THE BOOTLE family have told of the tri als they faced during Hurricane Dorian - and the struggle to adjust to get back to normal. Below, a boat washed ashore in Abaco during the storm.
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
HEALTH Minister Dr Michael DarvillePhoto:yesterday.Austin Fernander
IN TRAVELSLOWESTPERIOD
FACED with deficien cies in public healthcare in the Family Islands, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said offi cials will beef up manpower resources to at least $3m. He said the government was concerned particularly with the challenges on the Family Islands, while so much of the focus will be outside of New Providence.
BAHAMIAN hotels are eyeing occupancies between five to ten per centage points higher than the norm for the indus try’s slowest months, it was revealed yesterday, as it “nudges closer every day” to pre-COVID levels. Robert Sands, the Baha mas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) pres ident, told Tribune Business the sector expects “an even better year in 2023” with business volumes presently just 10-15 percent behind those enjoyed immediately prior to the pandemic in 2019 - a record-breaking year for tourism.
- SEE PAGE EIGHT FAMILIES STILL DEALING WITH DORIAN
HOTELS UP TO 10% HIGHER
NEARLY three years after the passing of Hurricane Dorian some victims are still trying to regain a sense of normalcy after surviving the monster storm. Joanna Bootle, a resident of Murphy Town, Abaco, said even after she and her family moved back into her home in 2020, she still gets anxiety, prays during the hurricane season and when the weather gets bad. “Since then, we had anxiety we had to deal with and pray about. You know the anxi ety attacks, sometimes if the weather gets bad and sometimes during the hurricane season, like now, you kinda get on edge, praying that we don’t receive any storms or what not,” said Mrs Bootle.
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THE US family bat tling the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) has cause for further frus tration - the government’s failure to process three separate permanent resi dency applications despite their $41m investment in thisThenation.Del Zotto family, which is closing down its Gold Rock concrete manu facturing operation and all other Freeport-based busi ness interests with the loss of 130 jobs, made its last application for such status almost three years ago under the former Minnis administration.
$3M MORE FOR FAMILY
By LETRE SWEETING
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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor
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Dr Darville said to sup port this, several contracts will be signed in the coming weeks to improve facilities throughout the country. The minister was asked about improvements in the Family Islands after a serious traffic accident in Exuma on Monday night. Seven people were seri ouslyPoliceinjured.said shortly after 8pm, a Jeep Wrangler, occu pied by five Americans, was travelling east on Queen’s Highway in the area of Fla mingo Bay when it collided with a white flatbed truck ISLANDS HEALTH
PAGE 2, Thursday, August 25, 2022 THE TRIBUNE FRUSTRATION AS ROADWORKS
“So, there wouldn’t be any problems with accessing Queen’s College and other businesses along there. The only thing that may be of concern is a bit more dust but we are doing our best to keep the site wet so that the dust levels remain mini mal,” he Meanwhile,continued.some local business owners in the area told The Tribune their views on the road work beingPameladone.Burnside, owner of Doongalik Studios Art Gallery, said although there have been some challenges, she commends the road site workers on the job they are doing.Ms Burnside revealed at some point her business had to shut down for sev eral days because there was no access to the property. However, she believes the road project will be worth it in the end when residents will have an improved road and accessible utilities. She added: “It has caused some confusion, of course, for getting traffic here to the business. We under stand that you have to take the good with the bad. This infrastructure along Vil lage Road has been here for almost a century so a lot of it really needs to be upgraded.”MsBurnside noted the workers of the road pro ject have been very helpful through the process.
“They have been extremely responsive to all our queries. Sometimes the water is off, or we don’t have telephone lines, or the electricity went off and as soon as we send them a note they get on it right away,” she continued.
CONSTRUCTION still underway on Village Road yesterday. Photos: Moise Amisial
CONTINUE ON VILLAGE ROAD
By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net
WITH the Village Road Improvement Project still underway some local busi nesses and motorists are frustrated with the contin ued inconvenience of the roadWithrepairs.schools set to reopen on Monday, con cerns have been raised about how the closures in the area will be a challenge. The Tribune reached out to the Ministry of Works and Utilities yesterday for an update on the comple tion date for the project. In June, resident engi neer Albrion Symonette Jr said it was anticipated the majority of the repairs, installations, and improve ments would be complete by September with full completion by November. Yesterday, he said the ministry is working on a formal press release to be sent out shortly addressing the completion timeframe of the project. A media walka bout is planned for Friday. Mr Symonette Jr said a traffic management plan has been created to aid in the reopening of schools. He said: “Our intentions for Monday when schools reopen is to have traffic diverted through Brooklyn Avenue and come around to Tuckaway Road. So, that they will be able to dodge the actual work site and then Village Road itself will have a two-way traffic flow, up and down Village Road for the remainder of it.
She added: “We never used to pray about hurri canes, but we pray about hurricanes now, that’s in our prayer, asking the Lord to spare us from the wrath of a hurricane or any natural disasters. Because we know how detrimental it was to the island of Abaco.” Mrs Bootle, who was with her husband and son during the hurricane, said after sustaining physical damage all over her body from the destruction of 80 percent of the windows in her home, the journey back to normal was not “Becauseeasy.we lost 80 per cent of our windows, the storm came through the house and as a result of us moving our window, I was injured in the process, I sus tained multiple lacerations about the body and we fled from our home and we went to a neighbour’s and that’s where we rode out the first half of the storm,” Mrs Bootle Hurricanesaid.Dorian tore through Abaco on Sep tember 1 and 2, leaving devastation and death in its path. Mrs Bootle was lucky to escape its wrath and noted that September 2 is her“Ibirthday.wastaken to the clinic in Marsh Harbour where they administered medical attention for the lacerations. Then we came out that day, we could not believe our eyes it appeared that an atomic bomb, in my opin ion, had dropped in on the island,” Mrs Bootle said. Similarly, Edward Arm brister, from Dundas Town, Abaco, who moved to the capital with his five-month pregnant wife and three children after surviving the hurricane said his family still shudders at the thought of Hurricane Dorian.
“On top of that nobody wanted kids in their place, so that was a huge problem for us. And on top of that I still couldn’t find a job or vehicle or anything. The stuff that we are able to get over here had mildew and stuff so we had to throw them away.” He added, “And on top of all of that, two of my kids have sickle cell, so that was a huge concern with them getting sick throughout the whole thing, because there was no help and my wife couldn’t really help too much, because she was pregnant.”MrArmbrister said he was not prepared for the level of impact the hurri cane had on the island.
1,200 MORE VICTIMS HAVE ASKED GOVT FOR HELP
‘We weren’t able to get out even if we wanted to, because the wind was blowing so hard, you couldn’t push the doors open and that’s when the tornadoes started and I saw my car get curved into a U.’
AN additional 1,200 hur ricane victims have sought assistance from govern ment according to Myles Laroda, Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister.Thisis in addition to the 2,500 victims for which the former administration had made allocations to assist. Yesterday, Mr Laroda, who is responsible for the Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA), made the statement when asked for the amount allocated to provide assistance to affected homeowners. He said: “There were some 2,500 residents who the former government had made allocations for in terms of relief. When we came to office that figure had expanded to 3,700 and so we had to allocate in this budget — I think it’s a figure north of $2m, that if need be, the govern ment will have to consider extending, if need be, to put those individuals in a more positiveAccordingposition.“tothe MP for Pinewood, since the Pro gressive Liberal Party won the 2021 election, proto cols to provide assistance to Grand Bahamian and Abaconian homeowners have been established. This assistance would include donations of building mate rials and financial help.
Families still dealing with Dorian aftermath from page one
“My daughter almost drowned when we were trying to get there, because the water was kind of high. Everyday we would have to go out and look for food and stuff inside the food stores, because all the food stores were destroyed, food was like all over the ground.” Mr Armbrister added, “Me and another guy went around sucking gas out of damaged vehicles, because he had a truck. I think we were driving around for an hour taking gaskets off cars to put gas inside the truck and then that same day we drove down to Sandy Point. It took us a while, because every place was flooded. Once we got there, we had to sleep outside one day, then the second day we were able to get on one of theAnotherflights.”
The housing repair pro gramme was launched by the Minnis administra tion in February 2020 to help residents in Abaco and Grand Bahama repair their storm ravaged homes following the passage of Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Mr Laroda said the gov ernment currently has a team in Abaco assessing damaged homes. Last month, Housing and Transport Minister Jobeth Coleby-Davis announced that the government was aiming to have the struc tures demolished and taken off the property by August. However, Mr Laroda said the government is attempting to balance finding suitable homes for those living in the temporary“Deadlinesstructures.have been given but we are also at a position where if those hard deadlines are not met, we can always adjust to ensure those residents are not taken from domes and put on the street,” he told reporters yesterday.
Earlier this month, DRA executive chairman Alex Storr said the government will be providing monetary assistance to Abaco dome dwellers to assist with their relocation to permanent homes.MrStorr gave an assur ance that residents will not just be put out on the streets heartlessly by the Davis“Letadministration.mejustsay that Social Services will be giving them monetary assis tance to help,” he had said. “I think Social Services has arranged for them to get $4,000 to assist with any expenses to pay rent or do whatever they have to do to aid in their transition.” With the three-year anniversary of Dorian approaching, Mr Laroda said until all residents have had their situation solved it is “never enough.” “Until everyone has had their situation solved it is never enough. Its fluid, its ongoing; Dorian was one of those monster storms. I represent the commu nity of Pinewood, of which there are still refugees from Abaco in my constituency who would love to go home. “The reality is there is a shortage of residences so there is always more to be done. This will be with us for years. The Prime Min ister made a statement earlier on that our national debt can be directly tied to over some $5 billions of borrowing so it will be a while, but you know as we move forward our job is to make those people’s lives better day by day.”
“The apartment that we were in, when the wind started to pick up, the water started coming underneath the door and started to flood the house. The bath room and kitchen roof came off and the middle beam through the apart ment started moving like waves in the ocean,” Mr Armbrister said.
He said, at the time, he prayed for his windows to shatter as he covered his children’s heads with a sheet and held them in the bedroom.“What I had to do was put the kids in the bed and put a sheet over their head because the windows were starting to bow in and out, so I prayed that they were going to shatter. Then all the sheetrock started to fall in,” he said. “We weren’t able to get out even if we wanted to, because the wind was blow ing so hard, you couldn’t push the doors open and that’s when the tornadoes started and I saw my car get curved into a U.” Mr Armbrister said he and his family also sought shelter from a neighbour after the eye of the storm had passed over the island. “After the eye passed and everything calmed down, everybody got out of the“Wehouse.ran to a neighbour’s house that didn’t have as much damage and we had to stay in there for like a day and a half, until the winds died down,” he said. Mr Armbrister said after leaving the neighbour’s home, due to the large number of families taking shelter there, he and his family went to a shopping complex, where they took shelter for three more days.
“The kids, anytime it starts raining or there’s lightning, they would start crying and they can’t sleep in their room by themselves and that only just recently stopped. For a while we got the majority of our help from strangers, so we were bouncing around from place to place, not sure where we were going to end up,” he said. He said as the family searched for a place to live and he looked for a job, he was faced with inflated rent prices.
THE TRIBUNE Thursday, August 25, 2022, PAGE 3
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
Dorian victim from Abaco, Terry Joe Price, called her experience three years ago, as “horrific and tragic”. Ms Price said she and her son went to a shelter the night before the hurricane passed the island. “It was horrifying just riding out the storm, Sep tember 1, that day. It was horrible and we stayed at the primary school in Marsh Harbour. Things were just flying about and we heard the rampaging and raging of the wind and it was so horrific and tragic.” Ms Price said the roof in the classroom where she, her son and 16 others stayed started shaking after the passing of a tornado and everyone in that class room had to run to another classroom which also got compromised.“Iremember the guys in the classroom had to put chairs at the teacher’s desk to keep the door from flying open. It felt like five hours of that, but it was probably 40Afterminutes.”escaping the school shelter, Ms Price said she and her son went to Marsh Harbour Government Complex for additional shelter and support, before heading to the capital after the passing of the storm. Ms Price said although she and her son were able to return to Abaco a year later to rebuild, she still has flashbacks where she is back in the classroom with her son and 16 others. “But I still have flash backs thinking about that tragic day. What happened will live on forever.” Ms Price said the slogan “Abaco Strong” kept her positive throughout her experience, rebuilding from the effects of Hurricane Dorian.“Abaconians are resil ient people. Just coping and going back to work and seeing the island build back up and it was so good to see persons out of Nassau coming back. Persons from Grand Bahama were also coming here to get jobs. That was a little help to know that Abaco is on the move and going to do this, Abaco Strong. Thank you Lord. Thank you,” Ms Price said.A Hurricane Dorian Memorial Week is sched uled to take place from August 26 to September 4 under the theme “The Courage to Rebuild.” The week-long events will observe the third anniversary of Hurricane Dorian making landfall in The Bahamas which caused damage to Abaco and Grand Bahama.
EDWARD ARMBRISTER, top right, and his family, who said his family still shudders at the thought of Hurricane Dorian.
Sands criticises Mitchell for his ‘early morning emotional rants’ By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
PAGE 4, Thursday, August 25, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
“tremendous” job in ser vicing customers and daily operations.MsCartwright-Lewis said it is her hope that future industrial agreements will not take as long to be agreed upon.
THE SIGNING of the five-year industrial agreement yesterday between the National Insurance board and the Public Managers Union. Photo: Moise Amisial To advertise in The
Tribune, contact 502-2394
viewed Mr Ingraham’s com ments as commendation for the“Goodgovernment.public relations is another way of saying that the PLP is doing a good job in letting the public know what we are doing,” Mr Mitchell said. “We are, of course, tackling some com plex issues and in time we will tick all of the boxes. Some policy initiatives can be seen now and some are not yet in the public domain, but we encourage all and sundry to stand by.” However, Dr Sands said in a statement yesterday that the Bahamian people do not want to hear “more excuses, political cam paign rhetoric and attacks from their politicalwantBahamianday’representatives”.government“Oneyearintothe‘newadministration,thepeopledonottohearmoreexcuses,campaignrhetoric and attacks from their gov ernment representatives. They expect them to actu ally govern, make the hard decisions and to present factual reports on the real and tangible progress being made on the ‘Blueprint for Change’ promises made in the Speech From The Throne that affect their daily“Ratherlives. than early morn ing emotional rants the chairman should use his plat form to update the public on the accomplishments of this PLP administration to date, including the anti-corrup tion legislation that the PLP promised within the first 100 days, the status of the review of BPL promised, which was intended to reduce the cost of electricity and ultimately the cost of living.”
“I do hope that moving forward, that our industrial agreement will not take as long as it has, and I do anticipate that in the future all parties will recognise that without the employees of the National Insurance Board, the board is unable to provide the kind of ser vices necessary,” she said yesterday.Sheexpressed the impor tance of compensating employees for the services they provide in an effort to recognise the value the staff offers to the organisation. State Minister Myles Laroda, who is responsible for NIB, was at yesterday’s press conference. He shared similar sen timents with the union’s president, despite their differences.“Iwillecho the senti ments of the director, the chairman and the president of the union. She and I have had numerous conversa tions, some of them cordial, some of them not so cor dial, but we respected each other’s“Herspositions.isonethat she is seeking the best deal for her members and she fiercely fought on their behalf. Mine is one of a government who is sympathetic to the work that was performed by National Insurance execu tives and employees coming out of a pandemic and also the financial fallout of the one institution of the gov ernment that carried out the mandate of unemploy mentAccordingassistance.”toMr Laroda, amidst challenges, both parties began official nego tiations on January 18, 2021. He said they were able to reach a “harmoni ous” conclusion that is in the best interest of both parties.MrLaroda expressed the government’s pleasure in working with the union, in hopes of reshaping NIB’S future.“We reiterate our pleas ure in concluding this agreement that positively impacts our managers who are key to facilitat ing the efficient operation of the National Insurance Board while protecting the National Insurance Fund,” heWhensaid. asked by reporters to disclose the value of the industrial agreement, offi cials said they are unable to disclose the information. The union’s previ ous industrial agreement expired two years ago.
“When will the other three major international airports begin construction? Reports are that contrary to the chairman’s statements as accomplishments, none of these airports have been started, much less finished as he would have the public believe.”Healso asked when will the government get around to addressing the “loom ing” National Insurance Board situation as 2028 is a “few short years away”.
FIVE-YEAR BYAGREEMENTINDUSTRIALSIGNEDMANAGERSUNION
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings @ tribunemedia.net
An actuarial review of the National Insurance Board has predicted that the fund could be depleted by 2028 should officials neglect to take urgent action. Dr Sands also asked when the government will get serious “in the legislative, policy and programmatic approach” to crime. He accused the adminis tration of “big talk” while there is rampant carnage on the“Bystreets.the way, the Baha mian people would love to know if the ‘violence inter rupters’ are being paid while there is no actual plan for them to execute and if so, how much has been paid for this programme to date?”Pastor Carlos Reid, a consultant to the Ministry of National Security, said the government’s “violence interrupters” initiative has not yet started.
He added: “When will Bahamians experience the results of the Prime Minis ter’s negotiations to reduce shipping costs by 38 percent or are these savings being hogged by the government and selected suppliers? ‘Fixing the economy of Grand Bahama’ is indeed a big deal and must be a priority. Unfortunately those who live on Grand Bahama report that they are not feeling this fix one year later, however, despite plenty talks.” Dr Sands said there are reports that Grand Bahama residents are experiencing further economic contrac tion and job losses with businesses closing and laying“Theoff.government seem ingly has very little to no concern over these devel opments as they host party after party without hardly a word on these matters,” he said.“Our Lucaya is still not sold. What is the status after multiple extensions? The Grand Bahama Interna tional Airport is still waiting for a development partner, critical to the industrial and economic plant on the island. Ironically a board of directors has only just been announced yesterday for the Freeport International Airport Authority, which signals the lack of seri ousness and urgency this government gives to this matter and island,” he said.
Chairman Dr Duane Sands has called on his counterpart in the Progres sive Liberal Party to use his platform to update the public on the relationsmuchadministrationelected.troversialtoernmentcommentMinisterMondaychairman,ell,Foreigncameemotionalofaccomplishmentsgovernment’sinsteadgoingon“earlymorningrants”.DrSands’commentsafterMinisterofAffairsFredMitchwhoisalsothePLP’srespondedontoformerPrimeHubertIngraham’sthatthePLPgovhasbeenreluctantmakedecisionsonconissuessincebeingMrMitchellsaidthehasdonemorethanpublicinoneyearand
AFTER two years of contention between both parties, the National Insur ance Board and Public Managers Union signed a five-year industrial agree ment staffnotingtobersthisbuttimesaencesheNationalthethemorningway,agreement.haveway”,unionwright-Lewispresident150-unionbeinghealthuations,salaries,promotions,issuespletedfromSinceyesterday.stallednegotiationsJune2020,thiscomagreementaddressessuchasemployeeincreasedperformanceevaltraining,aswellasandsafety.Withthisagreementbeneficialtosomemembers,PMUCassandraCartsaidthehascomea“longbutsheisrelievedtofulfilledtheindustrial“WehavecomealongbutweareherethisforthesigningofindustrialagreementformanagementstaffoftheInsuranceBoard,”saidatapressconferatNIB.“Ithasbeenlong,tumultuousandatverydauntingtask,Iamrelievedtobeatstageinthisprocess.”Shethankedunionmemfortheirservicepriorthesignedagreement,themanagerialofNIBhavedonea
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THE TRIBUNE Thursday, August 25, 2022, PAGE 5 occupied by two Bahami ans, which was travelling west.The four women and three men were taken to the Exuma Health Care Facility where they were listed in serious condition. Arrangements were being made on Tuesday morning to have the injured airlifted to New Providence for fur ther medical attention. Four of them have been released from hospital. Dr Darville said: “The government is very con cerned about the challenges we face on our Family Islands. Over the last three weeks I have been to just about every clinic in the Family Islands, including Grand“VeryBahama.shortly there will be a variety of contracts signed that will improve the physical plant and we have approved up to about 500 workers, patient care assistants. We are now starting the training. If you look on the Public Hospi tals Authority website you will see that we are sup posed to start a course for patient care technicians for emergency technicians and all of this is basically the training to ensure that there are trained manpower resources on the Family Islands.“Inthe event that we have accidents we will be able to respond more effectively.“Weintend to put a very robust EMT ground transportation system in our Family Islands and this training exercise is the beginning because under our IDB loan facility we have already procured a wide cross section of ambulances that will actu ally be stationed in our family islands for us to do better ground and air transportation in the connections.“Withthe improvement of our clinics we want to ensure that we have fibre optic connections so that we are able to launch a very robust telemedicine programme in our Family Islands and as we speak we have 15 new doctors that will be coming on for deployment into the Family Islands after training is completed on top of the 15 that I brought on last year. “And so we realise that there are deficiencies in the Family Islands. This is a unique country. We are archipelagic. Many of our Caribbean countries don’t have the same chal lenges we have, but the Ministry of Health and Wellness is working very diligently to improve the delivery of healthcare ser vices throughout the Family Islands and create equity in the system where what happens in New Providence and Grand Bahama is reflective of what’s happen ing in the Family Islands.”
THE Bahamas Nurses Union was yesterday in celebratory mode with the signing of a new industrial agreement between the BNU and the Public Hos pitals Authority, giving them a retention bonus and salary increases.
The signing yesterday at the Office of the Prime Min ister signified stage two of better conditions for nurses. Earlier this month, the Department of Public Health signed an agree ment with the union with increased benefits. “This industrial agreement is one of the best (to be finalised),” BNU president Amancha Williams said yesterday. She said the features of the new agreement were increased salaries for nurses, particularly junior nurses and retention bonuses to tackle the years-long problem of nurses leaving the coun try for more lucrative opportunities.“Intheindustrial agree ment there is a retention bonus plan, created by The Bahamas government,” she said. “Also we have gone up on the scarcity allowance so our scarcity allowance for our trained clinical nurse was $167 and was $200 for the RN (registered nurse). We have increased that by $60 more so that’s $300 for the staff nurse and $200 plus for the TCN (trained clinical nurse). “Here again the retention plan is not one of the best, but it is there to retain. I tell my nurse this: it’s one to five years, after five years you get a bonus of $2,000. It’s just not the nurse receiv ing that, it’s teachers also that we have a shortage of and so it would benefit the community at large. That’s two avenues that have high increases.“Wehave a number of increases in that indus trial agreement that will raise the salaries. One of my goals as a president is to see every nurse in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas at a starting salary of over $30,000. When you travel to the United States the range of salary might be $46,000 for an unseasoned nurse but for a junior nurse here making over $30,000 I say thank you to the government. “Numerous benefits are in that industrial agreement. We created a pandemic and disaster article there that gives the nurse a $10 per hour increase on her salary during a pandemic or a dis aster. So, that is new, so also $100,000. We say thank you because we’ve never had that.”Ms Williams also told new nurses that they must love the job and people. “It is not just about the money. We must do a ser vice to our community. Serve the people. Nobody is alike. But you have skills and are designed to take care of and to counsel. “So, continue to do that good job and the union will continue to fight for you for more money.”
“The additional cost for the Family Islands is some where between upward $3m to probably close to $4m. These are manpower resources and to top it off there are infrastructural upgrades that are necessary. “And I spoke earlier about our IDB loan facili ties where we intend to build an additional eight clinics throughout the Family Islands.” Dr Darville said officials know where the clinics are going to be constructed and are working diligently to begin the However,process.given that hur ricane season is underway, the minister said some remedial repairs were necessary at clinics in the Family Islands.
president Amancha Williams, left, and Public Health Authority chairman Andrew Edwards at yesterday’s industrial agreement signing.
$3M FOR
Nurses celebrate as new agreement signed from page one Union
Asked by The Tribune what cost was attached to improved manpower resources, the minister said: “I cannot give you an exact figure but last year I got the approval from Cabinet.
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FAMILY ISLANDS HEALTH
BAHAMAS Nurses
Photos: Austin Fernander
MONKEEDOO AugustNassau, 23, 2022.
KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama.August 23, 2022.
Union deals Credit where it is due – two industrial agreements signed yesterday is a sig nificant achievement. The first, with the Bahamas Nurses Union, has been long unresolved, with a sector of our work force we have depended on so much through the pandemic. The second, between the National Insurance board and the Public Man agers Union, resolves negotiations that had stalled for two years. Add to that teachers returning to class and not carrying out threatened indus trial action, and it’s a good week for the government in labour relations.
Citizenshipwho has right?
And we must bear in mind that while the PLP gained 32 seats in Sep tember, only 124,414 or 64 percent of the 194,494 registered voters voted. And of the 124,414 who voted, the PLP gained 66,407 or 52.53 percent of the votes. When you add the vote totals of the oppositions and independ ents combined, coupled with the 70,080 who didn’t vote, including yours truly, a staggering 130,087 reg istered voters did not support the PLP. In reality, the 32 seats that the PLP captured are misleading, when you comb through the election numbers. For all intents and purposes, the PLP is really a minor ity government in every sense of the word. The overwhelming majority of Bahamians don’t support the governing party. Reading Bodie, how ever, an uninformed person wouldn’t come to this con clusion. And as I’ve stated in the past, history is not on the side of Bodie in his belief that the PLP will win in 2026. In each elec tion cycle dating back to 2002, the Bahamian people have opted to vote out the incumbent.WhatBodie wrote about Pintard was also said about both Davis and Christie before they became prime ministers. In the event Pin tard makes it to 2026 as FNM leader, and I see no reason why he won’t, he will become the next prime minister of the Common wealth of The Bahamas. Pintard does not need any unsolicited advice or lec ture from Bodie.
BRAZIL’s aerial demonstration Smoke Squadron creates the shape of a heart in the sky over the Planalto presidential palace during the arrival of the reliquary containing the heart of Brazil’s former emperor Dom Pedro I in Brasilia, Brazil, on Tuesday. The heart arrived from Portugal for display for celebrations of Brazil’s independence bicentennial on September 7.
PICTURE OF THE DAY
PAULA MINNS AugustNassau, 19, 2022.
LETTERS
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CITIZENSHIP - who has the right to it? Today the issue sits totally in the hands of the UKbased Privy Council. The Government, the Minnis Government appealed the judgement of the Appeals Court, Justice Winder, now Chief Justice Winder a case led by the now Minister of National Security, Wayne Munroe, QC. Until the Privy Council announces its judgement the huff-puff opinionating is all affecting the climate seeing we are so indulged in that -basically a waste of Readingtime. the Judge ment of Justice Winder which rejected the previous judgement of Justice Hall hinged totally on a short word parents. I suggest the format of the Constitution erred in the drafting of The Con stitution as they created a bone fide issue of dis crimination against the ‘male-Bahamian’. How can a child born to a Bahamian woman always be a citizen and a child fathered by a Bahamian male not? Patience, ladies and gentlemen, for the Privy Council when they issue their judgement that’s it - the Law if it does not comply will have to be amended.TheAG Pinder is run ning ahead I suggest of the judgement, but he would be well advised to stay a little quieter as comment just stirs useless comment and huffing and puffing which gets no one anywhere. Are the word parents more powerful than the Constitution’s right of no discrimination -isn’t that the question?
EDITOR, The Tribune.
EDITOR, The Tribune. I READ Progres sive Liberal Party (PLP) radio personality Ortland Bodie’s Nassau Guard ian opinion piece on Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Michael Pintard and it dawned on me how utterly subjective the media in The Bahamas is regard ingSincepolitics.the PLP’s ascent to power last September, a slew of journalists and radio personalities, such as Clint Watson, Nahaja Black, Rodney Moncur and Bodie, to list a few, have been engaged by the state. Prior to September, all of the aforementioned wore their politics on their sleeve. In my personal opinion, I don’t believe that Bodie, Moncur and Black are bona-fide PLPs. The three were either FNMs or, at the very least, sympathetic to the party. Sensing the mood of the nation towards former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, the three made the opportunistic decision to hitch their wagons onto the PLP. I am not surprised that Bodie continues to pile it on the FNM. I take issue with his characterisation of Pintard’s criticism of the Davis administration as “boorish and prema ture.” To the contrary, the Marco City MP has been very strategic, articu late, informed and civil in engaging the PLP govern ment. Pintard has made it a point to steer the FNM away from gutter politics -- an unfortunate strategy that benefitted the party in 2017, when prominent political personalities were routinely defamed on social media. That strategy had backfired on the party in 2021. As Her Majesty’s Official Opposi tion, Pintard is exercising his Constitutional rights in holding the government’s feet to the fire. Bodie talks as if he wants Pintard to hold hands with PLP exec utives and sing kumbaya while the country goes to Hell in a hand-basket. And contrary to his laughable claim that Pintard is not a leader, Bodie needs to talk to the swing voters and PLPs in Marco City for an unbi ased assessment of their MP’s leadership qualities, which were sorely tested in the aftermath of Hurri cane Dorian. That Pintard would win re-election in Marco City -- a feat not accomplished since 1997 with FNM David Thomp son, is a testament of his hard work and leadership. Winning a re-election in either Pineridge or Marco City is a gargantuan chal lenge for any politician, whether PLP or FNM. On the other hand, Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis does not face such a massive hurdle in Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador, with all due respect. And neither did former Prime Minister Perry Christie in Farm Road. As for Bodie’s ina bility to see how Pintard can “propel the party back to power anytime soon,” history does not side with him. As Bodie well knows, no incumbent has won a re-election since 1997 -- 25 years ago. The days of a party winning six consecu tive elections, which the PLP did under Sir Lynden O Pindling, are in the past.
EDITOR, The Tribune. RE: Appeals for Lee Cal lender Medical Treatment I HAVE seen several versions of this appeal making the rounds on vari ous social media platforms and received a direct appeal today.Itis a curious thing in this society of ours that people, including the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, will rush to contribute to noteworthy people’s funeral expenses when they die, but until then the purse is shut. I have no idea what the arrangements were with Timothy Gibson and the National Anthem and maybe he was compen sated handsomely, and maybe he wasn’t, but can we not (after almost fifty years of collectively singing March on Baha maland) contribute to his grandson’s medical costs. Is our National Anthem not worth $15,000.00?
The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master” LEON E. H. DUPUCH, Publisher/Editor 1903-1914 SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH, Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt . Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991 EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON, C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972Published daily Monday to Friday Shirley & Deveaux Streets, Nassau, Bahamas N3207 TELEPHONES News & General Information (242) 322-1986 Advertising Manager (242) 502-2394 Circulation Department (242) 502-2386 Nassau fax (242) 328-2398 Freeport, Grand Bahama (242)-352-6608 Freeport fax (242) 352-9348 WEBSITE, TWITTER & FACEBOOK www.tribune242.com @tribune242 tribune news network PAGE 6, Thursday, August 25, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
THERE has been much talk lately of the impact of climate change on the economy – but the very human cost of climate disasters are still with us. In today’s Tribune, survivors of Hur ricane Dorian tell of how nearly three years on from the storm they are still struggling to get back to normal. Joanna Bootle tells of how her family are struck by anxiety when the weather gets bad during hurricane season, saying “you kinda get on edge, praying that we don’t receive any storms.” When Dorian hit, she suffered injuries all over her body as the storm smashed 80 percent of her home’s windows, leav ing her with cuts. They fled their home and rode out the storm in a neighbour’s house.Edward Armbrister tells a similar story of how his children start crying any time it starts raining or there is lightning. He told of being trapped in an apartment in the storm where the bathroom and kitchen roof came off but they couldn’t push the doors open, and watched as his car was bent into a U shape by the power of the storm. He told of how his daughter almost drowned in flood water trying to get to shelter afterwards, and how survivors were left to search for food for days with food stores destroyed. Another survivor, Terry Joe Price, tells of how the slogan Abaco Strong kept her going in the aftermath. Next week, a series of memorial events will be held to mark the third anniversary of the storm – but its effects are still with us. They are in the minds of those who came through the storm. They are in the hearts of families who lost loved ones in theAndhurricane.somehow, horrifyingly, things are still getting worse. Another 1,200 hur ricane victims have now asked for help from the government – in addition to the 2,500 already being helped under the former administration. All this time on and still more people are reaching out for help – it shows the depth of the storm’s impact, and that we need to do more still to help people rebuild.Thatthe government is extending the help further is welcome – but the news that people who didn’t previously feel they needed help are now moved to ask for it shows that the recovery and rebuilding effort hasn’t succeeded in the way we might have hoped or expected. Help goes beyond financial, however. As next week’s anniversary events are held, there will be many with physi cal or mental scars from the storm who will need friends, who will need family, who will need someone to help them get through. It will bring back painful mem ories. To those who know people who came through the storm, reach out to them and be willing to listen. The horror of those days will linger throughout peo ple’s lifetimes – the least the rest of us can do is help.
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increasingviolence,country”inatedAugustwasdaughtericeiceBobleyVolmyr,Saimphorin,listedhavewhoofficials,dentifiedfuneralhadtheFollowingoperation.theincident,Haitiangovernmentpledgedtocovertheexpensesoftheunivictimswhodied.AccordingtoBahamiansixofthe17peoplediedfromthetragedybeenidentified.Fiveofthevictimsareasfollows:MaryKourtneyAnnetteMesidor,Fertilus,andAltanIvroy.AfuneralforAltanIvroyandheryoungKourtneyVolmyrheldonSunday,21.AccordingtotheAssociPress,thereisa“surgeHaitiansfleeingtheirdueto“risingkidnappingsandeconomiccrisis”.
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
By LETRE SWEETING
SURVIVORS clinging to the capsized boat last month.
BOY DROWNS ON ABACO BEACH
Public Works and Utili ties Minister Alfred Sears could not be contacted yes terday to comment on the issue.“One other area is what they referred to as the Peas and the Mudd. They put a big fence around it and that’s where it ended,” Ms Degregory-Miaoulis said. “So now it’s just being over grown and it’s just a fenced in “Andproperty.by the way all the people that lived in the Peas and the Mudd where did they go? Where are they now? They are living all throughout the bush. So, instead of having one big mess in the middle of town, we’ve got clusters of build ings being constructed in the“It’swild.happening through out the north and the south. I mean throughout the island. I mean those people did not all disappear. They did not all leave the island. “Of course, it’s a con cern for business owners,” she continued when asked how Abaco businesses were handling the issue. In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian tore through the island, leav ing devastation in its wake before pummelling Grand Bahama. Several months later in March 2020 the first cases of COVID19 were reported in the country, paving the way for thousands more cases as the world braced for a pandemic.Itmeant that economic depression was inevitable. Ms Degregory-Miaoulis said Abaco suffered an “unbearable” blow. “Our city was completely demolished. We had to start with a clean slate. We’ve had, of course, the added disadvantage of COVID. The supply chain of prod ucts being limited and all of the other issues that came along with the COVID crisis that everybody else had to contend with. “The fact that we were at such a disadvantage coming out of the gate with this whole COVID crisis mess made it a little more unbearable for us in Abaco and really and truly it’s a big, big thanks to our second homeowners — foreign aid financial help that has helped our cays — Hope Town, Man-o-War, Guana Cay, basically those. They have been able to get back to a pretty healthy business environment and so I have to give a big thanks to the second home owners for the foundations they set up with foreign support.“From the government standpoint they, of course, had to tackle the huge infrastructural rebuild. So, it’s a big thanks that they didn’t have to basically fund the rebuilding of our cays.
NEARLY three years after Hurricane Dorian decimated Abaco and its surrounding cays, portions of the island continue to be challenged by the prolifera tion of illegal dwellings and unreliable utilities. There is also a housing crisis that has separated families that would ordinar ily live together. This has gone on because no commercial construction entity capitalised on the opportunity to fill a noticea ble void left to linger due to the monster storm in 2019, this newspaper was told. According to Abaco Chamber of Commerce president Daphne Degreg ory-Miaoulis yesterday, businesses on the island are concerned about illegal structures that are popping up in bushy areas. She surmised that clusters of makeshift homes have grown and will continue to do so due to manpower issues with the relevant authorities.
FAMILIES of the migrants who died in the failed human smuggling tragedy last month had until yesterday to claim the bodies of their loved ones, said activist Louby Georges.After his statements last week that he would be assisting the fami lies of the victims of the incident where a boat cap sized, Mr Georges said he spoke with the Haitian Chargé d’Affaires to The Bahamas Anthony Brutus on Tuesday regarding funeral arrangements for unclaimed victims. “There was no date set for the funerals. What he did say to me, however, is that there is a deadline, the 24th, for families to claim loved ones’ bodies,” he said.Mr Georges added that Mr Brutus advised families to at least make contact with the coroner and give notice of when they would be coming, before the deadline.“Hisadvice was that they make contact and properly advise that they would be coming down and would like to claim their fami lies. I’m not sure how far they would have gotten with that, but I will follow up with them. Should they not have claimed by today (Wednesday), the remain ing would be handed over to the embassy, for them to move forward, so they will have their final count and they can make the neces sary arrangements,” Mr Georges said yesterday. Thus far, Mr Georges said two families have reached out to him for assistance with claiming the bodies of their loved ones. “I did have two families that reached out to me, but they’re based in the States and I turned over the con tacts for the coroner. I will follow up with them to find out if they were success ful in making contact. And if they were, what was said to them, seeing that the chargé said that (yesterday was) the deadline,” he said yesterday.Thechargé also reported on the repatriation of the migrants thus far, said Mr Georges.“Outof the 25 survivors, 20 were repatriated and five remain and they will be a part of the trial along with the smugglers,” he said. It has been one month since this smuggling trag edy, which left 17 Haitian migrants dead. On July 24, some 50 people were trav elling in rough seas near Blackbeard’s Cay on a 33 ft twin engine vessel when it overturned, police said. Officers suspected the boat had been travelling to Miami as a part of a human smuggling
A BOY drowned in Abaco, just days after Min ister of Education Glenys Hanna Martin announced that the government would introduce swimming lessons in public schools this year. The incident occurred at Treasure Cay Beach on Tuesday afternoon when the victim attended a beach picnic with several friends.
Early this week, Ms Hanna Martin said the government anticipates the introduction of swimming lessons, enhancing the phys ical education programme. “We are developing a programme to introduce swimming at the schools,” she said. “It’s a skill and really all of us should be able to swim in The Baha mas, but certainly the new generation emerging should be able to,” she said.
Assistant Superintendent Stephen Rolle said police at the Treasure Cay Police Station received a report of an alleged drowning shortly before noon. He said uniformed offic ers went to Treasure Cay Beach to investigate.
“Now Marsh Harbour and Central Abaco, Treas ure Cay. Treasure Cay they are still having struggles with basic utilities being consistent and reliable and the fact that they can’t get their finger out of their butt, so to speak, on the deci sion to sell or not to sell the Treasure Cay Hotel. “Treasure Cay basically put Abaco on the map back in the day and now it’s a sleeping giant that is stag nating growth because a lot of the second homeowners they want to know what’s happening there and their decision to build or rebuild can depend on what the hotel is going to do and also on the reliability of services – water, power, internet, all of “Abacothat. proper, the busi nesses that had insurance or that had deep enough pockets to fund their rebuild have come back and rebounded and thank God for them, the big giants.” She continued: “But the SMEs, the small busi ness people, the everyday middle class business owners who maybe didn’t have insurance, they are having a real struggle. This is because the popu lation has not been able to get back to what it was because of the lack of housing.“Housing is a major, major issue and it’s disap pointing that some of our wealthy construction broth ers in New Providence for instance didn’t grasp this as an opportunity early in the day to build apart ments. Places for people to transition to and for young business people to be housed.“Families have been split up and they can’t really come back to the island without having proper housing for the family. So that’s really, really unfortunate.”Shefurther noted the desire to see the conces sions granted under the special economic recov ery zone (SERZ) order extended for three more years, saying the true ben efit of the initiative had not been seen or felt due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.Apart from this, Ms Degregory-Miaoulis is of the view that the general public has not fully under stood Abaco’s challenges. All things considered, she said now would be a good time for the establishment of a master plan for the island.
THE TRIBUNE Thursday, August 25, 2022, PAGE 7
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
FAMILIES RUN OUT OF TIME TO CLAIM BODIES
Abaco Chamber concern over illegal dwellings
Upon their initial inves tigation, ASP Rolle said reports are that a juve nile male was attending a beach picnic along with several friends, and while in the water he was dis covered foaming from the mouth.He was assisted to the shore and CPR was performed.ASPRolle said EMS attended the scene and took the victim to the Marsh Harbour Clinic, where he was seen and examined by a doctor, who pronounced him dead. He said investigations are continuing into that inci dent. Police did not release the boy’s age. There have been several drownings of young persons thisEarliersummer. this month, 11-year-old Gerodo Atwill Taylor, Jr, was found dead and is suspected to have drowned in a pond near the golf academy opposite the national sports stadium. Also, the body of a juve nile male was pulled from waters near Paradise Cove, Deadman’s Reef in Grand Bahama this month. The teen had gone swimming at Celebrity Beach near Para dise Cove with four boys and did not return to shore when the others did. Also, this month, a woman drowned when she tried to assist a child who was in distress in the waters in the Staniard Creek area.
NOW Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Michael Darville is pictured voting in the 2016 equality referendum, which overwhelmingly failed to pass.
The nature of human sinfulness is such that it has often been the church and religion that have been among the most oppressive and recalcitrant, utilizing religious texts and “tradi tion” to safeguard male domination and to rein force inequality. On the eve of half a cen tury as a sovereign state, The Bahamas is one of the few countries in the region and the world where there remains a constitutional barrier for certain women to automatically transmit citizenship to their children. A proposal to amend the Bahamas National ity Act by the governing PLP to address this glar ing inequality is necessary and welcome.
“THE arc bends toward justice, but it only bends toward justice because people pull it towards jus tice. It doesn’t happen on its own.”-Eric Holder, former US Attorney General BARACK Obama often quotes the ethical instruc tion of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” The proximate provenance of the instruction is traced to Theodore Parker, an abolitionist reformist Uni tarian minister. A Harvard Divinity School minister, Parker proclaimed in an 1853 sermon, partially inspired by other religious thinkers: “I do not pretend to under stand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.” Dr King’s more compact version has often been mis understood. Author Mycal Denzel Smith argues that the quotation “carries the risk of magical thinking. After all, if the arc of the moral universe will inevi tably bend toward justice, then there is no reason for us to work toward that jus tice, as it’s preordained.
PROMISE
EQUALITY One of the more pro tracted struggles is equality for women amidst entrenched and ancient misogyny and deep-seated prejudices, so often rooted in fundamentalist and reli gious bigotry and power structures.
The last FNM govern ment led by Dr Hubert Minnis promised legisla tive changes but sadly, failed to do so. This is yet another reminder for those who deem that they have the time to correct historic wrongs: act when you can for chance often passes us by.In 1972, 12 days before Christmas, the Bahamas Independence Conference convened at the red Dutch brick Marlborough House in central London, which now houses the Common wealth not.tutionalasJohnsonhavemajority,suffragettes.votebecausewhichsexistexemplifiedmen’swantaBahamianflippantdelegatewasmostformalnorm.positionquatedwhichshipfullFNM,ofoversight.itythethementBahamianBahamianThetooftermsandbetweenThereSecretariat.wasdisagreementthegoverningPLPtheoppositionFNMinofpassingonarightautomaticcitizenshipchildrenbornoutsideBahamasofanon-husbandtoawife.ThearguofthePLPwasthatwomanshouldfollowman.ThisdenialoffullequalbythePLPwasnotanItwasamattercontentionbetweenthewhicharguedforequalityonthecitizenquestion,andthePLP,defendeditsantianddiscriminatoryasaninternationalDuringabreakinthetalks,oneoftheseniorPLPleaderspressedbyanFNMonthematter.Theresponsewasthatifwomengotsuchright,theywouldthentherighttousethewashroom.Theunhumorousquipanentrenchedmindsetinthepartycametopowerofthewomen’sandtheeffortsoftheGivenitslargethePLPcouldtakenDameDrDorisoranotherwomanadelegatetotheConstiConferencebutdid
INEVITABLEJUSTICEARCBENDINGTOWARDNOT
It was a tragic irony that ten years after women’s suf frage and at the birth of a new constitution committed to equality, the party which ushered in majority rule, opposed full equality for Bahamian women. During the 25-year reign of Sir Lynden’s PLP, full constitutional equal ity for women was never addressed, though it likely would have easily passed under Sir Lynden. In 2002, given a chance to correct an historic wrong, former Prime Minister Perry Chris tie and his party failed a test of history and justice. Having voted for con stitutional equality in the House, the self-declared progressive and liberal party, now turned regres sive, reactionary and illiberal, reversed course in one of the grossest acts of expediency in Bahamian political history.
THE REACTION as the news came in that the 2016 equality referendum was won by the “No” cam paigners.
Speaking to Eyewitness News this past April, Constitutional Father, former Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes explained: “That’s a good step what is being proposed now but that’s legislation, which is all right, which is good. But still, the change needs to be made in our fundamental law because some future Parliament can change that. “The whole idea of having these things entrenched in the Consti tution is that they’re not so easy to change… And I hope, despite all the talk that there would be at some point, we decide to do that.”The march to equality on this matter has been a long road, encumbered by preju dice, political calculation, indifference and funda mentalist mindsets. It has also been a difficult journey, heartbreak and disappoint ment for many women, men and their children.
PAGE 8, Thursday, August 25, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
“If it is only a matter of cosmic influence, if there is no human role, then we are off the hook. This isn’t how King meant it, as evidenced by the work to which he dedicated his own life.” The long, difficult and generational global struggle for equality throughout human history demonstrates that realiz ing the basic necessities of freedom and equality, let alone the hunger and thirst for fuller justice, spans dec ades, centuries and more.
POISONED On the grounds of socalled “process”, the PLP campaigned against the constitutional equality ref erendum. In doing so, the party likely poisoned the well for referendums for a generation or more. That the argument of process was made by a contemporary PLP was an insult to the legacy of those who demanded racial jus tice and majority rule in the face of those gradual ists and racists of yesteryear who also argued process. When asked if the fail ure of the 2002 referendum hurt Bahamian women, Mr Christie, in a terribly sexist statement dismissively and insensitively said no. When the PLP called an equality referendum in 2016, it also overwhelmingly failed with scores of men and women again voting against the equality measure. When US President Lyndon Johnson pressed for the historic 1964 Civil Rights Act after the trauma of the assassination of John F Kennedy, he did so in the face of overwhelming opposition in the American South, where the Demo crats would go on to lose their electoral grip. Many may not recall that the benchmark civil rights legislation was not about race alone. “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohib its discrimination on the basis of race, colour, reli gion, sex or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as race, in hiring, promoting andWithfiring.”seismic determi nation and leadership, Johnson pressed his pow erful political muscle and leaned in to bend the moral arc as much as he could at the time. Decades later, the vicious racism of America remains. But there has been progress though there is a never-ending journey ahead.There are two moral aph orisms by Dr King which might guide the contin ued quest for equal rights generally and for Baha mian women. The first is: “A right delayed is a right denied.” The proposed change to the Nationality Act is right and good but is still not a constitutional right.Dr King also lamented the “paralysis of analysis”. There are some calling for more consultation on the proposed change. This really means delay and an opportunity to oppose the legislation. We have had too much of this “consul tation”, a euphemism for inaction.Butthere are other voices who should be lis tened to on this matter, such as former Chief Justice Dame Joan Sawyer, who supports the expansion of the Nationality Act, and various religious leaders who have already expressed support for constitutional equality.The Opposi tion, which should support the legislation, should also be consulted. Any improvements to the proposed change should be welcomed.IfPrime Minister Philip Brave Davis and the current PLP pass this legis lation, it will go some ways to ease historic wrongs and injustice.Still,the road ahead on women’s equality requires many other measures to further bend the moral arc, even as others continue to work mightily to bend the same arc away from justice and equality.
THE TRIBUNE Thursday, August 25, 2022, PAGE 9
RICHARD and his wife of six years, Elise, live in a large northeast ern US metropolitan area. They have a young son and Elise is expecting the couple’s second child later thisBothyear.are college gradu ates from schools you have heard about, and they both believe their good education helped them to land excellent entry jobs and accelerated their progress as they get better established in their respective careers. They are well launched on their pursuit of what is still called the American Dream.Theodds favour their long-term success. But a cloud has now appeared on the horizon of their serenity. Let’s get to know them and see how they respond, and what it might mean for America’s future.Richard is an attorney developing specialized expertise in potentially noxious building mate rials, and he hopes this will help him to become a sought-after litigator and consultant in harmful death and serious injury and illness cases. Elise is a trained emer gency room nurse and is pursuing a specialization in paediatric cardiac care. While she is proud of her achievements in the hospital workplace, she is looking forward to 15 years or so of active, com mitted motherhood after Richard starts to bring in the big Whenpaychecks.theirson was born three years ago, the couple was able to secure financing for the purchase of a “starter” three-bed room brick ranch house in a moderately upscale suburb near her work. They used monetary gifts from each set of parents to qualify for more favorable mortgage loan terms via a larger than required down payment on the house. They plan to move to a better school district when their son enters primary school in a few years and then, who knows? Maybe Richard will strike it rich in his law practice and they will be able to move again to the best part of town.These two young people make it a priority to get involved in the local civic affairs of their moneywastefulwelfareSheand“legislateprogrammescalShegovernmentciallymoreagenda,tocloselicansloudlyheworkhisGOPxenophobicalienatedRepublican,Hetivegrandson.baseballfathersbabysittingeagerwithliveTheirandmationnewneighbourhood.immediateIt’sagoodwaytomeetfriendsandgetinforonschools,shopscarpoolpossibilities.respectiveparentsaboutanhouraway,bothgrandmotherstodooccasionalandthegrandlookingforwardtogameswiththeirRichardisaninstincliberalDemocrat.hasnevervotedforaandhasbeenfurtherbytheturnoftheinthepast10years.Whileheiscarefulwithpoliticalopinionsatandwithpeopledoesn’tknowwell,hedenouncesRepubwhenwithEliseorfriends.ProgrammesEliseissympathetictheliberalsocialbutsomewhatconservative,espewhenitcomestospending.canbeharshlycritioflargegovernmentthataimtoaway”socialeconomicinequality.feelsthatmanysocialprogrammes,areandthathertaxispoorlymanaged and distributed. Still, she shares many of her hus band’s ideals and hopes for the US to become more egalitarian and offer greater opportunities to “underserved” minorities. She often speaks of heartbreaking cases she encounters at work that involve black and brown children.Richard and Elise are both white. Each grew up in a home largely insu lated from the terrifying worries and insecurities that accompany family income levels that the parents know cannot meet their families’ basic human requirements for food, shelter and freedom from the shadow of all but the most coincidental crimes against property andThepersons.couple were relax ing after dinner and their son’s bedtime rituals had seen him safely off to dreamland.“Acouple of the firm’s partners were talking about Missing Middle at lunch today,” Richard mused. “Ever heard of it?” His wife shook her head.“It’s a fairly new name to describe local govern ment efforts to make upscale neighbourhoods more affordable to entrylevel buyers, and to add equity and diversity to the housing equation. Via zoning and land use planning changes, a municipality can essen tially begin to reverse the effects of racial and ethnic discrimination that has produced segregated housing throughout the northeast and on the west coast.”“How would this work in an area like ours?” Elise“Asinquired.Iunderstand it, Missing Middle aims to make more acces sible for lower-income buyers the single-family upscale neighbourhoods that are now mostly all white enclaves, with the hope that the result will be more black and brown residents in those areas,” Richard“OK,”said.Elise replied, “but aren’t issues like zoning and other land use regulations the responsibility of local gov ernments?
Debating the ‘Missing Middle’
“Apparentlycarefulareawouldpromotepatternstrygovernmentstandmoment.familyhousingaccommodatetogovernmentscialFedsThere’sorityhaveingraciallyprogrammesathisis-wastefultoneededathis?”IncentivesRichardhesitatedformoment,awarethathetobecarefulnottriggeragovernment-responsefromwife.“Well,theguysworkweresayingthattoredressunbalancedhouspoliciesandpracticesbeenaliberalpriforalongtime.talknowthatthewouldofferfinanincentivestolocalthatagreechangetheirzoningtodifferentoptionsinsingle-neighbourhoods.”Elisethoughtfora“SoifIunderthiscorrectly,isgoingtotoinfluencehousingspecificallytodiversity?Whatthislooklikeinanlikeours?”Again,Richardwasbeforereplying.datathe
Feds have tells them that in the deepest blue parts of the country – the west coast states of Califor nia, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, as well as places like New York City and Washington, DC – the rate of homelessness is the highest.“This is supposedly because economic activity in these areas is the most attractive for newcom ers; lots of new jobs are available, and these are ‘prestige’ areas, whatever that“Butmeans.there’s little or no affordable housing in those areas. “So people, especially young people, want to move to these areas. According to the laws of supply and demand, that means sale prices for existing homes and rents are among the highest in the country. So, by this reasoning, that means that the barriers to entry into these housing markets are the highest in the US. Neighbourhoods in these areas are among the most settled, and are filled with detached single-family homes. Residents have little interest in chang ing anything about where they“Thelive. people already there paid a high price to live there. They’re sup posedly concerned that an influx of poorer, black and brown people will devalue their property values. Furthermore, Missing Middle aims to replace aging single-fam ily detached housing stock with duplexes, triplexes or even low-rise apartment buildings. You following me?”Elis frowned, thinking about what her husband said. “I can see that the municipalities would get more density, more prop erty taxes, more overall revenue.“Butinfrastructure like stormwater runoff, park ing and pressure to build more schools would all be potentially negative impacts too, wouldn’t they?”Richard admitted that this was likely true. There was a pause as both spouses reflected. Elise spoke“Wouldfirst. this Missing Middle housing affect our area?”“The guys at work said our neighbourhood was one of the high priority areas.“That’s because we already have a mixture of older homes and newer, McMansion-type houses. The county reasons that Missing Middle housing would be less disruptive here.”Elise’s jaw dropped. “What did you say?” “I just listened, really. What could I diversity?”ciplesfloor.here.oneexperimentationcanidea.resistancetohowelsenextassociationthatDidn’tatdadhall.do-goodertumblewatchgoingandhaveputneighbourhoods.thatit.idea,thinkandElise’sResolutesay?”gazewassteadyresolute.“Well,IthisisareallylousyandI’mgoingtofightIgetitthatthepowersbewanttodiversifyButweeverysparecentweintothismortgage,I’llbedamnedifI’mtositaroundandourpropertyvaluebecauseofsomedownatcity“I’mgoingtocallmyandseewhoheknowsthemayor’soffice.wejustgetanoticetheneighbourhoodismeetingweek?“I’mgoing.I’llseewhoknowsaboutthisandtheyfeel.I’mgoingtrytoorganizesometothisstupid“Thoseidiotsdowntowntryouttheirsocialinsomeelse’sbackyard.NotAreyouwithme?”RichardlookedattheFinally,heanswered.“Whatabouttheprinofequityand“Notinmybackyard.”
Is the federal government involved in
reflecting
TEENAGER ADMITS STEALING PROPERTY
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net.
A MAN was ordered to serve 200 hours of commu nity service yesterday for damaging his sister’s car, barely six months after his release from prison follow ing a ten-year sentence for armedKameronrobbery.Rolle, 29, appeared before Magistrate Kendra Kelly on a charge of Betweendamage. the hours of 6pm to 7am on August 17–18, Rolle caused $557.15 worth of damage to the windshield of his sister, Brittney Rolle’s, charcoal grey Buick LaCrosse. Before the magistrate could finish reading his charges, Rolle immedi ately pleaded guilty to the offence in an effort to spare the court’s time. He told the court that he only threw a Kalik bottle at his sister’s car after a night out drinking. He said he was heavily intoxicated at the time and that a heated argument followed between theItsiblings.wasalso revealed to the magistrate that Rolle had been released from prison in February after an armed robbery conviction, for which he was sentenced to ten years. In view of this infor mation, Magistrate Kelly reprimanded the accused for his irresponsible behav iour so soon after his release. The magistrate further told the defendant that he can’t blame alcohol for his actions and that he needed to wise up and act smart.After accepting his guilty plea, Magistrate Kelly ordered Rolle to fully com pensate his sister for the damage caused. Rolle is expected to make his first $50 payment to the court next week with a recurring $50 payment each week thereafter until the balance is paid.Hewas further ordered to complete 200 hours of community service. Defaulting on either con dition would result in a prisonRollesentence.isexpected to return to court for a report on October 5. CAR
Commonwealth Bank is the premier Bahamian Bank with branches located in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Abaco and Eleuthera. We are committed to delivering superior quality service, training and developing our employees, creating value for our shareholders and promoting economic growth and stability in the community.
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A FREEPORT woman was arrested after police discovered nearly $18,000 worth of suspected meth amphetamine at a residence in Grand AssistantBahama. Superin tendent Stephen Rolle reported that Drug Enforcement Unit offic ers executed a search warrant shortly after 10am on Tuesday at a residence on Cadwallader Jones Drive. On arrival at the resi dence, officers knocked on the front door and a woman opened it. She was shown the search warrant. During a search of the residence, police said offic ers searching the kitchen area found a Quaker Oats box.On closer inspection, ASP Rolle said a crystallike substance suspected to be methamphetamine was found inside. As a result, the woman was arrested and taken into policeASPcustody.Rollesaid the sus pected drugs weighed 1.8 ounces with an estimated street value of Methamphetamine$17,600. is a potent central nervous system (CSN) stimulant that is mainly used as a rec reational drug. A police investigation is ongoing.
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
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A TEENAGER was sent to the Simpson Penn Centre for Boys after he admitted to stealing $500 worth of a man’s property. The 14-year-old boy was accompanied by his mother when he stood before Mag istrate Kendra Kelly on a charge of stealing. He is accused of stealing a man’s $300 gold chain and $200 in cash on August 19. Since the accused’s arrest, neither item has been recovered.Afterelecting to continue his matter in Magistrate’s Court, the boy pleaded guilty to the charge. In view of the fact that the boy has a history of running away and is also known to associate with gang members, the mag istrate remanded him for his own safety. He was placed in the cus tody of the Simpson Penn Centre for Boys as the court awaits his probation report.His sentencing hearing was adjourned to October 14.
$18K OF SUSPECTED METH FOUND
A WOMAN accused of murder was sent to the Bahamas Depart ment of Correctional Services yesterday for allegedly violating the terms of her bail. Victoria Gibson, 24, faced Mag istrate Kendra Kelly on charges of violating conditions of bail and two counts of damage. She is accused of violating her bail conditions between August 19-22 in relation to her murder charge for the 2017 killing of Ter enora Stubbs. Stubbs died from stabAfterwounds.receiving bail in 2019, she allegedly tampered with and damaged her electronic moni toring device on August 22. This device is valued at $841.50 and is the property of Metro Security Solutions. Gibson is additionally charged with causing $300 worth of damage to a window of Alden Teffari Ferguson’s residence on Burial Ground Corner on August 22.After electing to continue her case in the Magistrate’s Court, Gibson pleaded not guilty to all threeProsecutorcharges. Sergeant Vernon Pyfrom objected to the accused’s bail. In response, Gibson protested being placed back in custody stat ing that she is the mother of a young child. She went on to claim that her electronic monitoring device was only damaged when she tried to hop a fence while she was running away from her boy friend. She said that the second she realised her ankle monitor was broken she went to the near est police station to report the issue. Sgt Pyfrom then informed Gibson that the court intended to proceed with the charge as the information in her case file con flicts with her story. She was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correc tional Services. Magistrate Kelly informed Gibson that she can apply to the Supreme Court for bail.Gibson’s trial in this matter is set for October 11.
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Murder accused ‘violated bail’
MAN FREED FROM PRISON DAMAGED SISTER’S
PAGE 10, Thursday, August 25, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
The Assistant Branch Manager position is an important and critical management position within the Bank. In addition to sound knowledge of the Bank’s credit policies and procedures this position must also exhibit sound management and leadership skills that maximize the contributions of subordinate staff members through leadership by example, encouragement and effective training programs. to sound asset growth and profitability of the Branch by that all targets are achieved. research on current credit portfolio management techniques and practices to minimize the risk of loan losses. specific objectives are developed through an appropriate strategic plan to grow the branch’s loan and deposit portfolios and offerings. the contribution of employees through feedback and coaching on overall performance. drive quality customer service throughout the Branch while on services and products. Finance business related field. of five (5) years Banking of two (2) years Delinquency experience; minimum of two (2) experience and one (1) year Operations experience. service skills focused complaint resolution. consistently achieving individual goals targets. supervision. written communication skills. team performance to ensure unit profitability. promote teamwork and a positive team culture. Bank is a Great place to work! an exciting work environment with opportunities for growth also offer a competitive compensation package, the successful applicant’s work experience, skills, and a performance-based incentive plan, health, and life insurance, and a pension plan. should complete the online application and submit Friday, August 26, 2022 to:
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By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
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‘CONCERN’ ABOUT EVENTS
HEALTH Minister Michael Darville yesterday.
Photo: Austin Fernander
WSC ON ALERT AFTER THREAT TO WORKER
OFFICIALS at the Water and Sewerage Corporation are on “heightened alert” after a threatening letter was sent to an employee, according to WSC consult ant Loretta Butler-Turner. Police are said to be investigating the matter. The letter, which Mrs Butler-Turner said was sent on Tuesday, threatened vio lence against an employee if the individual did not resign within three weeks. Asked if any threats have been made to other employ ees, Mrs Butler-Turner said that was the only threat received thus far. “Well the matter is now in the police’s hands because you know obvi ously we take that very seriously considering we don’t know if it’s a hoax. We don’t know if it’s true, but it’s a very threaten ing letter. I imagine quite frankly the employee, who is still on the job, is very concerned,” she said. “So, ensuring that there’s safety levels for all workers at Water and Sewerage is of paramount importance at this point. So that informa tion has been disseminated to all of the staff that you know we’re on height ened alert for the safety of everyone.Shesaid officials were waiting on police to com plete the investigation. The letter noted “You did what you had to do. Now we ga do what we have to do. We will handcuff you if you don’t resign within three weeks. . .” It also contained more explicit threats of violence. The typed letter was sent in a Bahamas Government Service envelope.
DESPITE a concern about recent crowded events held in New Provi dence, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Dar ville said officials are preparing to discontinue the need for the emer gency operations centre to approve events. The minister was asked about concerns related to events this weekend when large numbers of people were present and not adhering to protocols. “COVID is here,” Dr Darville said in comments to reporters yesterday at the Office of the Prime Minister following an industrial agreement signed with the Bahamas Nurses Union and the Public Hos pitals“COVIDAuthority.isamong us and from time to time we all have loved ones who have been exposed to COVID. “Fortunately for us the clinical manifestation of the present sub-strain is not as severe and many people are able to deal with it without presenting themselves to hospital.“Weare concerned. We are concerned about events. “But I want to let you know and I want the Bahamian people to under stand that our EOC now is looking at releasing this tight scrutiny for events in the“Wecountry.expect those who are planning the events and those who attend the events to act responsibly and to ensure that you try your endeavour best to stay healthy and if you do have symptoms the free testing centre is available and to do the necessary protocols to eliminate or prevent the possibility of clusters of spread.”Asked to explain further, Dr Darville said: “What we are going to do is as it stands right now the EOC leads the charge to deter mine which events should happen and which events should not happen. “We are becoming mind ful that we are going to release that where people will make the decisions and do things (in their) own orderly fashion that we believe is safe.” He also responded to the Official Opposition’s calls to modify the approach to the coronavirus with new vaccines and antiviral therapies.“Inour arsenal to deal with COVID we have a wide cross section of new drugs to ensure that we have improved outcomes and we had a committee that moved very swiftly early in the Delta vari ant to ensure that many of the antivirals and the medications necessary to treat moderate to severe COVID-19 cases are pres ently in country.” He also said that the removal of the mask man date will depend on the country’s vaccination rate. “The mask mandate is directly tied in with our vac cination rate. We recently brought in country the paediatric doses and so when we speak about those who are vaccinated in the country it is those who are eligible to be vaccinated. “With the addition of the paediatric popula tion, we used to speak of a percentage of about 53 percent but if you increase the denominator it actually reduces and so we are very concerned.“We are pleading throughout the country for Bahamians to come in. Par ticularly those who have not gotten their first and second doses to become vaccinated because the more people vaccinated, the more pos sibility of us looking very seriously at the mask man date in order for us to do a better job,” he said.
THE TRIBUNE Thursday, August 25, 2022, PAGE 11
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
To advertise in The 502-2394contactTribune,
903 DEAD IN FLOODINGPAKISTAN
HEAVY rains have trig gered flash floods and wreaked havoc across much of Pakistan since mid-June, leaving 903 dead and about 50,000 people homeless, the country’s disaster agency saidThousandsyesterday.whose homes were swept away now live in tents, miles away from their inundated villages and towns, after being rescued by soldiers, local disaster workers and volunteers. The National Disaster Management Authority said yesterday that 126 people were killed in floodrelated incidents in the past 48 hours, with most of the victims being women and children.Theflooding has further exacerbated Pakistan’s economic crisis. Prime Min ister Shahbaz Sharif issued an appeal from abroad, urging philanthropists to help flood-affected areas in Pakistan.Sharif is currently in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, where he arrived on Tuesday, seeking finan cial assistance, loans and foreign investment for his cash-strapped Islamic nation. His government has promised to compensate those who lost homes in the floods.After talks yesterday with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Sharif announced that the Qatari Investment Authority is prepared to invest $3 bil lion in Pakistan. The trip is Sharif’s first official visit to Qatar as prime minister since he replaced Imran Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence in Parlia ment in April. After inundating much of southwestern Balu chistan and eastern Punjab province, flash floods have now started to affect also the southern Sindh prov ince. Authorities this week closed schools in Sindh and Baluchistan.SherryRehman, Paki stan’s minister of climate change, tweeted on Tuesday that local authorities are unable to cope on their own and appealed on the world community to help. Pakistani Television footage on Wednesday showed people wading through waist-high water, holding their children and carrying essential items on their heads. Rescuers used trucks and boats to evacu ate people to safer places and food, tents and other basic supplies were being dispatched to flood-affected areas.Insome places, the pop ular Geo TV reported, families struggled to bury their loved ones as local graveyards were also inun dated by floodwaters. The TV broadcast footage showing mourners carry ing coffins through flooded areas to bury the dead away from submerged homes. Monsoon rains, which started in mid-June, were expected to continue this week, mainly in the south.
Murad Ali Shah, the top elected official in Sindh province, said the situation was worse than in 2010, when floods killed at least 1,700 people in Pakistan, mostly in Sindh. “We are doing our best to evacu ate people from flood-hit areas,” he said Tuesday. Floods have damaged as many as 129 bridges across Pakistan, disrupting the supply of fruit and vegeta bles to markets and causing a hike in Expertsprices.say climate change has caused erratic weather conditions in Pakistan, resulting in cloudbursts, and melting of glaciers that has swelled rivers. They say that lim iting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions will help limit more dras tic weather events around the world, including in this South Asian country.
“In recent decades, we never witnessed such an unusual heavier down pour in Pakistan,” said scientist Shahla Gondal, adding that authorities are ill-equipped and “do not know how to tackle” flood ing disasters.
AssociatedISLAMABADPress
PEOPLE use a cart to salvage usable items from their flood-hit homes while they cross a flooded area to reach in higher location, in Tando Jan Muhammad, in southern Pakistan, yesterday. Heavy rains have triggered flash floods and wreaked havoc across much of Pakistan since mid-June, leaving 903 dead and about 50,000 people homeless, the country’s disaster agency said yesterday.
PAGE 12, Thursday, August 25, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
Photo: Ratan Kumar/AP
IN DAY
KYIV, AssociatedUkrainePress
Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
RUSSIAN forces yes terday launched a rocket attack on a Ukrainian train station on the embattled country’s Independence Day, killing at least 15 people and wounding about 50, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after warn ing for days that Moscow might attempt “something particularly cruel” this week.The lethal attack took place in Chaplyne, a town of about 3,500 people in the central Dnipropetro vsk region, Ukrainian news agencies quoted Zelenskyy as telling the UN Security Council via video. The pres ident’s office also reported that an 11-year-old child was killed by rocket fire in another part of the region. Ukraine had been brac ing for especially heavy attacks around the national holiday that commemo rates Ukraine’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Yes terday also marked the six-month point in the war. Days ahead of Independ ence Day, Kyiv authorities banned large gatherings in the capital through today for fear of missile strikes. Residents of Kyiv, which has been largely spared in recent months, woke up Wednesday to air raid sirens, but no immediate strikes followed. As the day wore on, Russian bombard ments were reported in the country’s east, west and center, with the most seri ous attack apparently at the trainOutgoingstation.
INDEPENDENCE
THE TRIBUNE Thursday, August 25, 2022, PAGE 13 15 REPORTED KILLED
ATTACK IN UKRAINE
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson marked the holiday with a visit to Kyiv — his third since the war broke out — and other European leaders used the occasion to pledge unwavering support for Ukraine, locked in a battle that was widely expected to be a lightning conquest by Moscow but has turned into a grinding war of attrition. US President Joe Biden announced a new military aid package of nearly $3 bil lion to help Ukrainian forces fight for years to come. Over the weekend, Zelenskyy cautioned that Russia “may try to do something particularly nasty, something particu larly cruel” this week. He repeated the warnings ahead of the train station attack, saying, “Russian provocations and brutal strikes are a MaidanduringtiveNevertheless,possibility”.afesatmosphereprevailedthedayatKyiv’ssquareasthousands of residents posed for pic tures next to burned-out Russian tanks put on dis play. Folk singers set up, and many revelers — ignor ing the sirens — were out and about in traditionally embroidered dresses and shirts.
A VIEW of destroyed Russian military vehicles installed in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, yesterday. Kyiv authorities have banned mass gatherings in the capital through today for fear of Russian missile attacks.
CHAVANO “Buddy” Hield (right) of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, and former pro player Mychel Thompson Jr look on during a press conference ahead of Team Bahamas’ game against Venezuela tonight in the FIBA Americas Cup Qualifier at the Kendal IsaacsPhoto:Gymnasium. Moise Amisial/Tribune Staff SEE
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter
PAGE 18
WITH the fifth edition of the CARIFTA Triathlon already set for the Bahamas in 2023, the Bahamas Triathlon Association is hoping that their 22-member team will make a splash at the fourth edition of the games next month. The team, which was announced today by the BTA, will be leav ing on Wednesday, September 21 and will compete from September 24-25 in Bermuda and, according to head coach Cameron Roach, they are looking at finishing in the top“Thethree.team is doing very well. We started training a few weeks ago and we’ve seen a lot of improve ment, especially the younger swimmers,” Roach said. “Every body is stepping up and getting ready to compete. “We have a number of com petitors, who were involved in swimming, but now that swim ming is over, we are getting ready to perform in cycling and running. So as long as they can continue to improve, we should be able to do veryRoachwell.”noted that after compet ing in the first championship with two members, the association has been able to field a full team, which should increase the Baha mas’ chances of moving up from sixth place last year to taking one of the top three spots. “This team is much better than the team we had last year,” Roach said. “Our goal is to finish in the top three. We have a lot of talent on the team, so we are confident that we will do very well in both the individual competition and the team“Ascompetition.thehostcountry, Bermuda always brings a big team and boasting of the number one female triathlete in the world, the sport has really taken off on the island. Guadeloupe also come with a big number as well as Trinidad & Tobago. So we hope to be right in the mix with these countries for the top three spots.”
After a lengthy process of elimi nation from the training camp, the Bahamas Basketball Fed eration released the names of the 12 players selected to represent the Bahamas tonight at the Kendal GL Issacs Gymnasium against Venezuela.Thetwo teams are play ing in the first game of the fourth window of the FIBA 2023 World Cup Qualifier. Team Bahamas, coached by Chris DeMarco and assisted by Mikhail McLean and Moses John son, is made up of the following: Garvin Clarke Jr, Rashad Davis, Jaraun “Kino” Burrows, Kadeem Coleby, Chavano “Buddy” Hield, Kai Jones, Danrad “Chicken” Knowles, Willis Mackey, Franco Miller Jr, Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn, Kentwan Smith and Mychel Thompson Jr. “Very confident in this team,” Johnson said. “The coaching staff is poised for a very good showing. The last 4-5 games, the team continues to grow and we’ve gotten better. So we are very confident that this team will do very well againstLookingVenezuela.”atthe makeup of the team, Johnson said the coaching staff has assembled a very cohesive unit and that will be one of their strengths. “We have added Kai Jones, who will certainly help out on the boards, along with Kadeem Coleby,” said Johnson. “That was one of our downfalls in our game played and I think we have addressed that issue so you should see a much better game from Team Bahamas.”Venezuela just arrived in town yesterday and the coaching staff didn’t get to size them up, but Moses said it’s not a concern because their focus is on the 12 players the Bahamas will put on the court, led by Hield and Jones in their quest to “We’rewin.not concerned about Venezuela until they step on the court,” Johnson said.Before finally submitting the team roster to the tech nical meeting last night, Johnson said they had left the door open for Deandre Ayton, the third Bahamian currently playing in the NBA for the Phoenix Suns, along with Hield from the Pacers and Jones from the Hornets.ButJohnson said they could only “wait” for so long, so they had to com plete the roster without Ayton.“We feel that whenever he’s ready to play with the team again, he will come out,” Johnson said. “We have a game to play and without or without him, we will play. We are concentrating on putting the best team out there to win.”Tonight’s game will get started at Following8pm. the game, Team Bahamas will travel to Argentina to play their second game in this window on Monday night. All of the players are expected to travel with the exception of Burrows, who will be replaced by Bradley Nairn, who is cur rently playing in the NBA’s G-League with the Stock ton Kings.
BILBAO, Spain (AP)
SEE PAGE 18
SEMISTOADVANCEANDJONESJONQUELSUNWNBA
SPORTS PAGE 14 THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2022
Senior
Team Bahamas named
Soler’s other win at the Vuelta came on the second stage in Frenchman2020. Rudy Molard was in the group of riders who crossed the line four seconds behind Soler and took the overall leader’s red jersey from three-time defending champion Primoz Roglic, who had won Tuesday’s stage.
bstubbs@tribunemdedia.net
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — DeWanna Bonner scored 21 points, Alyssa Thomas had 13 points and eight rebounds, and the No. 3 seed Connecticut Sun eased past the shorthanded Dallas Wings 73-58 last night to advance to the semifinals.Jonquel Jones had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Natisha Hiedeman added 11 points for Connecticut. Bonner became the 10th player in WNBA history to reach 300 career field goals, passing Angel McCoughtry.
22-MEMBER TRIATHLON TEAM LOOKS TO MAKE A SPLASH AT CARIFTA
SEE PAGE 16
SEE PAGE 15
SPANISH rider Marc Soler of UAE team Emirates celebrates after winning the 5th stage of the Vuelta cycling race between Irun and Bilbao, northern Spain, yesterday. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Reporter bstubbs@tribunemdedia.net
McClay says ownership, which is over whelmingly white in the NFL, has a role in getting to know promising minority candidates in organizations. McClay was head coach of an arena league team owned by Jones’ Cowboys before becoming a scout, and has been with the club for 20 years. “Jerry didn’t know me until I got to be able to spend time with him, talk to him, him to know how much I knew about football, how much I knew about relationships and trying to get that together,” McClay said.
The team selected are the fol lowing: 11-12 division, competing
By SCHUYLER DIXON AP Pro Football WriterQ
Connecticut earned its first winner-take-all victory since September 29, 2004, and got past the opening round of the WNBA play offs for the sixth straight season. The Sun play at the defending champion Chi cago Sky on Sunday in a best-of-five series. The Sun broke it open in the third quarter, using a 15-6 run to build a 49-40 lead. The Wings only made four field goals in the third quarter and Connecticut started the fourth on an 8-0 run for a 65-46 lead. Connecticut held Dallas to 24 second-half points and a season-low point total. “Last game, we had one steal and that’s not our identity at all,” said Thomas, who had two of Connecticut’s 14 steals. “We knew we really had to turn it up on defence and have each other’s back out there. ... When we started to get stops, that’s when the game really opened up.”
— With the finish line in sight, Marc Soler looked back over his shoulder and realised his challengers wouldn’t catch him. He threw his hand to his helmet in apparent disbe lief, then started celebrating a big win for him and his country.Soler broke free on the final ascent to win the fifth stage of the Spanish Vuelta yesterday and give Spain its first stage win at a Grand Tour race in two years. No Spanish rider had won since Ion Izagirre took the sixth stage of the 2020 Vuelta. “In the end I was able to make it happen and I’m very happy,” said Soler, of UAE Team Emirates. “It’s not easy. There are many Spanish riders in many teams but we often have to work. It’s not easy but we can also win.”
Marc Soler gives Spain 1st Grand Tour stage win in 2 years
By BRENT STUBBS Sports
DALLAS (AP) — Ryan Poles knew pretty quickly he was interested in the path that led to his hiring as general manager of the Chicago Bears, while Dallas Cowboys personnel man Will McClay toiled in arena football before scouting beckoned. Both credit relationships built along the way for their spots in a promising trend of diversity hiring for the NFL, plagued for years by a poor record in opportunities for minorities in the coaching ranks. Poles is among six minorities picked to fill the past 12 openings for general managers going back to early 2021, and McClay could have pushed the ratio past 50%. Instead, he has turned down sev eral chances to take that title, choosing to stay as vice president of player per sonnel for Dallas owner, president and GM Jerry RelationshipsJones. are crucial to main taining or expanding the roles of minorities in front offices, and the effort is never-ending, said C. Keith Harrison, lead author of the annual NFL Diversity and Inclusion Report. “People say time is money. Trust is money, and people invest in relation ships that they trust,” said Harrison, a sports business professor at UCF. “We have data that when you network and connect, engage with people that are dif ferent from you by gender and race, you have a better chance of being what we call upwardly mobile.”
GM hires give NFL bright spot in diversity, but work remains
By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer
THE TRIBUNE Thursday, August 25, 2022, PAGE 15 VENTURELEAGUEINFUSEDBEHINDMCILROYWOODS,TECH-GOLFINTV
ATLANTA — Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are bringing their own version of team golf to the PGA Tour.A day after Woods and McIlroy announced a new media venture called TMRW Sports, they unveiled a project yesterday that involves 18 players competing in a series of matches featuring technology as much as shot-making. It’s called “TGL,” a tech-infused golf league that will be held in a stadium built for the occasion where fans can watch three-man teams compete in an 18-hole match — using simula tors for the long shots, live shots for the shorter ones — that will take only two hours. The league is to start in January 2024 and fea ture 15 regular-season matches on Monday nights, followed by the semifinals and the finals. “For the fans, think sitting courtside at an NBA game. It’s that type of environment — music, player intro ductions. You’re right on top of the action as a fan,” said Mike McCa rley, the former Golf Channel president who formed TMRW Sports with Woods and McIlroy and is its CEO.
NPSA ALL-STAR CLASSIC
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
SPORTS TOURISM PUSH: Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg speaks during a press conference earlier this week ahead of Team Bahamas’ game against Venezuela in the FIBA Americas Cup Qualifier at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium tonight.Photo: Moise Amisial/Tribune Staff
By JAKE AssociatedSTARRPress
The president ladies’ All-Star team will be man aged by Richard Bain, coached by Shayne Albury. Selected to play on the team are Thela JohnsonStevens (Sunshine Auto Wildcats), Diva Burrows (R&B Operators), Sophia Cartwright (University of the Bahamas Mingoes), Star Jones (University of the Bahamas Mingoes), Aaliyah Ferguson (Sun shine Auto Wildcats), Rayven Bethel (University of the Bahamas Mingoes), Kendalia Turner (Johnson Lady Truckers), Eilayah Johnson (R&B Operators), Sheryl Evans (R&B Oper ators), Lashonda Bethel (Sunshine Auto Wildcats), Iranique Roker (University of the Bahamas Mingoes), Michesia Davis (Sunshine Auto Wildcats), Vanessa Sawyer (R&B Operators) and Charlene Symonette (University of the Baha masTheMingoes).vice president ladies’ team will be man aged by Anthony Bullard and coached by Sidney ‘Bobby Baylor’ Fernander.
Stevens also revealed that one of their major sponsors, Sunshine Auto, is spearheading a Back-toSchool giveaway for the children of the players in theHeleague.noted that there will be a bouncing castle and a number of items will be given to the children in attendance.“Wejust want to give back to softball,” he stated. The league, which plays every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and at least two Sundays each month, has gotten off to a fast start and once the AllStar game is completed this weekend, Stevens said they are looking forward to the teams making a push for the“We’replayoffs.happy with the progression that we are making as we go,” he said. “The NPSA fastpitch softball is the only fast pitch league being played throughout the coun try, so that’s a step in the right direction for us as an association.“Sowe’re happy to see that the league is running outside of the inclement weather, which has been a challenge for us. For the most part, we’ve had a successful season so far, restoring the confidence in our players and rekin dling the interest in our sponsors.” AT BANKER’S FIELD SATURDAY NIGHT
(AP)
BahamaintourismforPushingsportsGrand
SOUTH WILLIAM SPORT, Pa. (AP) — Following an 8-1 loss to Nicaragua at the Little League World Series, Ubaldo Ramos IV gath ered his Panama team one final time. It was an emotional group, as tears were shed in the postgame handshake line. A journey that had lasted all summer was over. But, like many coaches, Ramos had nothing but positive things to say. He congratulated his group, reminding the boys from ages 10 to 12 that so much more lies ahead. “I told the players this continues,” Ramos said through a translator. “They keep on playing baseball on to the next level.” Panama was one of four teams that saw their seasons end on Tues day. Indiana, Canada and Iowa also lost elimination games. Of the 20 teams in the LLWS, only one will be the champion on Sunday. The end of a Little League run is always tricky for coaches, acknowledg ing that nobody wins all the time while praising the effort it took to get to SouthAdamWilliamsport.Naylor,the leader of performance psychol ogy for Deloitte, who has worked with high-level ath letes for decades, says it’s important for coaches to remember their role. Coaches “have an opportunity to teach how to win and lose,” Naylor said. “Step one is remem ber you’re a model and you have this tremendous teachingIndianaopportunity.”manager Pat rick Vinson took a similar approach to Ramos when reflecting on the tourna ment. He acknowledged not just how difficult it is to make it this far, but also how tough it is to sustain the level of play that got the team here. Teams in the United States bracket must win three tourna ments just to have a shot at taking home a LLWS title. The road to the LLWS is so long and so tough that just making it to William sport is coveted. “It is an exhausting grind,” Vinson said. “It’s a good exhaustion when you start practicing as early as we did. You’re at the pin nacle of youth sports. It’s still hard to believe we’re here.”Not all coaches take the same approach when addressing their teams and the media following the end of the tournament run. New York manager Ronald Clark was matter-of-fact Monday night when his team fell to Pennsylvania. Clark mentioned that the team’s “bats stayed behind in Bristol, (Connecticut),” where the Metro region championship was decided. He added that, while there were tears at the end, expectations weren’t met and the “box score says everything.”Whenbaseball fans look back on end-of-season messages from coaches in South Williamsport, many recall Dave Belisle’s speech to his Rhode Island team after being eliminated in the 2014 LLWS. “I love you guys,” Belisle told his team. “I’m gonna love you forever. You’ve given me the most precious moment in my athletic and coaching career, and I’ve been coaching a long time — a long time. I’m getting to be an old man. I need memories like this, I need kids like this. You’re all my boys. You’re the boys of summer.”Inmany cases, LLWS players are facing more pressure than they’ve ever confronted on a field, and sometimes the shock of playing — and losing — can be “Youoverwhelming.havetoallow for the healthy emotions,” Naylor said. “Emotions are an important piece of sport. Acknowledge the emotion without making it too dramatically bad or trying to take it away.”
AS the government aims to push for sports tourism in Grand Bahama, Sports Minister Mario Bowleg revealed that another sports event is in the pipeline for the first quarter of 2023. While he did not disclose any details, the minister indicated that they are looking at the month of March.“We have a few events just for track and field to come, and one is in the pipeline for March, but I would not want to make mention what that is yet,” he told The Tribune at the NACAC Championships, which closed out on Sunday. The Minister indicated that there are plans to fur ther develop the Grand Bahama Sports Com plex to attract other sport disciplines.Closeto$300,000, accord ing to Mr Bowleg, was spent to get the track (complex) back up and running for the Anita Doherty NACAC Area Open Championships held August 19-21. “At the end of the day, we are going to make sure we maintain it, and we are going to continue to develop this whole com plex,” he said. “We are going to have many activities that can come about from the world sporting disciplines, and so I am hoping in the next 36 months that this complex will be something even greater when people come here. “Again, GB is an island that cannot be com pared with Exuma, Bimini, or New Providence on how they are able to maintain visitors to the island. It is an industrial island and I believe, speaking to Minis ter for GB, we believe and all our colleagues that it can be the entertainment, sport ing“Ifcapital.”wecan build the facility they will come, he said. And you can get pro fessionals, college teams, and world teams and lead athletes to come here and perform during the off season and get them ready for the “Andseason.this is why the plan is to build an indoor (swimming) pool, and a multi-purpose facility with some tennis and racquet courts to get professional tennis players in here. That is just a few, and a base ball diamond - all of those are going to be coming in phases,” said Mr Bowleg. “And so, we are in dis cussions and hopeful we will do this with a public private partnership, and get it done. And we want it to be maintained. If we can get sports tourism to come here then it makes GB the desti nation for sports tourism,” he said.
The players seledcted to participate are Brendia Ferguson (R&B Opera tors), Mia Turner (Johnson Lady Truckers), Vashawna Bastian (Black Scorpi ons), Dornette Edwards (Sunshine Auto Wildcats), Jeanette Hilton (R&B Operators), Ciera Bowe (Sunshine Auto Wildcats), Larikah Russell (Sunshine Auto Wildcats), Melinda Bastian (R&B Operators), Phillisia Major (Johnson Lady Truckers), Tyriece Curry-Davis (Sunshine Auto Wildcats), Latonia McPhee (R&B Operators), Francheska McBride (R&B Operators), Brianna Knowles (R&B Operators) and Shaquel Smith (John son Lady Truckers). The men’s president team will be managed by Darren Stevens and coached by Robert Gilbert. Selected to play on the team are Martin Burrows (C&S Hitmen), Angelo Dillet (Atlantis Titans) Garfield Bethel (Cyber Tech Marlins), Natahj Miller (Renegades), Sher man Ferguson (C&S Hitmen), Tyrique Fowler (Renegades), Stephen Rus sell (Cyber Tech Marlins), Lavaughn Ferguson (Cyber Tech Marlins), Chedi Fer guson (Chances Mighty Mitts), Richard Bain (C&S Hitmen), Junel Bain (Chances Mighty Mitts), Lamar Watkins (Cyber Tech Marlins), Charles Major (Renegades), Anthony Fowler (Atlantis Titans), Winston Seymour (Cyber Tech Marlins) and Jerome Wright (Atlantis Titans).Thevice president team will be managed by Marcus Pratt with Daryll Dorsett as the coach. The players selected to the team are Thomas Davis (Cyber Tech Marlins), Deon Whyte (Cyber Tech Marlins), Kenneth Curry Chances Mighty Mitts), Anthony Moss (Atlan tis Titans), Chris McPhee (Chances Mighty Mitts), Cardinal Gilbert (Atlantis Titans), Marino Cartwright (Atlantis Titans), Marc Pratt (Atlantis Titans), Dino Sweeting (C&S Hitmen), Canton Chase (Atlantis Titans), Edron Knowles (C&S Hitmen), Dylan Culmer (Ren egades), Rodney Forbes (C&S Hitmen), Angelo Watson (Cyber Tech Mar lins), Weymond Demeritte (Chances Mighty Mitts) and Preston Clarke (Renegades).Stevenssaid based on the players selected, it’s going to be an exciting night on Saturday.“Weare expecting a high, fun-filled level of competition,” Stevens said. “The whole event is about showcasing our talent and restoring the confidence of our stakeholders inside the softball community. So we are looking forward to an exciting night of competition.”
Little League coaches teach how to lose as well as win
PANAMA starting pitcher Max Pinzon (18) delivers a pitch against Nicaragua during the first inning of a baseball game at the Little League World Series tournament in South William sport, Pa., on August 23. (AP Photo/Tom E Puskar)
SOLER FROM PAGE 14
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
“I was stressed until the end,” said Molard, a Frenchman from team Groupama-FDJ. “It means a lot to me. Last year, I left the race with a serious accident. I didn’t know if I would be able to return to my best level. And a year later I lead a Grand Tour. I really struggled this winter, I couldn’t do any sport for several weeks. You always have to Molardbelieve.”leadsthe general classification by two sec onds ahead of Fred Wright, the British rider from team Bahrain Victorious. Germany’s Nikias Arndt, of Team DSM, was more than a minute back in third place.Roglic, trying to become the first rider to win four straight Vuelta titles, fell to fifth place, more than four minutes off the lead. His Jumbo-Visma had its riders wearing the red jersey in each of the first four stages. The three-week race, which began with three stages in the Netherlands, will finish in Madrid.
WITH a rekindled interest coming out of the two-year hiatus as a result of the COVID-19 pendemic, the New Provi dence Softball Association is eager to display its out standing players so far this season during the All-Star Classic on Saturday night in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.Theladies’ game will kick off the action at 7pm, followed by the men’s game.All night long, accord ing to president Dwayne Stevens, the NPSA will also hold a fun-filled Backto-School giveaway with the assistance of Sunshine Auto.Stevens said since start ing the season in June, they saw a resurgence in the sport and although a lot of the players were not in tip-top shape, they worked their way into form during the season and are eagerly looking forward to the completion of the season in October.“Right now, we have reached the mid-point of the season and players who normally would be a part of the All-Star game, some of them didn’t make it, but the level of play is still high,” Stevens said. “We’re happy with the core of players chosen to repre sent their respective teams for the All-Star game.”
“You see everything play out in front of you,” heTMRWadded. Sports — pro nounced “tomorrow” — was formed to build GolfturewithAlso,EbersolPGAitsapartner,includingwaswith,”peopletimerightfriends,adviceworkI’vewithFootball.includetributionSportsretiredtorsmedia.entertainmentsiveprojectstechnology-focusedwithaprogresapproachtosports,andAmongtheinvesisDickEbersol,thechairmanofNBCwhosemanycontosportsonTVSundayNightHeworkedMcCarleyatNBC.“SinceI’veretired,refusedanyrealbesidesgivingforplentyofbutthisistheideaattherightwithoneofthefewIwoulddothisEbersolsaid.Theannouncementlackingmanydetails,abroadcastthoughtNBCislikelycandidategivenrelationshipwiththeTourandwithandMcCarley.McIlroyhasadealthe“GolfPass”veninconjunctionwithChannel.
Fontenot, hired by the Falcons in early 2021 after 18 seasons in New Orleans under longtime GM Mickey Loomis, said the goal should be to get to a point where race doesn’t have to be a factor for head coaches or personnel chiefs. At its recent spring meet ings in Atlanta, the league conducted an accelera tor program for minorities in coaching and the front office, with two members of the staff from each club participating.“Theleague shouldn’t have to have accelerator programmes,” Fontenot said. “We should be able to do that with everyone — not just people that are a certain color, a certain race, a certain sex. We should be inclusive in all of our processes.”WhileHarrison said he is optimistic about minori ties having opportunities in some aspects of manage ment with NFL teams, that feeling doesn’t carry over to head coaching. In a league with 70% of rosters filled by Black play ers, five head coaches are minorities. In 2011, that number was eight. Whether a better hiring record with GMs can translate to head coaching is a tricky ques tion, Harrison and Poles said.First, it’s difficult to know how much influence a GM will have with an owner, Harrison said, adding that a Black GM in charge of hiring a coach might have stronger ties to white candidates.“It’shard to oversim plify,” Harrison said. “There’s only 32 teams. So our sample sizes, they’re so small and these positions are so challenging and elite to come by. They’re just so competitive.”Jonesofthe Cowboys made a similar point, while also saying he wasn’t inclined to give up his GM title to keep McClay because he believes the role goes well beyond personnel.Jonessaid he values McClay, who runs the draft for a club with plenty of recent success in picking players, and doesn’t want to minimise his role.
DENVER (AP) — Peyton Manning didn’t have to deal with his emotional return to Indianapolis until he’d been a member of the Denver Broncos for almost a year and a half. No such homecoming honeymoon awaits Russell Wilson.TheBroncos’ new quar terback kicks off the second chapter of his storied career back in Seattle, where he led the Seahawks to two Super Bowls and a cham pionship parade before his relationship with Pete Car rollThesoured.prime-time matchup on September 12 pits the partners in the big gest blockbuster trade this offseason, one that sent five draft picks and three players to Seattle, includ ing Drew Lock, one of 10 starting QBs Denver has shuffled through over the last six seasons. Joe Buck said this was exactly the opening game he wanted with Troy Aikman and him taking over the “Monday Night Football” booth after a 20-year stint together at Fox. “To have it right out of the box,” Buck said, “I think is awesome.” Wilson thinks so, too. “I think it’s going to be an exciting time,” Wilson said. “Seattle has meant the world to me over the past 10Wilsonyears.” hasn’t had a bad word to say about the Sea hawks since moving to Denver, where he and his wife, Ciara, bought a $25 million mansion and imme diately became a celebrity couple about town. It took a while for Manning to adjust to the Mile High City, where he still lives, after the Colts cut him in 2012 following several neck fusionWhilesurgeries.Manning had a terrific four-year run in Denver, he lost three of the four times he faced the Colts, starting with a 39-33 heartbreaker at Lucas Oil Stadium on Oct 20, 2013, that featured a tear-jerking pregame tribute.
The team announced the honour on Jurgensen’s 88th birthday. “I am very hum bled by this recognition,” he said.
“It’s different than the school I grew up in and the things I thought were beneficial,” said NFL receiver-turned-radio host Brandon Stokley. “I guess the proof will be in the pudding.”Winand it’s a trend, lose and it’s a fad. Either way, the Broncos finally have a quality quar terback who gives them confidence they can com pete again in the tough AFC West.
Wilson insists his return to Seattle “has to be nonemotional” no matter if he’s cheered as Manning was in Indianapolis or jeered as Brett Favre was in 2019 when he returned to Green Bay in a purple helmet. “I’ve always kind of played neutral,” Wilson said. “What I really believe in is the ability to be neutral in the midst of the storm, the midst of chaos, the midst of opportunity, the midst of good things, good time, and challenging times in order to be able to play this game even-keeled.”Thatapproach help pro duce a 113-60 record for Wilson in Seattle, including a 9-7 mark in the playoffs. Wilson has missed the post season just twice: in 2017, when the Seahawks went 9-7, and again last year when he went 6-8 and a finger injury sidelined him for the first time in his career.After bumbling their way to a 39-58 record since Super Bowl 50 under pedestrian passers, the Broncos are gladly giving Wilson anything he wants: his own personal passing coach, massage therapist and chef, an office at team headquarters, a seat at the table when GM George Paton builds his roster. “I talk to Russ daily and I kind of tell him our plan, what we’re looking for, and our needs,” Paton said before the draft. “Russ is a football junky. He’ll want to know what players we’re looking at, and I’ll tell him. He’ll watch them and give me his opinion. He’s a great resource.”Wilson, who has two years left on a contract that pays him $19 mil lion in base salary this season, is just one part of the massive makeover the Broncos underwent this offseason as they changed coaching staffs, owners and team presidents in addition to “Itquarterbacks.isanhonor to stew ard this historic franchise,” Walmart heir Rob Walton said after buying the Bron cos for $4.65 billion, a record for a professional sports team. “Our No. 1 priority is putting a winning team on the field to win SuperAndBowls.”jobNo. 1 for the new ownership group is securing Wilson’s long-term services for something in the neighborhood of $300 million over five years.
Russell begins for Denver Broncos back in Seattle
“He wouldn’t have known that if I didn’t get thePolesopportunity.”wasabout to go into marketing after he was released by the Bears, but took a job as a graduate assistant at Boston College, his alma mater, itytheGMcreditsside.interestingConversationsinstead.withvisitproscoutssparkedhisinthepersonnelThe36-year-oldPolesformerKansasCityScottPioliformakingadvancementofminorcandidatesapriority.
NFL FROM PAGE 14
PAGE 16, Thursday, August 25, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
“At this point, nothing to say about his contract,” said Greg Penner, Walton’s sonin-law, who nonetheless had plenty to say about Wilson’s presence during the new owners’ introductory news conference in early August.
Wilson Era
“He’s always taken a lot of pride in making sure that there was a pipeline from scouting assistant to area pro scout to directors and then doing that the right way,” said Poles, who was with the Chiefs for 13 years before joining the Bears in January.“SoI was fortunate to have someone that was very aware of it, and my growth and development happened probably faster because of just mentors that wanted to spend time to develop me as a person and as a person nel person and a leader,” PolesFivesaid.of the six recent minority additions among GMs are Black: Poles, Washington’s Martin Mayhew, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah of Min nesota, Atlanta’s Terry Fontenot and Brad Holmes in Detroit. Pittsburgh hired Omar Khan, an Indian American, in May. Over all, eight of the 32 GMs are minorities.“It’shuge progress that’s been made,” Holmes said. “Hopefully that progress continues.”
JURGENSEN TO BE HONOURED
McClay said he has stayed because he believes his voice is important to Jones, and he has direct contact with the owner/ GM. McClay also said he doesn’t feel pressure to take a job as a general man ager elsewhere because he is Black. “I’m a grown man,” the 55-year-old said. “You’ve got to do your job first, so I’m doing my job to the best of my avail ability first. Then, if that opportunity comes and I’m comfortable with it, then that’s what it is.” The uptick in minority hiring of GMs in the NFL will be meaningful only if it continues, McClay said. “It will make that much of a difference if you con tinue the practices that are now being used because it’s a hot topic,” McClay said. “Instead of reacting to it, planning for it and giving people the oppor tunity based on the quality of their work more so than just saying, ‘OK, we did it this time.’ It’s got to con tinue because it’s not just something you can do right now and say it’s solved.”
The Commanders will retire Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen’s No. 9 in their regular-season finale against the rival Dallas Cowboys on January 7 or 8. Jurgensen played 11 of his 18 NFL seasons for Washington and spent 38 more as a radio broadcaster, giving him a total of 55 years with the organisation. “No member of the Washington franchise will ever wear the No. 9 again, which is truly a nod to Sonny’s incredible accom plishments on and off the field,” co-owner Tanya Snyder said in a statement. “Dan and I are thank ful for the 55 years Sonny dedicated to the franchise. People will remember him as one of the greatest quar terbacks in franchise history and the radio voice of the team for our three Super Bowl victories. He repre sents true excellence and professionalism and serves as a role model for future Washington players.”
“It is an honour of a lifetime to have my jersey retired with a franchise I spent 55 years of my life with.”
Chase Young to miss Commanders’ first four games this season
DENVER Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson (3) warms up prior to an NFL preseason football game against the Dallas Cowboys, on August 13 in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Pro Football Writer
By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer
“We couldn’t have been more excited as we were going through the process to see that the organiza tion had made the trade for Russell,” Penner said. “It’s critical to have a great quarterback in this league and coming in this organization with Russell in place is a tremendous ben efit for Shortlyus.” before Wilson’s arrival, first-time head coach Nathaniel Hackett injected a jolt of energy into the franchise by bringing with him three novice coor dinators and an innovative approach to offseason training that features lots of rest days and no 7-on-7 drills that are a staple of today’s passing game. Hackett also jettisoned the 1-on-1 pass rushing drills in the interest of sci ence and safety, dismissing critics who crushed him on local radio for his “Camp Jog-through” approach that featured little contact save for a spirited joint practice against the Cowboys.
WASHINGTON Commanders defensive end Chase Young walks to the field before an NFL football practice at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Va., on Monday.(AP Photo/Luis M Alvarez)
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Chase Young will miss the Washington Command ers’ first four games of the season after landing on the reserve/physically unable to perform list. The team put Young and backup centre Tyler Larsen on the list yester day, also releasing receiver Kelvin Harmon and offen sive tackle Rashod Hill and placing linebacker Nathan Gerry on injured reserve. Young, the 2020 Defen sive Rookie of the Year, is working back from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his rightThatknee.surgery involved grafting part of his left patellar tendon to fix the tear. Coach Ron Rivera already ruled out Washing ton’s top pass-rusher for the season opener against Jacksonville and indicated Young could start the season on the PUP list. The first game Young is eligible to play is October 9 against Tennessee. The team and Young have refused to set a time frame on his return from what Rivera has repeatedly called a significant injury. Young injured the knee November 14 against Tampa Bay.
THE college football sched ule offers a weekly selection of marquee games between top teams, and some will hit the ground running fast this year. Two September 3 showdowns could shuffle the preseason AP Top 25 quickly as No. 5 Notre Dame, with new coach Marcus Freeman, visits No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 3 Georgia — the defending national champion — plays No. 11 Oregon in Atlanta. Reaching across Power Five lines for these matchups seems to have escalated in recent years, but then long-held bitter rivalries take over later in the season as teams grapple for championships and bowl posi tioning. Here are just six of the tantalising games on tap this season: No. 5 NOTRE DAME at No. 2 OHIO STATE, September 3 Freeman’s debut against his alma mater will set the tone for both teams, of course, and it will see Heisman Trophy candidate C.J. Stroud under centre for the Buckeyes. There will be nine preseason AP AllAmericans on the field between the two teams. A bit of added intrigue: High school star edge rusher Keon Keeley could be among the 103,000 or so fans in attendance. Keeley previously committed to the Irish, then decommitted after the coach ing change. The Buckeyes and No. 1 Alabama are among the teams vying to bring him into their five-star fold. No. 11 OREGON vs. No. 3 GEORGIA (Atlanta), Septem ber 3 The Bulldogs lost five firstround NFL draft choices from last year’s team on defence, but they get QB Stetson Bennett back, potentially adding to his remarkable story as a former walk-on who was the MVP in a national championship game victory. The Bulldogs’ tenden cies, though, are well known by former defensive coordina tor Dan Lanning, who will be making his debut as the Ducks’ coach after Mario Cristobal left to take the job at Miami. No. 13 NORTH CAROLINA STATE at No. 4 CLEMSON, October 1 Last year, Wolfpack ended an 8-game slide against the Tigers by prevailing 27-21 in double overtime. N.C. State held Clem son to just 214 yards, its lowest total of the season, and the loss eventually helped allow Wake Forest to end the Tigers’ six-year stranglehold on the ACC’s Atlantic Division title. The Wolfpack has 10 defensive starters back, so Clemson has its work cut out. The programmes are picked to finish 1-2 in the division, with Clemson first. No. 6 TEXAS A&M at No. 1 ALABAMA, October 8 This SEC West showdown might as well be called the “Beef Bowl” after the spicy offsea son comments over recruiting between Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher and Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban. More important, this could be the deciding game in the division race. The coaches say they’ve buried the hatchet, but the winner may give it a twist. Texas A&M last won the national championship in 1939; the Crimson Tide has six with Saban alone. No. 14 USC at No. 7 UTAH, October 15 The Trojans’ ranking is likely more a tip of the cap to new coach Lincoln Riley after a 4-8 finish last season. Riley used the transfer portal hoping to rebuild the program quickly, bringing in 24 new players. The Utes are intent on seeing returning QB Cam Rising con tinue to push their ascent after their first Pac-12 title and Rose Bowl appearance. How quickly Riley’s new systems take hold will be huge for USC. No. 12 OKLAHOMA STATE at No. 9 OKLAHOMA, November 19 The Cowboys return 10 offensive starters, including QB Spencer Sanders, to a team that came within an eyelash of the playoff last season. Defence has always seemed a strength and should remain so with Derek Mason taking over as coordinator for Jim Knowles, who took the same spot at Ohio State.The Sooners had their sixyear grip on Big 12 titles end last season thanks to a loss to the Cowboys. They hope former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables can get them back on top behind QB Dillon Gabriel, who passed for more than 8,000 yards and 70 touch downs at Central Florida.
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OKLAHOMA quarterback Dillon Gabriel throws during an NCAA college football practice on August 8 in Norman, Oklahoma. Gabriel threw 32 touchdown passes and ranked second among all FBS players with 373.9 yards of total offence per game for UCF in 2020, but he played just three games in 2021 before a broken clavicle knocked him out for the remainder of the season. Gabriel now takes over at Oklahoma, which has playing time available at quarterback. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
GO TEAM BAHAMAS: Kenny Mackey, chief marketing manager of the I-Cares Foundation - the gold sponsors for the team - presents a $15,000 cheque for their sponsorship of the FIBA Americas Cup Qualifier against Venezuela tonight. Shown, from left to right, are Keno Burrows, Rashad Davis, Mikhail McLean, Mychel Thompson Jr, Chavano “Buddy” Hield, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg, Kenny Mackey, Jurelle Nairn-Mullings, Rommel Knowles and Chris DeMarco.
ISLAND CARES FOUNDATION PRESENTS CHEQUE OF $15,000 TO BAHAMAS FEDERATIONBASKETBALL
Chris DeMarco, an assis tant coach with the Golden State Warriors, along with Grand Bahamian Chavano “Buddy” Hield of the Indi ana Pacers and Mychel Thompson Jr, participated in the meeting that included Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg, Bahamas Olympic Com mittee president Rommel Knowles and Kenny Mackey, the chief market ing manager of the I-Cares Foundation, the gold spon sors for the team. Team Bahamas’ jour ney through a six-game series includes Venezuela (August 25 and February 23), Argentina (August 29), Panama (November 10 and FebruaryMackey27).presented a cheque of $15,000 for their sponsorship of the game. Jurell Nairn-Mullings, the secretary of the federation, expressed their gratitude on behalf of President Eugene Horton to their many spon sors, including The Oak Tree Medical, I-Cares Foundation, Bahamas Olympic Committee, the National Sports Authority, Breezes Resorts, Baha Mar, Cable Bahamas, AquaPure, Thompson Trading, Sun Oil Limited and the Bamboo Shack.The federation pre sented a cheque of $2,000 to Steven Dean, the Direc tor of the Urban Renewal Band for their assistance for the game tonight. Tickets are still avail able at BBFbasketbal.com and on site on game day on Thursday. The price for the tickets is priced at $40 for general admission, $80 for VIP and courtside for $150.
Roach will be assisted by coach Sylvia Bateman. The team’s manager is Lori Roach, the doctor is Dr Kathryn DeSouza and the chaperones are Grant Menzies and Orazio Defilippis. Roach said they are appealing to the public to assist in cover ing the expenses for the team to travel to Bermuda, taking into consideration the cost for their airlines and transporting their equipment to compete in the vari ous segments of the event.
TRIATHLON FROM PAGE 14 SUN BEAT WINGS 73-58 TO REACH WNBA SEMIFINALS
THE SPONSORSGOLD
THE Island Luck Cares Foundation has presented a cheque of $15,000 to the Bahamas Basket ball Federation for their sponsorship of the men’s national basketball team in the FIBA Americas Cup Qualifier tonight against Venezuela at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. The Bahamas Basketball Federation held a press conference on Tuesday in the foyer of the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium for the first game of the fourth window of the FIBA Americas Cup Qualifier.
in 200m swim, 71/2kilometre bike ride and 11/2km run –Lauchian Menzies, Sibby Potter, Jadian Smith, Callum Pritchard, Kristan Johnson, Taylor Knowles and Paityn Burrows. 13-15 division, competing in the 375m swim, 10KM bike and 2 ½ Km run – Ayden Bain, Gervasini Eneas, Malcolm Menzies, Launy Duncombe, Eric Pritchard, Anja leah Knowles, Issa Bournas and Lenin16-19Hamilton.division, competing in a 750m swim, 20Km bike and 5km run – Jason Cates, Barron Mus grove, Sienna Culmer-Mackey and Kami Under-21,Roach.competing in a 750m swim, 20Km bike and 5km runRalph Wood.
Connecticuttriathlon. was ahead 49-41 when Dallas brought in its star Arike Ogunbow ale for the first time in six games.Ogunbowale, who had been out since having abdominal surgery on August 9, missed three shots in the third quarter and Dallas trailed 57-46 entering the Connecticutfourth. went without a field goal for seven-plus minutes in the second quarter but tied it at 34 on Bonner’s long 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left before halftime. Jones battled foul trouble in the first half after picking up her third with 6:27 left in the second quarter. Marina Mabrey scored 20 points for Dallas, but she also turned it over a careerhigh eight times. Dallas starter Isabelle Harrison was helped to the locker room with 9:25 left in the second quarter with a leg injury and did not return. NBA star Ja Morant sat courtside.
CONNECTICUT Sun forward Jonquel Jones (35) and Dal las Wings forward Isabelle Harrison (20) jump for the ball at the opening of the first quarter during Game 3 of a WNBA first-round playoff series bas ketball game in Ar lington, Texas, last night (AP Photo/ LM Otero)
While there are 14 members of the team in New Providence, Bain and Duncombe are in Grand Bahama. Hamilton, a native of Grand Bahama, will be coming in from the Turks and Caicos Islands to represent the country. The other competitors are in the UnitedKamiStates.Roach, who has swum in all three previous CARIFTA triathlons, said she’s looking for ward to leading the team this year. The 16-year-old 11th grader at Windsor Academy said it’s going to be a wonderful experience for Team Bahamas. “I just had a (left) foot surgery about two and-a-half months ago, so I’m just trying to get back into it,” said Roach, who has been competing in the sport since she was eight years old. “This probably won’t be my best race, but I’m going to try my hardest. “There’s not that many participants in my age group, so I just hope that I can finish in the middle of the field. “If I can do that coming off the surgery, I would be very satisfied with my performance.”
For Barron Musgrove Jr, this is his first time competing on an international team. But he said with the support of his father and coach Barron “Turbo” Musgrove and swimming coach Shirley Mireault, he’s confi dent that he will do well. “My expectations is to do well and keep up with everybody,” said the 17-year-old 11th grader at Temple Christian Academy. “This is my first time, so I’m not going to try and outdo everybody. I just want to be able to do my best.” Looking at the team, Mus grove said it’s a good one and they have been pushing him with his swimming and running, his two weakest areas in the sport. But he feels that with the work he has put in, he will be prepared for the challenge ahead of him. And Kristan Johnson, an 11-year-old 7th grader at Genesis Academy, said the team is a pretty good one and should represent the Bahamas very well. “I feel like I’m in a good place, but I can still work on it,” John son said. “My running is definitely my weak area, but if I can get a good time, I would feel very good aboutCameronit.”
“We are really looking forward to hosting the CARIFTA Triath lon next year,” Roach said. “So this is a good opportunity for our sponsors to come on board and get a feel of what is expected for next year. We’re a relatively new organisation so we need all of the financial support that we can get.”
The BTA wishes to thank Atlantis, Westside Construction and Albany for coming on board as sponsors for the team head ing to Bermuda for next month’s CARIFTA
THE BAHAMAS Basketball Federation presented a cheque of $2,000 to Steven Dean, the director of the Urban Renewal Band, for their assistance for tonight’s game. Tickets are still available at BBFbasketbal.com and on site today. The price for the tickets is priced at $40 for general admission, $80 for VIP and courtside for $150.
To her teammates, Roach said she knows they will be nervous, but she would encourage them to “just don’t be nervous. Go out there and have fun.”
PAGE 18, Thursday, August 25, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
LUCK
FROM PAGE 14
ramps up World Cup preps
THE TRIBUNE Thursday, August 25, 2022, PAGE 19 A year away: USA Basketball
ASSISTANT coach Steve Kerr, second from left, speaks with play ers during training for USA Basketball in Las Vegas. USA Basket ball is one year away from the start of the next men’s Basketball World Cup, which serves as the primary qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/John Locher)
“When an opportu nity like this comes along, you don’t stop and say, ‘I wonder what my legacy will be.’ You say, ‘I can’t wait to dive in with the players and the coaches,’ and you go for it,” Kerr said. “When all the dust settles, you keep going forward. Hopefully, we will put together a great team and a great effort and we’ll see how we do.”
LAS VEGAS (AP) — There is no roster of players. No schedule for games, either. USA Basket ball hasn’t even qualified for next year’s World Cup yet, and probably won’t be able to clinch one of the 32 spots in that field until November at the earliest. The countdown is on anyway.Today marks exactly one year until the beginning of the next men’s Basket ball World Cup, with the first games set to be played on August 25, 2023 at the event that will be hosted by Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines. It’s not the Olympics and won’t get the same attention, yet is a major priority for the Americans especially since the US finished seventh — the senior national team’s worst showing ever at a major international event — at the most recent World Cup in China three years ago.“Humility is a power ful tool,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said when asked what the Americans took away from that finish in China. “And, you know, it doesn’t hurt to have that and be reminded of it. Not that we’ve been arrogant or disrespectful to our opponents, but it’s just a reminder that we’ve got to keep working and not take it for Thatgranted.”workresumes today in Las Vegas. The Americans, using a roster filled by players who will likely spend the coming season either play ing internationally or in the G League, play host to Uruguay to open the second round of World Cup qualifying.Awintoday moves the US closer to qualifying, and a sweep of this two-game window — the Ameri cans play at Colombia on Monday — would likely put them on the brink of clinching a spot. After this window, the next round of qualifying games is in November.Noneof the players who will be in uniform today — names like David Stock ton, Mac McClung and Langston Galloway — were there when the Americans finished seventh at the last World Cup. They won’t be there with the Americans at the next World Cup, either; those roster spots will be offered to big-name NBA players.Butthey are the ones tasked with doing the actual qualifying and giving the Americans a chance to erase the disappointment over finishing seventh.
By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer
“You never want to feel like you need it,” said Sean Ford, the US men’s national team“Butdirector.ifyou don’t learn from it, you’re really going to take a back seat a little bit. We learned a lot. We’re learning a lot because the NBA game has changed over the last seven or eight years, too. There’s much more shotmaking. It’s just unbelievable, incredible the amount of 3-point shots that are taken, the freedom of movement, the flow of the game. But the interna tional game has stayed the physical way.” Steve Kerr has mastered coaching one of those styles. Now, he’ll have to master the other one. Kerr’s Golden State War riors, the reigning NBA champions — with four titles in the past eight sea sons — are the epitome of what Ford talks about when discussing the evolution of the pro game, relying on 3-pointers, movement and spacing to win. Kerr is very familiar with how the international game is different since he was with the US as an assistant under then-coach Gregg Popovich for both of the last two major tournaments; the seventh-place show ing in China, then the gold medal at the Tokyo Games last summer. It was a logical progres sion for Kerr to take over for Popovich. And the tasks in 2023 and 2024 have been on his mind for some time now, as evidenced by him making a recruiting pitch to Stephen Curry on the night the Warriors won this past season’s NBA title. “He’s missing an Olym pic gold medal and I think he really has to focus on being on the 2024 Olympic Team,” Kerr said that night in Boston, as the Warriors were“That’scelebrating.thelast thing for his career. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”Jokes aside, this is seri ous business for the US. A win in qualifying games, or clinching a spot in the World Cup, won’t generate muchLosses,attention.or failure to qualify, would. Getting the Americans into the World Cup is a task that has largely fallen on the shoulders of Jim Boylen, who will coach the US again in these next two games; he’s gone 5-1 in three qualifying windows to this“Wepoint.have a responsibil ity,” Boylen said. “A great responsibility, to play as hard as we can, to play the right way, and the reason we have to do that is because the big team has got to qualify. That’s our job.” Kerr has been resting quite a bit this summer. He’s spent some time overseas, getting plenty of downtime with his family, preparing for the challenge of once again leading the Warri ors through the grind of defending a championship. USA Basketball is hoping he doesn’t get so much relaxation next summer. Or the one after that, since the World Cup will serve as the primary qualifier for the Paris Olympics.
