was curious enough to give it try. The verdict: it tasted just like water.

We took a closer look at the label to see what was listed besides water. The label says it contains something called “multiple vibration frequency blends,” but again, there is no scientific evidence that it works.

(KABC)

Immune children aid malaria vaccine hunt A GROUP of children in Tanzania who are naturally immune to malaria are helping scientists to develop a new vaccine.

US researchers have found that they produce an antibody that attacks the malaria-causing parasite.

Injecting a form of this antibody into mice protected the animals from the disease.

The team, which published its results in the journal Science, said trials in primates and humans were now needed to fully assess the vaccine’s promise.

Prof Jake Kurtis, director of the Center for International Health Research at Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University School of Medicine, said: “I think there’s fairly compelling evidence that this is a bona fide vaccine candidate.

“However, it’s an incredibly difficult parasite to attack. It’s had millions of years of evolution to co-opt and adapt to our immune responses - it really is a formidable enemy.”

TRAPPED INSIDE The study began with a group of 1,000 children in Tanzania, who had regular blood samples taken in the first years of their lives.

A small number of these children 6% - developed a naturally acquired immunity to malaria, despite living in an area where the disease was rife.

“There are some individuals who become resistant and there are some individuals who do not become resistant,” explained Prof Kurtis.

“We asked what were the specific antibodies expressed by resistant children that were not expressed by susceptible children.”

The team found that an antibody produced by the immune children hits the malaria parasite at a key stage in its life-cycle.

It traps the tiny organism in red blood cells, preventing it from bursting out and spreading

throughout the body.

Tests, carried out in small groups of mice, suggest this antibody could act as a potential vaccine.

Prof Kurtis said: “The survival rate was over two-fold longer if the mice were vaccinated compared with unvaccinated - and the parasitemia (the number of parasites in the blood) were up to four-fold lower in the vaccinated mice.”

The team said it was encouraged by the results, but stressed more research was required.

Prof Kurtis said: “I am cautious.

I’ve seen nothing so far in our data that would cause us to lose enthusiasm. However, it still needs to get through a monkey study and the next phase of human trials.”

This latest study is one of many avenues being explored in the race to find a malaria vaccine.

The most advanced is the RTS,S vaccine, developed by GlaxoSmithKline.

The drug company is seeking regulatory approval after Phase III clinical trials showed that the drug almost halved the number of malaria cases in young children and reduced by about 25% the number of malaria cases in infants.

Commenting on the research, Dr Ashley Birkett, director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, said: “The identification of new targets on malaria parasites to support malaria vaccine development is a necessary and important endeavour.

“While these initial results are promising with respect to prevention of severe malaria, a lot more data would be needed before this could be considered a leading vaccine approach - either alone or in combination with other antigens.”

The most recent figures from the World Health Organization suggest the disease killed more than 600,000 people in 2012, with 90% of these deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. (BBC)

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Sports International

41

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

World Relays:

Kenyans set men’s and women’s 4 x 1500M world records – U.S. Women Win 4 x 800M

Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid lifts the Champions League trophy after the team’s 4-1 victory over Atletico on May 24 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Real Madrid beats city rivals Atletico to win Champions League for 10th time THREE quickfire goals in extra time gave Real Madrid a 4-1 win over city rivals Atletico in Lisbon Saturday to win the European Champions League for the 10th time.

Diego Godin put Atletico ahead in the 36th minute and it took an injury time equaliser from Sergio Ramos to rescue Real and force the extra half hour.

Atletico held out until the second half of the added time until Gareth Bale headed Real ahead after superb work by Angel Di Maria.

Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo, with a penalty, his record 17th goal in the Champions League this season, rubbed salt into the wound for Atletico, who had been bidding

for a La Liga/Champions League double.

Coach Diego Simeone, unhappy at the added minutes in regulation play, summed up their frustration as he ran on to the pitch to confront Real’s Raphael Varane after the final goal and had to be restrained by stewards.

It was a sorry end to a magnificent season for Los Rojiblancos, but ultimately the quality of Real, epitomised by the world’s most expensive player Bale, which prevailed.

It was the Welshman’s 22nd goal of the season and sixth in the Champions League but surely the most important of his career.

CHANELLE Price gave the United States a sizable lead on the first leg of the women’s 4 x 800-meter relay and Brenda Martinez pulled away from Kenya’s 2013 world champion Eunice Sum on the final leg to give the Americans the win and a national record of 8:01.58 in the inaugural edition of the two-day World Relays over the weekend in Nassau in the Bahamas.

Kenya earned overwhelming victories in both the men’s and women’s 4 x 1500s, setting new world records of 14:22.22 and 16:33.58, respectively, with the United States establishing new national records with runner-up performances in both races.

The Kenyans won the men’s 4 x 800 as well, in much more dramatic fashion than one would have guessed as the last lap began. Kenya’s anchorman squandered most of the enormous lead his three teammates had given him but managed to hold off Poland and the United States.

The United States’ strength in the shorter events, including wins in the men’s and women’s 4 x 400s, gave them 60 points and rights to the Golden Baton, presented to team co-captains Will Leer and Chanelle Price as a symbol of team supremacy.

Jamaica, which set a men’s world 4 x 200 record of 1:18.63 without the services of Usain Bolt, was second in

The U.S. women broke the American record to win the 4 x 800M relay.

the point standings with 41.

IAAF has individual race reports on the women’s 4 x 800, men’s 4 x 1500, women’s 4 x 1500, and men’s 4 x 800.

Kenya’s women’s 4 x 800 consisted of two world champions, Janeth Jepkosgei running third and Sum anchoring, with two less tested athletes on the first two legs. The strategy didn’t serve them well. Price had won the 800 at the 2014 World Indoor Championships by running from in front and, in comments quoted at USATF.org, noted that she had that “race in my head before this race, truthfully. I knew I wanted to get out in front and just run against the clock.”

She was well ahead after a 2:01.00 as she handed off to Geena Lara, who let the field close in on her but asserted herself enough in the stretch to keep the Americans ahead as she

gave the baton to Ajee’ Wilson.

Jepkosgei rushed from well behind to close the gap on Wilson early, but Wilson built the Americans’ lead back up on the second lap of her 1:59.10 leg.

Martinez, who’d anchored the U.S. 4 x 1500 team to second place on Saturday, had sufficient leg speed to open up a huge gap over Sum in the first 250 meters of her closing 800. She ran 1:58.68 split to give the Americans a middle-distance gold medal over Kenya. Behind the 8:01.58 by the Americans, Kenya’s second place time was 8:04.28.

Kenya’s triumphs in the 4 x 1500s were considered to be foregone conclusions. And with top-tier lineups in both the men’s and the women’s races, the main uncertainty involved by how much they’d shatter the existing world records.

Tiger Woods out of U.S. Open Arguably the two best batsman ever in cricket, Brian Lara (right) and Sachin Tendulkar (left) will team up for the bicentenary game.

Lara to play with Tendulkar in Lord’s bicentenary WEST Indies legend Brian Lara has been added to the line-up for the Marylebone Cricket Club v Rest of the World bicentenary match at Lord’s on 5 July.

Lara will play alongside MCC captain and fellow all-time batting great Sachin Tendulkar for the 50-over match.

“It will be fantastic to play at such an iconic place on such a special occasion,” said Lara, 45.

West Indies bowler Tino Best is the final name added to a Rest of

the World side captained by spinner Shane Warne.

The Australia legend, who took 19 wickets in four Tests at Lord’s, will be joined by former England batsman Kevin Petersen, along with Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi in the Rest of the World XI. Aaron Finch, the world’s leading Twenty20 batsman, and Australia bowler Peter Siddle join the MCC hosts.

FOR the second golf major in a row, Tiger Woods will be missing.

The world No. 3 and 14-time major champion announced Wednesday he would miss the U.S. Open as he continued his recovery from back surgery.

Woods went under the knife to repair a pinched nerve in March and also missed the first major of the year --The Masters -- in April.

The 38-year-old’s last major victory came at the 2008 U.S. Open but in a statement on his official website, he said he would not be competing at Pinehurst in North Carolina next month.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be there because I’m not yet physically able to play competitive golf,” Woods said.

“I’d like to convey my regrets to the USGA leadership, the volunteers and the fans that I won’t be at Pinehurst.

“The U.S. Open is very important

The last of Tiger Woods’ 14 major championships came at the U.S. Open in 2008.

to me, and I know it’s going to be a great week.

“Despite missing the first two majors, and several other important tournaments, I remain very optimistic about this year and my future.”

Injury hampered Woods’ early months of the season and he has not competed on the PGA Tour since early March.

This will be the sixth major championship he has skipped through injury, his absence at Augusta the first time he’d missed The Masters since making his debut there as an amateur in 1995.

Stuck on 14 majors since 2008, he will now have only two more chances this season to close in on Jack Nicklaus’ record haul of 18.

42

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Entertainment

Rosberg wins Monaco GP NICO Rosberg overcame accusations of gamesmanship to beat his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and win a tense and at times dramatic Monaco Grand Prix.

The German driver led from the start with early championship pace setter Hamilton, nursing an eye injury later in the race, having to make do with second place.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished third.

But the race, much like the buildup, was dominated by tensions between the two Mercedes drivers.

With Rosberg and Hamilton -who were separated by just three championship points going in to the race -- vying for pole position on the final lap of qualifying Saturday, Rosberg left the track after his front wheel locked.

The stewards brought out caution flags, preventing Hamilton from completing his final qualifying lap and handing pole to Rosberg.

Rosberg claimed it was a simple error and a steward’s inquiry agreed, concluding that there was “no evidence of any offense.”

But Hamilton was less convinced.

“I found the time at the end and wasn’t able to execute it so it wasn’t a true showing of my true pace,” the British driver told the BBC after qualifying.

“But I should have known that was going to happen and done it the

Asafa Powell called the ruling “unfair and unjust”, and said a legal supplement he took, Epiphany D1, was contaminated.

Double trouble: Lewis Hamilton (left) took second spot in Monaco after Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg leapgrogged him to top of the standings (Photo: Getty images)

lap before,” he added.

Despite Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda voicing fears that the two drivers may collide at the first corner, the front row got away without incident and Rosberg built a strong lead on a course renowned for its difficulty in overtaking.

A stalemate followed until lap 28 when Sauber’s Adrian Sutil crashed out, causing the safety car to come and provoking a flurry of tactical pit stops.

Thereafter Hamilton caught up with Rosberg, and looked set to challenge for the lead, until he suddenly dropped back, complaining

to his team that he couldn’t see out of his left eye.

In the end Hamilton was lucky to clinch second after Ricciardo pulled close in the final laps. But Hamilton held on.

The result saw Rosberg take the lead in the drivers’ championship, with Hamilton dropping back to second. But with many making comparisons between the famously bitter team rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, the battle, and the mind games, are likely to continue until the last race of the season. (BBC)

Powell seeks reduction to 18-month doping ban FORMER world 100m record holder Asafa Powell has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to reduce his 18-month doping ban.

Powell 31, and three-time Olympic medal winner Sherone Simpson tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrine at Jamaica’s national trials last June.

Simpson, 29, has also asked for her own 18-month suspension to be reduced.

“The athletes put forward that the offence committed is minor,” a CAS statement read.

“They request that the suspensions be reduced to three months.”

The pair, who have been suspended from competition since

their doping case was disclosed last July, received an 18-month ban from the Jamaican anti-doping disciplinary panel in April.

Powell called the ruling “unfair and unjust”, and said a legal supplement he took, Epiphany D1, was contaminated.

Simpson, an Olympic 4x100m relay gold and silver medallist, is a training partner of Powell and took the same substance at the same event.

Powell. who was the biggest name in Jamaican sprinting before the rise of double world and Olympic champion Usain Bolt, broke the world record in the 100m when he ran 9.77 seconds in 2005, then lowered the mark to 9.74 in 2008.

Serena Williams crashes out of French Open, Venus defeated IT WAS deja vu for the Williams sisters at the French Open -- but not in a good way.

A mouthwatering third-round clash between seven-time grand slam champion Venus and 17-time major winner Serena was ruled out when the former lost to unseeded Slovakian Anna Schmiedlova 2-6 6-3 6-4 in early play in Paris on Wednesday.

Then hours later, Serena -- also the defending champion and world No. 1 -- fell to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza 6-2 6-2, her worst ever grand slam performance.

In 2008, the siblings were also defeated on the same day at Roland Garros, their least productive major.

The last time it happened was at Wimbledon in 2011.

An 18th grand slam singles crown for Serena would have tied her with legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova but the younger of the tennis playing sisters has now been upset in consecutive majors.

Venus has been hindered by debilitating autoimmune disease Sjogren’s Syndrome in recent years though she looked solid in her first round match against the promising

Injured Uruguay striker Luis Suarez feels he would be fit for the World Cup.

World Cup 2014: Luis Suarez says he will be fit - Glen Johnson Serena Williams’ bid to claim a record-equaling 18th women’s singles grand slam title came to an abrupt end in Paris after she was knocked out in the second round 6-2 6-2 by Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.

Swiss, Belinda Bencic.

The siblings join other big names who’ve already been upset at the tournament, including Australian Open champions Stan Wawrinka and Li Na, as well as Kei Nishikori and Caroline Wozniacki.

Defeat for Serena meant it was the first time in the Open era that the top two women’s seeds had fallen before the third round.

“I don’t think anything worked

for me today,” a dejected Serena told reporters at her post-match press conference.

“It was one of those days. You can’t be on every day, and, gosh, I hate to be off during a grand slam but it happens.

It’s not the end of the world.

“I think she played really well and she played really smart. It’s great because I’m going to go home and work five times as hard to make sure I never lose again.

ENGLAND defender Glen Johnson says Liverpool team-mate and Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has told him he will be fit for the World Cup game between their two countries on 19 June.

Suarez, 27, is a doubt for the Group D match after undergoing a knee operation last Thursday, with his recovery expected to take 15 days to four weeks.

“I spoke to him in the week,” said 29-year-old right-back Johnson.

“He doesn’t think that it is that bad so he thinks he will be OK.” Suarez was the Premier League’s leading scorer with 31 goals this season, despite missing the opening five matches through

suspension.

He also won the Professional Footballers’ Association and Football Writers’ Association player of the year awards this season.

“On a personal level I don’t want to see him injured,” added Johnson.

“He is a good lad and I get on well with him and, of course, I don’t want him to be injured.

“But we just have to focus on ourselves and let everybody else worry about the other teams.”

England play Peru at Wembley on Friday before setting off for Miami to face Ecuador on 4 June and Honduras three days later ahead of their World Cup opener against Italy on 14 June.

May 31 - June 6, 2014

43

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Sports National Josh for Sports

Sentimentality does not win international championships

I AM extremely sad and disappointed with the results of our national Flamingos rugby team coach in Jamaica.

With all of the preparation that our dedicated players put into their training and the expectation that I had of our team—I know their capabilities—I am totally shocked about the manner in which our side was mismanaged abroad.

Despite playing in the larger populated nation, we should have brought our ‘A’ game.

One needs to only remember Mr. Kirani James from Grenada who beat the entire world in the past Olympics as the youngest 400M sprints champion.

Yes Jamaica did beat us at home, but we had the tools necessary to pull off a win.

By Joshua Gardiner

Coach, if we lose to the Bahamas this weekend, I am personally calling for your resignation.

YOUR SENTIMENTAL BLUNDER You cannot excuse your folly in not going with experienced players when we were in a clutch situation—it is the

senior seasoned players that taught the youths. Experience and common sense tells you that you should have used Mr. Gareth Butler late in the game as our kicker instead of a kid who is untested in senior international competition.

You lost us that match—no one else.

You are not perfect, but if you can’t cut your responsibility to us as a capable international coach then you know what to do.

You know that I love you all, but only you will take the heat for our loss.

I KNEW IN ADVANCE There is some dissatisfaction among some seasoned international seniors about the high handed manner of a certain long time stalwart of the game who allegedly imposes his wishes on you and the team to push

his kids to the fore-front when they are not prepared in experience to stand up to pressure in the clutch of a senior international competition.

Let the recently arrived senior players earn their positions.

No kisses by favour.

I don’t expect for you to make the same mistake again. This is no U-19 league. This is a regional elimination that can propel our rugby to the next level.

SENTIMENTAL FOLLY OF THE TCAAA I am truly sick and tired of the TCAAA and its destructive habit of sacrificing our athletes so that they can travel all over the world on their backs.

How can you take athletes who

could not win a CARIFTA medal and force them to destroy their young careers by competing against world champions?

How can you choose a 4X200M team that has no athletes running under 21 seconds for the 200M to run against the rest of the world, whose athletes are running between low 19s-low 20s?

The TCAAA is sick and need to be stopped before it destroys all of our future world champions before their time.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH I’m calling for all of their resignations forthwith.

With love, World and Olympic coach, who is responsible for creating World and Olympic champions, Josh

Kishco beat Police in TCICA cricket – McKnight’s century in vain against fired up KB Home KISHCO handed Police a sixwicket defeat when action in the Turks and Caicos Islands Cricket Association (TCICA) T20 Cricket Competition continued last Sunday at the Downtown Ball Park in Providenciales.

Prior to that clash on Saturday at the same venue KB Home won their second game despite a century from the Beaches’ Anthony McKnight.

UNABLE TO DOMINATE Police were unable to strike their dominance on the game after winning the toss and batting first.

Chabbie Charley with 39 (4X4s and 2X6s) and Garvin Bruno with 28 had starts, but the Lawmen could only reach 160-7 from their allotted overs.

Sanjay Fatnani (4-40 from four) was expensive, but he picked up wickets to lead the bowling side’s charge. Pawan Kumar added a pair.

At the crease Kishco were led by an unbeaten half century from Jitu Ganglani who carried his team to 161-4 in 16.4 overs. Ganglani, who was later named man-of-the-match,

KB Home are playing at a high level this season.

smacked seven fours in his score of 52. Vinod Panekar added 30 (3X4s, 1X6).

Jerry Grant led the Lawmen’s attack with 3-21 from three overs.

IN VAIN ON Saturday former Jamaican junior batsman Anthony McKnight attempted to lead Beaches to victory over one of the powerhouses of this tournament, the undefeated KB Home, but with little support in a huge run chase, it was always going to be an uphill battle.

KB Home won the toss and posted an imposing 203-7 from their

allotted overs with Blair Mason smashing four fours and five sixes in his score of 54. Mark Butler added 32 (5X4s) while a few other batsmen had starts.

Sidhue Hunter, with 3-36 from four overs, was the pick of the Beaches’ bowlers.

At the crease McKnight was ultraaggressive, he spanked 15 fours and four sixes in his score of 101, but with little support at the other end, the overs ran out with Beaches 24 runs short of victory.

Butler bagged 3-20 from three overs while Mason and Ranald Schultz took two wickets a piece.

Jitu Ganglani (right) collects his man-of-the-match award.

2014 Church Co-ed Softball League:

Bethany and Roman Catholic Church win easy FORMER champions Bethany Baptist Church cruised past Methodist Church while the Roman Catholic Church had the upper hand against Harvest Bible when action in the 2014 Church Co-ed Softball League continued last Thursday at the National Stadium.

In the opener The Roman Catholic Church led 6-2 after

the first innings, but Harvest Bible tied the game at the top of the second, before the Catholic Church took over and eventually won 17-8.

Bethany did most of their damage in the first and third innings: seven runs in the first and six at the bottom of the third for the 14-3 win.

44

Sports National

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

Forbes disappointed about missing Caribbean Cup NATIONAL forward Billy Forbes said he is hurt that he would not represent the TCI at the preliminary qualification round of the 2014 Caribbean Cup which is currently under way in Aruba.

Forbes, who was originally selected on the national football team, had to opt out of the trip after his professional club, the San Antonio Scorpions, decided not to release their newly signed star.

“I mean it hurts not being able to play for my country, but I know I will have other chances to play games in the future. For this tournament, I wish them nothing but the best.”

Along with Forbes, Alex Bryan was also set to miss the round because of document issues.

FOCUS ON THE GAME Another key player on the team Marco Fenelus, who plays for the Cal State Fullerton University (NCAA division one level), said that not having Forbes in the lineup is regrettable. But he feels “the best thing we can do is put that behind us and focus on the games, because

Teray Smith made the SEC All Freshman team in both the 100M and the 200M. Billy Forbes (right) will miss the preliminary qualification round of the 2014 Caribbean Cup because he was not released by the San Antonio Scorpions.

Smith is top freshman in South East Conference

they’re…the reason we’re here.”

Fenelus said he plans “to give it all I have on the field, and I believe that my teammates will do the same.”

FORMER national sprinter Teray Smith has been selected as the top freshman in the USA South East Conference after his explosive stint for the Auburn University.

The US born Smith, whose parents are from the TCI and the Bahamas, made the SEC All Freshman team in

WELL PREPARED Team manager Steve Kendrew said that the side was “well prepared,

determined and confident.” He also lauded the visiting coach Tamiko Davila, who he said “looks good”.

TCI were scheduled to play against host nation Aruba in their opener on Friday night before battling the BVI and French Guiana at a later date.

the 100M and the 200M. His PB is 10.41s in the 100M and 20.57s in the 200M. The Bahamian athlete, who is also ranked 12th at the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field West Preliminary Championships, is scheduled to run the 200M.

The Flamingos will look to rebound from their close loss to Jamaica two Saturdays ago. (Lloyd Inwards photo)

NACRA Rugby Championships:

TCI confident at home against the Bahamas THE SENIOR national rugby team, the Flamingos, will go into Saturday’s NACRA Rugby Championships clash against the Bahamas full of confidence.

Team captain Sean O’Neil said that: “We feel we have a team capable of beating them (the Bahamas) and are looking for the upset.”

TCI lost their opening game in Jamaica 10-6 (May 17th), but against the 80th ranked team in the world, they were leading 6-0. Since the Bahamas lost their opener to Mexico they will be eager to beat the home team at the Meridian Field from 15:00h.

O’Neil said that the team has regrouped from the Jamaican

loss and are looking to make the necessary corrections for the clash.

“While we feel that we played well against Jamaica it’s still tough to lose a game that was so close and we’re glad we have an opportunity to get back out on the pitch and correct a few of the things that didn’t go as we would have hoped.”

INJURY Augustin Modeste, who injured himself against Jamaica, is definitely out, while O’Neil hinted that there may be a couple of changes to the starting 15.

A few guys have put their hands up for selection and some difficult decisions will have to be made.

While there are only 15 places in the starting team the more players who are playing to that level, the stronger the team will be as the competition pushes us all to get better.

The 93rd ranked Bahamas will hope that their win against the TCI in the NACRA Sevens in November could be repeated in the longer version of the game, but with a pumped up home crowd, home turf and a confident Flamingos charging in, the Bahamas have to work extra hard.

“There is also going to be a lot of bragging rights in this local derby and we want to make sure we end up on the right side of that,” O’Neil pointed out.

The victorious Clement Howell High School volleyball team with officials.

Blue Haven Resort & Marina volleyball tournament:

CHHS emerge overall winners THE CLEMENT Howell High School (CHHS) continue to dominate volleyball in the local scene. Last Sunday they walked away with the spoils at the Blue Haven Resort & Marina volleyball tournament.

The all-day, mixed teams of four, tournament, which took place on the court beside Salt Bar & Grill, had five sides battling for supremacy.

In the end, the final battle was between CHHS and T(H)RASH for first place. Clement Howell became

the victors, with each player winning a well-earned gift certificate for Fire & Ice Restaurant’s Sunday Brunch.

Super Awesome placed third.

Blue Haven Resort & Marina, which held a two-day tournament for its grand opening in December last year intends to hold a large annual tournament with “smaller fun ones in between”.

CHHS also won the Provo High School Co-ed Sixes Volleyball Tournament in April.

May 31 - June 6, 2014

Sports National

45

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

CFU Caribbean Cup leg was “huge success”

– Says Bien-Aime TCI has placed itself on the map when it comes to hosting regional tournaments.

The just concluded Group Three preliminary qualification round for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Women’s Caribbean Cup was a “huge success” according to FIFA and CONCACAF executive and TCIFA general secretary Sonia Bien-Aime.

“The organisation of the event was a huge success. It presented us with some financial challenges, but we were able to overcome it with the assistance of sponsorship from a few companies.”

With Bien-Aime wearing so many caps in international football, it’s quite possible that the TCI can negotiate other opportunities to host tournaments in the near future.

Our national female team did not match up to their regional counterparts. We lost 5-0 to Bermuda, 4-0 to St. Kitts and Nevis and 3-1 to the Cayman Islands.

“The score line does not reflect the true performance of Team TCI, who played very competitive matches on Sunday and Tuesday,” Bien-Aime

stated.

Nevertheless the local body is adamant that with sufficient funds the game can progress to a higher level on the field.

“The TCIFA is working tirelessly

to attract more partners on board so that we are in a good financial position to create more games opportunities for our national teams to better prepare them for international and regional tournaments.”

Along with the preliminary qualification round of the 2014 Caribbean Cup which is currently

under way in Aruba, the TCIFA will also send a team to the CFU Men’s U20 tournament in Haiti (16-23

July) and the CONCACAF Girls’ U15 Championship in the Cayman Islands (August 6-17).

Financial assistance by business entities, such as Digicel who, among other things, sponsored the national team’s uniform, has lifted rugby in the TCI to a whole different level. (Lloyd Inwards photo) FIFA and CONCACAF executive member Sonia Bien-Aime greets the TCI national women’s team during the CFU Women’s Caribbean Cup in Providenciales. (Photo Jon Nickson, Eyespice)

TCIRFU wins inaugural NACRA Award for Rugby Development in region ALL the hard work of the Turks and Caicos Islands Rugby Football Union (TCIRFU) has not gone unnoticed.

The North American Caribbean Rugby Association will present the inaugural NACRA award for Rugby Development in North America and the Caribbean to the TCI this Saturday during their NACRA Rugby Championships clash with the Bahamas at the Meridian Field.

The award recognises the TCIRFU as the team or individual that has done the most to grow and develop rugby in their community, country or region.

New national 4X200M relay record The athletes who ran the 4X200M for the TCI have all credited the World Relays in the Bahamas as a good launching pad to take their young careers forward.

The TCI team (l-r) of Wesly Chery, Ifeanyi Otuonye, Wadly Jean and Courtney Missick finished sixth in their heat in a time 1:27.70s which is a national record.

TRULY MARVELLOUS Scott Harland, NACRA’s Regional Development Officer was elated with the progress the TCIRFU has made over the years: “When you consider that the entire country has less than 32 thousand people, spread across several islands, it is truly marvellous that they have managed to establish a vibrant schools programme, a men’s league, their own facility and successful national teams for each regional championship.”

BRIGHT FUTURE “The future for rugby is bright as

the TCI has a cadre of young players moving into the senior ranks to replace the aging warhorses that have begun to amble off to pasture,” added President Keith Burant. “I am certain they will represent their country proudly for years to come and that the TCIRFU U19 trophy divisions Championship is only one of many accolades the TCIRFU will achieve in the future.”

HARD WORK Sean O’Neill, TCIRFU Director of Rugby and national team Captain, asserted that the Union’s success has been very much a team effort. “The NACRA Award for Development is a testament to the hard work put in over the past 12 years by countless volunteers who have dedicated their time to getting the TCIRFU to the stage it is today. Without those volunteers, most of whom go unnoticed, we would not be anywhere near our current level of development.”

In a release the TCIRFU says it would like to thank the volunteers, supporters and sponsors that have helped the local body succeed over the past 12 years.

46

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014

LAND FOR SALE In beautiful Bottle Creek, North Caicos

.46 acres overlooking the creek, spanning King Road and Windsor Road

QUICK SALE

CALL 232-3508 or 946-4664

May 31 - June 6, 2014

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

47

48

TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS

May 31 - June 6, 2014