07112024 NEWS AND SPORT

FAMILIES KNEW THAT VOICE NOTES EXISTED

Parents told by Fox and Smith to share recordings if they die

By TRIBUNE STAFF

THE father of Michael Fox Jr said his son sent him voice notes before he was killed in May and told him to release the recordings should something happen to him.

Sandra Smith, the mother of Dino Smith, said days before her son was killed in January, he similarly informed her about the

existence of voice notes that could one day be important. “I didn’t know my son was gon’ die,” she said. “My son hold me, say mummy, some voice notes in Mikey’s phone. If anything happen to us, get the voice notes from… and send it to the news or somewhere.”

Ms Smith said she never got the voice notes. Mr Fox Sr said he had them

By TRIBUNE STAFF

PRIME Minister Philip

“Brave” Davis said he found voice notes purporting to capture a quid-pro-quo arrangement involving a senior police officer and a gang leader “terribly disturbing”.

“We want to ensure that we restore the confidence of Bahamian people in our police force because

there are many good police officers that are doing a wonderful job in protecting our property, our lives, and our country and citizens,” he exclusively told The Tribune Tuesday night. “We need to ensure that we get to the bottom of whatever the tapes mean, and to ensure the confidence, I’m advised that they will be calling in assistance so

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE country’s 51st Independence Day was celebrated at Clifford Park on Tuesday night, with crowds waving their Bahamian flags with pride, joy, and love. The celebration was held

under the theme “One people united in Love and Service”. The theme was an excerpt from The Bahamas’ National Pledge, noting the importance of putting differences aside and coming together. The crowd was dazzled with several singing performances, skits, dancing, Junkanoo, and other acts of culture.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, Governor General Cynthia Pratt, and other officials also enjoyed the display of talent. Mr Davis was also seen taking pictures with several people who were dressed in aqua, black, and gold.

OVERTURNED TANKER SPILLS DIESEL NEAR A BACO HOMES

By RASHAD ROLLE

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A SUN Oil tanker carrying oil to Bahamas Power and Light flipped over in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, on Tuesday, spilling 8,600 gallons of diesel, according to Roscoe Thompson, chairman of the Marsh Harbour/ Spring City Township.

IN ATHOL ISLAND DEVELOPMENT

By NEIL HARTNELL

A “RELATIVE of a high-ranking MP” is among the groups engaged in unregulated development on Athol Island for which no environmental permits or approvals have been issued, it has been alleged. Adrian White, Opposition MP for St Anne’s, made the accusation that politically-connected persons are involved in activities where “all the rules, regulations and boundaries” set down by The Bahamas’ environmental laws and standards have been “thrown out the window”.

He warned “irreversible” consequences to the ecologically and historic site unless immediately halted.

Photo: Nikia Charlton

THE BAHAMAS flag is raised during the 51st Independence Day celebrations at Fort Charlotte on Tuesday night.

Photos: Nikia Charlton

Celebrating The Bahamas’

51st Independence Day

from page one

During the ecumenical service, Bahamas Christian Council president Bishop Delton Fernander called for unity. Bishop Fernander noted people having differences shouldn’t result in destructive division, rather he encouraged everyone to be their brother’s keepers.

In view of the country celebrating 51 years of Independence, there was a presentation of 51 people, old and young, stating their wishes for the future of The Bahamas. Several people wished for more opportunities for young people, a safer country, protection of the environment, support of the orange economy, and more. One young boy said: “I wish for a Bahamas where our Family Islands are

thriving.”

A father holding his two young daughters said: “I wish for a safer and happy future for our children.”

One elderly woman wished for more equality for women in The Bahamas.

Later into the evening, Governor General Pratt inspected the Honour Guard during the Independence celebration. Officers from the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Royal Bahamas Defence Force, and Bahamas Department of Correctional Services stood as she walked across the field.

A fter midnight, a beautiful display of fireworks dazzled the air. The vibrant firework show caught the attention of many who took their phones to capture the moment.

51st Independence Day Honours List

THE National Honours for 2024 have been announced - including the Order of National Hero being awarded to a former slave.

A statement from the Office of the Governor General said that she was “pleased to announce the conferral of awards under the National Honours Act to Citizens of The Bahamas”.

Former slave Kate Moss receives the Order of National Hero postumously. In the 1820s, Henry and Helen Moss were plantation owners in Crooked Island.

Kate Moss was a young house slave there. She was accused of theft, insubordination and insolence by the plantation owners.

The statement from the Governor General’s office said: “During her early service, Kate refused to mend clothes as instructed by her owners, and consistently refused to carry out negative orders from her “owners”. Her refusals in the era of slavery, caused her repeatedly severe punishment from which she eventually died.

“Abolitionists in England learned about the plight of Kate and called Kate -”Poor Black Kate” and when the authorities in Nassau heard about her death, they charged Henry and Helen Moss with murder. They were found guilty, and the magistrate sentenced them to pay fines totaling £300 or spend five months in Nassau’s common jail.

“Kate’s death and her action against slavery became big news on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 1820s and 1830s, and it was used to strengthen the growing demand for the abolition of slavery, a movement in England led principally by William

Wilberforce.

“Kate’s actions to stand up for herself would become an act of defiance that was strong enough to make an impact on slavery worldwide and impacted on the history of The Bahamas and the world and must never be forgotten.

“The National Honours Committee, therefore, recognises Kate Moss for her timely and determined courage demonstrated against racism and slavery.”

The complete list of the

St John Stevenson , MVO (Posthumously) Frank Howard Watson, CD Franklin Wilberforce Walkine Idris Reid The Rt Rev Laish Z Boyd

Neville Wisdom Rev Canon S Sebastian Campbell, CM Order of The Bahamas - Officer David Alexander Knowles Rev Fr James

BRADLEY ROBERTS

A DAZZLING fireworks display lights up the night sky at the 51st Independence Celebrations yesterday.

Photos: Nikia Charlton

Families knew that voice notes existed

but was not responsible for their release last week.

The parents’ comments in separate interviews provide some context into the origin of the recordings, which have plunged the Royal Bahamas Police Force into an explosive controversy. Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis described the voice notes as “terribly disturbing” on Tuesday night.

The recordings purported to capture a financial quid-pro-quo arrangement involving Fox Jr, Mr Smith, a lawyer and a senior officer, who has taken garden leave as authorities investigate the matter.

Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander has said the reliability of the voice notes must be determined. Mr Fox Sr and Ms Smith insist the recordings are authentic, not manipulated or produced through artificial intelligence.

Mr Fox Sr said even if his son did not send him the voice notes directly, he would trust the recordings because he recognises his son’s speech patterns and phrases.

He said the voice notes were made last year after police issued wanted flyers for his son and Smith. The flyers concerned the theft of $1,475,000 from an unattended security vehicle transporting cash for the Bank of The Bahamas to a private airport on November 2. Smith and Fox were ultimately not charged, but they were killed in January and May. Two other men have since been charged with the crime.

“That is the voice of my son,” Mr Fox Sr said yesterday. “There are matters leading up to that and he send the voice note to me and told me that if anything were to happen to him please use the voice notes to clear his case.”

Mr Fox Sr said numerous people knew he had the

voice notes, and he had long considered what to do with them.

He said he was happy when Sylvens Metayer, a man who considers himself a whistleblower, seemingly released the recordings last week. Mr Metayer, whose Facebook page says he lives in Atlanta, Georgia, was shot during a Facebook Live on Monday night after making disparaging claims about Bahamian government and police officials. He survived, but his condition and whereabouts are unknown.

Since the recordings were released, Mr Fox Sr said he has had a meeting with police, including the new CID head. He said they asked if he released the recordings.

Meanwhile, Ms Smith said she was shocked when she heard the voice notes last week.

“I said my Jesus Dino didn’t lie,” she said. “He keep telling me about it.”

“I was so scared when Dino said stuff about the voice notes. I never thought death would’ve come so soon.”

“Someone sent me the voice notes (last week). I listen to the last part of it; that’s him in it. That’s him talking to Mikey.”

She said her son started getting threats when he became associated with “Mikey”, whom he met in prison.

“They shoot my child 51 times,” she said, adding that her son left behind four children, one born after he was killed.

“I rather my son to be in jail than to be dead because he coulda help with his kids.”

She said she has not slept well since her son was killed.

Smith was killed alongside Chatere Wells, 27, in a brazen daylight shooting on Prince Charles Drive on January 3. Before he was killed in

January, Smith was shot in December, shortly after being released from police custody without being charged concerning the $1.5m bank security car robbery. Chief Superintendent of Police Chrislyn Skippings said earlier this year that Smith was questioned but refused to give information about who shot him.

Fox Jr was bound to a wheelchair after a shooting on Ida Street in 2015 left him paralysed. Police said he was the leader of the Fox Hill Outlaws gang. He was killed on May 6.

Questions arise over ability of Security Intelligence Branch to perform its function

By TRIBUNE STAFF newsroom@tribunemedi.net

THE “independent” institution that police Commissioner Clayton Fernander said would supervise the Security and Intelligence Branch’s investigation involving Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson has continually failed to perform its legislative functions, raising questions about whether it can adequately oversee the highest-profile internal police investigation in years.

“There is an independent body. The facts will be there,” Commissioner Fernander said during a press conference on Monday, responding to public weariness about police investigating their own.

However, the United States has repeatedly highlighted in its annual human rights reports the lack of information about that independent body, the Police Complaints Inspectorate, a civilian-led organisation established in 2009 to review the Complaints and Corruption Branch’s actions and investigations and ensure proper functioning.

Asked why people should trust the body to supervise the investigation concerning Mr Johnson when it has been unable to carry out its duties in the past, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said yesterday: “Who has asked them to carry out their function and has been dissatisfied? The point is persons have not asked in the past.”

Pauline Seymour was the body’s chairperson from June 2023 to June 30, 2024.

Retired Chief Inspector Patrick Johnson, Leonard Leadon, Rev John A Rolle and Ruby Saunders were also appointees. It is not clear if their tenure was renewed.

Under its past chairperson, Tanya McCartney, the Inspectorate recommended establishing a secretariat, insisting the body lacks the operational capacity to fulfil its mandate.

Past members said they wanted the government to “ensure that the secretariat is properly resourced” and to “make structural adjustments to promote further transparency, independence and accountability of the Inspectorate”.

In response, Mr Munroe

said last year that a Security Forces Inspectorate Bill would be advanced to improve civilian oversight of complaints processes within security forces.

He acknowledged the need for a “more robust investigative” system, adding that the Inspectorate’s current constraints limited its capabilities.

“Under the constraints that we met them operating, they have other jobs,” he said. “It’s not a full-time position. When we came into office, I didn’t meet them with any administrative support in the ministry. They themselves pointed out the limitation of what they could accomplish, although they were working.

“And they have suggested certain reforms to their process that we’re considering. And so far as they are suggesting that there should perhaps be something more full-time like you have in other jurisdictions like INDECOM in Jamaica.”

Yesterday, Mr Munroe said the government has given the Inspectorate administration support, “but the other resources/ structure issues remain”.

He said the Security Force Inspectorate Bill, a draft of which he hopes to finalise over the House of Assembly’s summer recess, will address investigative resource issues.

On Tuesday, the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) renewed calls for establishing an independent Integrity Commission.

“ORG has long advocated for the establishment of an independent Integrity Commission as a vital and sustainable solution for the Bahamas,” it said. “Such a body, operated independently from the government, would be instrumental in reducing the incidence and perception of corruption, investigating allegations, and holding individuals accountable for their actions.”

The body said help from law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom and the United States “is a critical step in ensuring impartiality and thoroughness” with the investigation involving Mr Johnson. However, police have yet to define how US and UK agencies will help.

THE SCENE on Prince Charles Dr where a man and woman were killed after being shot by multiple assailants on January 3, 2023.

‘Accusation involving senior officer terribly disturbing’

that there will be not only a semblance but an actual independent review.”

Mr Davis said he could not give more information about the involvement of foreign investigators.

“I’m leaving that to the investigators, and I want them to set the parameters, but I want to make sure that what happened, that we get to the bottom of it all and that the confidence of the Bahamian people in the police force has been restored,” he said.

He said it is “quite alarming” that many Bahamians do not trust the police force to investigate the matter probably because it involves a senior officer.

“We have to appreciate that we’re all humans, we make mistakes, we have to understand what’s going on and where the bad apples exist, we have to weed them out,” he said.

“The overall goal is to find the truth and let the chips fall where they may and any persons who are culpable, they should be brought to justice.”

Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander has said the Security and Intelligence Branch of the police force will spearhead the investigation and that the Police Complaints Inspectorate will supervise that branch.

Although the Inspectorate is a civilian oversight body, it has continually failed to perform its legislative functions and has no investigators, raising

questions about whether it can adequately oversee the most high-profile internal police investigation in years. Officials are drafting legislation to create a more robust oversight body.

Commissioner Fernander said law enforcement teams from the US and UK will help with the investigation; he has yet to give details about this.

The investigation follows the leak of five voice notes purportedly involving an arrangement involving a senior officer, a lawyer, and two recently murdered gang members: Michael Fox Jr, and Dino Smith.

Police had issued wanted posters for Fox and Smith concerning the theft of $1,475,000 from an unattended security vehicle transporting cash for the Bank of The Bahamas to a private airport on November 2. However, the men were never charged with the incident. Fox was killed in May, while Smith was murdered on his birthday in January.

The Davis administration has consistently connected gangs to the country’s murder rate. It passed the Anti-Gang Bill 2024 in April after Mr Davis vowed to introduce the toughest gang legislation ever.

“If you are associated with a gang, we are coming after you,” he said. “If you have a lot of shiny things, no way to explain your wealth, we are going to seize what you have.”

PRIME MINISTER PHILIP ‘BRAVE’ DAVIS

The Tribune Limited

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LEON E. H. DUPUCH, Publisher/Editor 1903-1914

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Publisher/Editor 1919-1972

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RT HON EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON, C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B.

Publisher/Editor 1972-

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Transparency the key in probe

WHEN the allegations over possible corruption in the ranks of the police force emerged, we wrote in this column of the need for transparency in the investigation.

At the time, a press conference was to be held by Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander to brief the public on the way forward. That has since been held –and with much talk in the answers of not wanting to preempt the investigation that is to take place.

That is, of course, very valid – but that does not prevent discussion of the scale and scope of the investigation itself.

Since then, more has emerged – and there has been the very disturbing development that the person who first aired the voice notes that has sparked the investigation being shot and injured in the US.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has noted that he finds the voice notes terribly disturbing. Commissioner Fernander has talked of analysing the voice notes for background sounds that can bring more information – although it is the voices in the foreground that carry the allegations of most concern, of course.

Two of the men on those voice notes – Dino Smith and Michael Fox, Jr – have since been murdered. Each of them shot dead. One was shot as he arrived at a residence by three masked men, the other in his car on Prince Charles Drive as he gave a friend a ride to work.

A parent of each of those men has now spoken to The Tribune – each said their sons had told them about the existence of the voice notes prior to their deaths.

Each said that they recognised the voices of their sons on the notes.

The shooting in the US adds another thread, with the US authorities doubtless investigating that and any connections there may be.

With regard to the investigation here at home, it must be empowered to probe to the highest levels. Empowered does not just mean having the authority, but having the confidence that officers will be able to investigate officers who are more senior without consequence.

The Police Act gives the Commissioner and any police officer of or above the rank of Assistant Superintendent the same powers as a magistrate under the criminal code to summon and enforce the attendance of witnesses and examine them under oath – and anyone found to be willfully giving false evidence can be deemed to be guilty of perjury.

There has been discussion about outside involvement with bodies from the US and the UK but not as yet details of what that would be.

The public must also be confident in the investigation – and that the branch chosen to handle it is fit to do so. Its history has not been one to suggest it is necessarily the best equipped for such a task, which will do nothing to quell calls for a full Commission of Inquiry into the matter.

And, of course, at the end of all of this we also must say there is a presumption of innocence. The investigation must be clear and open-sighted and deliver an outcome that is fair. Transparency can only serve to bolster confidence in the police. Indeed, anything less than transparency would ill serve such confidence. It is still early in this process – we should not expect instant results, far from it. But this must remain in the public eye and it must not be drawn out longer than it needs to be.

There are other matters before the Commissioner that have been awaiting a decision for a considerable time now – we should not still be waiting and being told “stand by” on those matters, and we absolutely must not do so on this matter. It must be treated with the gravity it deserves. We hope it shall be.

When did water park plan appear?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

NASSAU Cruise Port… when did they include a ‘water park’?

Was it included in the original design? Why have a Cruise Port which can only attract 48 percent of the passengers off the numerous ships in port with a capacity of 30,000 passengers, Maura’s numbers not mine, and now a water park which in my estimate will do the final execution

of any benefit to the retail trades on Bay Street - straw vendors, taxi and tours drivers and in general the on-island Nassau Tourism industry. RCL Pl Beach club will see 28,000 passengers. RCL’s walk thru Nassau Port weekly - that’s bad enough, where’s the benefit for Bay Street? PM - absolutely No-No to water park, that’s too much. Nassau Ports clearly have business problems... wasn’t port supposed to benefit

Destruction of Athol Island

EDITOR, The Tribune. I WOULD like to give a shout out to my nephew, Mr Adrian White, the MP for St Anne’s, for seizing on such a delicate topic as the destruction of Athol Island under seemingly dubious circumstances and authority.

Downtown not kill it?

Again, have to ask was the RFP Minnis and them had for the port concession really legal? APD Co, a company controlled 51 percent by government won a government RFP. Me suggests they should never have granted the highly concessionary franchise to APD aka Nassau Parts.

K HUTCHINSON Nassau, July 8, 2024.

Good housekeeping?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

WHICH Bahamas government could qualify to receive a ‘Good Housekeepers Award’?

Probably have to go back to pre-1967 as since successive governments of whatever colour - mostly PLP - significantly have rarely even worried about fiscal or financial issues such as deficits, balance of payments or spending as simple as that. If it was expedient they have, note present tense, have a

policy... if the constituents need ‘hand-outs’ they will get them.

Spending is uncontrolled we see a massive increase in the travel budget for the upcoming year. Why? The only addition could be CHOGM in Samao, Pacific, but the rest the usual... or is government not telling us? Oh for Freedom of Information was available?

Ministerial travel... agree 100 percent Foreign Affairs job is to travel make the diplomatic

connections but a recent event in London causes this writer to ask - why?

Canto Choir signing in London coincidental around July 10, Independence, was it necessary for the Minister of Foreign Affairs to attend - thought we had a High Commissioner? So why the travel, Minister? You were in London a week or so ago again.

H K ADDERELY

Nassau, July 7 2024.

The Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) oversaw, at a public meeting in April of 2022, the public’s clear rejection of a venture by a business by the name of “Sand Dollar Tours” and a gentleman named Darville, who had been working on the project for over two years. This project did not entail any destruction of the topology of Athol Island and was rejected largely because this island has been designated as being in a Marine Protected Area. Mr Philip Davis and Mr Clay Sweeting were copied in on correspondence at the time and would be very much

aware of this then.

The sip-sip is that the son of a very high-ranking Member of the Governing Party has been granted a Crown Lease or Grant of over four acres on the north side of the island and has seemingly been given permission to decapitate the small but very environmentally important hillock, in the islands center. Athol Island is, like Paradise Island, Rose Island and Blue Lagoon Island, barriers to the massive waves that roll in from the Atlantic Ocean to our north.

Without these islands the Bahamas Capital City would still be in Harbour Island.

So, one question is how was it that DEPP was consulted in April of 2022, but seemingly ignored in

April of 2024. And another follow-on question, how was the public consulted in April of 2022 but ignored in April of 2024. Do the politicians have that much sway over the laws and regulations of the country. What the Voting Public must realise about Crown Land is that it is owned by the people of the Bahamas. Every damned one of us. The minute that a politician grants a lease, or sells a piece of Crown Land, it is no longer owned by us and we can lawfully be shut out above the high water mark. Numerous families would go by small boats and camp out on holiday weekends, along the north coast of Athol Island and even Spruce Cay (now Pearl Island). Today you will be run off of both islands and every other island around New Providence.

BRUCE G RAINE Nassau, July 9, 2024.

Police probe over claims

EDITOR, The Tribune.

IT is another sad day in this little country. We are now dealing with allegations of serious police corruption. These damaging voice notes tell a tale of a huge issue within the ranks of our local police force. It is good that the Commissioner said that they are investigating. However, it is insufficient to make this a Bahamianled investigation. This has to be done by an independent group of investigators. This is a time when new faces must be brought to our shores to give the Bahamian people a true sense that a real investigation will

be done. Anything short of that will be suspect to say the least. In those infamous voice notes it seems a lawyer was involved. The local Bar Association was so vocal the other day regarding the shooting at the Magistrate’s Court demanding that safety was imperative. Yet, I haven’t heard a peep regarding allegations that someone within their ranks may have been involved in such a diabolical scheme. They missed this story?

Let’s hope the government and all of its relevant agencies step up and do their job or we should hope they at least pretend to do it. So many quiet people on

this matter. So many. For this to happen we can be sure that the officer named here wasn’t acting alone. You can not gave such a scheme in place and no one else knows about it. The Commissioner has to let an independent group come in and check every inch of his force to ensure as much of the bad apples are weeded out. Just my two cents. This is a major embarrassment for the country. I hope the PM didn’t ask to keep this off the front page.

A DEEPLY CONCERNED CITIZEN Nassau, July 9, 2024.

AN ELDERLY couple holding hands during Family Fun Day at Clifford Park on July 10, 2024.

Photo: Dante Carrer/Tribune Staff

Govt urged to quickly fix water and power issues in Eleuthera

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ST BARNABAS MP Shanendon

Cartwright urged government to immediately address the electricity and water supply issues affecting Eleuthera residents.

Mr Cartwright, deputy leader of the FNM, said some people on the island have gone without power for an entire day.

“I got a message this morning about no electricity in Whale Point for 20 hours. So, people of Eleuthera are really having a difficult time,” he said in the House of Assembly on Monday.

Mr Cartwright said that a family, including an elderly woman about 80 years old and a four-month-old infant, are having difficulty due to a disruption in the water supply.

He stressed that the government should take responsibility and stop blaming everybody.

“We have the people of Eleuthera who are having to deal with challenges of what some say is like the dark ages, and they feel it is not right and the government must find a way. That is their job, not to point fingers, but find a way to deal with those issues,” Mr Cartwright said.

He called on Energy Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis to shed light on why these issues are happening in Eleuthera.

“These are the things that fundamentally matter that the Bahamian people are talking about,” he said.

In Bimini, Mr Cartwright said residents there are concerned about the increased airport fees compared to the fees at the Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau.

“They feel it is a disparity, and the way government is making decisions is lopsided,” he said.

Mr Cartwright said the government continues to paint a false picture of what life is like for Bahamians in The Bahamas as he raised concerns over fiscal matters.

He said the Davis administration is a “tax and spend” government.

He called for expanding financial facilities and expanding on historical partnerships with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank.

Mr Cartwright said: “We have not suggested that it cannot be beneficial to the Bahamian people, we just ask what does the government have in mind? What was the impetus?

What was the thinking by becoming part of this membership?”

MAN CHARGED WITH UNLAWFUL SEX WITH 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A 33-YEAR-OLD man denied molesting a 14-yearold girl in New Providence this March.

Justice Cheryl Grant Thompson arraigned Cashard Smith for unlawful sexual intercourse on Monday.

The defendant appeared virtually from the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. Smith allegedly had unlawful sexual intercourse with an underage girl on March 15.

After pleading not guilty to the charge, the accused was told that his trial would be fixed before Justice Renae McKay.

T WO MEN FROM ELEUTHERA ACCUSED OF ATTE MPTED MURDER

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

TWO men were remanded in custody after they were accused of accidentally shooting two other men near a club in Eleuthera last month.

Senior Magistrate Kara Turnquest Deveaux arraigned Dexter Hall Jr, 24, and Zoran Forbes, 26, for two counts of attempted murder and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The pair, while engaged in an argument with another man near a club in Green Castle Eleuthera,

allegedly shot and injured Ellison Butler and Kenneth Mackey on June 30.

These two men, aged 41 and 44 years old, were not involved in the argument. They were successfully treated for their injuries at a local clinic.

The duo were informed that their matter would be transferred to the Supreme Court through a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI). The pair will remain on remand at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until their VBIs are served on October 3. Tamara Pinder Mackey represented the accused.

DEPUTY LEADE OF THE FNM SHANENDON CARTWRIGHT

Remembering cultural icons at Independence

THE term cultural icon is often overused. Still, there are such icons in The Bahamas who are world class and who have contributed to our national and cultural development. At independence, we might recall the quality of two Bahamian talents.

The late Cleophas Adderley was invited to be the guest speaker at a weekly youth programme which began its sessions with the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem. He became visibly frustrated as the pre-teens and adolescents sang “March on Bahamaland” in a desultory and unenthusiastic manner.

He abruptly stopped the singing, fuming that he was not going to allow his national anthem to be sung in such a tepid and lethargic manner.

He made the young people stand at attention. He tested their voices. He offered a quick lesson on the meaning and importance of the national anthem. Then he directed the group in singing the anthem with gusto and purpose.

He insisted that they lift up their heads and their voices toward the rising sun in celebration of being proud Bahamians.

He believed in individual and national pride born of excellence.

The story exemplifies the spirit of excellence and exuberance of Cleophas Adderley, who disdained mediocrity and slackness, and whose joie de vivre was infectious, especially in his lifeblood: his passion for music.

He would wholeheartedly agree with a line from a presentation in this year’s independence celebration on Ft Charlotte: Being Bahamian “is not bout smoking slackness”.

Adderley was a genuine nationalist, who did not allow his patriotism to blind him to the beauty and treasury of other cultures nor to the challenges and shadows in his homeland.

He enthusiastically celebrated the best of humanity from traditional African songs to reggae to Beethoven to choral music to Junkanoo and other

traditional songs of the Bahamas, Haiti and other countries and cultures.

Both his father and mother taught him a love of country and the pursuit of excellence. He was the last child of Cleophas E Adderley, who served as a Member of Parliament.

He was the grandchild of RM Bailey, a noted tailor, who helped form the Ballot Party. Bailey was a progressive thinker. His daughter Helen was Cleophas’ mother. Helen Bailey Adderley also loved music. She was a seamstress, organist and pianist.

As he often stated, Cleophas famously loved being a Bahamian. In 1973, the year of independence, he was in lower six at The Government High School, the only Advanced Level music student, under the tutelage of Marion “Mickey” St George.

His classmates included: Heather Thompson, Sheffield Wilson, Bernice Pinder, Basil Barnett, Wendy Smith, Leslie Pinder, Louise Barry, Gregory Rahming, Olivia Mortimer, Sabrina Ingraham, Thomas Birch, John Farmer, Icelyn Russell and Mary Smith.

Some of his classmates remember him as self-confident, very diligent in his studies, and filled with opinions on the news of the day.

Passing the auditorium one would often hear Cleophas on the piano, the strains of which would blossom into a brilliant musical career. Ten years later, in

1983, as the country celebrated its tenth anniversary of independence, Adderley launched the Bahamas National Youth Choir (BNYC), with just under 80 members.

Though he became a lawyer and worked for a number of years in the Attorney General’s office, his enduring passion was music. A lover of opera, he proclaimed that Junkanoo was operatic, combining music, the visual arts and theatre into a magical display of Bahamian artistry and ingenuity.

A dear friend recalls that when the BNYC performed on stage in a city overseas, that the music hall erupted in delight and dance as the choir showcased the drums, cowbells, horns and rhythms of Junkanoo. The friend recalls the exuberance, the joy, the magic of the moment, and of how proud she was to be Bahamian.

Adderley and the BNYC displayed our Bahamian pride and imagination across the continents of the

world, dazzling audiences and sharing our heritage on the world stage. Like their beloved director, the hundreds of young people who populated the BNYC, demonstrated their love of being a Bahamian.

Adderley was famously a disciplinarian. He did not allow lateness, sloppiness, surliness, crudeness or incivility. He demanded neatness, punctuality, good manners and civility in language and bearing.

He knew that the world watched the manner and the bearing of the members of the BNYC whether they were performing in Latin America, Asia, Africa, the West Indies, North America or Europe. He demanded the same excellence when the Choir performed at home.

In a nation where slackness and mediocrity often reign, and where the crudest voices are often allowed free reign, Cleophas Adderley and Bahamas National Youth Choir mirrored and called us to our better selves and angels.

There is hardly a living Bahamian here at home who has not listened with enthusiasm and delight to the music of the BNYC under Adderley’s meticulous direction. Most of us know one or more individuals who were members of the choir.

The Bahamian Icon Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award for his trans-generational contributions to nation building through youth development” was a fitting tribute to Cleophas just before he left us.

Cleophas Adderley made all of our lives a little richer, more bearable and more beautiful.

How often do our mediocre expectations hamper the flowering of extraordinary talent? Why have we often failed to celebrate the native genius within as represented by brilliant and beautiful minds such as the late Tony McKay?

Cleophas once enthused: “It’s important that any civilised country have national cultural institutions that will help to reinforce their identity and also help to foster national pride, and help to show that it’s a country worthy of historical and cultural note.” He insisted: “If we didn’t have these things, we would really be like an undeveloped town or settlement, and we in The Bahamas are so much more than that - we are a sophisticated, developed nation and have much more to offer than just sun, sand and sea.”

Adderley composed “Our Boys”, the first Bahamian opera, which according to a report in this journal, “was also the first opera to have been written and performed in the English-speaking Caribbean”.

A devoted Anglican, he also composed “Missa Caribe”, the first Bahamas concert mass. His beloved friend, Bahamian singer and musician, the talented JoAnn Callender, rightly says that she wished that Cleophas had time to compose more of his original work.

In a tribute to Adderley, former Prime Minister Hubert Minnis noted: “Though we have lost a musical genius, his spirit lives on in all who were fortunate to be touched by his life, his spirit and his music.”

Bert Williams was born in The Bahamas in 1874. He left his homeland for the United States at around the age of 10. By the time of his death in 1922, he was considered “one of the greatest comedians of the world” and “by far the best-selling black recording artist before 1920”.

Comedian WC Fields considered Williams a comic genius. Williams was not one of the most notable black entertainers of his generation. He was simply one of the best entertainers of his generation.

Though Sidney Poitier is more well-known today, Williams broke more ground than the former, achieving phenomenal success as a recording artist, becoming one of the highest paid artists in the world at the time. He was a film actor who also produced, directed and starred in a silent film of his own. He performed on Broadway with the Ziegfeld Follies and did a command performance at Buckingham Palace. Though stymied by the vicious racism of his time, Williams broke many barriers. Many commented on the remarkable degree to which Williams kept innovating, honing his excellence through not only dogged practice but also by trying new things, by improvising, by expanding his repertoire. We have been touched by his excellence and his exuberance. How fortunate that we were contemporaries of such an extraordinary talent and artist. His inspiration and legacy endure.

CLEOPHAS ADDERLEY

BERT WILLIAMS

Jeremiah 9

1Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.

2Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.

3“They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph[b] in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the Lord.

4“Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver,[c and every friend a slanderer.

5Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.

6You[d] live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”declares the Lord.

7Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty what else can I do because of the sin of my people?

8Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them.

9Should I not punish them for this?” declares the Lord. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”

10I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not are gone.

11“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”

12Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

13The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.

14Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught

them.”

15Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.

16I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”

17This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them.

18Let them come quickly and wail over water streams from our eyelids.

19The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How ruined we are! How great is our shame! We must leave our land because our houses are in ruins.’”

20Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.

21Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses; it has removed the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares.

22Say, “This is what the Lord declares: “‘Dead bodies will lie like dung on the with no one to gather them.’”

23This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,

24but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.

25“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are

26Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places.[e] For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

As Biden dominates headlines, will Trump look to grab them back?

“EVEN bad publicity is good publicity.” Do you remember who made that famous?

It was Donald Trump, reportedly speaking on his long-running and tremendously successful TV serial ‘The Apprentice’, and writing in best-selling books like ‘The Art of the Deal’.

And he lived by that maxim, seeking headlines, lurid pictures and incessant coverage from the New York media as he began his relentless ascent from privileged but also relatively anonymous beginnings as son of a wealthy real estate developer to the central figure in the American social and political consciousness.

It’s now been two weeks since the June 27 televised debate between former American president Trump and current president Joe Biden. And guess what?

Everyone’s talking about … Biden! Every day at the White House press briefing, on cable newscasts from the right, left and centre of the political spectrum, in the editorial board rooms of the best, most trusted newspapers in the US and even in the thoughts and words of many millions of Americans who don’t live in the cloistered cocoons of New York City and Washington, DC, it’s Good Old Joe who is top of mind.

Ironically, for Trump at least, as the current saga unfolds around Biden and whether he will remain in the presidential race, be forced out from within his own party, step down on his own or something else will happen to alter the current lineup of Trump v Biden Part II, it is Scranton (PA) Joe who is dominating the discourse.

Two things about this. First, as Biden and his family clearly project their intention to ride out this

STATESIDE

hurricane of doubt, criticism and concern, will the embattled president actually manage to survive the popular and media storm and cruise to nomination by his Democratic Party at their convention next month in Chicago?

But second, when will Trump get sick of watching his bitter rival hog all the headlines while he is consigned to the status of backstage hero or knave, depending on which side of the political and television fence you are on?

Aren’t you wondering how long it will be before Trump blasts out of his relative quiescence and tries to pry away the headlines again? It’s doubtful he will wait too long. The Republican Party nominating convention is going to start in Milwaukee next week. We’re all still wondering who will be chosen as Trump’s vice-presidential running mate. But how many people are really thinking of that now?

Polls and pundits suggest that many more folks are engaged in indignation, defiance, anger, sorrow and even anticipation over Biden’s continuing battle to overcome an historically weak debate performance. At the moment, there do not appear to be many secrets about these two flawed candidates for the most powerful and significant position in our contemporary world.

After a decade in the white-hot heat of America’s

formidable public glare, Trump is well defined for almost everyone not living in a cave. If you look up ‘polarizing’ in the dictionary, you’d likely see his bouffant combed-over, fading blond hairy visage glaring defiantly at you. Everyone paying attention has already made up their mind about America’s great demagogue.

Maybe the most important facet of Trump is his hair.

A British men’s lifestyle magazine named Gentleman’s Journal this week quoted a well-known hair stylist: “I don’t think anyone could convince Trump to change his hair – but I’d have him wear it closer to his scalp. Right now, his hair and head look like they’ve had an argument and are trying to get away from each other. I’d bring it closer in at the sides and comb the hair across his head rather than front to back. Straighter lines might soften his jowls a little…”

Another hair professional offered this assessment to the magazine: “With this in mind – the terrible colour and sloppy lack of sharpness around the perimeter – I would definitely say that it’s up there as one of the worst hairstyles in the world – but also the most discussed. His advisors could have tamed it down, but any publicity is good publicity – and here we are talking about it!”

So, there it is, the magazine’s editors conclude:

“Trump’s hair, an analysis: It’s an antique gold comfort blanket-cum-display of individuality, intended to show him as staunch and loyal but in reality, falling short as looking cartoonish and stubborn. A hairy issue, no question – but this threadbare thatch looks set to stay.”

Biden is not going to compete with Trump in the public consciousness. His shtick is workmanlike competence. Or at least that’s what it was.

In most public appearances, Biden still generally looks good. He’s tall, slim and appears to keep himself in pretty good physical shape. He sports aviator sunglasses that he and wife Jill seem to always favour when they’re out and about in the sunshine. His smile can still light up a room.

As a much younger man who was first elected to the US Senate at the age of 31, Biden already showed definitive evidence of losing his hair, but he was handsome, successful and looked confident enough to rule the world. Which, in a sense, he’s doing now.

But there’s this different, troubling side to Biden now. He is often photographed with shoulders slightly slumped, his thin, hair-plugged mane stubbornly shaggy just at the back of his neck. He can seem hesitant and on the verge of an embarrassing stumble as he tentatively makes his way on or off the presidential jet Air Force

One or the presidential helicopter Marine One. He looks old and tired at times. Biden is, and clearly sees himself, as an indominable fighter who has overcome major obstacles throughout his life and will do so again between now and Election Day on November 5. It’s interesting to watch Trump and Biden as they gather themselves for their November rematch. And it’s just as interesting to watch as the Democratic Party, which sees itself as the party of true democracy, seem to fall in line behind a worrisome, flawed leader, with none of the party leaders courageous enough to speak out against his continued candidacy.

That’s just what the Democrats have spent the past four years criticizing the Republicans for doing with Donald Trump.

This is not to say that the two major American political parties are mirror images of each other. Their differences are etched in bold relief in the American political consciousness –especially these days.

But the Dems and the GOP are led by ambitious, power-hungry men who hate to lose and project their testosterone-fueled rivalry onto a country and world in desperate need of sober, strong American leadership at a time of unusual international restlessness and genuine danger as conflicts with ancient, unresolved origins continue to rage in the geographic neighbourhoods inhabited by Israel and Ukraine and other regional conflicts and animosities threaten to explode like so many spot fires in the American West.

As America’s loyal (except perhaps for Viktor

Orban’s Hungary) NATO allies gather in Washington this week for a much-anticipated summit meeting that is likely to move ever closer to a promise of future membership for Ukraine, the biggest headline for most media will be Biden’s ability to project and personify American strength and resolve.

It is likely that as this meeting concludes, reporters from all over the world will mine and dissect and analyse every other Western leader’s spoken and written words, smiles, eyerolls and physical affect for clues about their real assessment of Biden’s mental acuity and physical stamina.

They aren’t likely to find much to parse. It’s no secret that every European leader (again, perhaps except for Orban) desperately wants to see Biden or some other Democrat prevail against Trump and his nativist view that the US neither needs nor should continue to support the NATO alliance which has undergirded Western security and prosperity for 75 years.

For Europe, Vladimir Putin’s Russian megalomania remains an existential threat. While it’s possible that in the future, Europe’s leaders will decide they must make and execute a plan for security independent of American military might, that day is not close at hand. They need the US committed to NATO and engaged in the world. Our neighbours in the Caribbean and in South America need America’s strength and commitment too. But we’re not voting in November.

with Charlie Harper

REPUBLICAN presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens to questions during a presidential debate with President Joe Biden, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. The future Republican vice presidential candidate’s plane is currently parked in an undisclosed airplane hangar, an empty spot on its fuselage for where a decal featuring his or her name will soon be placed. All that’s left is an announcement from Trump on who he’ll pick.

Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP

PRESIDENT Joe Biden attends a church service at Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ, on in Philadelphia

Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

TWINS ACCUSED OF POSSESSION OF A LOADED GUN AND AMMUNI T ION

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

TWINS were granted bail after they were accused of having a loaded gun in New Providence last week.

Magistrate Lennox Coleby arraigned Delono Rodgers and Delon Rodgers on Tuesday for possession of an unlicenced firearm and possession of ammunition. The 20-year-olds were allegedly found with a black Berretta 9mm pistol and four rounds of ammunition on July 2. Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their bail was set at $7,500 each. The defendants will be fitted with a monitoring device and must sign in at the Elizabeth Estates

Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday by 6pm. They were further warned not to leave New Providence without the court’s permission.

Their trial is scheduled for September 25. Inspector R Smith served as prosecutor. Ian Cargill and Mark Penn represented the accused.

M AN GE T S T HREE MON T HS PRISON FOR S T EALING CAR

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sentenced to three months in prison yesterday after he admitted to stealing a luxury car in

New Providence last week. Magistrate Kendra Kelly arraigned Deangelo Omar Delancey, 26, for stealing and receiving. Delancey reportedly stole a grey 2012 MercedesBenz E250 valued at $8,000

from Theodora Cartwright on July 3.

After pleading guilty to the charge, the defendant was ordered to serve three months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

THE BOYS Brigade Bahamas National Council president and executive members paid a courtesy call upon Governor General, Dame Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt at the Office of the Governor General on Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Pictured from left: Captain Darius Sealy, president; Dame Cynthia Pratt; Captain Henry Curry II, New Providence Battalion Chairman; and Lt. Valarie Butler, National Secretary. Photo: Letisha Henderson/BIS

MS. ZARIA STAPLETON, a student of St. Augustine’s College, presented copies of her books, ‘Twins of Stapledon Gardens,’ ‘The Cookie Crumbler,’ and ‘The Butterfly Effect’ to Governor General, Dame Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt during a courtesy call at the Office of the Governor General, July 3, 2024.

Photo: Letisha Henderson/BIS

Overturned tanker spills diesel near Abaco homes

Mr Thompson said the diesel spilt was in a residential area with no houses.

He said up to yesterday, all the diesel had not been removed, and a “horrendous” stench polluted the area near the government complex. He said mango, sugar cane and other fruit trees were growing in the area and had likely been contaminated. BPL disconnected electricity for about an hour so the Sun Oil truck could be moved without incident.

“I am very concerned,” he told The Tribune.

“This is the second incident that has happened under Sun Oil. This is something that local government and the community will put pressure on. If we have to take Sun Oil to court to clean this up, we will. People need to be held accountable.”

Abaco community advocate Sibert Mills broadcast the spill’s aftermath live on Facebook. He noted the fire department and the environmental health officials were at the scene.

“You can see gallons and gallons of fuel escaping from the truck,” he said, urging residents to take an alternative route. He said the driver of the truck was taken to the clinic.

Funeral Service for

Former Deputy Supt. of Police NOEL ALEXANDER THOMPSON, 93

of Buttings Avenue, Polhemus Gardens will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday 12th July 2024 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Boyd Road. Officiating will be Monsignor Alfred Culmer and Monsignor Simeon Roberts assisted by other members of the clergy. Interment will follow in the Catholic Cemetery, Tyler Street.

Left to cherish Noel’s fond memories are his, daughter: Brenda Williams; son: Noel (Noey) Thompson; Grandchildren: Sean and Nyoshi Rodgers, Tamiko and Melissa Williams, De’Vaughn and Tanecha Williams, Krystle and Stephen Bamberski and Christine Johnson; Great Grand Daughter: Brandeeka Storr Rodgers and Jazmin Rodgers, Aneesha, Ashanti, Breeanna Williams; Great Grand Sons: Trevon, De’Andrae Williams, and Jalen Rodgers, Ryan, Owen, Erik, Andrew and Adam Bamberski; Great-Great Grand Daughter: Skaylor Hall, Ariyanah Lindsey, and Nova Knight; Great-Great Grand Son: Malik Lindsey; Sisters-InLaw: Dorothea Dugoua of Montreal, Teresa Bandilier, Ruth Roker, Patricia Roker, and Della Roker of Freeport; Brother-In-Law: William Roker; Nephews: Michael Kelley and Jean-Pierre Faure of Florida, Bernard and Werner Bandilier, Thomas Roker Jr. of Ft. Lauderdale, Montgomery and Tasso Roker. Inspector Johnny Roker of RBPF, Dr. Jean-Jacque Dugoua of Toronto, Jason Roker of Freeport, Dino Roker, Bishop Anthony Roker, Robert Sands, Garth Reynolds of Tampa, Kipling Reynolds of Ohio, and Angelo Roker; Grand Nephews: Chretien Kelley of Hollywood, California, Gino Bastian of Orlando, Petty Officer Christopher Bandilier of RBDF, Vontez Bandilier of RBDF, Naaman and Nathan Bandilier, and Stephen Burrows and Giovanni Bastian; Nephews-In-Law: Jason Edwards of Fort Lauderdale, Perry Gilbert of Freeport and Koed Smith LLB; Nieces: Maria Kelley, Sandra Cartwright of Portland, Maine, Gladys Gonzalez of Florida, Gina Bandilier, Monique Smith, Lisa Roker, Brenda Wilson of Georgia, Ashanti Roker of RBDF, Yvnetta Edwards of Fort Lauderdale, Sophia Gilbert of Freeport, Pamela Alpert of Tampa, Jay Townsend of California, Lynn Vinez of Indiana, and Marie-Chantel of Montreal; Grand Nieces: Chantel Siders of Port St. Lucie, Michelle Graves of Georgia, Nyah Bandilier, Marine Laing, Kailynn Bandilier, Sharnett Roker of Georgia, Brianna and Bernae Bandilier; Nieces-In-Law: Deana Kelley, Neressa Bandilier, Ph.D., Brendalee Roker of Freeport and Shawna Roker; A host of other relatives and friends: The family wishes to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who provided support during our time of need. We offer special thanks to: Dr. Argeta Enas-Carey from V. W. Eneas Medical Clinic. We are deeply grateful to Msgr. Alfred Culmer of St. Josep’s Catholic Church and Msgr. Simeon Roberts of St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church for their spiritual support. Additionally, we thank Bethel Brothers Morticians for their professional services.

May His Soul Rest In Peace!

Friends may pay their last respects at Bethel Brothers Morticians and Crematorium, #44 Nassau Street (TODAY) Thursday 11th July 2024 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and at the church on Friday 12th July 2024 from 10:00 a.m. until service time

MOTHER ARRESTED

THE mother of an eightyear-old boy was arrested after authorities discovered the child’s dead, decomposing body. Police received an alert

about the dead child at a residence on Kelly Lane, Johnson Road, around 12.45pm on Tuesday.

Police took the mother of the child, who was at the residence, into custody to assist with investigations. A post-mortem examination will be performed to determine the exact cause of death.

A SUN Oil tanker carrying oil to Bahamas Power and Light flipped

Sir Franklyn recipient of 2024 International

Man of The Year at Men of Honour Awards

SIR Franklyn Wilson has been named the recipient of the 2024 International Man of Honour Award at the Men of Honour Awards in Orlando.

The celebration will take place in Orlando, Florida, on September 27 and 28, and is hosted by Onyx Magazine.

Rich Black, the publisher of Onyx Magazine and the creator of the awards, said: “We look at individuals who have established a legacy, despite the odds and they succeeded. Sir Franklyn was nominated by several people, and our committee did their research and it was a clear choice for the 2024 International Man of Honour.”

Last year, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis was the inaugural Global Impact Leader of the Year at the awards for his position on climate change.

This year’s event is almost sold out. Mr Black said: “Last year, when we had The Bahamian Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, everyone in South Florida who’s who, wanted to attend. The event was sold out and we had to turn down several people, including some high profile people who wanted to attend with their entourage. But we just couldn’t

and Office of the Governor General officials. Photos: Patrick Hanna/BIS

Funeral Service for BEATRICE VICTORIA HIGGS-BODIE,

71

of #3 Gamble Heights and formerly of Matthew Town, Inagua, who died on Thursday, June 20th, 2024, will be held on Friday, July 12th, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Mount Tabor Church, Willow Tree Avenue & Mount Tabor Drive. Officiating will be Rev. Dr. Dolly King, assisted by other ministers of the gospel. Interment will follow in Lakeview Memorial Gardens, John F. Kennedy Drive.

Cherished memories will live forever in the hearts of her, Husband: James Bodie; 3 sons: Jermaine Daley, Jamaal (Sasha) Murray, Jasheed Strachan Police Detective Constable #4251; Brothers: Franklyn (Lucille), Robert (Delia), Stafford and Pastor Cassell Higgs JP (Gil); Sisters: Isula HiggsToote (Stanley), Zelizabeth Duclona (Terry Lawrence), Darlene HiggsHollis; Mother-in-law: Maybell Bodie; Sisters-in-law: Jennifer Clarke, Renea, Kaylesa and Valencia Bodie; Brothers-in-law: Vernon Clarke and William Bodie Jr.; Grandchildren: Jamya, Faith, Samaaj Murray, Jasheed Strachan Jr, Jeremy, Judah, Jaylene, Jeremia, and Jordyn Daley, Kaycie Arnett, Leshae Cash, and Ramiah Steir; Aunt: Olive Archer of Matthew Town, Inagua; Nieces: Jonquil Louis, Claudia, Nicolette, Michelle, Ashley, Jema, Makia, Staffordnique, Vanessa, and Andrea Higgs, MaKel Bain, Lannell Burrows, Jovanna (Culbert Jr.) Toote-Evans, Stanleaah Toote, Terykah and Tierra Hollis, Tecia, Sandra, Suze, Jessica Duncombe, Mariarl Knowles, Eulinda Huyler; Nephews: James Smith (Lillian), Levaughn, Cassell (Latoya), Valdino (Petergae), Garrick, Stafford Jr. Shanley (Deidre), Shayne (Edrica) and Renaldo (Vandia) Toote, Trey Hollis, Mandel (Reshinda) Miller, Doshynko Sullivan, Lavaskio Higgs Police Constable 4638; Many Grandnieces including: Jadyne Toote, Laniquita Louis, Synovia Bien-aime, Harmony Clarke, Patience Duncombe, Valdia, Lavanna, Meleah, Beverly and Malika Higgs, Jamice Moxey, Jalia Smith, Xanaje Bain, Xanaya Coakley, Balicia, Tianna, Luciah, Avery Rolle, Arianna, Siera Toote, Nyiah and Gabriel Miller, Lanikita Louis, Laquel and Ta-Leah; Many Grandnephews including: Jhadeem, Shaquille and James Smith Jr., Xavion and Xyon Bain, Xamel Knowles, Israel Carey, Aubrey Mullings, Levaughn Jr., Xavier, Lavano, Valdino Jr, Valdez, Mahdie and Vaden Higgs, Langston, Landon, Shayne Jr., Stanley II, Ethan Toote, Kinaz Rolle, David Bodie, Romeo Archer, Jervenio and Reign Cartwright; Other Relatives and Friends: Andrew & Audrey Flowers, Evelyn Darville, Georgina Higgs, Manfred & Idamae Brown and family, Ruth & Naomi Simmons, Anquisia Lynne Carthen of Edmond Oklahoma, USA, Christian Strachan, Steven Plakaris, Ashley Dean, Aruga Wright, Charles Moss Jr., Yvonne Duncombe, Latoya Martin, Tanya Fernanda, Rhonda Hall, Lenora Neely, Carla Williams, Rowena Johnson,, Francis Symonette, Bertha, Phillipa and The Fort Fincastle Straw Market family, Philip and Miriam Armbrister and family, Hilith, Martha and Roberts Higgs and family, Mavis Moore, Linville ‘Lenny” Williams and numerous family Providenciales and North Cacios, Turks Island. Christine Archer-Prosper and numerous friends and family in Grand Bahama, Pastor Dolly King, Ruth Lightbourne and the members of Hosanna Baptist Church, Dr. Valentine Grimes, Dr. Olu Tinabu; and a host of other relatives and friend too numerous to mention. Friends may pay their last respects at East Sunrise Mortuary #183 Baillou Hill Road & Cordeaux Avenue from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on (TODAY) Thursday and again at the church from 10:00 a.m. to service time on Friday

Please visit our website: www.eastsunrisemortuary.com to share your memories and condolences with family and friends.

#183 Baillou Hill Road & Cordeaux Avenue, P.O. Box CB-12248, Nassau, Bahamas Telephone: (242) 323-EAST (3278), 326-4209 | Email: eastsunrise@batelnet.bs

accommodate them.” Sir Franklyn is the chairman of Sunshine Holdings and of Arawak Homes Limited. He is also chairman of Jack’s

Bay Developers Ltd in Eleuthera, Focol Holdings; as well as Royal Star Assurance Ltd and Sunshine Insurance and Sunshine Finance.

to

three children and a foster son as well as nine grandchildren.

of Cockburn Town, San Salvador, who died on Saturday, June 29th, 2024, will be held on Saturday, July 13th, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. at Holy Saviour Catholic Church, Cockburn Town, San Salvador. Officiating will be Deacon Gregory Taylor, assisted by Pastor Johnathan Knowles and Pastor Ivy Butler. Interment will follow in the Cockburn Town Public Cemetery, San Salvador. He is predeceased by his Grandfathers: Vernon C. Knowles and Captain Calvin Wilson; Grandmother: Leotha Newton; Step-grandmother: Deloris Wilson; Brother: Garvin Jones.

Precious and fondest memories will forever linger in the hearts of his Dearest Mother: Mrs. Cheryl Mackey; Stepfather: Elder Nathaniel Mackey Jr.; Father: Mr. Perry Wilson; Stepmother: Mrs. Brenda Wilson; Sisters: Sherene Johnson (Marvin), RN Nakishna Mackey-Curtis (Torriano), WD/ Sgt. 3480 Lashonda Charlton (Brenton Jr.) and Nathalie Stubbs (Damien Sr.); Brother: Livant Wilson; Devoted Grandmother and ‘Mommy’: Mrs. Eureka Knowles; Aunts: Charmaine, Dale, and Valencia Knowles, Astrid Jones, Cecile Knowles-Argenti, Shereen Gaitor, Kaye and Gloria Wilson, Eloise, Marcia, Karen, Harvetia, Sherita, Shantell and Shanell Knowles, Zilpha Evans, Bloneva Smith, Pastor Claudell Farrington, Sheena and Shantell Mackey; Uncles: Michael, Kenderick, Darelle, Van, Deargo, Trevor, Dave, Gerald and Superintendent of Police Adrian Knowles, Dennis and Bruce Kemp, John Outten, George Gaitor, Rodolfo Argenti, Ezra, Jeffery, Apostle Keith and Ashley Mackey, Murray Evans, Vernal Smith, Claude Farrington Sr.; Nieces: Makaia and Jaida Johnson, Livandra Wilson, Kiarjae Hepburn, Nia Curtis, Bailee and Bree Charlton, Diamond and Trinity Stubbs; Nephews: Blair Charlton, Noah Curtis, Damien Jr. and Dominic Stubbs; Grand-aunts: Patricia and LaVern Hamilton of Jacksonville, FL.; Grand-uncle: Charles Hamilton of Jacksonville, FL.; Cousins: Paris, Vernon, Kendra, Kenya, Kristoff, Shaquille, Mason, Kyle, K’Vann, Adrian, Osmana, Eldon, Cordero, Arianna, Adron, Deadra, Deavion, Dave Jr., Shania, W/M Trevonya, RN Ashley and RN Adria Knowles, Adale Albury, Shervin McKinney, Quinetta Hayes, Lavando Storr, Sabia Clarke, Raven Stuart, Asari and Shantieka Jones, Kenyon Osborne, Kiano Carey, Mikhail Rolle, Leiliann Wilson, Natasha, Fabian and Justice Pratt Jr., Lei’kaya Curtis, Shantieker, Sheneska, Sheniqua, Shantia Ettienne, Gabriel, Sherane and Starlia Gaitor, Adaria and Adale Albury Jr. Hayden Williams, Klayson Rahming, Ameir, Jeremiah, Michael, Nehemiah and Cordero Knowles Jr., Livaria, Aleah and Lavae Storr, Senior Commander Omarv and Chief Petty Officer Yohence Saunders, RN Agnes Deveaux, Brielle Wallace, Javin Miller and Jasmine Bethel; Godmother: Karen Fernander; Special Friends: Lajuanda Laing, Kevera Moncur, Javie Rahming, Dencil Burrows Sr., Raymond Jones Sr., Charles and Sonia Jones, Nadege Russell, Lashan Black, LaTarrio Williams, Luden Gibson Jr. Wilfred Edgecombe, Tanovia Higgs, Cleonardo Storr, Kim Farrah, Julian Ferguson, Samantha Burrows, Tyrone, Jerry & Dudley Pratt, Deno, Latheria and Kenton King, Kino Cox, Kevin Black, Peter Butler, Dwight Johnson, Marlene NairnSmith, Chavez Black, Wellington ‘Boy’ Taylor and Dr. Colton Jones; Other relatives and friends: Philip Sands & Family, Pastor Ivy Butler & Family, Pastor Johnathan Knowles & Family, Pastor Mark Ferguson & Family, Matthew Hunt & Family, Alesha Storr, Deborah Fernander & Family, Arelyn Calhoun & Family, Brenda Hart & Family, Pamela Storr & Family, Nola Deveaux & Family, Maudline Pinder & Family, Clifford Fernander & Family, Faith Jones & Family, Lawrence Hepburn, Iris, Bruno, Floyd and Patrice Fernander, Iva Williams & Family, Olive Smith, Winston and Nurse Bonaby & Family, Saralee and Bishop Godfrey Williams & Family, Laverne Cooper, Min. Peter Douglas, Dorothy, Brenelle, Alton and Quincy Poitier, Keva Edgecombe, Sonia Delaney, Ruby & Bridgette Jones & Family, Chelera Walker, Diane Nairn, Theresa Williams, Kevin Williams & Family, Carrimae Hunt & Family, Paul Turnquest & Family, The Knowles, Hamilton, Fernander, Benson and Jones Families, Pastor Gary Hanna & Family, Pastor Stephen Brown & Family, Thaddeus Anderson & Family, Paula Jones & Family, Cindy Davis & Family, Jacquelyn Moxey, Allison, Mary, Denise, Kenderia and Paulette Jones & Family, Marzelle Francis & Family, Maddie Strachan & Family, Henrietta Cash & Family, Ashley Pinder & Family, Charlynda Cartwright, Tonya Charlton, Crashante Cummings, Charles Miller & Family, Brittany and Darren, Aldra Russell, Wendy Storr & Family, Pastor Nathaniel Walker & Family, Lester Williams Sr. & Family, Terrance Storr & Family, Max Ferguson & Family, Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander & Family, Sgt. Javis and Nurse Linda Jones, Lorna Bowe, Sherry Johnson, Ingrid Williams, Ricky, Dedrie and Stanford Storr, Lisa and Gregory Louis, Angela Farrington & Family, Angela Hinsey & Family, Michelle Williams, Tonya Fernander, Audrey Dean, Antoinette Fernander, Shannon Knowles, Pastor Leo Jones & Family, Pastor Agnes Jones & Family, Administrator Frances Barr & Family, The Zippies and “Mailboat” Crew, The Class of 1999, The entire San Salvador Community, Dr. Tenishka Storr-Knowles, Dr. Sheryl Lagonilla, Nurses Bridgette Evans, Carlotta Hamilton-Rolle, Denise McRae, and Esterlee Thompson, Deacon Gregory Taylor and numerous other relatives and friends.

To those whose names we may have been inadvertently left off, we humbly apologize.

Friends may pay their last respects at East Sunrise Mortuary #183 Baillou Hill Road & Cordeaux Avenue from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (TODAY) Thursday, at the church in Cockburn Town, San Salvador from 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. on Friday and again on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to service time. Please visit our website: www.eastsunrisemortuary.com to share your memories and condolences with family and friends.

Sir Franklyn is married

Lady Sharon Wilson. They have

SIR FRANKLYN WILSON

GOVERNOR GENERAL, Dame Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt accepted Letters of Credence from Her Excellency Yan Jiarong as Resident Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, on July 9, 2024 at the Office of the Governor General. In attendance were Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese Embassy,

51st Independence Day Honours List

Sir Baltron B Bethel, KCMG, CMG

Basil O’Brien, CMG

Camille F. Johnson, CMG

Donald McKinney (Posthumously)

Estelle G Gray-Evans

Ethlyn Isaacs , OBE (Posthumously)

Franklyn Kennedy McPherson Williams

Herbert C Walkine , CMG, OBE, CVO (Posthumously)

Indira Nicole Demeritte-Francis

Leonard Joseph Knowles (Posthumously)

Margaret McDonald, CBE , CVO (Posthumously)

Maxwell James Thompson, OBE (Posthumously)

Patricia Fountain Lady Isaacs (Posthumously)

Rodney Ezekial Bain (Posthumously)

Wendell G Major, OBE Order of Excellence

James Lawlor

John Joseph Issa Order of Distinction - Companion

Albert Sidney Ferguson

Angela Missouri Sherman-Peter, MD

Anthony Alfred Adderley

Audrey Eloise Major-Rolle

Barbara Carey-Burrows

Barbara Zonicle

Belinda Madgalene

Wilson

Berchenal A Bethel

Bernardette Thompson-Murray

Caleb Bernard Osbourne Hepburn (Posthumously)

Calvin Balfour

Carl Francis Smith

Charles James Turner

Charles Christopher Albury

Cheryl Marie Darville

Colin Deane (Posthumously)

Colin Leslie Higgs

Colleen Nottage

Creswell Sturrup

Cynthia Lorraine Duvalier

Cynthia Gibbs

Charles Davidson Hepburn, OBE

Diana Lightbourne

Doan Cleare

Earl H Seymour

Edwin Culmer

Elikam George Moss (Posthumously)

Elise Delancy Elliston Rahming

Elma Garraway, MBE

Emily Monique Williams

Ernest John Bowe

Eugenia C Cartwright, OD

Franklyn Agustus Butler II

Franklyn J Kemp

Geannine Renee Moss

Glen Samuel Beneby

Glenn Gomez

Godfrey Randolph Williams

Harcourt Victor Brown

Harold Munnings, OBE (Posthumously)

Harrison Thompson Hyacinth Winder-Pratt Irene Patrica Clarke-Stubbs

Ivan Ford Butler, Jr

James Allardyce Campbell, MBE (Posthumously)

James Anothony “Tony” McKinney

Janeen McCartney Japheth Edison Deleveaux (Posthumously)

Jeanette Bethel

Jennifer Johnson

John Berkley “Peanuts” Taylor, MBE

John Addington Rolle (Posthumously)

Joshua Sears Kelsie Dorsett

Larry Demeritte

Leanza Elizabeth Gardiner–Keju

Leila Greene

Leona Rosalee Jane

Fernander-Samuda (Posthumously)

Luther Emerson Smith

Maisie Evans

Marco Rolle

Mary Mitchell

Mary Sweetnam (Posthumously)

Melvin Carvel Seymour

Myrtis Geneva Russell

Nehemiah Waywood

Francis (Posthumously)

Rev Newton Williamson, BEM

Nikkiah Meoshi Forbes

Noreen Yvonne Major (Posthumously)

Oris Stanley Russell, CMG, OBE (Posthumously)

Patricia Eaine Joan

Rodgers

Patrick Ernest Bailey (Posthumously)

Patrick Wright

Peter Deveaux-Isaacs

Philip Steven Weech

Philip Miller

Philip Berlin Munroe

Raymond Julien

Raymond Roosevelt

Neilly

Rena Glinton

Renae Lunel Ferguson

Bufford

Rev Reuben Edward Cooper, MBE

Rhonda Sheena Teresa Chipman-Johnson

Ronald Thompson

Roosevelt Anthony

Philip Bethel

Rudolph Alexander Levarity

Samuel Toney Evans (Posthumously)

Shelia Gweneth Carey

Sherrylee Denise Smith

Stevenson Smith

Talmage Raymond Leo Pinder, JP

Terrance S Bastian

Thelma Ferguson-Beneby

Theophilus Coakley

Tonya Bastian-Galanis

Washington Williams

Wilbur Courtney Preston

Major (Posthumously)

Wilfred Alexander Horton (Posthumously)

Willamae Salkey

William B Donsel Styles (Posthumously)

William Edward Poitier

Order of Distinction – Officer

Andrea Sweeting (Posthumously)

Antoinette Saunders

Carmen Dawkins

Carmen Gomez

Clara Lowe

Clarice Turnquest

Cloretta Denise Cargill-Gomez

Coralee Mackey

Donna Marie Delancy

Iris Loretta Williams

Ismella Davis-Delancy

Jacqueline Priscella Barnett-Bethel

Leon Wilson

Miriam L Curtiss

Nerissa Gibson

Roger Irvin Forbes

Rosemary C Pintard-Bowe Order of Distinction – Member

Beverly Wallace Whitfield, Governor-General’s Gold Award, MVO

Bendalee Adderley

Cypreanna Winters

Eddington Alexander Burrows

Kim Saunders

Kimberley McKinney-Rolle

Paul Cecil Aranha

Sonja Annette Poitier Order of Merit - Companion

Albert Cyril Armbrister

Andrew Johnson Androsia Christina

Fernander Anthony Morris (Posthumously)

Arnold Edwin Josey Sr

Cheryl Lenora Carey Christian Justilien

Daniel Ferguson

Dianne M Kemp-Dunn

Emmanuel Wesley Francis Gary Mackey

George Willis Bethell Gillian Gia Curry Williams

Glenroy Derrick Aranha Herbert Zacha-

SIR BALTRON BETHEL

BEVERLY WALLACE-WHITFIELD

ELLISTON RAHMING

ANTHONY CAPRON

Independence Honours List continued

from page 14

Family Fun Day

GLADSTONE THURSTON

GOVERNOR General Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt attends the 51st Independence Celebrations at Fort Charlotte last night.

Photo: Nikia Charlton

A GIRL rides a slide during Family Fun Day at Clifford Park yesterday.

Photos: Dante Carrer/Tribune Staff

PRIME Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis and Governor General Dame Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt stand at attention during the 51st Independence Day celebrations at Fort Charlotte on Tuesday.

Photos: Nikia Charlton

CELEBRATION of 51 years of independence at Fort Charlotte on Tuesday.

Photos: Nikia Charlton

How climate change is heating up weather around the world

By MATHEW BARLOW and JEFFREY BASARA

UMass Lowell

LESS than a month into summer 2024, the vast majority of the US population has already experienced an extreme heat wave. Millions of people were under heat warnings across the western US in early July or sweating through humid heat in the East.

Death Valley hit a dangerous 129 degrees Fahrenheit (53.9 C) on July 7, a day after a motorcyclist died from heat exposure there. Las Vegas broke its all-time heat record at 120 F (48.9 C). In California, days of over-100-degree heat in large parts of the state dried out the landscape, fuelling wildfires. Oregon reported several suspected heat deaths.

Extreme heat like this has been hitting countries across the planet in 2024.

Globally, each of the past 13 months has been the hottest on record for that month, including the hottest June, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate service. The service reported on July 8, 2024, that the average temperature for the previous 12 months had also been at least 1.5 C (2.7 F) warmer than the 1850-1900 preindustrial average.

The 1.5 C warming threshold can be confusing, so let’s take a closer look at what that means. In the Paris climate agreement, countries worldwide agreed to work to keep global warming under 1.5 C, however that refers to the temperature change averaged over a 30-year period. A 30-year average is used to limit the influence of natural year-to-year fluctuations.

So far, the Earth has only crossed that threshold for a single year. However, it is still extremely concerning, and the world appears to be on track to cross the 30-year average threshold of 1.5 C within 10 years.

We study weather patterns involving heat. The early season heat, part of a warming trend fuelled by humans, is putting lives at risk around the world.

HEAT IS BECOMING A

GLOBAL PROBLEM

Record heat has hit several countries across the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia in 2024. In Mexico and Central America, weeks of persistent heat starting in spring 2024 combined with prolonged drought led to severe water shortages and dozens of deaths.

Extreme heat turned into tragedy in Saudi Arabia, as over 1,000 people on the Hajj, a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, collapsed and died. Temperatures reached 125 F (51.8 C) at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on June 17. Hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan, were overwhelmed amid weeks of high heat, frequent power outages, and water shortages in some areas. Neighbouring India faced temperatures around 120 F (48.9 C) for several days in April and May that affected millions of people, many of them without air conditioning.

In Greece, where temperatures were over 100 F (37.8 C) for days in June, several tourists died or were feared dead after going hiking in dangerous heat and humidity.

Japan issued heatstroke alerts in Tokyo and more than half of its prefectures as temperatures rose to record highs in early July.

THE

Although heat waves are a natural part of the climate, the severity and extent of the heat waves so far in 2024 are not “just summer.”

A scientific assessment of the fierce heat wave in the eastern US in June 2024 estimates that heat so severe and long-lasting was two to four times more likely to occur today because of human-caused climate change than it would have been without it. This conclusion is consistent with the rapid increase over the past several decades in the number of US heat waves and their occurrence outside the peak of summer.

These record heat waves are happening in a climate that’s globally more than 2.2 F (1.2 C) warmer – when looking at the 30-year average – than it was before the industrial revolution, when humans began releasing large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that warm the climate.

While a temperature difference of a degree or two when you walk into a different room might not even be noticeable, even fractions of a degree make a large difference in the global climate.

At the peak of the last ice age, some 20,000 years ago, when the Northeast US was under thousands of feet of ice, the globally averaged temperature was only about 11 F (6 C) cooler than now. So, it is not surprising that 2.2 F (1.2 C) of warming so far is already rapidly changing the climate.

IF YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS HOT

While this summer is likely be one of the hottest on record, it is important to realize that it may also be one of the coldest summers of the future.

For populations that are especially vulnerable to heat, including young children, older adults and outdoor workers, the risks are even higher. People in lower-income neighbourhoods where air conditioning may be unaffordable and renters who often don’t have the same protections for cooling as heating will face increasingly dangerous conditions. Extreme heat can also affect economies. It can buckle railroad tracks and cause wires to sag, leading to transit delays and disruptions. It can also overload electric systems with high demand and lead to blackouts just when people have the greatest need for cooling.

THE GOOD NEWS: THERE ARE SOLUTIONS

Yes, the future in a warming world is daunting. However, while countries aren’t on pace to meet their Paris Agreement goals, they have made progress. In the US, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act has the potential to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half by 2035. Switching from air conditioners to heat pumps and network geothermal systems can not only reduce fossil fuel emissions but also provide cooling at a lower cost. The cost of renewable energy continues to plummet, and many countries are increasing policy support and incentives. There is much that humanity can do to limit future warming if countries, companies and people everywhere act with urgency. Rapidly reducing fossil fuel emissions can help avoid a warmer future with even worse heat waves and droughts, while also providing other benefits, including improving public health, creating jobs and reducing risks to ecosystems.

PEOPLE cool off in misters along the Las Vegas Strip, on Sunday in Las Vegas.

Photo: John Locher/AP

Bahamas 12U team falls to Aruba 3-0 SPORTS

By TENAJH SWEETING

The Bahamas put out a valiant effort against Aruba in the gold-medal match but the visiting country would prove why they were the reigning 12-and-under (12U) champions at the 2024 Babe Ruth Caribbean Championship and Invitationals.

Yesterday at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex, the host country came into the final game of the tournament sporting an unblemished 5-0 record, which included a win against the victors, but Aruba gave them a taste of their own medicine in the championship game as they won 3-0.

Head coach Greg Burrows Jr was proud of the team’s effort on home soil and simply gave credit to Aruba’s pitcher Jayden Flanegin for his efforts on the mound.

“We did an awesome job but I think we ran into a dominant pitcher in this game. Sometimes even with the exceptional hitting we have, it is hard to beat an exceptional pitcher and they had that. The guys did their best and

By TENAJH SWEETING

THE

Sports Reporter

settled since The

came up short in

quest to make their

dreams a reality in the final game of the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Valencia, Spain almost a week ago.

The national team was just on the cusp of making Bahamian history, but they ran into the no. 2 ranked basketball juggernaut Spain who capitalised on the home court advantage and shut the door on The Bahamas’ chance of an historic Olympic berth 86-78 on Sunday.

Although the loss left a bitter taste in the mouth of some players and the Bahamian fanbase, there were some silver linings along

Olympian Steven Gardiner continues to win, sprinter Ian Kerr doubles up

By TENAJH SWEETING

FOLLOWING another successful hosting of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) Junior and Senior Track and Field Nationals in June, Bahamian athletes have now returned to track and field action overseas.

Olympian Steven Gardiner turned in yet another winning performance in the men’s 400m event at the 14th Gyulai István Memorial-Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix in Szèkesfehèrvàr, Hungary on Tuesday. It was the latest stop on the World Athletics Continental Tour and the quarter-miler got out to his usual strong start in the event, running out of lane

five at the Bregyó Athletic Center. He would ramp up his speed during the final 100m of the event to create separation and win his fourth straight 400m event of this season in 44.50 seconds. It was his third fastest time of the season in this event.

Jamaica’s Sean Bailey, who ran out of lane six, gave the Bahamian a push during the final 50m of the event. Despite closing some of the gap, he had to settle for second place with a season’s best time of 44.64 seconds.

Lythe Pillay, representing South Africa, had a third place finish in the quarter mile event in a time of 45.24 seconds.

Wendell Miller, the men’s 400m national champion, also competed in this event. He picked up a sixth place

THE SPORTS CALENDAR

finish overall and clocked 46.19 seconds.

Veteran Donald Thomas was back in the mix for the high jump event for the first time since the BAAA Jr and Sr Nationals. He cleared 2.24m for a fourth-place spot overall. Ukraine’s Dmytro Nikitin took home the win with a season’s best jump of 2.24m in less attempts. Brian Raats, of South Africa, and Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk ended the event in second and third place respectively.

BASEBALL MARIO FORD

CAMP THE Mario Ford Summer Baseball Camp is scheduled to run through July 12 at Windsor Park. The camp will be held daily from 9am to 1pm. It’s opened to boys and girls ages 7-15 years old. For more information, contact Ford at 556-0993. BASKETBALL

ON DA STREETS THE annual Peace On Da Streets Basketball Classic, dubbed “Shooting Hoops instead of Guns,” is scheduled for July 15-21 at the Michael ‘Scooter Reid” Basketball Center at the Hope Center.

July, 2024

All games start at 6pm daily. Categories include 12-and-under, 16-and-under, 20-and-under, government ministry, church and open divisions. The event is being promoted by Guardian Radio and Radio House Outreach.

CLERGY VS POLITICIANS AS part of the Peace ON Da Streets Classic, organisers will once again stage the showdown between members of the Clergy against the Members of Parliament. The game is scheduled for 8pm Sunday, July 21 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. You don’t want to miss this!

Sprinter Ian Kerr doubled up on the wins at the Cork City Sports International Meet hosted at the Munster Technological University Track in Cork, Ireland on Tuesday. Kerr would lead the field of competitors in the men’s 100m final in race one. He outran them with a windaided time of 10.33 seconds. It would have been a season’s best time for the 28-year-old but there was

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON (AP) — Framber Valdez struck out a season-high 10 and allowed one run in seven innings, and rookie Joey Loperfido homered and tripled to lead the Houston Astros to a 9-1 victory over the Miami Marlins last night.

Valdez (8-5) allowed just six singles and earned his third straight win.

Loperfido hit a two-run homer as the Astros jumped on Bryan Hoeing (0-2) for four runs in the second inning to take a 5-0 lead. His first career triple came in the fourth inning.

The win was the eighth straight at home for the Astros, who have won eight of their last 11 games overall to improve to 48-44. Rookie Xavier Edwards had two

and drove in

a wind reading of +3.9. He returned to the track again in the men’s 200m final in race two. The five-time national champion ran away with a winning time of 20.31 seconds.

The time was 0.02 seconds under his current personal best of 20.33 seconds but the wind reading was +2.7 meaning it was wind-aided. Gardiner, Kerr and Thomas have all qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games scheduled for July 26 to August 11.

Kerr and Thomas have secured their spots in Paris, France, through the World Athletics Rankings system. The trio of Bahamians will continue to ramp up their efforts in preparation for the prestigious Olympic Games.

three

Singleton singled to start Houston’s second and scored when Jake Meyers doubled to centre field on a ball that was deflected by Jazz Chisholm Jr. as he crashed off the padded wall. Meyers moved to third on a wild pitch by Hoeing before Loperfido’s

dust has

Bahamas senior men’s national basketball team

their

Paris

STRONG SHOWING: The Bahamas 12U team had a perfect showing in the 2024 Babe Ruth Caribbean Championship and Invitationals until they ran into Aruba who would defeated the host country 3-0 in the first-place matchup at the Baillou Hills Sports Complex yesterday evening.

STEVEN GARDINER

DONALD THOMAS IAN KERR

ASTROS BEAT JAZZ CHISHOLM JR AND MARLINS 9-1

and Hoeing’s throwing error on the play left him at second. Houston extended the lead to 5-0 when Bregman scored on a

made it 6-0. Edwards cut the lead to 6-1 on an RBI single with one out in the fifth. An RBI double by Trey Cabbage pushed Houston’s advantage to 7-1 with one out in the sixth. Diaz smacked a single to center field to score two more after that and make it 9-1.

TRAINER’S ROOM Astros: Alvarez was lifted for a pinch hitter in the fourth inning because of tightness in his right hip. UP NEXT Houston RHP Jake Bloss (0-0, 4.91 ERA) is scheduled to come off the injured list to make his second major league start in the series finale tonight. Bloss injured his shoulder in his MLB debut June 21 and threw four scoreless innings in a rehabilitation outing with Triple-A Sugar Land Saturday. RHP Roddery Muñoz (1-3, 5.48) will start for Miami.

Lorenzo Musetti reaches his first

Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer

LONDON (AP) — Lorenzo Musetti threw his head back and spread his arms wide to celebrate reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon, then covered his face with both hands.

His 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Taylor Fritz yesterday was a big deal, to be sure. After all, the 25th-seeded Musetti, a 22-year-old from Italy, never had made it past the third round at the All England Club — or past the fourth round at any major tournament — until this fortnight.

Now, though, comes a far tougher test: taking on Novak Djokovic.

“He probably knows, better than me, the surface and the stadium, for sure,” Musetti said with a chuckle, aware he’ll be making his Centre Court debut on Friday. “Jokes apart, he’s a legend everywhere, but especially here in Wimbledon.”

This will be Djokovic’s record-tying 13th semifinal at Wimbledon alone — equaling Roger Federer — and 49th Slam semifinal overall, extending a mark he already held. As Musetti pursues his first major championship, Djokovic seeks a 25th, including what would be an eighth at the All England Club.

Djokovic’s smooth trip through this year’s bracket

was made even easier when the man he was supposed to play in the quarterfinals Wednesday, Alex de Minaur, pulled out with a hip injury hours before their match was scheduled to begin.

Musetti was forced to work for his spot in the final four: His 3 1/2-hour victory over the 13th-seeded Fritz was the 37th five-setter at the All England Club this year, the most at any Grand Slam tournament.

Musetti acknowledged he didn’t get off to an ideal start, in part because of nerves. But an early break in the second set helped alter the course of the evening.

“Immediately, I changed my mind. I changed my attitude,” he said. “And that probably made the difference.”

Musetti’s son, Ludovico, was born in March, and he said Wednesday that helped him rededicate himself to his sport and strive to no longer “throw away matches.”

“Instead of me teaching him, he’s teaching me. … Having a child makes you reflect a lot,” Musetti said. “I feel more mature on the court, more mature off the court, and more mature as a player, as a father, as a person.”

Playing at a sun-swathed No. 1 Court against Fritz, an American who is one of the sport’s biggest servers but fell to 0-4 in major quarterfinals, Musetti managed to

accumulate 13 break points and convert six.

With Queen Camilla, the wife of King Charles III, in the stands and joining fans in doing the wave, Musetti did far more to vary his strokes — a drop shot here, a lob there, plenty of slices — than Fritz did.

“I just felt like it took a lot to finish the point,” Fritz said.

Djokovic had knee surgery less than a month before the start of play at the All England Club. But despite limitations on his movement, the 37-year-old Djokovic has dropped only

two sets so far — facing a qualifier in the first round, a wild-card entrant in the second and only one seeded player, No. 15 Holger Rune.

Instead of going up against No. 9 de Minaur on Wednesday, Djokovic will get three full days off before meeting Musetti. The other semifinal Friday is defending champion Carlos Alcaraz against Daniil Medvedev.

Djokovic and Musetti have played each other six times previously. Djokovic has won five of those, including a five-setter at this year’s French Open

that concluded after 3 a.m. It was in Djokovic’s following match in Paris that he tore the meniscus in his right knee.

“We know each other pretty well. They’ve always been a huge fight so I expect a big, big fight. It’s going to be one of the toughest challenges on tour,” Musetti said, “but I am an ambitious guy and I like to be challenged.”

In the women’s quarterfinals Wednesday, 2022 champion Elena Rybakina grabbed nine of the last 11 games to defeat No. 21 Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-2, and

No. 31 Barbora Krejcikova eliminated No. 13 Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 7-6 (4) in a matchup between two past champions at the French Open. The other women’s semifinal on Thursday is No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy against unseeded Donna Vekic of Croatia.

Kazakhstan’s Rybakina ended her win with her seventh ace and improved to 19-2 at Wimbledon in four appearances. “Definitely, I have an aggressive style of game,” Rybakina said. “I have a huge serve, so it’s a big advantage.”

Krejcikova won her first Grand Slam title on the red clay at Roland Garros in 2021, but the 28-year-old from the Czech Republic never put together a fivematch winning streak on grass until now.

De Minaur’s exit is the latest due to injury in Week 2. His hip issue arose right at the end of his win against Arthur Fils on Monday.

De Minaur said he heard a crack and knew something was wrong. He underwent medical tests Tuesday that revealed the extent of the problem but tried to practice on Wednesday morning, hoping to participate in what would have been his first Wimbledon quarterfinal.

“This was the biggest match of my career,” de Minaur said, “so wanted to do anything I could to play.”

do, they did. You just gotta give kudos to the Aruba team,” he said. Flanegin helped his team to rack up 10 strikeouts, surrendered one hit and did not give up any runs during the six innings.

Aruba got on the board first at the top of the first inning thanks to a single from Henry K. The runs continued in the top of the fourth inning as Flanegin was able to score a run off a single on a hard ground ball by Nevimar A. The visiting team would then go up 3-0 on The Bahamas as Nevimar A came home from third base and they never relinquished the lead. The Bahamas showed some signs of life on offence at the bottom of the fourth inning. The home team had the chance to capitalise with Bosfield B in prime position to run home from third base and Colin B locked and loaded at second base.

However, Isaac Richardson struck out as Flanegin’s masterful pitching performance continued. “In games like this where you have two good teams, one run matters. We had one inning there where we had a chance to score some runs but we didn’t get it and it was just unfortunate for us. Aruba did a great job and you gotta give it to them on that,” coach Burrows said. Vari Burrows finished the game with 49 pitches and 29 strikes. Newball, who played with the team for the first time, would lead the Bahamas with one hit and two at bats. He shared his thoughts about the team experience.

“It was good. Aruba slipped away at the last second. We did good in this tournament but in the last game our defence was great but our hitting wasn’t on point,” he said. After their second consecutive tournament win,

Aruba will now prepare to compete at the Cal Ripken Major/70 World Series set for August 7-18 in Branson, Missouri.

The Bahamas has clinched an automatic berth in the tournament due to its hosting privileges.

Burrows Jr is expecting the team to bounce back from this tough loss and improve their play in Branson, Missouri.

“I think we are gonna be battle ready. I think it was a great opportunity for us to play against some good competition. I think it is gonna put us in a position to do even better in the World Series,” he said. The Bahamas wrapped up the Babe Ruth Championship with a 5-1 record tied with Aruba. Puerto Rico was third overall with a 3-2 win/loss record. Results from the 16U championship game were unavailable up to press time due to inclement weather.

LORENZO MUSETTI, of Italy, reacts after winning a point against Taylor Fritz of the United States during their quarterfinal match at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London yesterday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

MIAMI Marlins centre fielder Jasrado “Jazz” Chisholm Jr. hits the wall after missing an RBI

baseball game last night in Houston.

and best jumpers and throwers of 2024 line up for the Olympic track and field meet, little of what they’ve done on the road to Paris will mean much. What will matter is how they respond to pressure when the spotlight is on.

Stars Richardson and Lyles among the track athletes looking for their first gold medals in Paris

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer

THERE are big races, and then there are the Olympics.

When Sha’Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles and all the other fastest runners and best jumpers and throwers of 2024 line up for the Olympic track and field meet, little of what they’ve done on the road to Paris will mean much. What will matter is how they respond to pressure when the spotlight is on.

Will they end up shining as brightly as a Usain Bolt or Carl Lewis, whose knack for performing when Olympic gold medals were at stake turned them into larger-than-life icons?

Or will they be more like Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson and American hurdler Grant Holloway, among the best performers of their generation but still looking to parlay all that talent into a spot at the top of the Olympic podium?

“Right now, I do not hold a gold medal in the Olympics,” said Lyles, who counts the bronze medal he won in the 200 metres at the Tokyo Games among his biggest disappointments. “I have multiple world championships, and national championships, as well. The only one that’s missing from the list is an Olympic gold. And I’m planning on leaving with a lot of those.”

The dramas involving Richardson, Lyles and everyone else will play out in 48 events spread over 10 days, with most of the action taking place at the Stade de France, starting August 2.

As an added bonus, there will be a bonus: a first-ofits-kind $50,000 payout to all 48 gold medallists, courtesy of World Athletics, the organisation that runs global track.

The near 2,200 athletes competing in the Olympics’ biggest sport are well aware that the money is great, but the gold medal brings an air of immortality that only an Olympic title can.

“The moment only comes once every four years,” Holloway said. “If you’re not training to be an Olympic gold medallist, then what the hell are you doing? That’s my mentality.”

Richardson’s first

Olympics Richardson makes her Olympic debut after her much-discussed absence from the last Olympics due to a positive marijuana test.

Her current form, her status as the reigning world champion, along with the absence of two-time defending champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, all make Richardson the sprinter to beat in the women’s 100. But it won’t be a gimme.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is heading to her fifth (and

final) Olympics and has won this race twice. Jackson is a 200 specialist (see below) but also one of the fastest in the world at this distance.

Lyles tries to win the sprint double

Lyles attributes a lot of his bad finish in 2021 to depression that kept him from focusing. That race is the only 200-metre sprint he’s lost at a major championship. By the time the 200 final comes around on August 8, the 100 will be in the rearview mirror and we’ll know if Lyles has a chance to complete a sprint double, a la Bolt, and Lewis before him.

Lyles is the reigning world champ at 100, but he’s less seasoned at that distance.

Just last month, another Jamaican, Kishane Thompson, ran 9.77 to head into his first Olympics with the world’s best time. Also, Jamaica’s Oblique Seville beat Lyles head-to-head at a meet in Kingston in June. But a tune-up in Kingston and the Olympics in Paris are two different animals.

Distance demons

In Tokyo, Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands pulled off one of the most amazing feats in Olympic history by winning medals in the 1,500 (bronze), 5,000 (gold) and 10,000 metres (gold). She’s coming back for more, and has even floated the idea that she might do those three, then add the marathon, which takes place on the last day of the Olympics, to her schedule.

“I will decide a week before,” Hassan said in a recent interview. “Maybe I’m gonna have great training somehow, somewhere.”

As always, Hassan, and her quest for medals, will

face a stern challenge Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, who is the reigning world champion at 1,500 and 5,000 metres. Kipyegon broke her own world record at 1,500 in an Olympic tune-up this month, finishing in 3:49.04. Holloway’s bad race

Holloway is a three-time world champion in the 110 hurdles, and a favourite to win on August 8. He was a favourite three years ago in Tokyo too, but weakened down the stretch, and fell to Hansle Parchment of Jamaica.

Holloway is 9-3 in headto-head matchups with Parchment, and even 2-1 against him at the Olympics. But the two victories came in preliminary rounds and that loss came with the gold medal on the line.

Jackson’s bad day Jackson is the only woman other than the late Florence Griffith Joyner to run the 200 metres in 21.48 or faster. So, why hasn’t most of the world heard of her?

At the last Olympics, she put on the brakes too early in her opening heat,

finished fourth and never even got to race in the final for the gold. It’s a mistake she called the most devastating of her career, and one that has fuelled her run to Paris.

Now, more trouble. She failed to finish a July 9 tuneup race in Hungary, and it was unclear if she is healthy going into the Olympics. If Jackson isn’t in the lineup, American Gabby Thomas,

who comes in with this year’s fastest time (21.78) and a bronze medal from Tokyo, would be the clear favourite.

Jumping for Ukraine Anyone who says sports and politics do not intersect might want to tune in August 4, when Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh takes the field. Mahuchikh is coming in just a few weeks after breaking a 37-year-old world record in her event, jumping 2.10 metres at an Olympic tune-up in Paris. World Athletics has not allowed Russians in international meets since the war with Ukraine broke out. It means Maria Lasitskene will not be on hand to defend her Olympic title. Lasitskene also wasn’t present last year when Mahuchikh won the title on an emotional closing day at world championships.

NOAH Lyles celebrates after winning the men’s 100-metre final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials on Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Eugene, Oregon. When Noah Lyles and all the other fastest runners

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

SHA’CARRI RICHARDSON, of the United States, celebrates anchoring her team to gold ahead of Shericka Jackson, of Jamaica in the Women’s 4x100-metres relay final during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, August 26, 2023.

(AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

GRANT Holloway wins the men’s 110-metre hurdles final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials Friday, June 28, 2024, in Eugene, Oregon. Holloway is a three-time world champion in the 110 hurdles, and a favourite to win on August 8.

(AP Photo/George Walker IV)

SHA’Carri Richardson celebrates her win in the women’s 100-metre run final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials on June 22, 2024, in Eugene, Oregon. Richardson makes her Olympic debut after her much-discussed and debated absence from the last Olympics due to a positive marijuana test.

(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Mychal ‘Sweet Bells’ Thompson: Bahamas is in golden era of basketball talent

the journey that cannot be ignored as it relates to the future of basketball in

The Bahamas.

Mychal “Sweet Bells” Thompson, the father of Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Klay Thompson, believes that The Bahamas has a bright future in basketball after their latest historic run.

“This was the best collection of basketball talent

The Bahamas has ever put together led by Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordon, Kai Jones and we have even more to come with VJ Edgecombe. The Bahamas is in a golden era and golden age of basketball talent and we just saw that on display by missing the Olympic Games by one win. I really thought they had a chance to get there so The Bahamas is set up for the future very well and they are ready to make their mark on the basketball world,” he said.

The Bahamas’ journey to shock the world began at the 2023 FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, last summer.

With head coach Chris DeMarco at the helm and NBA pros Deandre Ayton, Chavano “Buddy” Hield and Eric “EJ” Gordon all onboard, The Bahamas ran through the competition, including the no. 8 ranked Argentina, to emerge as the tournament’s winner and advance to the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The national team was a force to be reckoned with in Group B play. They picked up wins against Finland and Poland to remain undefeated going into the semifinals of the Olympic qualifiers.

Ayton shouldered the load with a dominant 24 points and 15 rebounds performance in the 89-72 victory against Lebanon in the semifinals, to propel his team to the final stage. The Bahamas had a tough time against the host country in the finals and were unable to claim the Olympic qualification that hung in the balance. Despite this, Thompson believes that the current basketball landscape is now on par with track and field

By TIM REYNOLDS

LAS VEGAS (AP)

— Derrick White of the NBA champion Boston Celtics has replaced the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard on the U.S. team for the Paris Olympics, USA Basketball said yesterday in the first shakeup to a roster that was announced in the spring.

Leonard missed 12 of the Los Angeles Clippers’ final 14 games this past season with right knee inflammation, though he said in recent days that he felt fine and the knee was doing well. USA Basketball said

it, along with the Clippers, made the decision on Leonard’s status for Paris.

“Kawhi has been ramping up for the Olympics over the past several weeks and had a few strong practices in Las Vegas,” USA Basketball said in a statement.

“He felt ready to compete. However, he respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers determined it’s in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris.” White averaged 15.2 points and 5.2 assists for the Celtics this past season.

Bahamians have already started to look ahead and are optimistic about the country’s chances of making it to the LA 2028 Summer Olympics during the next Olympic cycle.

The first Bahamian to be drafted to the National Basketball Association (NBA) had these words of advice for those in positions to make an impact on the next generation of Bahamian basketball players.

The 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament is now in the rearview but

“I think Bahamians should be very proud of the efforts of the current basketball players representing The Bahamas. I think the talent in basketball now is on par with the track and field talent The Bahamas has put out over the last couple of decades. I think it has talented youngsters and on the women’s side too with Jonquel Jones leading the way. I think basketball is right up there now with the best The Bahamas has to offer in sports along with track and field,” he said.

His selection gives Boston three of the 12 players on the U.S. roster; Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday also are Paris-bound.

White is expected to be in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, later this week to join the U.S. squad. The team will fly to Abu Dhabi from Las Vegas today and is scheduled to practice there Saturday ahead of exhibition games against Australia on July 15 and Serbia on July 17.

“I am happy to announce that Derrick will compete at his first Olympic Games on the heels of a championship season in Boston,” USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill said. “We look forward to him joining the team in the coming days as we continue preparations for Paris.

“I want to thank Kawhi for his commitment to the USA Men’s National Team,” Hill added. “He earned the opportunity to represent the United States, but USA Basketball and Clippers leadership felt it’s important to allow Kawhi to prepare for the NBA season.”

White — a second-team All-Defensive selection after this past NBA season, meaning he’ll clearly take some of the on-ball defending duties that the Olympic team likely envisioned Leonard having — has some USA Basketball experience, including being part of the 2019 World Cup team that finished seventh in China. He and the Celtics agreed on a four-year extension worth nearly $126 million after the playoff run, one

“Continue to promote the young men in basketball from Buddy Hield to Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordon, VJ Edgecombe coming up and the young ladies too. Continue to promote

them and encourage the youngsters to follow in their footsteps because there is a lot of basketball talent and basketball passion in The Bahamas. We need to capitalise on that and manufacture that and grow it in the coming years because there are more Buddy Hields and Deandres to be found,” he said.

The small but mighty nation has once again shown its ability to rise above the odds on one of the biggest stages and, despite the obstacles along the way, the future is certainly brighter than it was yesterday in Bahamian basketball.

in which he led Boston with 65 made 3-pointers on a team-best 40.4% shooting from beyond the arc.

Leonard is a two-time NBA champion, six-time All-Star and six-time AllNBA player, but injury issues have been a recurring theme in his career. USA Basketball had monitored him closely in recent weeks, making sure he was doing well enough to be on the court after his season with the Clippers ended prematurely.

He has missed 256 regular-season games over the last seven years, including all of the 2021-22 season with knee trouble. He appeared in 68 games this past season for the Clippers, his most since playing in 74 for San Antonio during the 2016-17 season.

“This is just my journey,” Leonard said earlier this week, discussing his injuries. “I can’t lay out the perfect script for me. Last year I tried to play as much

as possible, felt great and at a certain period of time I couldn’t go. I tried the best that I could, but it’s just my journey. I don’t want to be in a situation that (I’m) in, but I’ve got to take it for what it is. And a lot of people are watching, supporters or doubters. But I motivate a lot of people, so I’ve got to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Leonard — part of a 592-person Olympic team formally named by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee earlier Wednesday — had said earlier this week that his knee was fine and he was able to resume on-court training about three weeks ago to get ready for the Games.

“I’m ready to go,” Leonard said then. “I’m playing now so, I’m happy.”

A couple of days later, hours before the first U.S. exhibition game against Canada and one day before the team departs for Abu Dhabi — the first of two

international stops for more games and practices before arriving in France for the Olympics — Leonard was gone.

Leonard’s departure leaves the U.S., at least until White arrives, with 10 available players. Kevin Durant will not play against Canada because of a calf strain and could not compete in the team’s four-day training camp in Las Vegas that ended Tuesday. USA Basketball is working under the expectation that Durant will be ready for increasingly more on-court activity in the coming days. Leonard had been invited to be part of USA Basketball teams in the past and had to decline for various reasons, primarily injury issues or long playoff runs.

“I always wanted to play against other talent overseas or just other basketball styles and players,” Leonard said. “It is one of the reasons why I play the game.”

Jonquel Jones scores eight points, grabs 11 rebounds in 71-68 win over Sun

UNCASVILLE, Conn.

(AP) — Sabrina Ionescu scored 21 points and made a key block on the final possession, Jonquel Jones pulled down 11 rebounds, Breanna Stewart added 18 points and the New York Liberty beat the Connecticut Sun 71-68 yesterday.

Jones and the Liberty now have sole possession of first place in the WNBA standings.

New York (18-4) won its sixth straight regular-season game against Connecticut dating to the 2023 season.

Jones, of The Bahamas, also scored eight points, dished out three assists with a steal and a blocked shot for New York.

She shot four of eight field goals but was 0 for three from the three-point line.

Ionescu made her first basket of the fourth quarter with 1:58 remaining to give New York a 69-68 lead. Ionescu missed a shot on New York’s next two possessions, but she got another shot in the closing seconds after Stewart blocked a DeWanna Bonner attempt.

Ionescu dribbled down the clock before driving into the lane and sinking an off-balance shot for a

three-point lead with 4.4 seconds left.

Connecticut passed it around the 3-point arc before Ionescu made New York’s fourth block of the fourth quarter to end it at the buzzer.

The Liberty improved to 13-0 this season when leading at halftime. Courtney Vandersloot finished with 11 points for New York. Betnijah LaneyHamilton (knee) did not play.

Bonner led Connecticut (17-5) with 22 points and nine rebounds. Brionna Jones had 17 points and eight boards, and Tyasha Harris scored 11. Stewart and Ionescu combined for 20 points in the first quarter to help New York build a 29-19 lead. But the Liberty were held to just 10 points in the second quarter, with four points from Stewart and Ionescu, as their lead was trimmed to 39-38 at the break.

Vandersloot opened and closed New York’s 9-0 run to open the third quarter to rebuild a double-digit lead at 48-38.

Bonner made a long 3-pointer with 3:48 left in the fourth to give Connecticut its first lead, 66-65, since it was 5-4.

Jonquel Jones (35) in action against Indiana Fever’s Damiris Dantas.

(AP Photo/ Darron Cummings)

RBDF PASSING OUT PARADE

THE ROYAL Bahamas Defence Force Passing Out Parade was held at Coral Harbour Base on July 5, and was addressed by Prime Minister Philip Davis.

Photos: Kemuel Stubbs/BIS

GOVERNOR GENERAL WELCOMES FOUR PRIME MINISTERS

GOVERNOR General Dame Cynthia Pratt hosted a PreIndependence Appreciation Luncheon in honour and recognition of Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and former prime ministers on July 9 at Government House. Pictured with the Governor General are, from left Dr Hubert Minnis; Mr Davis; Hubert Ingraham; and Perry Christie.

Photos: Patrick Hanna/BIS