A SUPREME Court judge has ordered Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard, Chairman Dr Duane Sands and vice-chairman Richard Johnson not to personally attack each other or other FNM members in public until she has ruled on Mr Johnson’s lawsuit against the FNM leaders or made
further orders.
Justice Deborah Fraser, in an order released yesterday, said: “All parties shall refrain from any personal attacks on each other and any other member of the Free National Movement (FNM) in the press, on any social media platform, or otherwise pending the determination of this Action or further Order of the Court.”
By LETRE SwEET i N g Tribune Staff Reporter lsweeting@tribunemedia.net
A MAN in his mid-20s was shot dead while riding on a motorcycle in the Golden Gates area last night.
Around 9.30pm, the victim was riding west along St Bart’s Road, in the Carmichael Road area, when a dark vehicle pulled up alongside him and the occupants shot
him multiple times about his body.
Police, who were alerted to the gunshots by ShotSpotter technology, spoke to reporters on the scene.
“EMS responded and discovered that there were no vital signs of life. Hence we are commencing an investigation into this latest homicide,” said Police Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings.
THE MiNiSTRy of Finance’s top official yesterday warned tax deadbeats “there’s consequences for non-compliance” after several Briland businesses this week saw their assets seized over alleged unpaid debts to the Public Treasury. Simon Wilson, the financial secretary, confirmed to Tribune Business that Department of inland Revenue (DiR) officials, supported by the Royal Bahamas Police Force, had conducted a sweep of companies suspected trying to avoid paying full Business Licence fees and other levies.
THE ROLE played by FTX’s former Bahamian chief in arranging a $50m loan to Deltec Bank & Trust’s parent company yesterday came under scrutiny through fresh legal filings. Documents filed with the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, which provide a solution for the Bahamian bank’s parent to repay both the principal debt and interest if approved by the judge, raise questions as to whether Ryan Salame, ex-chief executive of FTX Digital Markets, had the necessary authority to enter into the transaction.
POLICE yesterday issued a series of wanted notices in a bid to find suspects for a number of serious crimes. Pictured from left, top row, are Adari Wright, wanted for murder; Aerlainsky Karistil AKA Kino Karstil AKA “World Boss”, wanted for murder; attempted murder suspects Sony Gabriel; (second row) Romeo Cooper alias “Ro”; Tamiko Coakley alias “Miko”; Tevin Bethel alias “Tay”; (third row) Micah Johnson alias “Michael Myers”; Antonio Sands AKA “Nye”; wanted for threats of death, Michael Major Vaughn Munroe Jr; (bottom row) and three unknown rape suspects. See PAGE SEVEN for more.
diane phillips: p ossible solution for bahamians to benefit from hospitality industry see page nine
“The parties shall comply with the constitution of the FNM while attending any meetings or functions of the FNM.
“Save for the making or publication of any factual statements to disclose the Orders of the Court from time to time, without the addition of any personal commentary or opinion thereon or in relation
thereto, the parties shall refrain from discussing these proceedings in the press, on any social media platform, or otherwise publicly pending further or final Order of the Court.”
Justice Fraser’s order came after Mr Pintard and Dr Sands filed an application to lift the injunction she set on March 8, which prevented them from barring Mr Johnson from council meetings.
Justice Fraser had
ordered that, pending the determination of Mr Johnson’s lawsuit, he be allowed to attend meetings and carry out his duties. She has adjourned the matter to April 14, 2023.
Mr Johnson is seeking $500,000 in damages after FNM executives unanimously barred him from council meetings.
He claimed in last year’s lawsuit that neither Mr Pintard nor Dr Sands had the authority to suspend
his membership rights and reassign his vice-chair duties.
“No charge was laid against the plaintiff before the purported general suspension was imposed against the plaintiff, nor was the plaintiff afforded any opportunity to be heard and to respond to any allegations against him which gave rise to the purported general suspension,” his lawsuit said.
“In the alternative, the
purported general suspension of the plaintiff was imposed by the second defendant without any meeting of the executive committee having been called to consider and authorise the issuance of the charge - together with the particulars of the allegation upon which the charge is based.
“In any event, (Dr Sands) had no authority to relieve the plaintiff of ‘any duties previously assigned
to [him] as vice chairman’ nor to deprive the plaintiff of his ‘responsibility for any of the constituency associations’ as such duties of the plaintiff were assigned to him by the executive committee and, therefore, could only have been revoked by the executive committee.”
According to the lawsuit, Mr Johnson wants $250,000 for “loss and unlawful
FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard said the fire in Bimini over the weekend, which exposed dysfunctional firefighting equipment on the island, shows the government must ration its budget better to meet community needs.
Residents in the Porgy Bay settlement battled the flames with hoses and buckets of water. Still, inadequate equipment hindered the effort, with the fire destroying four homes, severely damaging three houses, and displacing 22 residents.
Mr Pintard visited Bimini on Wednesday.
“It is important on the various islands for us to get the necessary resources in order for us to meet the needs of residents, and these are, in some cases age-old problems on some of these islands,” he told The Tribune . “The government ought to prioritize its spending better. We have been quite critical of the misplaced priorities of this administration and their failure to these issues. They would have had
sufficient time to observe the decisions we either made or did not make while they were in opposition. And hence, they again, under the guise of being ready to govern on day one, should have put in place an appropriate plan in order to address this issue.”
Mr Pintard suggested the government should let victims import duty-free items that will help them rebuild.
He urged the government to fix firefighting equipment in Bimini urgently.
“Persons on the island are prepared to be of assistance to the government in a number of ways. In terms of the response to any fires, you could see residents sprang into action, and using the limited resources that they have,” he said.
“They sought to assist and then also the technical staff that would ordinarily be involved in trying to address a fire. They clearly have the commitment and the interest, but need the equipment and so the equipment that is on the island has to be fixed and fixed with a sense of urgency.”
WOMEN’S History
Month ends with a new historic moment tonight - as First Class Promotions hosts the region’s first World Boxing Association (WBA) all-female world title fight.
Sanctioned by the Bahamas Boxing Commission and hosted by First Class Promotions in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, the event will honour and bring awareness for Bahamian boxing champion, Ray Minus Jr, who is suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
In preparation for the fight, boxers gathered yesterday at SuperClub Breezes Resort for a mandatory routine weighin. Bahamas Boxing Commission chairman Fred Sturrup was in attendance and called the Friday fight a “testimony of resilience”.
“The resurgence of First Class Promotions is the resurgence of a critical part of local boxing programmes. Over the last 20 years, there was a significant void when Michelle Minus was no longer promoting,” Mr Sturrup said.
The WBA world title fight, “100JAMZ / Y98” main event will feature Lindsay Garbatt vs Jaimie “The Miracle” Mitchell in the ten-round main event.
And in The Ministry of Youth Sports & Culture 8-round co-main event, Silva will take on O’Shea Jones. The boxing event will feature four female matchups on the night.
Oshae Jones, a 25-yearold boxer hailing from Philadelphia, who holds an
Olympic bronze medal and a 2-0 professional record, is excited for the event as she enjoys The Bahamas’ hospitality.
“I’m ready to work. I love it here. Everyone is so nice, very welcoming and homey. I will always fight here,” she said.
Sponsor 100 JAMZ sales manager Vanessa Mott said:
“As we’re wrapping up Women’s History Month, for us at Tribune Radio, 100 JAMZ, it has always been very important to help encourage women through media.
“With this event, you see women not only being displayed in a professional fashion, but dynamically through boxing. Women are often looked at as softer but we’re strong as well. We fight through a lot in life and it’s really great to see women act that out in the ring.
“We commend Michelle and First Class Promotions for what she’s doing with women in boxing in The Bahamas and of course for her former husband, who has ALS, a crippling disease which needs more awareness here. It’s such a wonderful thing to have a great event come together for a great cause and for women to be at the forefront.”
The all-female WBA World Title boxing event begins at 8pm on Friday, March 31 at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium. The prices for general admission are $35 and the VIP section $125 and can be bought at www.bahamasetickets. com or in person at the gymnasium.
“The men and women of the Royal Bahamas Police Force are very, very relentless and i can assure you within a short period of time, we will have them in custody. So they may be on the loose for now, but i can assure you we will get them in custody and we will do our part as an organisation to put them before the courts.
CSP Skippings also addressed the issue of violent crime in general and what members of the public can do to support police officers, rather than just keeping a count of the victims.
“Every death is painful. As a country, we need to re-focus our mindset, not on numbers, but rather what can we do collectively as a country to prevent these type of incidents from occurring. Every entity of society has to play a critical role in preventing these incidents from happening.”
“So let’s talk more about prevention, conflict resolution and sitting down and talking with our loved ones, finding out from them what’s going on, and finding out from them who are (they) are in conflict with. Many of them know, but many of them, for some reason still feel afraid to come forward or they’re afraid to talk to someone.
“We as a people, need to be able to communicate and talk to our loved ones. Let’s encourage them. if you know something, come forward.”
in addition, CSP Mark Barrett, of the Carmichael Road Southwestern Division, who was also on the scene, said there is a number of initiatives in place to counteract incidents like this latest one.
“One of the operations we have going on right now is what we call Operation Eradication, it’s a joint operation that involves the police, the Department of immigration, Customs, The Defence Force and
inland Revenue. And so we are converging on these areas where we can address the concerns of the citizens in these various communities.”
“We as officers will converge on respective communities, particularly within the Carmichael Division and again, we address the concerns of the residents, because we know that the concerns
vary. We want to tackle these concerns and deal with them head on and that will help us alleviate some of the crime problems we are having right now.
“We have another initiative that is ongoing, which is called Police to the Community. We appeal to members of the public to partner with the entire Royal Bahamas
Police Force, but more so with this particular incident the Carmichael Road Division, so that we can resolve this matter in a timely fashion. We won’t tolerate these type of incidents occurring within our communities.”
Anyone with information on these crimes is asked to contact CiD at 502- 9991/2 or Crime Stoppers at 328-(TiPS)-8477.
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
PRESS secretary Clint Watson said petroleum wholesalers met government officials on Wednesday as the Davis administration grapples with addressing retailers’ concerns.
The meeting came as retailers consider action in view of the government’s failure to increase gasoline and diesel margins, saying they cannot sufficiently cover rising operating costs.
During a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday, Mr Watson said following Wednesday’s meeting with petroleum wholesalers, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and senior government officials will discuss the way forward to balance the interests of everyone.
“So, government would have met with wholesalers last evening (Wednesday) and then the next process is to discuss with the prime minister what was discussed in those meetings so a determination can be made and then a meeting again with the retailers,” Mr Watson. He said Mr Davis is expected to be updated by the weekend before
the followup meetings. Gas retailers have repeatedly threatened action if the government fails to address its concerns, but so far they have not delivered on their threats.
Raymond Jones, president of the Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association, told reporters earlier this month his group plans to reduce operating costs to stay afloat, which could mean cutting back business hours and staff layoffs, among other things. He urged the public “to stay tuned”.
“We need to be treated as every other business and every other investor in the country that was afforded the ability to make money to get a return on investment,” he said. “We cannot continue with this anymore.
“The government said the same thing when they imposed and passed on the cost of electricity last year and we understand why they do that. But we, as investors and operators, entrepreneurs need the same rights and responsibility that we can actually pay our staff, operate our businesses and take some money home to live a reasonable life and that’s why the government introduced the liveable wage.
AS HAiTiAn pas-
tors push the government to delay its shanty town demolition plans, press secretary Clint Watson says the Supreme Court will determine the pace of the government’s actions.
Defence Force officers served residents in unregulated communities in SC Bootle Highway, Abaco,
with notices of an upcoming Supreme Court hearing connected to the government’s plans to demolish shanty town structures last week. According to a summons the Office of the Attorney General filed last month, the government is seeking to destroy 555 shanty town structures in new Providence and Abaco that were allegedly built in defiance of a previous Supreme Court
order by Justice
Cheryl Grant-Thompson.“Those persons who receive notification of the property will have to appear before the court because what the government has before them is, of course, a declaration that they should not have been constructing buildings or any additional buildings (when) an injunction was in place,” Mr Watson said. “The court will run its course in making
that determination. Once that determination is made, then we could proceed to the next level.”
Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis met more than 30 Haitian pastors on Tuesday night. The pastors asked for compassion so shanty town residents could find regulated housing, according to Bishop Celine St Louis, who attended Tuesday’s meeting.
Asked if the Davis administration will delay its demolition plans, Mr Watson said: “The government is abiding by the court ruling when one comes. The court ruling when it comes will specify a time frame when it comes for those persons. The government will be obligated to abide by the court ruling. it’s not a sit down around the table, let’s figure out what we going to do. The government is
abiding in this entire process by the courts to make sure there’s transparency, there’s accountability, and we follow the rule of law. Whatever the courts determine, the government will then make its move based on the courts.”
Mr Watson said the government also wants the court to impose fines on people who breached Justice Grant-Thompson’s orders.
THE national Firearms Association Bahamas supports tighter regulations for licensed firearm ownership.
national Security Minister Wayne Monroe said on Wednesday the government would toughen requirements for obtaining and keeping licensed firearms, adding owners will be required to periodically show they can safely use the weapons, among other things.
Critics, some who believe gun laws should be loosened to help people fight criminals, blasted the minister on social media for wanting to tighten licensed firearm ownership rules.
However, the nFA’s leaders say stricter regulations will encourage responsible gun ownership.
Malvin Gordon, president of the nFA, said: “i think (the minister) was speaking more to the fact that the goal of the government is to make sure persons who have firearms licenses are every year in some way made accountable where they have to show they still have possession of this firearm, they have some kind of training as it relates to this firearm.”
“You have this licensed firearm for the last ten years but what have you actually done? Have you gotten any formal training? How many times a year do you have this firearm inspected to make sure that it’s in good condition? That’s some of the things that we’ve been in discussions with government to work on these things. Everybody keeps talking about the fact that they want to get a firearm to protect themselves or businessmen who want to do it for their businesses, but yeah, are you trained?
According to the nFA, there are more than 40,000 licenced firearms in the country. The organisation’s website says it is dedicated to promoting firearm safety and knowledge and providing training for civilians and law enforcement.
“it’s about responsible ownership,” said nFA director Gamal newry.
“You got a firearm licence, how did you get it? How are you trained? Do you understand the legal implications, the ethical implications of using that firearm, whether it’s for defence, hunting or for competition? How do you manage that process? That’s what we gathered from (the minister’s) comments yesterday.”
TH e Bahamas has spent $6.8m to host the upcoming CA ri FTA games, which will feature 600 athletes from 28 countries starting April 7.
CA ri FTA C e O
Lynden Maycock said some $3.5m has been spent “on the operation side” and $2.5m “on the capital side”.
Although he said resurfacing the surfaces of the old and new Thomas A r obinson stadiums cost an additional $3m, the government later clarified that only $839k was spent on resurfacing, including $159k
on the old stadium and $680k on the new one. “ i t is important to note that the resurfacing costs are separate from the ongoing capital project for maintaining the national stadium for ongoing usage,” the Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture said in a statement last night. “The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture is committed to ensuring that the stadium remains in optimal condition for current and future events.
“We apologise for any confusion this may have caused and appreciate your understanding. We remain committed to transparency and
accountability in our spending.”
For his part, Mr Maycock touted the long-term benefits of the investment when he addressed the media during a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday.
“The good thing about the investment, they become a legacy for The Bahamas games,” he said. “They become legacy assets for the World r elays and they become legacy assets for future events that will happen at the national stadium. So these are great investments for moving forward for all events that will be held here in n ew Providence.”
A grieving mother said she still has not received an explanation for the apparent burns on her child’s remains in the morgue.
Bianca Wilkinson wants an explanation of what happened to the body of her seven-year-old son, D’Karter gibson, who died at the rand Memorial Hospital in December.
Although she has laid her son to rest, Wilkinson said closure is needed so that she and her family can move on.
D’karter was admitted to the paediatric ward in early December after experiencing shortness of breath. He had previously suffered from seizure disorder, cerebral palsy, and asthma.
D’karter passed away on December 16. However, sometime between that date and January, his body appears to have suffered burns while at the
morgue. Ms Wilkinson only became aware of the condition of the body after it was released to the mortician on January 18. She did not have an open-casket viewing at her son’s funeral.
Health Minister Dr Michael Darville was asked recently by reporters about the matter and said they are still investigating the incident.
Ms Wilkinson believes it is unacceptable that she has not received a call or any answers.
“My thing is, if the body was properly stored, then what is it that you are investigating? How come i still have not gotten any answers or response as yet?”
i just want to know the truth why my son’s body was like that. We all are humans, we all make mistakes. Just say what happened … so we all can move on from this.
“That was my only child; it is not fair. i just want to know the truth, and that would be my closure,” she said.
EDITOR, The Tribune.
DONALD Trump has become the first former president to be indicted in a criminal case after a grand jury investigation into hush money payments made on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign. The unprecedented indictment comes as the Republican faces other legal investigations and launches a bid to return to the White House in 2024.
The indictment will test the Republican Party already divided over whether to support Trump next year, in part due to his efforts to undermine his 2020 election loss.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and accuses prosecutors of engaging in a politically motivated “witch hunt” to damage his campaign.
Here’s a look at the hush money case, the grand jury investigation and possible ramifications for Trump’s presidential campaign:
WHAT’S THIS CASE ABOUT?
The grand jury spent weeks meeting in secret to probe Trump’s involvement in a $130,000 payment made in 2016 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public about a sexual encounter she said she had with him years earlier. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, through a shell company before being reimbursed by Trump, whose company, the Trump Organization, logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.
Earlier in 2016, Cohen also arranged for former Playboy model Karen McDougal to be paid $150,000 by the publisher of the supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer, which then squelched her story in a journalistically dubious practice known as “catch and kill”.
Trump denies having sex with either woman.
Trump’s company “grossed up” Cohen’s reimbursement for the Daniels payment to defray tax payments, according to federal prosecutors who filed criminal charges against the lawyer in connection with the payments in 2018. In all, Cohen got $360,000 plus a $60,000 bonus, for a total of $420,000.
Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. Federal prosecutors say the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself.
The indictment has not yet been unsealed, so it’s not totally clear.
Some experts have said they believe Trump could be charged with falsifying business records, which can be a misdemeanor or a felony under New York law. To secure a conviction on the felony charge, prosecutors would have to prove that records were falsified with the intention of committing or concealing a second crime. It’s not clear what prosecutors may allege as the second crime.
WHAT HAS TRUMP’S LAWYER SAID?
Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said Thursday that the former president didn’t commit any crime and vowed to “vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”
Tacopina has accused prosecutors of “distorting laws” to try to take down the former president. He has described Trump as a victim of extortion who had to pay the money because the allegations were going to be embarrassing to him “regardless of the campaign.”
“He made this with personal funds to prevent something from coming out — false, but embarrassing to himself, his family, his young son. That’s not a campaign finance violation, not by any stretch,” Tacopina said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” before the indictment.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Law enforcement officials have been making security preparations for days for the possibility of an indictment and a court appearance by the president.
Trump was expected to surrender to authorities next week, though details were still being worked out, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorised to discuss a matter that remained under seal.
WHAT’S THIS GRAND JURY AND WHO TESTIFIED?
A grand jury is made up of people drawn from the community, similar to a trial jury. But unlike juries that hear trials, grand juries don’t decide whether someone is guilty or innocent. They only decide whether there is sufficient evidence for someone to be charged.
Proceedings are closed to the public, including the media. New York grand juries have 23 people. At least 16 must be present to hear evidence or deliberate and 12 have to agree there is enough evidence in order to issue an indictment.
David Pecker, a longtime Trump friend and the former chief executive of the parent company of The National Enquirer, returned to the courthouse this week where the grand jury was meeting.
Pecker’s company, American Media Inc, secretly assisted Trump’s campaign by paying $150,000 to McDougal in August 2016 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump. The company then suppressed McDougal’s story until after the election.
The grand jury also heard from Cohen, as well as Robert Costello, who was once a legal adviser to Cohen.
The men have since had a falling out, and Costello indicated he has information he believes undercuts Cohen’s credibility and contradicts his incriminating statements about Trump. Costello testified at the invitation of prosecutors, presumably as a way to ensure that the grand jury had an opportunity to consider any testimony or evidence that might weaken the case for moving forward with an indictment.
Trump was also invited to testify, but didn’t.
Neither the indictment itself nor a conviction would prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.
Last week in Waco, Texas, Trump took a defiant stance at a rally by disparaging the prosecutors investigating him and predicting his vindication as he rallied supporters in a city made famous by deadly resistance against law enforcement.
“You will be vindicated and proud,” Trump said in a speech brimming with resentments and framing the probes as political attacks on himself and his followers. “The thugs and criminals who are corrupting our justice system will be defeated, discredited and totally disgraced.”
Before the charges were handed down, many party leaders had also already begun to defend the former president.
During a visit this month to Iowa, former Vice President Mike Pence called the idea of indicting a former president “deeply troubling.” Another 2024 Republican prospect, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, has said there is a sense that the former president is being unfairly attacked.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a declared candidate who also served as Trump’s UN ambassador, has called Bragg’s case an attempt at scoring “political points”, adding, “You never want to condone any sort of prosecution that’s being politicised.”
Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who is considering joining the 2024 Republican field, slammed the investigation as politically motivated. But he also threw one of his first jabs at the former president in a quip likely to intensify their rivalry. DeSantis said he personally doesn’t “know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some kind of alleged affair”.
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MEG KINNARD AssociatedFREE, fair and regular elections are fundamental features of democracy. In addition to being free and fair, elections must be seen to be free and fair by Bahamians and by the rest of the world. Elections are the county’s constitutional and legal system of validating public choices in leadership; and they are also very often the only opportunity that the citizens have of participating in the electoral and political process.
The evolution of electoral reform has been painfully slow in the Bahamas. Consider that it was only in 1949 that all Bahamians voted in secret; only in 1959 that property qualifications were dropped from the electoral system for men, and, of course, women voted for the first time in 1962. 1962 was also the first time that the entire Bahamas voted on the same day.
Open voting as practised in The Bahamas was intimidating and corrupt. The voter upon entering the polling place had to openly announce the name of the candidate he intended to vote for. Many Bahamians were intimidated to vote for candidates other than those they planned to vote for. Many who braved intimidation were victimised for their vote. There can be little doubt that this was a corrupt and abusive form of expressing one’s right to vote.
Attempts to introduce a secret form of voting had been made in the House of Assembly on several occasions, but the ruling elite had always opposed its implementation. They saw any attempt to reform the electoral system as a threat to their entrenched positions.
Governor Sir Charles Dundas had consistently demanded that the House members take the necessary legislative action to end the archaic open system of voting, explaining that it had no place in a twentieth century Bahamas. In his Speech opening the 1939 session of the General Assembly the Governor made the following remarks: Measures for institution of the secret ballot will, I
trust, be carried to conclusion during this session. My views thereon have undergone no change, nor have I been made aware of any valid objection to this reform. My sole object is to ensure the utmost purity in the conduct of elections by abolition of a system which is admittedly open to abuse, and I cannot think that the rightness of this aim is challengeable, or that its achievement should be subject to conditions.
The House of Assembly eventually and reluctantly passed the Ballot Act on 5th June 1939. The Act provided for:
• The abolition of multiple and open voting and the introduction of the secret ballot
• The compilation of a register of voters
• The appointment of an attorney as Revising Barrister
• The appointment of the Provost Marshall as Returning Officer and
• The creation of polling divisions.
The Bay Street Boys who dominated the political and economic life in the Bahamas for over one hundred years were no democrats and at best were reluctant participants in any reform to the political process. Intransigent in their commitment to maintain the status quo, they grudgingly agreed to the enactment of the Ballot Act, and even then, restricted the provisions of the Act to New Providence and limited the effective duration of those provisions to a few years, thus ensuring that voting in the islands remained open and ripe for manipulation and corruption.
In 1934, Sir Harry Oakes relocated to The Bahamas. He was a multi-millionaire who fled Canada obviously to evade excessive Canadian taxes. On the 4th July 1938 at the urging of, and with the assistance of his friend, Harold G. Christie, he ran for and won the Western District seat vacated by A F Adderley.
Sir Harry Oakes’ tenure in the House of Assembly was brief and rather undistinguished. He resigned
the seat in 1939 after only a year in the House and accepted a “call up” to the Legislative Council.
The by-election to replace Sir Harry Oakes in the Western District was historic as it was the first ever election to be contested under the provisions of the Ballot Act. Milo B. Butler who won that byelection, thus became the first member of the House of Assembly to be elected by secret ballot.
On the 23rd May 1949 the following amendment was made to The General Assembly Act:
The returning Officer shall not allow any person or persons so selected and the candidates or their respective agents, any person or persons appointed in writing by the Provost Marshal for the purpose of assisting the Returning Officer, and the registered voter then about to vote in the polling place. The amendment had the effect of preventing other persons from witnessing or coercing the voter in the polling place and the practice of open voting finally ended in the Bahamas in 1949. Governor William Murphy expressed his satisfaction at the enactment of the provisions of secret voting in this way:
The General Assembly Elections Act 1946, by extending to the Out Islands the voting by secret ballot in Parliamentary Elections, introduced for New Providence alone a few years previously, has finally removed at least one obsolete feature from the Constitution and, by reducing the possibility of undue influence at Elections, marks an important advance in democracy as known in these islands.
The Governor was quite right. The removal of the system of open voting was but one hurdle achieved in the process of electoral reform. There were many more reforms to be made to the electoral process before free and fair elections were realised. The enactment of the secret ballot was merely the first of the necessary reforms.
Nassau, March 28, 2023.
EDITOR, The Tribune.
CONCERNING the $200m development of the Carnival Cruise Port at Sharp Rock, East Grand Bahama, what will become of Freeport Harbour once this project is completed?
The tourism element at Freeport Harbour relies heavily on Carnival Cruise, which probably accounts for over 80 percent of the cruise ships that call in at the harbour. Bahamians have expressed concerns about the Royal Caribbean Paradise Island project and its potential impact on Bay Street and mainline New Providence from a financial perspective.
Royal Caribbean passengers will have no reason to visit Bay Street once they would have visited the Paradise Island port. The situation at the
Freeport Harbour will be no exception.
Freeport Harbour, with its tour bus companies, hundreds of taxi drivers, restaurants and vendors will all be impacted negatively by the new Carnival Cruise port, once Carnival shifts its attention to East Grand Bahama.
I have yet to hear of any contingency plans by the Grand Bahama Port Authority and Hutchinson Whampoa that would mitigate the loss of thousands of tourists in the harbour area. Without Carnival, Freeport Harbour will become a virtual ghost town. The only real solution to this impending economic disaster for tour bus operators, taxi drivers and vendors would be for the ownership of the Freeport Harbour to bring in another large cruise line that will fill the void that will be left by Carnival
Cruise. While the Carnival Cruise Port development is good news from an investment standpoint, at least for construction workers, I fear this particular model that Royal Caribbean and Disney are also developing will harm the domestic tourist industry in the long run.
Moreover, while Carnival Cruise might be able to increase the number of visitors to Grand Bahama through its $200 development, we need to bear in mind that cruise ship passengers spend substantially less than stopover visitors.
I am hoping that the stakeholders at the GBPA have a plan in place to mitigate the potential fallout at the harbour once Carnival Cruise moves to its new port.
KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama March, 2023.
POLICE yesterday issued a series of wanted posters in a bid to find a number of suspects.
Among them are two murder suspects. The first, Adari Wright, is 23, of last known address Wright’s Lane in Fox Hill. He is described as being of dark brown complexion, 5ft 6in to 5ft 9in and slim.
The second murder suspect, Erlainsky Karistil, also goes by the names Kino Karstil and “World Boss”. He is aged 19 and his last known address was Golden Isle Road. He has a dark brown complexion, stands 5ft 6in to 5ft 9in and is slim.
A number of men are being sought in connection with attempted murders.
The first, Sony Gabriel, is 25 and was last known to live in Nassau Village. He has a dark brown complexion, and a medium build.
Romeo Cooper, alias “Ro”, is of unkown age and
his last known address was Hay Street. He has a dark brown complexion.
The third suspect, Tamiko Coakley, alias “Miko”, is 26 and his last known address was Maycock Street. He has a dark brown complexion.
Tevin Bethel, alias “Tay”, is 25, and formerly of Gamble Heights/Mall Road. He has a dark brown complexion, is 5ft 7in, and of medium build.
Micah Johnson, alias “Michael Myers”, is 32, formerly of King Street, and has a medium brown complexion.
The final attempted murder suspect is Antonio Sands, aka “Nye”, who is 36 and formerly of Bellot Road. He has a brown complexion and is slim.
Wanted for threats of death is Michael Major Vaughn Munroe Jr, aged 26, formerly of Johnson Road. He has a brown complexion and is slim.
Three rape suspects
WANTED for armed robbery, alias Spider, age 30-34, medium brown complexion, 5ft 7in-9in and slim.
WANTED for armed robbery, name unknown, dark brown complexion, slim, 5ft 6in-7in.
WANTED for armed robbery, Ronald Michel AKA Ronald Mitchell, 39, formerly of 29 Earnest Street, dark brown complexion, 5ft 7in, slim.
WANTED for armed robbery, Michael Pritchard, 21, formerly of Independence Avenue, Grand Bahama, medium brown complexion, 5ft 7in-9in, slim.
WANTED for grievous harm, Nikita Kelly, 26, formerly of 32 Young Street/Marshall Road, dark brown complexion, slim.
are also being sought - all whose names are unknown.
The first has a dark brown complexion, is 5ft 8in to 5ft
WANTED for grievous harm, Wilbert Ingraham AKA “Man”, 29, formerly of Plantol Street.
10in and slim. The second has a dark brown complexion, is 5ft 9in to 5ft 10in and of medium build. The third
WANTED for possession of an unlicenced firearm with intent to endanger life, Montell Miller, 24, formerly of Lee Street, Nassau Village, medium brown
WANTED for bail violation: Kenrick Hanna, 29, last of King Bay Apartments, Grand Bahama. Height 5ft 9in, dark complexion, muscular.
A MAN convicted of sexually assaulting a nineyear-old girl will remain behind bars after the Court of Appeal rejected his appeal yesterday.
A jury convicted Ricardo Burrows of unlawful sexual intercourse on July 7, 2021.
He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on November 4, 2021.
During the Supreme Court trial, jurors heard that Burrows loosened his victim’s belt between January 15, 2017, and February 7, 2018, put his hands into her panties, and felt her vagina.
The girl was staying at her grandmother’s residence on Peter Street off East Street.
She was watching television with four of her cousins during Halloween when Burrows told them to go to bed. He then turned off the television and lights and lay on the floor as the girl slept with her cousins. Burrows placed his penis in the girl’s mouth “for a few seconds” and “peed” in her mouth, the Appeal Court ruling noted.
It continued: “She could see the intended appellant as there was a light shining through the bedroom window, which had no curtains. Nothing obstructed her view or covered his face.”
The court said she was familiar with the intended appellant as being a relative’s boyfriend.
The girl reported the sexual abuse after a Family
Life class on February 8, 2018, prompting events that resulted in Burrows’ arrest, including a gynaecological exam of her hymen which suggested trauma.
In his appeal, Burrows argued the trial judge failed to give the jury a good character direction in the summing up of the case, but the appellate judges rejected that argument.
“The absence of a credibility direction by the judge, in the circumstances, did not, in our view, result in any unfairness or injustice to the intended appellant,” the appeal court wrote.
“Accordingly, we agree with the intended respondent that the safety of the conviction has not been compromised. There is no prospect of success in this intended ground of appeal.”
THREE men were remanded to prison yesterday in connection with a botched murder attempt last week when several guns were recovered in the getaway car.
Cordero McDonald, 30, and Charles Butler, 24, faced Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain on a charge of attempted murder. The pair also stood for three counts of possession of an unlicensed firearm and two counts of possession of ammunition.
Another man, Antonio Thompson, 23, was charged solely with abetment to attempted murder.
It is alleged that around 10pm on March 24 near a business on Hospital Lane, Theo Williams was approached by the defendants in a black Nissan Note.
It is said the defendants opened fire on the 29-yearold before fleeing the
A MAN was granted $7,500 bail in court yesterday after he was alleged to have threatened a man in Cat Island with a rifle and caused $3,000 worth of damage to his property.
Glen Rolle, Sr, 55, faced Magistrate Samuel McKinney on charges of possession of a firearm with intent to put another in fear, causing harm and damage.
It is alleged that on March 22 in New Bight, Cat Island, while armed with a rifle, Rolle put Shawn Johnson in fear. In addition, it is alleged he injured Johnson and is further accused of causing $3,000 worth of damage to Johnson’s property. These items include a 50in Vjsa television, six window glass panels and six sheets of plywood.
Rolle pleaded not guilty. Bail of $7,500 was granted, with Taylor expected to sign in at his local police station every Wednesday and Saturday by 7pm.
Rolle’s trial is set to begin on Cat Island on July 19.
scene. Williams was taken to hospital. The suspects reportedly abandoned the vehicle on Hay Street. When authorities recovered the vehicle, they found three firearms as well as ammunition. These included a black and silver coloured 9mm Ruger pistol, as well as a black and silver .40 Smith & Wesson and a black .45 Austria Glock pistol, both with the serial numbers erased. Police also found ten live rounds
of 9mm ammunition and 15 live rounds of .45 ammunition.
Due to the nature of the offence, none of the defendants was required to enter a plea and their matter was transferred to the Supreme Court by way of Voluntary Bill of Indictment (VBI). The magistrate ca jurisdiction to grant bail but the defendants can apply at the higher court. Service of the VBIs are set for May 31.
LAST month, I received an invitation to attend a Philanthropy Retreat in St Croix of the US Virgin Islands hosted by Deanna James, president of the St Croix Foundation for Community Development, and her team. The retreat’s theme was “The Power of Place: Reframing Old Paradigms in Philanthropy to Build Radical New Systems of Equity Rooted in Place.”
At this event, I met over 25 passionate non-profit executives and programme managers from various regional and international foundations all leading the charge and driving change in their respective organisations and countries.
Some of the major foundations represented at the Retreat invest millions of dollars into non-profit programmes across the world annually such as the WK Kellog Foundation, Open Society Foundation, Grant Makers for Education, and Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust based in Puerto Rico among many others.
Attending the retreat made me think deeply and spurred progressive conversations in our group about the importance of breaking through traditional structural systems to drive equity and social justice for disenfranchised communities and the importance of place-based non-profit organisations in this work.
One of the key points that hit home from these discussions was the need for community organisations to recognise that some conventional systems of our colonial past do not always promote equity and social justice. This means that we cannot
By Keyron Smithbe fearful to challenge the conventional ways of thinking and systems we have embraced over the years if we want to effect social change in a meaningful way. As a result, community leaders must continue to facilitate the empowerment of marginalised or disenfranchised communities and centre their work with the goals of advancing social justice and equity in their spaces of influence. As placebased organisations working in defined communities, we must continue to strengthen and improve the social and economic conditions that impact the well-being of the people and families living within.
Attending the retreat also made me reflect on how we in The Bahamas sometimes underestimate the nonprofit sector’s potential to impact national development. Our governments constantly seek funding for new strategic investments for economic growth. However, many opportunities also exist for international philanthropic organisations to make direct charitable investments into programmes that tackle major social issues and uplift communities. There are philanthropic organisations willing to support a variety of targeted programs which can include at-risk youth programs,
community farming projects, technical skills training programs, and many others. The magnitude of giving by these philanthropic organisations is normally seen in times of major disasters but there are pathways to secure funding year-round for the right community programs that will make a real impact.
Another key observation was that the St Croix Foundation was able to bring together their local nonprofit consortium which can be similarly beneficial in The Bahamas. Often, we work in isolation and sometimes are unaware of what each other is doing in the sector within the country.
President Deanna James demonstrated that the St Croix Community Foundation was able to address these kinds of silos by establishing a consortium of 30 local non-profits in 2016 to foster trust and collaboration and share information.
As a result, they have been able to see greater success with sharing information, collaborating on projects, and building stronger relationships to achieve their goals. It was amazing to see the power of non-profits converging to realize some of their shared goals and use their networks to strategise solutions and create connections to leverage resources.
Our conversations in
St Croix showcased that across the region, we face similar and interconnected challenges within the sector and among the communities we serve. Even more so, the retreat allowed me to think of how we can address these issues through local, national, and regional partnerships and greater collaboration within the local non-profit sector.
Priscilla Elworthy, an NGO leader and peace builder, explains that “real change comes when people are enabled to use their thinking and their energy in
a new way, using a different system of thought, different language, and having fresh visions of the future”. It is my hope that we can adapt similar approaches in The Bahamas to help create the systems of change that can facilitate more national development.
• Keyron Smith is the chief operating officer at the One Eleuthera Foundation and Centre for Training and Innovation. Established in 2012, the One Eleuthera Foundation (OEF) is a nonprofit organisation located in Rock Sound, Eleuthera.
For more information, visit www.oneeleuthera.org or email info@oneeleuthera. org. The Centre for Training and Innovation (CTI) is the first and only postsecondary, non-profit education and training institution and social enterprise on Eleuthera. CTI operates a student training campus in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, with a 16-room training hotel, restaurant and farm. For more information about CTI’s programmemes email: info@oneeleuthera. org
Created just 15 years ago by two friends who rented out an air mattress on their floor when a major event sucked up all the hotel rooms in San Francisco, airbnb has turned the short-term vacation industry on its head.
the company’s been valued as high as $113 billion, a figure that rises and falls almost with the tide, and it’s just one of many competitors. tripping. com boasts eight million listings and HometoGo claims bragging rights as the world’s largest search engine in the vacation rental marketplace. It’s the mega site that holds all the others in one place and redirects users to a variety of portals - Vacation rental
By Owner (Vrbo), Home away, airbnb and others.
In europe, new sites are emerging and in the luxury market, the history of Luxury retreats is unequivocally the most fascinating. It was created on a whim by a 17-year-old outside of Montreal who was designing websites in his bedroom when after a family vacation he decided to post one option on the luxury rental site he called Luxury retreats.
that single listing that grew to four and then into history preceded airbnb by nearly a decade and now the money-is-noobject site where you can book an over-the-top stay at a fully-staffed private island, opulent mansion or villa has more than 2,000 carefully curated villas in 50 destinations across the globe. the teenager’s vision and his focus on luxury secured a forever spot for him in the annals of hospitality game-changers.
What’s the purpose of all this history when we all know that the short-term rental business is booming, forcing hotels to up their game, reminding travelers that there’s something to be said for someone else making the bed and offering fine dining that you don’t have to prepare yourself?
the purpose is to drive it home and address the principles of the “to tax or not to tax” question. It is almost hard to believe how large the short-term vacation rental business is in the Bahamas or how fast it has grown. One site promises a choice of 2,800 listings, nearly 1,000 in Nassau and Paradise Island alone. Plug in Cable Beach or eastern road and you’d be shocked at the number of pins that pop up with prices ranging from $97 to high four figures per night. deeper in the middle of the island, prices are even lower.
despite the reality that the Bahamas has already signed a contract with airbnb which now reports
By Diane Phillipsevery rental, making tax collection easier, the debate rages on about whether local homeowners riding the wave of the short-term rental business should be taxed in the same way hotels are in the Bahamas. there are those who argue that renting a room in the house or a small cottage on the property or even their entire house when they are not occupying it is their way of making a few dollars.
Why begrudge the average Bahamian the little extra revenue when it’s the home they own and they are finally participating in the hospitality industry in a small way?
they point out that they contribute to the economy by improving their home and property, eventually resulting in higher real property tax which is better for the government’s coffers. they say their overall improvements create better, safer, more desirable neighbourhoods. the few dollars they make, they say, can help pay the bills, lessen the burden on government, let their family live a little better or even help put a child through college. Let them have a little slice of the pie, they beg.
the other side of the argument is just as persuasive.
Hotels invest millions. Why should they be unfairly burdened when the competition, the local homeowner does not have to pay a head or bed tax and they do. the upfront investment and the ongoing expenses are enough to make anyone wonder why even build or operate a hotel. In many cities in the US it can cost well over $500 per square foot to build so you can double that in the Bahamas, meaning a single 500-square foot room can run half a million dollars. that’s a lot of room nights to cover the cost of construction before any net profit appears on the bottom line for investors. Hotels collect and pay bed tax, so why shouldn’t those operating a smaller version be required to do the same, they ask.
So once again it’s the big guys against the small fry or, in general, the foreignowned hotel and the local Bahamian, though many, if not a majority, of the shortterm rentals are owned by non-Bahamians, especially in the Family Islands.
those rentals are impacting housing availability in
general throughout the Bahamas and particularly on islands like eleuthera and exuma which are enjoying a resurgence of popularity.
the world has suddenly discovered the wonder and magic of eleuthera and exuma and developers cannot build fast enough to satisfy the demand.
the problem is that while there has been a decadeslong push to attract people back to the islands and now there is the promise of employment, there’s a serious housing shortage.
In exuma, where one short term rental site promises 586 listings and another nearly 300, there is virtually nowhere available for workers who cannot compete with vacationers to rent. One developer has just had to bring in a 200-foot vessel to create sleeping quarters for willing construction workers.
So what to do to satisfy the cry of the local Bahamian who is making a few extra dollars, balance the need of hotels to face fair competition and throw into the mix the usurping of available rentals, diverting housing that would enable a smoother development process in the Family Islands to the more lucrative shortterm rental market?
there is this potential solution, a tax with exemptions. Stipulate a bed tax on all, putting all those who benefit from the vacation business which is the number one driver of the economy, in the same arena, that means that the Ministry of tourism and the promotion boards including the Out Island Promotion Board allow qualified shortterm rental operators to participate in their promotional activities and benefit from their databases.
It makes everyone partners rather than enemies and brings them all together, critically important in times of health-related matters or natural disasters so everyone in the industry is sitting at the same table. then provide a five-year exemption with an option to reapply for a second similar term from the tax for those properties owned only by Bahamian citizens who can prove citizenship.
Foreign-owned properties used for short-term rental income would be taxed just as hotels are.
Just a thought… mine. What is yours?
GOVERNOR General Sir Cornelius A. Smith received the District Administrator for K-Kids Bahamas Kiwanis along with students in the programme who participated and won in their ‘Celebrating 50 Years of Independence. One Nation, Our Legacy, Our Future’ essay competition in a courtesy call at the Office of the Governor General on Wednesday.
Local celebrity boxing champion Ray Minus Jr. has received many headlining accolades for his record number of boxing bout wins here in The Bahamas and in several other Commonwealth countries, including the UK. And not just in the ring but also in the lives of many aimless youths scooped off Nassau’s inner city troubled streets and enrolled in his Champion Boxing Club formed in 1995. It was his great love to train, coach and teach the youngsters sporting skills and life disciplines.
His former wife, Michelle Munnings Minus, who worked with him throughout his career, spoke to South-East Rotarians recently about the heartbreaking courage of her former husband since the diognosis of ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. She spoke of his daily therapy sessions and 24/7 home care overseen primarily by their daughter Rayshell. ZNS recently broadcast their interview with Rayshell and her father; it will be screened before the big fight today.
“The average life span for those afflicted is between two to five years, although some do live longer,” she explained. “There is little awareness here and no support groups like they have for Parkinsons or Cancer, so we’d like to start one. This is a progressive disease without a cure that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord resulting in the wasting away of muscle and eventual paralysis.”
She noted that he is a man well lived as he not only received fame but shared his knowledge and gave back to the community. “How tragic and unkind that he should now be in the fight of his life, a last fight with a known result - paralyses of Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS.)”
She told Rotarians that in an effort to bring more awareness to the disease, and to pay tribute to her former husband and his sporting successes, her company FirstClass Promotions will stage an exciting evening of Female Professional World Title Boxing
at 8pm tonight at the Sir Kendall Gymnasium. It is in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and sanctioned by the Bahamas Boxing Commission. The night will introduce female boxing to The Bahamas. Tickets are on www.bahamasetickets. com After bills are paid, funds raised from the event will go toward Ray’s daily in home care and the allimportant (but expensive) therapy and medications.
“Ray’s upper body, his neck arms and hands are already paralysed but his legs are strong and he will make an appearance on the night of the fight and be interviewed,” she said. “A parade of boxers, Jermain
“CHOO CHOO” Mackey, Quincy Pratt, Marvin “Marvelous” Mackey, Jerry Butler, Edner Cherry and others will escort him for a red-carpet arrival on the big fight night of March 31. And we will be screening some of his past fights. As
this is a WBA World Title Fight it is being professionally recorded for showing in the USA and likely throughout the Caribbean.”
Saving The Blue has partnered with the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) for field research throughout The Bahamas. For two BAMSI students, Bianca Miller and Skye Minnis, the collaboration has provided an opportunity for them to gain training, experience and exposure alongside seasoned marine scientists. Nineteen-year-old Miller, a graduate of North Andros High School and a second year Marine Science student, said she first met with the STB team during a trip to Cargill Creek, Central Andros. She had been corresponding with Tristan Guttridge, vice president and director of STB, after
a classmate told her about the organisation.
During that first trip, a shark and stingray tagging exercise, Miller recalls that the group went out on a boat “super early” in the morning. They started the day off by taking muscle samples from sting rays and spent the rest of the day looking for sharks. Unfortunately, they did not come across any sharks on that excursion. Miller admits to getting discouraged, but she realised she needed to be patient with the process if she was to have the encounter that she was excited to experience.
The following day the group planned to go to the Tongue of the Ocean and despite rough weather Miller said: “I still tagged two sharks, which was exciting, and I got to help pull in the buoys. I was kind of scared when tagging the shark for the first time, but eventually I realised it wasn’t as bad as I thought… everybody has a fear of sharks.”
Looking back on the experience Bianca said that she learned a lot. “I learned how to tag sharks; they caught a barracuda that they used for shark bait. I was watching how they set up on the boat. I also learned how to tie a bow knot for the boat, and I asked questions about what they do with the samples. I was curious, because I didn’t know of any lab being in Andros… they said they sent the samples back to Florida.”
She added: “I wish they had more organisations working in North Andros, especially for younger people, ones in high school, to give them more of an insight into their environment. Growing up, I never met anyone who wanted to pursue a career in environmental studies.”
President of Saving the Blue Annie Guttridge said that she, along with her teammates are excited to be working with BAMSI and are looking forward to some exciting collaborations in 2023. Speaking of the students, Mrs. Guttridge said
“everyone is just so wildly different from the next one. Many of them have never been out in deep water before. Tashon [Burrows, a third BAMSI student] never snorkeled before, but we were able to put him in the water swimming with sharks. Yes, he might have been afraid, but he did it.”
For twenty-year-old Skye Minnis, a marine science major in her final year at BAMSI, her STB experience began with an Instagram post. During an internship with the International Field Studies the agency highlighted on Instagram a project Minnis was working on and Mr Guttridge commented, saying he was glad to see her getting dives in and that she should reach out to STB.
After reaching out to him and communicating back and forth for several months, Minnis was able to join them on a tagging expedition in November. “I went down to Cargill Creek with STB and I ended up staying for five days. During that first trip we saw six species of sharks and placed acoustic tags on the sharks.”
In January, Minnis had another opportunity to be a part of STB’s research team. Like the excursion in November, they focused on collecting muscle samples from Southern Stingrays to compare data analysis. “I was able to take some muscle samples from two of the rays that we caught. I learned a lot about the different sharks during this trip, how they behaved, how they act in certain environments and how they respond to certain things.”
For Minnis, the STB team has been a valuable resource. For her final paper for BAMSI, Mr Guttridge is helping her carry out research which looks at the Impact of Sharks on Bahamian Fishermen. She had initially planned on focusing on Andros exclusively, but with the support of the STB team Minnis now looks to expand her thesis to cover more of the Bahamas. “This is the first study like this to be done in the Bahamas. A similar one
was done in the Maldives,” Minnis said.
“It’s an amazing organisation with amazing people, really nurturing, both Annie and Tristan. Tristan, he was really nice, I asked questions and he was very keen on answering. He told me that for my age, I’m getting a lot of experience. When he was my age he didn’t get the experience that I am getting. He didn’t get it until he was much older. He was happy that young persons were getting that experience from BAMSI.”
Going forward, Minnis is expected to be a part of the National Geographic Shark Week expedition. And she is currently working on her dive master and scuba instructor certification. She also plans on continuing to work at the Field Station and with STB.
Nearly forty students of Smokey’s Karate School participated in the recent Gasparilla Classic 2023 hosted by The International Sport Karate League. The tournament which was held in Tampa Bay, Florida on March 25, was a huge success and the Bahamas was indeed represented well. All students received 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in their respective divisions.
Under the tutelage of Master Ronald “Smokey” Martin, the students trained hard to be the best in their sport and in the words of Master Smokey, “it truly paid off”. Master Smokey expressed that he gives thanks and praise to God for allowing his team along with a contingent of parents the opportunity to travel for such an amazing tournament, and keeping them safe throughout their journey. The students are now looking forward to yet another tournament to be held during the summer months and will continue to train even harder for another successful outcome.
Associated Press
a laWYER for Donald Trump said Thursday he’s been told that the former president has been indicted in New York on charges involving payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.
it becomes the first ever criminal case against a former us president and a jolt to Trump’s bid to retake the White House in 2024.
Joe Tacopina, a lawyer for Trump, told The associated Press he had been told that a grand jury that had been meeting for months voted to indict Trump. The specific charges were not immediately made public.
Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing and has attacked the investigation, was expected to surrender to authorities next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss a matter that remained under seal.
The grand jury indictment of Trump, 76, is
an extraordinary development after years of investigations into his business, political and personal dealings. it is likely to galvanize critics
Associated Press
Russia’s security service arrested an american reporter for The Wall street Journal on espionage charges, the first time a us correspondent has been detained on spying accusations since the Cold War. The newspaper denied the allegations and demanded his release.
Evan Gershkovich, 31, was detained in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, about 1,670 kilometers (1,035 miles) east of Moscow. Russia’s Federal security service accused him of trying to obtain classified information.
Known by the acronym FsB, the service is the top domestic security agency and main successor to the soviet-era KGB. it alleged that Gershkovich “was acting on instructions from the american side to collect information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret.”
The Journal “vehemently denies the allegations from the FsB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich,” the newspaper said. “We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.”
The arrest comes at a moment of bitter tensions between the West and Moscow over its war in ukraine and as the Kremlin intensifies a crackdown on opposition activists, independent journalists and civil society groups.
The sweeping campaign of repression is unprecedented since the soviet era. activists say it often means the very profession of journalism is criminalised, along with the activities of ordinary Russians who oppose the war.
Earlier this week, a Russian court convicted a father over social media posts critical of the war and sentenced him to two years in prison. His 13-year-old daughter was sent to an orphanage.
Gershkovich is the first a merican reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since s eptember 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for us News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB. Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the s oviet u nion’s u nited Nations mission who was
arrested by the FB i , also on spying charges. at a hearing Thursday, a Moscow court quickly ruled that Gershkovich would be kept behind bars pending the investigation.
While previous american detainees have been freed in prisoner swaps, a top Russian official said it was too early to talk about any such deal.
in Washington, the Biden administration said it had spoken with the Journal and Gershkovich’s family.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned the arrest “in the strongest terms” and urged americans to heed government warnings not to travel to Russia.
The state Department was in direct touch with the Russian government and seeking access to Gershkovich, Jean-Pierre said. The administration has no “specific indication” that journalists in Russia are being targeted, she said.
Gershkovich, who covers Russia, ukraine and other ex-soviet nations as a correspondent in the Journal’s Moscow bureau, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of espionage. Prominent lawyers noted that past investigations into espionage cases took a year to 18 months, during which time he may have little contact with the outside world.
The F s B noted that Gershkovich had accreditation from the Russian Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, but ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged that Gershkovich was using his credentials as cover for “activities that have nothing to do with journalism.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “it is not about a suspicion, it is about the fact that he was caught red-handed.”
Gershkovich speaks fluent Russian and had previously worked for the French news agency agence France-Presse and The New York Times. He was a 2014 graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine, where he was a philosophy major who cooperated with local papers and championed a free press, according to Clayton Rose, the college’s president. His last report from Moscow, published earlier this week, focused on the Russian economy’s slowdown amid Western sanctions imposed after Russian troops invaded ukraine last year.
who say Trump lied and cheated his way to the top and embolden supporters who feel the Republican is being unfairly targeted by a Democratic prosecutor.
Day one of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s (BLTA) Spring Classic Tournament served up 21 matches yesterday as the event got underway at the National Tennis Centre.
The junior tournament consists of athletes in the under 12, 14, 16 and 18 categories in competition geared towards helping tennis players gain points for national rankings and measuring their overall game. This year’s event makes it the third edition of its kind post COVID-19 and the number of junior competitors has steadily grown each year.
Perry Newton, president of the BLTA, talked about how impressed he was with day one’s Spring Classic tourney action.
“I am excited to see what they have been working on because whenever you get to compete in a tournament, it allows you to see and gauge your improvement and you get to see where other players have improved which shows you where you need to work hard,” Newton said.
He added that it has been very exciting to watch
them play and noticed that some players came out with a game plan to win but nonetheless it was great to see the first timers and national players compete.
The Royal Bank of Canada’s Spring Classic Tournament saw one of the sport’s top seeds Synaj Watkins shine in the under
14 and 16 boys singles action. Watkins got a big win against Atharva Hombal, putting up 6-2, 6-4 to secure the victory. In the young athlete’s second matchup on Thursday evening, he beat Jordan Nixon 6-2, 6-2 making it his second win on day one.
Watkins said it felt pretty good to get the win against Hombal. He added that despite the decent play of his opponent, he believes that he just wanted the win more and got it.
In more under 14 boys singles action, Alessio Battello knocked off Zamere
Davis on day one. Battello pulled off a first and second set of 6-2 in yesterday’s win.He talked about earning the win against his singles competitor.
“It wasn’t as easy as the score made it seem. I think I played well, my serve
SEE PAGE 13
MIAMI Marlins star Jasrado “Jazz” Chisholm Jr has signed a contract with Jordan Brand, Roc Nation Sports has announced.
Chisholm is the fifth Major League Baseball player to sign with Jordan Brand, joining Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts, New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr and free-agent pitcher David Price.
Chisholm said in a statement:
“It means everything to me. You know, I’m always the guy that never really wanted to do the same thing as people, I always wanted to be one of a few, you know, I mean not one of many, so it’s great that this is what I always wanted and this is what I’m glad to be a part of.”
Chisholm is one of MLB’s most exciting rising stars. During the 2022 season, he slashed .254/.325/.535 with 14 home runs, 45 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 60 games en route to an All-Star selection.
Back pain sidelined him indefinitely last season after he appeared in 60 games.
The 25-year-old is entering his fourth major league season and is expected to pick up right where he left off in 2022.
THE Bahamas Youth Flag Football League (BYFFL) has released the schedule for the country’s first high school flag football tournament.
The youth flag football extravaganza is set to take place this Saturday at 9:30am until 4pm at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.
This year’s first time youth flag football participants will include St John’s College, Kingsway Academy, St Augustine’s College and Queen’s College.
The schedule for Saturday’s flag football action will feature matchups divided into the under 14 and over 14 divisions.
Field one’s showdowns will see two teams from the
Big Red Machine and two teams from the SJC Giants on display. The schedule is as follows for field one:
10:00am - KA vs SAC ‘A’
10:30am - SAC ‘A’ vs SJC ‘A’
11:30am - SJC ‘A’ vs SAC ‘B’
12:30pm - SAC ‘B’ vs SJC ‘B’
1:30pm - SJC ‘B’ vs KA
2:30pm - Seed 4 vs Seed 1
3:00pm - Seed 3 vs Seed 2
4:00pm - Championship Game
Games for field two are:
10:00am - SJC ‘A’ vs SJC ‘B’
10:30am - SAC ‘B’ vs KA
11:30am - SJC ‘B’ vs SAC ‘A’
12:30pm - KA vs SJC ‘A’
1:30pm - SAC ‘A’ vs SAC ‘B’ The games for the under 14 division are: 11:00am - QC vs KA
12:00pm - KA vs SAC
1:00pm - SAC vs QC
2:00pm - Seed 3 vs Seed 2
3:30pm - Championship Game
The BYFFL’s inaugural event is geared towards raising awareness for the flag football sport in schools across the nation.
Additionally, the proceeds earned from the event will be used to help purchase flag football equipment so that it can be integrated into the curriculum of the schools involved.
Mario Bowleg, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, is expected to be in attendance to give the opening remarks at Saturday’s tournament.
Athletes have been training since September of last year in preparation for this weekend’s high school matchups.
Fans and students of the respective schools can look forward to stiff competition on Saturday as athletes will look to put on a show at the country’s first youth high school flag football tournament.
With the day’s championship game scheduled for 3:30pm and 4pm, at the end of the tournament athletes will look to bring home the trophies for their schools in the under 14 and over 14 divisions.
Persons interested in being in the front row for the youth flag football faceoffs can purchase tickets at the cost of $3 at the TAR stadium on the day of the event.
The inaugural event is proudly being sponsored by Pedialyte, Bahamas Waste and Fidelity Bank (Bahamas).
TIGER Woods returns to the Masters, no longer a surprise as it was a year ago but no less a rare appearance. This will be only his third tournament against elite competition since he remarkably hobbled his way through 72 holes at Augusta National.
For Rory McIlroy, this might be his best chance to finally get that green jacket and complete the career Grand Slam. He is playing some of his best golf. His popularity is higher than ever as he has become a powerful voice in reshaping the PGA Tour. That alone should be enough to raise the anticipation for the Masters, not that it ever needs much help. But so much has changed since Scottie Scheffler capped his amazing run with a green jacket
— on the course and in the courtroom.
Woods, McIlroy and Scheffler are headliners who now share the stage with a story that has consumed and divided an otherwise genteel game. They will face 18 players no longer welcome on the PGA Tour because they defected to Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
“For a golf fan, it’s Tiger coming. You have the LIV-PGA Tour mashup at the Masters, which is a traditional environment. It’s going to be a media frenzy,” Xander Schauffele said. “There will be a ton of questions about digs here and there between the two tours. I think it will be a huge mosh pit of everything. For a golf fan, I think it will be awesome.”
Will the topic of conversation under the huge oak tree outside the Augusta National clubhouse be
about the lengthening of the par-5 13th or the latest motion filed in an antitrust lawsuit between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour? And who wouldn’t pay to be upstairs in the clubhouse on Tuesday night for the annual Masters Club dinner
for past champions, seven of them now with LIV Golf. As defending champion, Scheffler is in charge of the menu, not keeping the peace. “I keep trying to get Scottie to address the elephant in the room, but I don’t
think he’s going to,” Jordan Spieth said with a laugh. “I keep poking him: ‘It’s your job to address the elephant in the room when you speak. It’s not just a thankyou.’ I don’t think he’s biting. He doesn’t bite on a lot of what I have to say.”
Indeed, this really could be a Masters unlike any other.
Dustin Johnson was thought to be on the fence about leaving for LIV Golf out of concern he wouldn’t be able to return to Augusta National, where he set the scoring record in 2020. He left for LIV in June for a signing fee reported to be in the $150 million range.
And any concerns about playing — for Johnson and everyone else — were put to rest in December when Masters Chairman Fred Ridley said the invitation list would not change
regardless of where players made their living. At least not for this year.
Ridley also made it clear he wasn’t happy about the state of golf since the rival league — run by Greg Norman, paid for by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund — came along. He referenced nine Masters champions who had become golfing heroes. Conspicuously missing from his list was three-time winner Phil Mickelson, once a popular figure in golf.
“They have shown respect for those who came before them and blazed a trail for future generations. Golf is better because of them,” Ridley said. “Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it.”
— Whether or not Boston catches the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference standings, the Celtics will have reason to feel confident if the teams meet in the playoffs for a second straight season.
ALL of the hard work and persistence paid off for Freedom Baptist Academy as they celebrated another banner year for their Warriors boys and girls basketball teams.
The administration and staff held a special ceremony yesterday at the school on Mount Royal Avenue.
Their primary boys won the Temple Christian Academy Basketball Tournament, the J-Ballers Thanksgiving Tournament, were runners-up in the Fr Marcian Peters Invitational and kept the title at home in the Freedom Baptist Academy Majority Rule Tournament before they wrapped up their season with a win in the Gladstone ‘Moon’ McPhee/Cecil Thompson Tournament.
As for their junior girls team, the Warriors pulled off a triple crown, taking the Giants Christmas Classic hosted by the Providence Basketball Club over the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine, they won their own Majority Rule Tournament over the DW Davis Royals and the Bahamas Scholastic Athletic Association school league over the St John’s Giants.
The only title that got away from the Warriors was the Gladstone McPhee/Cecil Thompson Tournament in Grand Bahama where they finished third.
“Over the year, they did good. We practiced a lot and once the season started, it all came down to execution,” Major said.
“We only returned two of our starters from last year, so winning those championships in the junior girls division was very sweet.”
As for the junior boys, Major said he couldn’t ask for a better performance as they went 29-3 in tournament and league play.
Between the primary and junior boys and primary and junior girls, Freedom Baptist captured a total of eight championship titles. No one was more proud of their performances than principal Vincent Major.
“I’m extremely proud and excited for these young
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worked in the key moments and I just did it. It was nice,” he said.
The 12-year-old added that his opponent did not make it easy but his plan was to put one more ball back than him.
In the under 16 boys singles match, Patrick Mactaggart closed out his opponent 6-0, 6--0 on the evening. He played against Joshua Eldon.
Also, in under 12 boys singles action, Chase Newbold defeated Oneal Hanna 6-1,6-1.
Mactaggart and Newbold were recently a part of The Bahamas’ national team and represented the country in the Dominican Republic’s World Juniors Tennis championships.
people because not only are they doing well on the athletic field, but they are doing well in academics,” he said. “We had 15 of our players make the honour roll for this school year, so we are excited about that, going into their exams for the final semester.
“When you think of a school with less than 50 students and going against schools with hundreds of students and we end up in the finals and winning titles in the primary and junior boys and girls divisions, we are very excited for them. We believe that the sky is the limit for them.”
Major said his son, head coach Ziah Major, is ensuring that all the players who are not keeping their grades up to at least a 2.5 average, they will not be allowed to play.
“They know that is an incentive for them to continue to play and to do well academically, so we thank God for that,” principal Major said. “What we accomplished this year is really outstanding.
“Sometimes we only travel with five or six on the team and playing games after games and playing all of those schools in Nassau and Grand Bahama has given them a lot of exposure.”
Junior girls most valuable player Shanika Darius, the 13-year-old eighth grader, said they worked very hard for everything they got.
“We worked hard and we prayed to God to let us win,” Darius said. “But we know that if you have attitude, you won’t win, so we had to play with a lot of pride.”
Darius said she enjoyed winning all three of their tournaments and if they can “continue to work hard,” the Warriors can come back and duplicate the feat next year.
Caleb Russell, the junior boys’ MVP, said it was a good feeling to achieve what they did.
“Hard work got us the win. We just have to work harder again next year to do it again,” said Russell, who is 12 years old and in the sixth grade, and felt like he is the “hardest” player on their team.
Former junior girls MVP Weddalinnesi Alexis just
The young ladies shined bright on the tennis court on day one of the tournament.
Millie Beukes comfortably defeated Victoria Sandl-Aguilar 6-0, 6-0 in the under 14 girls singles action.
Claudia Drgon experienced a similar feat as she won her sets against Gabrielle Deveaux 6-0, 6-0.
Beukes and Drgon will look to bring the same energy against each other as they will face off today.
Drgon said it felt good to win and she felt very confident at the end of match despite it being a windy day on the tennis court .
Beukes shared similar sentiments as she said her win felt good as well and, although it was windy, she still enjoyed the match.
Jasleen Salkey, winner of the under 14 girls singles
moved up to the senior girls’ division. The 16-year-old 10th grader said next year they hope that their senior girls will get some time to shine in the spotlight.
match, came out on top against Ellie Nash after beating her 6-2 in set one and 6-0 in set two.
Salkey talked about yesterday’s singles matchup against her competitor. She said it felt really good to get the win and her special strategy was just to move the ball and her feet.
However, she added the windy weather conditions led to her adjusting her approach by continuously keeping the ball moving and not hitting the ball to the end.
“The juniors shocked me. I didn’t think they would have done as well as they did with me,” Alexis said.
“I feel like next year, we will get harder and
dominate a lot more,” she stated. Like their primary and junior teams, Alexis said hard work and a lot of practice will be the key to their success.
Jayson Tatum scored 40 points, Jaylen Brown added 30 and the Celtics steamrolled the NBA-leading Bucks 140-99 last night.
The Celtics (53-24) shot 22 of 43 from 3-point range and moved within two games of the Bucks (55-22).
“It does matter,” Brown said about the possibility of earning the No. 1 seed. “We want to finish out the season strong and see what happens.”
Boston won the season series with the Bucks 2-1, which would give the Celtics the tiebreaker if both teams finish with the same record.
Boston beat the Bucks in seven games in last season’s East semifinals.
The Celtics trounced the Bucks 139-118 in Boston on Christmas Day and lost 131-125 in overtime on February 14. The Celtics didn’t play Brown, Tatum, Marcus Smart or Al Horford in that overtime loss.
Boston’s players downplayed the notion that their lopsided victory would send any sort of message to the Bucks in case they meet again in the postseason. They noted the Bucks were playing for a second straight night and shot just 37.6%, well below their norms.
“This don’t really mean much,” Brown said. “If we play them again, we’ve got to be ready to take their best shot.”
The Bucks didn’t provide anything close to their best shot yesterday. “We know what the deal is,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo, who led the Bucks with 24 points. “If you’re not focused and you don’t play hard, they are going to kick our (butt). Simple as that. There is no level of concern. It’s a fact. If we play the same way, we’ll have the same outcome. We’ve got to have some pride.”
Kevin Durant’s a 13-time All-Star, a two-time NBA champion, a four-time league leader in scoring and has done just about everything else a player can do in the game of basketball.
But even he can get a little nervous on a night like Wednesday.
Devin Booker scored 29 points, Durant had 16 points and eight rebounds in his home debut and the Phoenix Suns won their third straight game, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 107-100.
After a huge ovation from the sellout crowd — which waited more than a month to see him play a game in Phoenix after his trade from Brooklyn — Durant missed his first six shots and finished 5 of 18 from the field, though he did hit a couple important 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter.
The remainder of the winners on day one include Panaglotis Mousis, Srae Rodgers, Ethan Butler, Dylan Sykes, Olivia Schick, Gabrielle Clarke, Cameron Ferguson, Ayal Bethel, Jack Boals, Spencer Taylor, Atharva Hombal, Jordan Nixon and Aiden Ritchie. Day two of the RBC Spring Classic
“It was hard for me to get sleep today, it was hard for me to stop thinking about the game,” Durant said. “Sometimes you can want it too bad and you come out, start rushing and being uncharacteristic.”
“I’m glad I’m back, I’m glad I’m playing again and being one of the guys. Just building from here.”
Even with the nerves, the Suns are 4-0 with Durant in the lineup. The Timberwolves had a four-game winning streak snapped.
THE visiting boxers competing on the AllBahamian professional boxing card tonight at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium are not just excited to be here but are eager to put on a show for the Bahamian fans.
First Class Promotions, headed by Michelle Minus, is promoting the show that will feature American Jaimie ‘The Miracle’ Mitchell against Canadian Lindsay Garbatt for 100 Jamz World Boxing Association’s world middleweight title fight in the main event.
The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s co-main event will pit American O’Shea Jones against Brazilian Simone Silva.
On hand, as the boxers were officially introduced during the weigh-in ceremony at the Breezes SuperClubs, were WBA supervisor Gloria Martinez-Rizzo, who flew in from Florida to oversee the show and Bahamas Boxing Commission chairman Fred Sturrup.
Mitchell, who hails from Las Vegas, Nevada, weighed in at 118 pounds, two pounds heavier than Garbatt, out of Toronto, Canada.
“It’s amazing. Shout out to the Bahamas. This is a beautiful place.
“I’ve travelled to a couple places in my career, but this is like the first place that I really enjoy,” said Mitchell, who comes in with a 8-1-2 win-loss, draw record.
Despite all that she has experienced so far, Mitchell said it will not derail her from her mission in the ring tonight.
“I’m definitely focused and locked in on the fight,” said Mitchell, who is coming off a loss. “Sometimes the loss allows you to recognise what is going on around you, so you have to refocus and get back to where you were.”
As for Garbatt, who hails out of Toronto with a 9-9-2 record, she said she couldn’t ask for First Class Promotions to put on the championship fight in such a wonderful place.
“I think you will get a very exciting fight. Me and Jaimie both like to fight.
“I think it’s going to be a good show. I have a great team back home and I’ve been bridesmaid getting one of our other fighters ready, so I am honestly looking forward to doing my thing here.”
The fight is scheduled for 10 rounds and Garbatt said it has to go the distance and she’s prepared to slug it out.
The co-main event is set for eight rounds.
Jones, a native of Philadelphia, now fighting out of Toledo, Ohio, weighed in at 147 pounds, well over Silva, who was pegged at 138 pounds.
The Olympic bronze medallist is competing in just her third pro fight, but she’s eager to display her skills.
“I feel like I have something to prove. It’s different from the amateurs,” Jones said.
“I’m converting myself to the professional ranks, so I have to be calmer, settling down with my shots and getting established.”
Fighting outside of the United States has put some added pressure on Jones, but she’s confident that her work in the ring will compensate for it.
But she admitted that she’s also distracted by the beauty of the Bahamas.
“It’s so beautiful here. I love it here. It’s more peaceful here, calmer and more relaxed. I’m from the city so there’s a lot more construction and loud noises. I want to move here,” she stated.
Silva, speaking through Martinez-Rizzo as an interpreter, said she’s happy to be here and she wants to thank Minus for giving her the opportunity to compete on the show.
She comes in with a 17-22-0 record out of Sao
ONE minute he’s talking about a blockbuster, allBritish heavyweight fight with Tyson Fury.
The next he’s looking forward to “loving life” in retirement, free from the pressure of an expectant public.
Such are the stakes for Anthony Joshua in a fight that comes at a crossroads in his career.
Coming off consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk, the former two-time world champion takes on American boxer Jermaine Franklin at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday for a non-title bout that is bigger than it appears at first glance.
If Joshua loses, his career is pretty much in ruins. OK, he could still sell fights — he has been a huge draw in Britain for a decade, ever since he won Olympic gold at the London Games in 2012 and immediately turned professional — but he will no longer have the credibility to go along with the hype.
And, to be sure, the hype was justified in his golden period from 2016-18 when he won seven straight world title fights, including an epic against Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 spectators in 2017, to allow him to dream of becoming the first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999-2000.
Paulo, Brazil, but assured the Bahamian fans that she’s looking forward to making it a long night for Mitchell.
Joining the Ministries of Youth, Sports and Culture, as well as Tourism, are:
100 Jamz/The Tribune Newspaper, Bahamian Brewery/Jimmy’s Wines
& Spirits, Easy Car Sales, Breezes, ZNS, The Nassau Guardian, JCN/Love 97, Cable Bahamas Sports,. Nirvana Beach, Nassau Agencies, Sun Time, Doc’s Pharmacy, Ron’s Radiator, Original Patties, Daine’s Guest House, Eddie Electric Company Limited, Heastie’s Service
Station and Battery & Tire Specialists..
Tickets, priced at $35 for general admission and $125 for VIP seating, are still available online at www. bahamas tickets.com or at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. The doors open at 6 pm and the show starts at 8 pm.
“I was really pushing that undisputed narrative for so long, that road to undisputed hashtag with all of the brands we work with,” Joshua said this week. “We pushed it, but now we’re at a new stage.
“We can’t look back. We’re only looking forward and I see a bright future and that kind of keeps me in good spirits.”
FIRST Class Promoter Michelle Minus got a lot of high praise for bringing professional boxing back to the Bahamas. But she said tonight’s All-Female show will be one that the public will not forget.
The show will be highlighted by 100 Jamz for the World Boxing Association’s world middleweight 10-round title bout between Canadian Lindsay Garbatt and American Jaimie ‘The Miracle’ Mitchell.
In the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s comain event, scheduled for eight rounds, Brazilian Simone Silva will take on American O’Shea Jones.
The show, according to Minus, will put First Class Promotions back in the spotlight after a 10-year
hiatus as they honour cofounder Ray Minus Jr, who is now suffering from ALS, known as Motor Neuron Disease (MND), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Minus, the most decorated Bahamian professional boxer, is expected to be given the red-carpet treatment as he is honoured and recognised for his achievement as a former amateur and professional boxer, trainer and coach and founder of Champion Amateur Boxing Club, which produced many of the top amateur and pro fighters, who followed in his footsteps.
Veteran journalist Fred Sturrup, who serves as the chairman of the Bahamas Boxing Commission, hailed Minus for her tenacity in making her return to the fraternity as she brings the women’s programme to the Bahamas for the first time.
“We are so thankful for her resurgence and her being back with us because First Class Promotions has been one of the integral parts of the boxing programme over the last 20 years and there’s been a significant void when she was no longer promoting,” Sturrup said.
“It’s really tough in a lot of the countries, especially in third world countries promoting boxing today because of the circumstances. There’s a lot of cost of logistics of having people to travel and to pay for plane tickets and all the rest of it. It’s astronomical for most of our small countries. It’s always a testament of resilience, financial resilience as well, when someone from among us have to come back to the forefront to promote.”
Gloria Martinez-Rizzo, the WBA supervisor, said she’s pleased to be in the Bahamas, although she hasn’t seen anything yet, but so far so good.
“I’m very happy that Michelle is doing the first show with the WBA,” said Martinez-Rizzo of the organization that is 101 years old.
“So hoping to see everybody at the arena.”
American Brian Cohen, who serves as the manager for both Mitchell and Jones, two of the 25 female boxers in his stable, said this has been the best he’s seen professional boxers being treated as they are entertained in a beautiful place with all of its amenities.
“You have a great fight card. You have Simone
Silva, who is fighting O’Shea Jones. O’Shea Jones is a bronze medallist in the Olympics. Simone has fought everybody and anybody in the divisions,” Cohen stated.
“You have a WBA title fight. You have Jaimie Mitchell, who is a former world champion, who is going up against Lindsay Garbatt, who is a former two-time world champion.
“So it’s going to be a great night. Great fights. I’ve done about five AllFemale cards and this is one of the better ones.
“So thank you for having us.”
Joining the Ministries of Youth, Sports and Culture, as well as Tourism, are 100
Jamz/The Tribune Newspaper, Bahamian Brewery/ Jimmy’s Wines & Spirits, Easy Car Sales, Breezes, ZNS, The Nassau Guardian, JCN/Love 97, Cable Bahamas Sports,. Nirvana Beach, Nassau Agencies, Sun Time, Doc’s Pharmacy, Ron’s Radiator, Original Patties, Daine’s Guest House, Eddie Electri Company Limited, Heastie’s Services Station and Battery & Tire Specialist. Tickets, priced at $35 for general admission and $125 for VIP seating, are still available online at www.bahamas tickets.com or at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. The doors open at 6pm and the show starts at 8pm.
MIAMI (AP) — Brandon Nimmo broke a seventh-inning tie with a two-run double, sending Max Scherzer and the New York Mets past the Miami Marlins 5-3 yesterday.
Scherzer (1-0) coughed up a three-run lead but threw six solid innings in a matchup with NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara as the Mets improved to 41-21 on opening day — the best record in baseball.
Garrett Cooper tied it 3-all in the sixth with a two-run homer off Scherzer. Jacob Stallings led off the inning with a single and scored on Luis Arraez’s double.
Nimmo had three RBIs from the leadoff spot after re-signing with the Mets in the offseason for $162 million over eight years. He ripped a low slider from reliever Tanner Scott (0-1) into centre field to put New York ahead 5-3 in the seventh, propelling the Mets to their 41st win in the past 53 openers.
Nimmo also had a sacrifice fly that scored Daniel Vogelbach for a 1-0 lead.
Before the opener, the Mets placed Justin Verlander on the injured list with a strained upper back muscle, sidelining the
reigning AL Cy Young Award winner before his first appearance with the team.
Miami fell to 12-19 on opening day as rookie manager Skip Schumaker began his Marlins tenure with a loss.
Arraez was 2 for 4 and had a leadoff single in his first Marlins at-bat after Minnesota traded him to Miami in the offseason.
The addition of last year’s AL batting champion was meant to be a huge lift for Miami’s offence, which was among the worst in the majors last season.
Scherzer permitted four hits, struck out six and walked two in his first opening-day start with the Mets.
Drew Smith and newcomers Brooks Raley and David Robertson combined to strike out six over three shutout innings of one-hit relief.
Robertson, filling in as closer after Edwin Diaz suffered a season-ending injury in the World Baseball Classic, got three outs for the save.
Alcantara was lifted after giving up two walks and two singles that led to two runs in the sixth. He finished with an uncharacteristic four walks and struck out two.
The Mets made it 2-0 in the sixth when Lindor’s sacrifice fly drove in Nimmo. Big league batting champ Jeff McNeil added an RBI single.
FALSE START
Jazz Chisholm Jr. made his debut in centre field after moving from second base when the Marlins added Arraez. Chisholm committed a
costly throwing error in the sixth that allowed Starling Marte to advance from first to second. Marte eventually scored.
AN MVP RETURNS
Miami’s 1997 World Series MVP, Liván Hernández, threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Jeff Conine before the game.
Most PGA Tour players have not seen the likes of Johnson, Mickelson and Brooks Koepka since the British Open. Cameron Smith won the claret jug and then joined LIV six weeks later.
“Inside the ropes, even the people who have scuffles, it’s just a working environment,” Schauffele said. “It will be cool to have everyone back in the same office.”
No one is quite sure what to expect. Most LIV players have competed no more than nine times since St. Andrews in 54-hole events with 48-man fields. Their world ranking has plummeted because LIV still doesn’t get points. Johnson was No. 16 in the world when he left St. Andrews. Now he is at No. 68. Koepka dropped out of the top 100 in the world (No. 111) for the first time in 10 years.
“Just because the guys aren’t ranked, they’re still top-ranked players, and us pros know that,” Schauffele said.
“When some of those boys are playing well, they’re hard to beat. Some of them left when they were hot, some of them left a little cold in terms of performance. But we know how good everyone is.”
Another question leading to the 87th Masters Tournament, which starts April 6, is how well Woods can play. He remains the biggest draw, especially now because no one knows when they will see him next. Woods can hit all the shots. His problem is walking to the next one, over four days, on one of the toughest walks in golf.
Still hobbled by his February 2021 car crash that mangled his right leg, Woods managed to make the cut last year in the Masters and the PGA Championship (he withdrew after three rounds).
He made the cut at Riviera and shot 67 on Saturday in his lone start in 2023. But it took a toll, and he has sat out for seven weeks to be ready for Augusta.
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he got us on the edge of our seat for the first couple of days,” said twotime U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange, now an ESPN analyst.
“But can he sustain it? I think that LA just made me look forward more to the Masters, because he’s still got something in that body.”
McIlroy seems to have been wearing two hats over the last year. He got back to No. 1 in the world last fall while speaking out against the Saudi rival league and leading the change to a remodeled PGA Tour structure of big purses and small fields to reward the best players.
ASPIRING chess players from across New Providence participated in the competitive Scholastic Chess Team Championship.
The team-based event is one the largest chess tournaments of the year, with many schools trying to defend their title as well as achieve new ones.
The event was hosted by The Bahamas Chess Federation, and took place on Saturday, March 25 at the QCafe. Queen’s College graciously sponsored the venue for the event.
The Scholastic Championship attracted 66 strong students from over 12 schools and institutions.
Excited students from Queen’s College, St. Augustine’s College, Kingsway Academy, C.I. Gibson School, St. Andrew’s School, St. Anne’s, Aquinas, Lyford Cay, Windsor Academy, New Providence Classical School and other various small schools and homeschools, battled it out in a five -round competition.
The tournament consisted of three divisions: - under 12, under 16 and under 20 with a new feature of the tournament this year, the addition of a combined
school team section. This section was added to allow home school students and students attending schools that do not have sufficient chess players to field a team to come together to form a team. The QCafe was filled with intense focus as school teams faced off against each other in a bid to be crowned the Scholastic Team Champions and best chess school on the island.
As soon as a match was completed, students wasted no time and would huddle in a corner or proceed to the outside waiting area to discuss their moves and strategies in their own chess language. It was clear that chess was the common denominator, as students from different schools and backgrounds came together to share their passion for the game.
Queen’s College seized the win in both the under 16 and under 20 categories, winning the title of the Strongest Chess School on the island of New Providence.
Dr Paul Thomas, math teacher, C.I. Gibson School and coach for the C.I. Gibson Chess Club, was
happy with the performance of his team who placed 3rd in the under-20 category.
He stated: “The C.I. Gibson Chess Club has been in existence since 2012 but this academic year, post pandemic, has been the most remarkable one. In this period, the greatest level of interest ever has been shown by our students, particularly our 10th graders.
Chess at C.I. Gibson, for our approximately 30 active members, is one way we remind students that careful thinking must always
precede actions. Our chess members embrace this principle and our expectation is that they will transfer it to every facet of their lives. It is important that students play chess because the game is a useful means by which students can develop critical thinking skills, which can help them make thoughtful decisions in all areas of their lives.”
“The Scholastic Chess Team Tournament was exciting and competitive,” declared Curtis Pride, 1st vice president, The Bahamas Chess Federation.
He continued: “I was impressed by the level of skills displayed from newcomers from C.I. Gibson, St. Augustine’s College, St. Anne’s, Kingsway Academy, St. Andrews and players in the Under 12 section.
These players give me hope for the future of chess in The Bahamas. We, as a federation, are proud to have hosted such a prestigious and successful school-based event.
“We know that the best way to develop our junior talent is through partnerships with school coaches. With this in mind, we are committed to providing and enhancing this tournament every year.”
Overall Results for 2023
Scholastic Chess Team Tournament
Best Team U16
1st Place - Queen’s Col-
Top Board Players U12 Board 1 - Zayne Berry, Empowerment Learning Center, 1.5 points
Board 2 - Kaleah Brown, Queens College, 1 points
Board 3 - R. Caerwyn Turnquest, Windsor Academy, 2.5 points
Board 4 - Cire Darville, 3 points
U16
Board 1 - Avian Pride, Home school, 5 points
Board 2 - Theophilus Weir, Kingsway Academy, 5 points - Chika Pride, Homeschool, 5 Points
Board 3 - Jason Liang, Kingsway Academy, 4 points
Board 4 - Johnathan Coakley, Queen’s College, 5 points
Board 5 - Xavier Fernander, St. Anne’s, 1 points
Top Board Players U20
Board 1 - Noah Albury, St. Augustine’s College, 5 points
Board 2 - Tadan Ferguson, St. Andrew’s School, 4 points
Board 3 - Hugesson Valcourt, C.I. Gibson, 5 points
Board 4 – Elliot Rahming, Queen’s College 2, 5 points