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‘MY ORDEAL IN DEADLY ATTACK’

Fox Hill barber tells of trauma at double killing

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A BARBER grazed by a bullet during a mass shooting at his Fox Hill shop is grappling with trauma as he reopens his business and considers leaving the area — or the profession — altogether.

Jordeny Joseph, owner of

New Horizon Hair Cutz on Bernard Road, described the December 21 shooting as a life-altering tragedy.

Two men were killed, and three others — including a seven-year-old boy — were injured when gunmen opened fire in his shop. The episode highlights the wide-ranging impact of

New Y e ar’s JuNka

Noo tickets still available

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

TICKETS for the New Year’s Junkanoo Parade remain available, as excitement builds following the Boxing Day Parade.

Dwayne Davis, chief information officer for Cable Bahamas Group of Companies, said last

Gas explosion injures nine

Wednesday’s parade saw nearly 100 percent of tickets sold, with only a few seats left.

For the New Year’s Parade this Wednesday, Mr Davis noted that tickets typically sell slower than the Boxing Day event. In 2022, the Junkanoo parades returned after

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A POWERFUL gas explosion tore through a home in Blue Hill South yesterday, injuring eight people, including three

children and three adults who were left in critical condition.

The explosion occurred during a gas refill, sparking a loud noise that was heard miles away.

The home, located across from Commonwealth Bank,

was reduced to rubble.

When The Tribune visited the scene, debris — including glass, shingles, and broken windows — littered the area. The light brown,

Canadian: Police beat me with bat

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS AND PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporters

A CANADIAN said his visit to The Bahamas with his girlfriend turned into a nightmare when police allegedly abused him ––beating him with a bat while he was handcuffed. Tanner Cartwright, 23, and his girlfriend Amelia Niederhauser, 27, visited Mr Cartwright’s family early this month.

Mr Cartwright claims officers subjected him to a brutal assault while in police custody. He claimed an inspector took him to a private room, ordered other officers to leave, and viciously beat him with a bat while he was handcuffed.

He said the inspector placed a phonebook on his body to minimise visible bruising, all the while

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said yesterday that a man has confessed to killing schoolgirl Adriel Moxey, 12, and a number of other people in Grand Bahama. He could not confirm reports that the person, a 38-year-old man, confessed to killing five people overall, but said he was informed the man claimed he killed others and covered it up with arson.

“They took him over to Grand Bahama to follow up

THE SWOLLEN hand of Tanner Cartwright that was allegedly caused by police in Abaco.

SCENE of explosion that happened on Baillou Hill Road south involving Discount Propane at a home across from Commonwealth Bank yesterday.

Photo: Chappell Whyms Jr

Gas explosion injures nine

double-unit apartment was left a skeletal shell with a collapsed roof. A Discount Propane truck, which had been refilling the gas, remained parked outside.

Videos of the aftermath circulated on social media, with some describing the explosion as resembling an earthquake. Bystanders gathered as firefighters worked to secure the area.

Superintendent Demeris Armbrister, Chief Fire Officer of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Fire Services, said after the department received reports of an explosion around 4pm, two fire units arrived at the scene within seven minutes and observed extensive damage to the home and surrounding buildings. He confirmed that the injured included the home’s residents, the gas

truck driver, and another worker.

However, the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) later reported that eight people, not nine, were transported to the hospital — five adults and three children. According to the PHA, three adults were in critical condition, while two were stable. One child was in a guarded condition, and the other two were stable.

The explosion also

destroyed a takeout food business operated by the home’s residents. A neighbouring preschool and another residence sustained damage. Alexandria Arthur, a nearby resident, recounted the terrifying moment. She said she was lying down when, all of a sudden, she heard a loud crash and glass flying everywhere.

Ms Arthur said she immediately grabbed her four-year-old son and

evacuated her home.

“When I walked outside, I couldn’t really see anything, because debris and everything was in the road. It was just a lot. I’m still a bit shaken up from it,” she said.

Ms Arthur’s family home suffered significant damage, including a collapsed back roof and broken doors and windows. Her car was also severely damaged, with debris crushing its roof

and shattering the windshield. Despite the loss, she expressed gratitude for her family’s safety, saying material things can be replaced.

She said the sound of the explosion is one she “could never forget”.

“Even when I ran outside, I thought it was an accident,” she said. “I thought it was a plane crash. I just didn’t know. I didn’t know what it was because we couldn’t see.”

FIRE personnel at the scene of a gas explosion at a residence on Baillou Hill Road yesterday.

Photo: Chappell Whyms Jr

‘My ordeal in deadly attack’

from page one

senseless violence, leaving loved ones mourning their loss while a small business owner and his employees face an uncertain future.

“For me, it’s devastating,” Mr Joseph said yesterday. “Honestly, can you imagine seeing people getting killed right there, where you’re standing, watching everything fall to the floor?”

Mr Joseph said his back was grazed by a bullet during the attack.

The shop reopened for the first time on Saturday, but foot traffic was sparse. Mr Joseph said this is not unusual for this time of year but admitted the shooting has cast a shadow over his business.

“When people come to support you in the barbershop, and you see them get killed just like that, it affects me a lot,” he said. “I don’t even want to cut hair anymore. Barbering has been my passion for years, but because of what happened, my mind is telling me to stop doing it.”

The shooting occurred on a seemingly peaceful Saturday morning around 9.20am. Police were alerted to the violence at the barber shop near Rahming Court, where they found two men with gunshot wounds.

Initial reports revealed that two gunmen entered the shop armed with

high-powered weapons, opened fire, and fled in a vehicle. A woman and a seven-year-old boy sustained gunshot wounds to their legs and were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Chief Superintendent Maycock later confirmed that two suspects had been taken into custody in connection with the incident.

Mr Joseph said he did not know the victims deeply but described them as loyal customers. He recalled that one of the men killed had visited the shop the day before to have his hair braided for his birthday. Unable to get his hair braided that day, the man returned on Saturday — only to lose his life in the attack.

Since opening New Horizon Hair Cutz in 2019, Mr Joseph said he has never experienced anything as horrifying as this incident.

The thought of another shooting at his shop, he said, is unbearable.

“I’ve started looking for new locations outside Fox Hill, but I haven’t found anything suitable yet,” he said. “If I can’t move, I might leave barbering altogether and look for another way to support myself.”

Mr Joseph described the lasting impact of witnessing such violence in a space that was meant to be a safe haven.

“I don’t want to leave, but after this, I’m not sure if I can stay,” he said.

New Year’s JuNka Noo tickets still available

from page one

a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the introduction of digital ticket sales via the Aliv app initially faced challenges like ticket fraud and seating issues, Mr Davis said the process has since improved.

“In the last three years, especially this year, we’ve invested heavily in educating the customer,” he said yesterday. “We revamped the app during the third year to make online purchasing easier. There were no errors or fraud issues this year.”

The Shell Saxon Superstars emerged victorious at the Boxing Day Parade, securing their third consecutive win after also triumphing at the 2023 Boxing Day Parade and the 2024 New Year’s Parade. Participants delighted the crowd with the rhythmic beat of goat-skin drums, vibrant banners, and energetic dancers. Initially, there were reports that the Music Makers group had dropped out of the event. Despite these claims, the group participated and placed sixth overall.

Gary Russell, executive chairman of the Music Makers, criticised the false reports, calling them “fake news” and “irresponsible journalism”. He said the rumours caused chaos and panic within the group. Some members initially believed the reports were true and went home, while others eventually returned after being assured the group was participating.

Mr Russell said he is unsure who spread the misinformation but noted that over the past two years, “bad actors” have targeted the Music Makers, attempting to undermine the group’s financial support. He warned that legal action would be pursued if such actions continue.

During the live broadcast of the Boxing Day Junkanoo, deputy chairman of the parade management team Adrian Laroda said during an interview that the Music Makers and the Prodigal Sons had not shown up, along with the Redland Soldiers and the Original Congos. In a later interview, he did not name the Music Makers but still named the other three.

A CANDLELIGHT vigil was held on Friday for Reynaldo Rolle who was murdered during a triple shooting in Pinewood Gardens on November 30, 2024. Photos: Dante Carrer/Tribune Staff

NEW Horizon Hair Cutz on Bernard Road, the scene where two men were shot and killed and three others injured on December 21.

Canadian: Police beat me with bat

hurling profanities and insults.

“He ripped me from my chair where I was sitting and proceeded to beat me with a bat,” he told The Tribune, adding that the officer threw him down a staircase.

“The officer who threw me down the stairs said he would just tell others I tried to run if questioned,” he added.

Mr Cartwright shared a medical form indicating he suffered blunt force head trauma, dislocated ribs, a damaged spine causing severe pain and spasms, bruises on his face and body, and injuries to his hands. He shared photos; one showed a swollen hand, while another showed injuries to his buttocks.

“I was screaming in pain, so there is no way anyone in the station did not hear me,” he said, noting that an officer later joked, saying it was just some “cut ass from the boss”.

The ordeal allegedly began on Wednesday, December 4, after the couple intervened in a domestic dispute in Bahama Palm Shores,

Abaco, and called the police to the scene. Mr Cartwright said after voluntarily accompanying officers to the station to provide a statement, they were arrested on allegations of marijuana possession.

“The marijuana was found in a completely separate residence on the property where the domestic dispute occurred,” he said. “I have provided statements and documentation, even taking a drug test after my release to prove I do not use marijuana.”

Denied access to a phone, Mr Cartwright contacted his uncle the following afternoon using an officer’s personal cellphone. Their family secured legal representation on Friday, the day they were finally brought to court.

“We were told the only way out was for me to plead guilty to the marijuana charge and for both of us to plead guilty to assault. All charges were dismissed, and we were released immediately after,” Mr Cartwright said.

“Not all police mistreated us,” he said, adding that one officer helped.

Mr Cartwright called for

stricter guidelines within the Royal Bahamas Police Force, emphasising the need for proper education, training, and mental health evaluations for officers. He highlighted the perceived culture of impunity among some.

Inspector Desiree Ferguson, a press liaison officer, confirmed to The Tribune that an investigation is underway into the alleged abuse.

She also confirmed that Mr Cartwright and his girlfriend had been charged with possession of dangerous drugs and granted a conditional discharge after pleading guilty.

“With The Bahamas on the world stage for corruption right now in our force and the ongoing accusations of this, I hope the investigation is not taken lightly and these issues will start to be dealt with,” Mr Cartwright said. “I love the country I am from but I am embarrassed by this corruption,” he said.

“I have talked to other people who have had this happen recently as well, and they are fighting their cases in court. This is a deep-rooted issue in our police force.”

Lawyers urge incoming police chief to improve forensics unit

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

AS Assistant Commissioner of Police Shanta Knowles prepares to ascend to the top police role, some lawyers are urging her to prioritise improving the police forensic unit to aid criminal trials.

With the RBPF still grappling with scandals, including a recent US indictment implicating high-ranking officers in a million-dollar cocaine smuggling ring, ACP Knowles will inherit an office facing significant challenges. Three attorneys interviewed by The Tribune on

Sunday expressed hope in ACP Knowles’ ability to tackle the task ahead.

Attorney Keevon Maynard said: “The task on hand is a very challenging one. She has a lot of work to do, and I think she’s very capable of getting the job done. As with the previous commissioner. I don’t think much people give the current commissioner much credit. The crime rate for serious offenses is Grand Bahama isn’t as high as Nassau, and the population isn’t as large. Arresting criminals for crimes are only a partial deterrent to crime prevention and punishment is the other part.”

Attorney Romona Farquharson-Seymour said:

“With the determination to do so and vision, or surrounding herself with the right people, yes, it can be done.”

Mrs Farquharson-Seymour emphasised the need for a local forensic laboratory and more forensic officers.

“We need a forensic laboratory, where the DNA tests maybe done here, rather than having to send our samples for testing abroad,” she said.

“Presently, we only perform presumptive tests and then send the samples in batches to the US. It takes years and is expensive. We may have to cover a large bill upfront, but once our people are aware a forensic laboratory is

operational, that knowledge should also serve to reduce crime. They will know that they are likely to be caught and unlikely to win at trial. Confidence in the system should return by the populace/potential jurors.”

“Along with proper infrastructure, 24/7 video recording in all stations, in particular CDU and DEU. Access to such information. Most importantly, proper investigation, such as profiling a crime scene, reading blood splatter, investing in the latest forensic tools in our labs so results maybe faster, also so side-by-side comparisons can be adduced in court, be more persuasive than just relying

on confessions, creating a DNA laboratory and database of all persons convicted of crimes, etc.”

Mrs Farquharson-Seymour also criticised the RBPF for not investing in officer training, noting: “Many do not even wish to invest in mandatory training of all Officers. We see rookies in large numbers patrolling Bay Street without any senior supervision; they do not even know how to direct traffic. Years ago, it was an art form that tourists would stop and photograph.”

Mr Maynard, meanwhile, argued that while the RBPF has enough forensic officers who are performing their duties effectively, improvements

could be made by involving officials from the Office of Public Prosecutions at crime scenes.

“Forensic evidence will always play a huge part in any investigation and, in extension, a criminal case,” Mr Maynard said. “There have been a large number of convictions that were secured due to efficient collection of DNA and fingerprints.” He added: “Improvement with the investigation immediately after a crime is committed. Like in some jurisdictions, the prosecutor accompanies the officers to the crime scene. That may assist in ensuring that there is sufficient evidence to properly present a case before the courts.”

A RECEIPT from a physician shows a list injuries including blunt head trauma, lower back pain, and rib pain indicating that Tanner Cartwright was assaulted.

Minister says Adriel suspect confessed to other murders

from page one

on those leads because they wouldn’t just go based on what he says,” he said.

The revelation of the new suspect in Adriel Moxey’s case comes weeks after Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander said a man with mental challenges was arrested in the case. He had assured the public that solid intelligence led officers to suspect the man of the killing. Police later said forensic evidence had ruled out the first suspect.

Adriel, a seventh-grader at Anatol Rodgers High School, had her life end in horror. On November 20, her lifeless body was found in bushes near Faith Avenue South, clad only in a shirt, with a cloth tied around her neck. Police confirmed she had been sexually assaulted and strangled, sparking outrage across the nation and calls for swift justice.

AS CHRISTM A S TREE COSTS A ND IMPORT FEES RISE, S A LES A PPE A R TO BE STE A DY

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

CHRISTMAS tree sales were steady and profitable for some retailers this year as many Bahamians rushed to decorate their homes for the holiday season.

A representative of The Christmas Tree Co-op, located on Prince Charles Drive, East Street, and Soldier Road, told The Tribune on Friday that the company sold out its stock a few days before its expected deadline. She noted there were no issues importing trees despite slightly higher costs. However, she highlighted a decline in demand for real Christmas trees, mentioning that last year, an overstock of trees did not align with the local market. In Grand Bahama, Home

Fabrics’ Freeport location also reported strong sales, with most of its Christmas trees selling out. Despite economic challenges and unemployment in the area, there was no evidence that the community’s holiday spirit was diminished. Some retailers chose not to sell Christmas trees this year due to high import and freight costs.

Bruce Pinder, manager of Rocky Farms Nursery on Seabreeze Lane, said he stopped importing Christmas trees in 2019, just before the COVID19 pandemic, due to rising fees. He explained that the cost of imported trees has become so high that they are affordable only for a select group of people.

“I try to bring in Christmas trees for everybody,” Mr Pinder said. He added that he does not foresee his

shop resuming Christmas tree sales in the near future. Meanwhile, in the United States, some farms offered discounts to clear unsold stock. CBS News reported that farms in Massachusetts, such as Brooksby Farm in Peabody, reduced tree prices by $20 a week before Christmas.

The farm’s manager, Joanne Roden, told WBZ-TV the late Thanksgiving gave one less week of selling time. Ms Roden attributed the price increases partly to a drought that caused significant inventory losses for growers. For example, Vandervalk Farm in Mendon lost 500 out of 2,700 trees, prompting farms to raise prices to offset revenue losses. As a result, more customers are turning to artificial trees for their holiday decorations.

NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER WAYNE MUNROE

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Jimmy Carter’s outstanding legacy

FORMER US President Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100 – a man whose reputation thrived in the years after he held office. Indeed, he became an object lesson in how to be a leader when out of power. His time in office was marred at home and abroad. At home, there were economic problems with high inflation and long lines for fuel. Overseas, there was the Iran hostage crisis which lasted for 444 days. In the end, he suffered a landslide defeat to Ronald Reagan. For a time, it was not uncommon to hear people saying that Carter was one of the worst presidents – though the years have seen some rehabilitation of that reputation of his time in office. But it is out of office that Carter truly led the way.

He founded the Carter Centre in 1982 and built a reputation doing something that seems like a simple idea – helping people.

He even picked up his own hammer and tool belt to build or repair thousands of homes for people.

He also worked to eradicate the guinea worm parasite, and nearly saw that goal succeed in his lifetime.

There was more – work as a peacemaker and a champion of human rights and democracy. He played a part in

averting US intervention in Haiti, and as an election monitor at home and abroad.

Just before Christmas, The Tribune

received a gift from the White House Historical Association – the 2024 official White House Christmas ornament, honouring Jimmy Carter and his presidency.

An accompanying booklet told his history – alongside his wife Rosalynn –both in and out of office.

That includes his being awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. In his acceptance speech, he said: “The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes – and we must.”

Without an electorate to seek approval from, without an office to give him power, Carter kept on doing what he wanted to do.

Sometimes that was teaching at Sunday school. Sometimes that was building homes. Sometimes that was trying to stop war.

It takes some doing for the greatest part of your legacy not to have been president of the United States. But Jimmy Carter managed it.

Gaming, Samurai and misogyny

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE gaming industry has introduced a dualsword female warrior, a samurai in the successful game Ghost of Tsushima followed up with the game Ghost of Yotei. A vocal backlash online about the introduction of the female samurai has risen with her inclusion as a fighter. Were there female samurai in the past and present time?

I admire strong women, people who do not stand by as evil besets on their land. If there is a wrong that needs to be righted, a strong woman needs to be present. Women have within themselves a moral code, perhaps present because women are the caretakers of the motherhood of humanity. They care for the innocent, those in need, often have an open heart and mind to deal with challenges often left behind by their male counterparts.

Men cannot understand “motherhood” just as many men still deal with the challenges of what

“fatherhood” can mean to them and society.

Samurais were battle hardened sword-yielding warriors who protected their Shogun, their leaders and acted often as police within their societies. Often mid-ranked members of the court samurai were judged by their fidelity to their masters, often acting as their masters muscle military officers and protectors. Did females receive training in the marital arts and become samurai? Yes they did. While males would often be sent off to battle or a police action women samurai stayed within the community or their compound protecting the lives and property of their elders. Their status and income were of course no way near that of accomplished male samurai, but their reputation as exceptional warriors was acknowledged by all.

In a male chauvinistic society such as ancient Japan females were considered property, gentile and worked as labourers.

Female Samurai faced

all the sexual and social prejudices many women still face today, with the ideal of equality not even found upon the battlefield. A simple slight felt by a male samurai could be the excuse needed to end a woman’s life. The only way a female samurai can excel was through loyalty and marital arts excellence. The better the soldier, the more outstanding she maybe will make or break her future evolution within Japanese closed society. Japanese women were allowed to achieve the four social classes of advancement, even above those of the farmer, artisan or merchant. Again loyalty and professionalism made them useful and standout for their male superiors. Seems the treatment of women in ancient times has been passed down to present day society. A woman’s usefulness is her only badge of honour and achievement even today.

STEVEN KASZAB Bradford, Ontario December 23, 2024.

Weary of fraudulent companies

EDITOR, The Tribune.

BASING this essay juxtaposition a side by side comparisons in a number of case show inextricably were the moot point often time seen as incontrovertible, yet a contradiction materially and you readers might be wondering, writer do and where are you going with such a conundrum? Very glad that you’ve asked. I pen these remarks based on an article in today’s Tribune newspaper under the caption ‘CCA files in US for bankruptcy.

And as I read, I couldn’t help myself as the queries were piling onto the fore, one of which, how is it that a developer (author, owner of an idea becoming reality becomes subject of what essentially appears to be hostile takeover, no matter that the project ran a ground on cash, due to some matters that appear suspect)? If by common design, the adverse claimant were hovering, waltzing with the word coveting, legally if these were the right facts, then grounds to decipher motives does carry, I Believe basing judgement on how the facts the evidence-inchief, were reading, and that being the case, provides that liabilities were attributable to the group behaving in the manner so described, in the consequence, does suggests that there be penal for this lack of good business ethic being played out, I am sorry but for it is far past the time when truth is upheld, and wrongs were identified, and called out, no matter the groups involved, but who will make such a case, bearing in mind how treacherous were the playing field nowadays?

At the heart of the argument, no matter that the project, if it did, appear to have ran out of capitalisation, the honest and moral thing to do, if one side was contemplating

coveting why weren’t there, compile a purchase of project proposal to the original developer, and but if the owner of the architectural drawings, conveyances relating to the 500 acres plus and choicest of the lands acquirable anywhere on God’s Green Earth, beachfront property, in the form of Crown Land, property of the Bahamian people with zilch percentage ownership accruing to the Bahamian people via the Public Treasury Of The Bahamas, for all of the land that the hotel was built, constructed on. But, why and how come? of the $4billion investment (with the real estate was thrown in as a good will gesture), this person lawfully the sole beneficiary had said no, then there was nothing that those (foreign entities) coveting the project, was supposed to be able to do, period. On the other hand, the level of distrust were so among the parties, that one side sought to possessed what were not lawfully theirs, by hostile-takeover is how the evidence appears to read (and to have the gall to take legal action, when there was no legal standing available to them, no where, where an objective legal tribunal were empaneled, must be adjudged as such?

When I saw the two jurisdictional legal wrestles going on, I was taken aback and militate. When will the political leaderships of the Commonwealth Of The Bahamas begin to realise that they have no sway in any global disputes, even if involving our things? And why might one ask? Is it as simplistic as a small country versus a major country?

But as former President

George Bush (one of the two, believed it might have been the son Bush)?

Who had advised one of our prime ministers, to stay away from the Chinese he said because you all cannot handle them, their business smarts, cunning, astuteness, but that valuable advice seemed to have entered your ear, and exited immediately, with little to no time being given to contemplation?

Editor, in conclusion, when will the arbitration centre for legal disputes come on stream? Is one matter, but essentially there ought to be no law so exacted that after a group tried to acquire what’s not theirs, but valued many billions dollars (if they were able to get away, would not be seeking to file bankruptcy)? Therefore, they ought not be allowed to wind down its affairs, proportionally made to face the music, absolutely?

The Bahamian people have become wary of the many fraudulent international companies domiciled in our Commonwealth Of The Bahamas (via poor business scruples), continuously causing Bahamas to get black eyes, a repetitional dislocation sores, might I say?

Editor, I think that it is only fair that the Public Treasury Of The Bahamas, gets paid for that land (est $1billion dollarsgive, or take)? Ought to be included in US Court’s Deliberations Assessments, otherwise, it will be most needed revenues not collected when we could have?

Grateful for the space, come on Bahamian politicians please collect the people’s money, all of it that way, we, the people would be able to pay less, much less in taxes, after all it is your sworn duty to do, hallelujah, amen.

FRANK GILBERT Nassau, December 23, 2024.

Have a cool, fun, interesting, amazing photo? Have it featured here in The Tribune’s picture of the day! Email your high quality image to pictureoftheday@tribunemedia.net

A BUTTERFLY rests on the nose of assistant butterfly collector Edgar Emojong at the African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI) in Nairobi, Kenya, on December 9, 2024. Photo:Brian Inganga/AP

Police take part in walkabout in GB ‘to hear from the people’

A PART of the government’s overall strategy to put a dent in crime throughout the archipelago has been to increase police visibility in communities to promote safety and to encourage open communication between the people who live in those communities and law enforcement.

Police-led community walkabouts are just one facet of this effort and a recent walkabout in Pinedale, Eight Mile Rock, conducted by Commissioner of Police-designate, Ms. Shanta Knowles, is proving effective in bringing glad tidings and cheer, and for the government’s strategy.

“Let us meet the people and listen to their needs and let us find ways that we can help them even more in our community,” said

COP-designate Knowles. Knowles, accompanied by senior police officers and various civic organisations working together to spread holiday cheer and give back to the community during this holiday season, took to the streets of Pinedale on Friday, December 20th, 2024.

It was truly heartwarming to witness the smiles on the residents’ faces as they warmly welcomed the officers and volunteers — a moment that truly reflected the spirit of the season.

The walkabout brought joy to the community, with residents receiving food boxes and each child being gifted a present from Santa. Also partnering in the effort was Urban Renewal - West Grand Bahama. Urban Renewal Centre Manager, Tanya Munroe,

shared her gratitude for the day’s effort. “This is what Christmas is all about — making sure that we are able to give, because it’s always better to give than to receive…so whenever the opportunity arises, it is good to see it happening.”

COP-designate Knowles added, “What is beautiful about this is we can all come together, walk our communities, to assess our communities and find ways that we can come back and support the people in our communities.”

This holiday season, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Urban Renewal and the Government of The Bahamas remain committed to strengthening relationships within the community, as well as collaborating with local organisations to give back.

COMMISSIONER of Police-designate, Ms Shanta Knowles, leads a police walkabout in Pinedale, Eight Mile Rock, on December 20th, 2024, as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to increase police visibility in communities to promote safety and foster stronger community relationships.

Accompanied by senior officers and civic organisations, the walkabout brought holiday cheer to the community, with food boxes and gifts for children, capturing the spirit of giving. This initiative reflects the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Urban Renewal and the Government of The Bahamas commitment to strengthening relationships within the community, as well as collaborating with local organizations to give back.

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN convicted of manslaughter in the 2015 death of an 88-year-old retired British doctor on Long Island has been informed that he does not qualify for early release due to good behaviour and must serve 11 years and three months in prison.

Court of Appeal president Justice Jon Isaacs told 52-year-old Moses Morris, who has a history of serious offences, he is ineligible for sentence remission.

Justice Isaacs cited Morris’s criminal record, which includes a prior manslaughter conviction in 1996 for which he was sentenced

$4,000 FINE

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A 22-YEAR-OLD man was fined $4,000 after admitting to breaking into a shop on Christmas Eve while under the influence of drugs.

Senior Magistrate Anishka Isaacs arraigned Kelvaughn Bain on charges of shopbreaking. His father was present at the hearing. Bain reportedly used a crowbar to break into George’s Take Away on Carmichael Road on December 24. He pleaded guilty to the charge.

to 25 years in prison, as a key factor disqualifying him from consideration for good behaviour credits. Morris had argued that he should be released early because he had already served two-thirds of his latest manslaughter sentence. However, Justice Isaacs clarified that Morris’s 18-year sentence, handed down in January 2024, accounts for time served on remand since his arrest in 2015. His remaining prison time will be calculated from his conviction date of January 23, 2024. The case stems from the killing of Dr Harry Harding, a retired doctor and business partner of Morris. Prosecutors stated that on April 1, 2015, an argument

erupted at Dr Harding’s home over payment for conch pearls.

During the altercation, Morris fatally stabbed Dr Harding with a kitchen knife, then washed the weapon and returned it to the kitchen block.

Morris initially denied the crime, claiming that his confession was coerced under duress. While a jury acquitted him of murder in 2023, they failed to reach a verdict on the alternative charge of manslaughter.

Following a retrial, Morris accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was subsequently sentenced to 18 years in prison. Darnell Dorsette led the prosecution in the case.

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN was granted bail on Friday after allegedly stealing more than $2,000 worth of property from a man on Paradise Island earlier this month.

Senior Magistrate Anishka Isaacs arraigned Latoya Bain, 36, on charges of stealing and

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

The prosecution raised no objections to bail, which was set at $3,000 with one or two sureties.

As part of her bail conditions, Bain must sign in at the Central Police Station every Monday by 7pm and refrain from contacting any witnesses in the case.

Her trial is scheduled to begin on March 13, 2025.

receiving. Her fiancé attended the arraignment. Bain is accused of stealing a $1,300 grey Dell laptop, a $1,000 Samsung cellphone, a $500 laptop, a wallet containing $500 in cash, and a work permit belonging to Richard Bartram between December 1 and 2. She was allegedly found in possession of some of the stolen items. Bain pleaded not guilty after electing to have her case heard before the magistrate.

Alex Dorsett, Bain’s lawyer, described his actions as out of character and linked them to a recent drug problem. He also highlighted that Bain is employed as a mortician and has a ten-month-old child, urging the court to impose a fine instead of a prison sentence.

While Magistrate Isaacs acknowledged Bain’s early guilty plea and young age, she considered his use of a crowbar an aggravating factor, indicating significant intent. She also expressed disappointment that Bain, as an employed person, resorted to theft and pointed out that the shop he broke into was a small family-owned business that had opened only recently. Bain was ordered to

attend three months of drug counselling or face a two-month prison term. He was fined $4,000 or risk six months in prison and must compensate the complainant $700 or face another month in prison. The defendant must pay $1,000 of his fine before release and return to court on January 3 to provide the compensation money. The remaining debt must be paid on the last Friday of each month.

Magistrate Isaacs remarked that his financial obligations would leave him with less money for drugs. Bain was informed of his right to appeal within seven days.

A MAN accused of robbing a woman at gunpoint earlier this year has had his charges transferred to the Supreme Court.

Senior Magistrate Kendra Kelly served

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN accused of assaulting a woman at a nightclub on Christmas Day was granted bail on Friday.

Senior Magistrate Raquel Whyms arraigned Lathario Babbs, 37, on charges of assault and possession of dangerous drugs. Babbs allegedly assaulted a woman at the Oui Chi

Grashano Miller, 26, with a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI) for armed robbery. Miller is accused of using a black handgun to rob Keva Rose of $700 in cash on April 8 in New Providence. After signing his VBI, officially transferring his case to the Supreme Court, Miller elected to provide his notice of alibi, which lists witnesses to speak in his defence, within 21 days. Miller will next appear before Senior Justice Cheryl Grant Thompson for arraignment on March 7, 2025. Sergeant Vernon Pyfrom served as the prosecutor.

nightclub on December 25.

The complainant reportedly did not know Babbs. Later that day, Babbs was reportedly found with seven grams of marijuana in his possession.

While Babbs pleaded guilty to the drug charge, he denied the assault charge.

He was given a conditional discharge for the drug offence, requiring him to observe six months of probation and attend drug

counselling. Non-compliance would result in a one-month prison term. For the assault charge, Babbs was granted $2,500 bail with one or two sureties. As a condition of his bail, he must sign in at the Quakoo Street Police Station every Thursday by 7pm. The assault trial is set for March 28, 2025, and Babbs is required to return to court for a review of the drug charge on July 1, 2025.

Photos: Andrew Miller/BIS

MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2024

Solution for Haiti’s distress helps us all

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

AS we look towards the start of the new year, we all might be looking for signs of hope and optimism for the year ahead – few such signs are visible as we look towards our neighbour, Haiti.

We lament the murder total we have seen in The Bahamas this year – as we should – but it is as nothing compared to the carnage being wrought on the streets of Haiti. In one series of attacks alone, between December 6 and 11, dozens of older people and religious leaders were killed by a gang there.

Just before Christmas, the UN revised the total number of people killed in that period of time to “more than 207”.

The Wharf Jeremie gang took people from their homes and from a place of Vodou worship, interrogated them and executed them. The gang members used machetes and bullets.

The UN secretary-general’s special representative in Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, said that “we cannot pretend that nothing happened”.

She said: “I call on the Haitian justice system to thoroughly investigate these horrific crimes and arrest and punish the perpetrators, as well as those who support them.”

What was the crime these people supposedly committed in the eyes of the gang? The son of the gang’s leader, Micanor Altés, died from an illness – and he accused people in the neighbourhood of causing it.

The Cooperative for Peace and Development, a human rights group, said: “He decided to cruelly punish all elderly people and (Vodou) practitioners who, in his imagination, would be capable of casting a bad spell on his son.”

After the executions, the UN say the gang tried to cover up the evidence. They burned the bodies, or cut them up and threw them into the sea.

UN figures say that more than 5,350 people have been killed in Haiti this year as gangs carve up territory and battle it out with both authorities and each other. In a semblance of an

attempt to get back to some measure of normality, the Haitian government last week announced the reopening of Port-au- Prince’s biggest public hospital.

The Health Minister, Duckenson Lorthe, sent out the invites to journalists to attend – who duly showed up, only to walk into one of the worst attacks on the Haitian media in recent memory.

With little security on show, and the health minister absent without explanation, gang members burst into the hospital and opened fire on reporters assembled there.

Two journalists and a police officer were killed.

After the attack, gang leader Johnson “Izo” Andre, part of the Viv Ansanm group of gangs, posted a video claiming responsibility.

In the video, he said that the gang coalition had not authorised the hospital’s reopening.

The health minister was fired. His replacement is temporary until someone else can be found.

Back in October, former Prime Minister Perry Christie had spoken with hope about the future of Haiti. He talked of the prospect of elections by February 2026.

Things have not looked good for those prospects since that time, with another change in prime minister in November, and turbulence surrounding the transitional council that is ostensibly in charge at present.

I say ostensibly, because really it looks like the

gangs are in charge. The government has no control over large areas, including of the capital.

The ports and highways are often the centre of conflict, and the airport recently saw a plane fired upon.

After the attack on older people, the government talked of persecuting those to blame for the “unspeakable carnage”. But how much ability they have to back up that statement is open to question.

Prisoners have been broken out, there seems little likelihood of an election being organised any time soon, and if gangs can dictate to the government when a hospital can or cannot be opened, it speaks loudly to who really is in charge. Photographer Jean Fregens Regala, a survivor of the shooting at the hospital, told the Associated Press: “I was hiding behind by the gate to put myself somewhere safe but other journalists were rushing to go inside the hospital and there was non-stop shooting. If I had rushed and ran, or ran inside the hospital to hide, I am sure I would be among the victims.”

He added: “We began calling for help, for just aid, for the victims that were bleeding heavily. There was no doctor or nurse around. While the hospital was about to reopen, it had no medical supplies available for giving first aid to the journalist victims and the other victims.” Medics lacked gloves so

used plastic bags on their hands as substitutes to treat the victims.

The photographer said that police told journalists they had not been aware of the reopening.

The country’s interim president, Leslie Voltaire, sent sympathies to the victims in a national address last week. But sympathy doesn’t bring change or justice.

With Bahamian forces being deployed in an attempt to assist Haiti and to bring stability, alongside troops from other nations, it is hard not to see this is trying to put a band-aid on a gushing wound.

Quite what the mission goal is for our deployment remains unclear in public, and the numbers are few enough that it will not make a substantial dent in the control of the gangs, who are said to control 85 percent of Port-au-Prince.

If Haiti continues to be in meltdown, it will only be bad news for the region. Those gangs need funds, they will make it through crime. More guns. More drugs. More tentacles of crime stretching out to other nations. A rogue nation on our doorstep. Finding a solution in the year ahead must be a crucial goal for nations throughout the region. Implementing it will be no easy task – and there seems little appetite for the scale of intervention that might be required.

2025 is a crucial year for Haiti. But we should make no mistake of its importance to us all.

RESIDENTS walk past cars set on fire by armed gangs in the Poste Marchand neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, December 10, 2024.

Photo: Odelyn Joseph/AP

Transform the daily grind to make life more interesting

A philosopher shares three strategies to help you attain the good life

By LORRAINE BESSER MIDDLEBURY

IMAGINE it’s Monday morning, too cold and too dark, but once that alarm goes off, you know you’ve got to rally. The kids have to get to school. You’ve got to get to work. And, of course, your ever-growing to-do list hangs over your head like a dark cloud, somehow both too threatening to ignore and too threatening to start its tasks.

On days like this, you may be grateful simply to make it through. But then it begins, all over again.

While you can’t escape the grind, you can transform it. The latest psychological research on the good life points the way: By shifting your mindset, you can make your day-to-day more interesting and create psychological richness within your life. Psychological richness describes a robust form of cognitive engagement. It’s distinct from happiness and meaning, but just as important to the good life.

In collaboration with Shigehiro Oishi and his research lab, I’ve investigated whether the field of positive psychology has largely overlooked an important dimension of the good life. As the philosopher on our team, I had two directives. First, I helped to define the concept of psychological richness and understand what distinguishes it from happiness and meaning. Second, I set out to explore why psychological richness is valuable.

Our initial studies found that people value experiences that stimulate their minds, challenge them and generate a range of emotions. Many would choose a life full of these experiences, which we describe as psychologically rich, over a happy life or a meaningful life.

This insight points to the important role psychological richness can play within

the good life, but it stops short of explaining why it’s good and why people ought to make space for psychological richness within their lives. These are value-laden questions that can’t be answered through empirical research. Their answers are found instead through philosophical analysis.

My philosophical analysis suggests that psychological richness is good for you because it’s interesting.

My book, “The Art of the Interesting: What We Miss in Our Pursuit of the Good Life and How to Cultivate It,” shows how to add psychological richness to your life by making it more interesting.

One of the easiest ways to do this is by embracing a mindset characterised by curiosity, creativity and what I call “mindfulness 2.0.” When you bring these three perspectives to your day-to-day, you transform the grind into endless opportunities to experience the world as interesting. You develop the capacity to enhance your own life.

Mindfulness 2.0: Noticing without judging

What I call “mindfulness 2.0” means bringing nonevaluative awareness to the world around you – paying attention without judging.

Familiar from mindfulness practices, it’s a form of noticing that brings forth details you typically overlook: the texture of a houseplant’s leaves, the faces of the strangers you pass on the sidewalk, the differing heights of the cans on a store shelf. By bringing these details into your awareness, you stimulate your mind, allowing you to engage mentally with your surroundings in an active manner. Noticing things through mindfulness 2.0 is the first step toward having an interesting experience. A good place to practice mindfulness 2.0 is during your morning commute.

Because it’s routine, you probably don’t feel the need to engage much with the details of what you are doing. Instead you’ll find other ways to pass the time, such as listening to the news or your favorite podcast. These activities distract you from the otherwise boring commute by disengaging you from it.

But you can also get through the commute by engaging with it to make it less boring. Here’s where the power of mindfulness 2.0 kicks in. Through actively noticing things around you – be it the people clustered at the bus stop, or the traffic patterns created by a stoplight, or a flock of birds swooping overhead – you engage your mind and set yourself up to experience the interesting.

Curiosity: Exploring through questions

Curiosity isn’t just for kids. No matter how much you know, there’s always something to be curious about – especially if you’ve learned to notice the details through mindfulness 2.0.

Say you’ve noticed, during your commute, the group of people gathered around the bus stop. Now let your curiosity take off: Was that bus stop always there? How long has that exceptionally weird real estate advertisement been stuck on the seatback? So many people lined up this cold morning. You might

wonder if you’d feel a little more connected if you were with them. But then you notice that no one is talking. Do they ride the same bus together, every day, without acknowledging each other? Through asking questions, you ask your mind to consider something it hadn’t before. You create new thoughts, and if you let your mind keep going, you’ll have an interesting experience, all the while making that same commute. Even better, you’ll have created that interesting experience on your own. You’ve harnessed an ability to enhance your life, an ability that’s completely within your control.

Creativity: Trying something new

While people often think of creativity as a talent, native only to artists or inventors, everyone has the

ability to be creative. Creativity is a skill that involves forming new connections with your mind. You’re creative whenever you do something new or different. Whether it is painting a brilliant landscape or wearing a new colour combination, developing a new dish or simply tweaking a recipe, it all falls under the umbrella of creativity. When you are creative, in big or small ways, you generate novelty within your life, and this puts you on the path toward experiencing psychological richness. Novelty all but forces the mind to think and feel in new ways, stimulating that robust form of cognitive engagement that brings the interesting. Even just a little bit of creativity will bring novelty to your day-to-day routine. Wear something you don’t normally wear. Add a little flair to your handwriting or choose a different coloured

pen to write with. Change the patterns on your screen saver. Notice the impact these little tweaks have on your day. Little by little, they’ll add up to make your day just a little more interesting. Everyone’s experience of what’s interesting is unique. There’s no one interesting experience for all of us, because the interesting depends entirely on how our minds engage, react and respond. Through developing mindfulness 2.0, and bringing curiosity and creativity to your experiences, you train your mind to engage, react and respond in ways that will transform any experience into an interesting one.

This is the power a mindset can bring. It’s a capacity to enhance our lives that anyone can develop.

www.theconversation.com

Whales can live much longer than scientists thought

By GREG BREED University of Alaska Fairbanks and PETER CORKERON , Griffth University

SOUTHERN right whales have lifespans that reach well past 100 years, and 10% may live past 130 years, according to our new research published in the journal Science Advances. Some of these whales may live to 150. This lifespan is almost double the 70-80 years they are conventionally believed to live.

North Atlantic right whales were also thought to have a maximum lifespan of about 70 years. We found, however, that this critically endangered species’ current average lifespan is only 22 years, and they rarely live past 50.

These two species are very closely related –only 25 years ago they were considered to be one species – so we’d expect them to have similarly long lifespans. We attribute the stark difference in longevity in North Atlantic right whales to human-caused mortality, mostly from entanglements in fishing gear and ship strikes.

We made these new age estimates using photo identification of individual female whales over several decades. Individual whales can be recognized year after year from photographs. When they die, they stop being photographically “resighted” and disappear. Using these photos, we developed what scientists call “survivorship curves” by estimating the probability whales would disappear from the photographic record as they aged. From these survivorship curves, we could estimate maximum potential lifespans.

Twenty-five years ago, scientists working with Indigenous whale hunters in the Arctic showed that bowhead whales could live up to and even over 200 years. Their evidence included finding stone harpoon points that hadn’t been used since the mid-1800s embedded in the blubber of whales recently killed by traditional whalers. Analysis of proteins from the eyes of hunted whales provided further evidence of their long lifespan. Like right whales, before that analysis, researchers thought bowhead whales lived to about 80 years, and that humans were the mammals that lived the longest. In the years following that report, scientists tried to figure out what was unique about bowhead whales that allowed them to live so long. But our new analysis of the longevity of two close relatives of bowheads shows that other whale species also have potentially extremely long lives.

WHY IT MATTERS

Understanding how long wild animals live has major implications for how to best protect them. Animals that have very long lifespans usually reproduce extremely slowly and can go many years between births. Baleen whales’ life history – particularly the age when females start breeding and the interval between calves – is strongly influenced by their potential lifespan. Conservation and management strategies that do not plan accordingly will have a higher chance of failure. This is especially important given the expected impacts of climate disruption.

WHAT STILL ISN’T KNOWN

There are many other large whales, including blue, fin, sei, humpback, gray and sperm whales. Like bowhead and right whales, these were also almost wiped out by whaling. Scientists currently assume they live about 80 or 90 years, but that’s what we believed about bowhead and right whales until data proved they can live much longer. How long can these other whale species live? Industrial whaling, which ended only in the 1960s, removed old whales from the world’s whale populations. Though many whale populations are recovering in number, there hasn’t been enough time for whales born after the end of industrial whaling to become old.

It’s possible, even likely, that many other whale species will also prove to have long lifespans.

WHAT OTHER RESEARCH IS BEING DONE

Other research finds the loss of older individuals from populations is a phenomenon occurring across most large animal species. It diminishes the reproductive potential of many species. Researchers also argue this represents a real loss of culture and wisdom in animals that degrades their potential for survival in the face of changing conditions.

WHAT’S NEXT

We want to better understand how whaling affected the number of old individuals in current whale populations and predict when the number of old individuals will recover to prewhaling levels. Preliminary results suggest it may be another 100 years before whale populations truly recover, even for species whose populations now number as many as there were before whaling. For North Atlantic right whales, our research shows that even when the population was increasing, the management actions taken were insufficient to prevent these whales from dying far too young.

Originally published on www.theconversation.com

A NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE AND HER CALF.

Boxing

SHELL Saxon Superstars - A Division winners.

Photo: Nikia Charlton

VALLEY Boys

Photo: Nikia Charlton

ONE Family

Photo: Chappell Whyms Jr

GENESIS

Photo: Nikia Charlton

MUSIC Makers

Photo: Chappell Whyms Jr

ROOTS

Photo: Nikia Charlton

Reactions to both Valley Boy factions’ Boxing Day Junkanoo performances

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter Lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE 2024 Boxing Day Parade saw performances from the two factions of the Valley Boys that left fans urging the groups to unite after both failed to live up to the expectations of many.

The face-off between the groups—the World Famous Valley Boys, led by Brian Adderley, and the Way Forward, led by Mr Trevor Davis—was the culmination of a year of drama that threatened to cancel the parade.

The Way Forward performed last under the theme Exodus: Let My People Go. The performance, while energetic and spirited, was marked by seemingly incomplete costumes. Nonetheless, their large brass section was praised by many spectators, with

some fans arguing that the group’s performance was lively and engaging, even if it lacked the cohesion needed for a competitive edge.

The Way Forward was not scored and was not eligible for a cash prize.

The World Famous Valley Boys took to the streets with a French-themed presentation. Some criticised the music, saying it lacked energy. Nonetheless, the group finished third.

Following the parade, fans took to social media, calling for the factions to unite. Many believed that collaboration between both fractions could have produced a performance comparable to its longtime rival, the Saxons, which has now won the last three parades and seems set to benefit from the disunity in the Valley Boys.

THE World Famous Valley Boys during Boxing Day Junkanoo Parade.

Photo: Nikia Charlton

THE WORLD Famous Valley Boys (this column). Photos: Chappell Whyms Jr

THE WAY Forward Valley Boys (this column).

Photos: Chappell Whyms Jr

Longest-lived ex-US President Jimmy Carter dead at 100

ATLANTA Associated Press

JIMMY Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old.

The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said.

“Our founder, former US President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family.

Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s.

“My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said.

A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and US defeat in southeast Asia.

If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon.

Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the postpresidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy.

Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan.

Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes.

“It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent

incompatibility” with Washington insiders.

Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term.

Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal.

The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights.

“I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.”

That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a US invasion of Haiti and negotiating ceasefires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring US elections as well.

Carter’s stubborn selfassuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors.

He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010.

“I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said.

He announced an armsreduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered US administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump.

Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity.

The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done.

“The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.”

Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged.

Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral.

The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously.

His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of US dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners. He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China.

“I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book.

“He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.”

Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency.

“Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022.

Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries.

“He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press.

James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career.

Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian, would become a staple of his political campaigns.

Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the US Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to

Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband.

Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board.

My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021.

He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, dealcutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign.

Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, racebaiting flyers, which Carter disavowed.

Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct.

I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was.

In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?”

The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden.

Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November,

the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “bornagain Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack.

Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school.

Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll.

Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t

immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis.

After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the US for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt.

The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a US boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.

Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves.

Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.”

Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority.

Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.”

Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business.

I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021.

“But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.”

Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life.

“I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015. “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.”

FORMER President Jimmy Carter pauses as he works on a Habitat for Humanity home in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans, May 14, 2008. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, were participating in a building project along the Gulf Coast in areas that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP

SPORTS

Our Senior Male Athletes of 2024

Bahamian male professional athletes were relentless in their pursuit of hitting sporting milestones while making Bahamian history during the 2024 sports year in their respective leagues.

A few of the Bahamian senior male athletes were in a league of their own on the baseball field, on the hardwood and on the waters, making the choices for Tribune Senior Male Athlete of the Year a “no-brainer.”

Jasrado “Jazz”

Chisholm JrFirst Place

“Jazz” hit the perfect notes upon his arrival to the Big Apple to be named the 2024 Tribune Senior Male Athlete of the Year.

After having his fair share of battles with the injury bug in previous seasons, Chisholm Jr elevated his play across the board to hit career highs in multiple statistical groups in the fifth season of his MLB career.

Since being traded by the Miami Marlins to the New York Yankees, Chisholm Jr turned in 74 runs, 144 hits, 24 homers,

BUDDY HIELDSecond Place

73 RBIs, 40 stolen bases (all career highs) while batting .256 in a new role as third baseman.

Despite playing at third base for the first time in his career, the former Miami Marlins centre fielder

thrived instantly in the New York Yankees pinstripes. In just his first three games with the Bronx

Sparks Rowing in Nassau for third annual training camp

By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

NO one, not even a group of 14 competitors from Sparks Rowing could argue that it’s “Better in the Bahamas” as they switch from the cold weather in the United States to warm waters of Lake Cunningham for their third annual training camp.

The camp, facilitated by the Nassau Rowing Club, got started on Saturday as they familiarise themselves with their new environment that will be their home away from home until Tuesday.

Anne Horton, one of the organisers of Sparks Rowing, the pre-eminent operator of rowing camps in the USA, said they brought in the high school students between the ages of 14-17, to gain some experience in their coxswain skills, which allows them to sit facing the bow and and steer the boat and coordinate the power and rhythm of the rowers.

“They are here to first enjoy the warm weather, but they are also here to really get some personalised coaching,” said Horton, a native

SEE PAGE 16

THE SPORTS CALENDAR

WALK/RUN THE Bahamas Baptist Sports Federation is inviting the general

and

The categories include female and male 15-and- under, 20-and-under, 40-and-under, 60-and-under and over-60. There will also be a Pastors/Ministers/Deacons’ division. Interested persons can contact Ann Thompson at 425-3557 or email ann837609@gmail.com or Brent Stubbs at 42-67265 or email stbbobo@gmail.com.

T-BIRD FLYERS TRACK & FIELD

CLASSIC

THE T-Bird Flyers has announced that its 2025 T-Bird Flyers Track and Field Classic is scheduled for Friday, January 10, and Saturday, January 11 at the original Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium. Persons with any questions or concerns about

SEE PAGE 18

By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor

IT has been a roller coaster ride for the versatile Elana Mackey, but the multitalented student-athlete indicated that she’s just glad that her tenure at Mars Hill University is now completed. As a star member of the Lions ladies’ tennis team, Mackey also made her contribution on both the cross country and track and field teams before she left her mark on December 13, graduating with her bachelor of science degree in health and human performances.

Ending her final semester with a 4.0 grade point average as she took time off from competing in sports, Mackey said she’s glad that her tenure is behind her and she’s even more excited about her future and the prospects of returning to the tennis court in the new year.

“It feels great,” said Mackey about her commencement exercise on the campus of the private,

four-year liberal arts institution located in the mountains of western North Carolina.

“I’m just happy that I was able to graduate and get back home.” Here at home since December 23, Mackey said she should have finished in May, but she had to do an internship that delayed her commencement ceremony until December. It worked in her favour because she produced her outstanding completion in the classroom at MHU.

By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor

TEAMS from Grand Bahama and both the government and private schools are still alive in the Providence Basketball Tournament that will conclude today at the CI Gibson Gymnasium.

Over the weekend, teams in both the junior and senior boys’ divisions battled to advance to the pool championship games to determine who will advance to the championship games.

After going through the preliminary rounds on Friday and Saturday, games were played to decide who will remain for the final day of competition. Here’s a look at the results of the games played yesterday:

Junior boys Agape Christian Academy def. TA Thompson 37-7; DW Davis def. Charles W Saunders 24-11; St Augustine’s College def. Teleos Christian Academy 28-14 and Teleos Christian Academy def. Temple Christian 18-10.

Senior boys

Blazer Elite def. Temple Christian 54-26; Agape Christian Academy def.

Jordan Prince Williams 30-27; SC Bootle def. Government High 35-34; RM Bailey def. Queen’s College 38-17; St George’s def. Charles W Saunders 32-24; CC Sweeting def. ISBET 45-12 and St John’s def. SC Bootle 30-27. The Blazer Elite emerged as one of the top senior boys’ teams, posting a 4-0

“I’m trying to look for a job because I got my approval for my master’s degree in physician assistant, so I will be heading back in January,” Mackey said. “Everywhere that I applied, they wanted someone with experience, but it’s difficult for me to get any experience if I just graduated.”

The 22-year-old graduate of the Nassau Christian Academy School went on to Mars Hill where he ended up playing at the top spot for the Lions over the last two years. In the process, she earned third team all conference singles in 2023.

“It was like a roller coaster ride. It was good,” Mackey said. “I would do it all over again, but just with tennis and not with cross country and track and all those other sports.

“But I enjoyed my experience, especially in the classroom. The professors were good and the classes were great. I had a good experience over there. I

ELANA Mackey in her robe after graduation.

Bombers, the 26-year-old launched four homers to SEE PAGE 16

JASRADO ‘JAZZ’ CHISHOLM JR - First Place

LAMAR TAYLORThird Place

CAMPERS preparing their boats at the training camp.

Providence Basketball Classic champions to be crowned tonight

FROM PAGE 15

win-loss record and coach Dr Ray Evans said they are looking forward to their Grand Bahama showdown against St George’s for their pool championship on Monday.

“We’re a work in progress, but we played pretty well in this tournament,” said Evans, who credited his point guard Malachi Missick and his off-guard Leroy Hyman for their success so far.

“Our defence has also been up to par.”

Evans, however, said the big test will be against St George’s, whom they only played in an exhibition game in Grand Bahama before they came here for the tournament.

Jaguars 32

Cougars 24

St George’s advanced to the pool championship as they took care of business against Charles W Saunders, one of the top teams in the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools.

Ian Gibson led the Jaguars’ attack with eight

points, while Isiah Roker and Makhai Nesbitt both chipped in with six points. Bryson Rolle scored five and both Kani Davis and Leroy Gray had four in the loss.

After playing to a 7-7 tie at the end of the first quarter, St George’s surged ahead 13-9 at the half and outscored Charles W Saunders 7-4 in the third and 12-11 in the fourth to seal the deal.

“This is a step in the right direction. CW Saunders is doing a good job, but every year for the last four years, we have had a healthy rivalry against them,” said St George’s coach Darrel Sears.

“But he’s rebuilding and we’re rebuilding, so it was good for both of us to play with each other in that condition.”

Sears, however, said he’s also eager to come to New Providence to play in the tournament because it gives them a different style of play than they are used to facing in Grand Bahama. “I’m very impressed with the New Providence teams. They

are running teams and they are also putting in some strategic plays, so it makes us play that much harder.”

Pacers 38, Comets 17

RM Bailey also made a run for their senior boys’ pool championship as they outran Queen’s College from start to finish. They opened a 15-4 first quarter lead that they extended to 21-6 at the half. They finished with a 5-3 run in the third and 12-8 in the fourth.

Keith Bonaby canned a game high 12 points and both Lawrence Moneshire and Stanley Pitt added nine apiece in the win. Tayshawn Taylor scored 10 in the loss.

Coach Lamont Armaly said his Pacers’ team is starting to play much better, but they will have to step it up another notch in the pool championship round.

“We have CI Gibson so we have to play more poised,” he said. “We have to.”

The CI Gibson Rattlers, the defending senior boys’ champions, made it look

so easy as they advanced to the pool championship with their 65-21 rout over the Dame Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins. In the final game on the night, the Government High Magicmen advanced to the senior boys’ pool championship as well with a 41-40 nipping over the Kingsway Academy Saints. Here’s a look at the schedule for today’s final games:

Senior boys’ playoffs

10:30am - CI Gibson vs RM Bailey

11:15am - St John’s vs Government High Noon - CC Sweeting vs Westminster 12:45pm - Blazer Elite vs St George’s Semifinal crossover games

2pm - SC Bootle vs St Augustine’s College (Junior boys)

2:45pm - Agape Christian Academy vs DW Davis (Junior boys)

3:30pm - WP1 vs W P4 (senior boys)

4:15pm - W P2 vs W P3 (senior boys)

6pm - Junior boys final

7pm - Senior boys final

The Tribune Sports’ Senior Male Athletes of the Year

set a franchise record as the first Yankee to accomplish this milestone. If that was not enough, he played a pivotal role in helping the Yankees to finish the MLB season with a 94-68 (win/loss record) to clinch the American League East Division.

“Jazz”, who made his third playoff appearance, and the Yankees rolled past the Kansas City Royals in the AL Division Series and the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Championship Series before making the 2024 MLB World Series.

The New York Yankees third baseman was the second Bahamian since Ed Armbrister (1975 and 1976) to advance to the biggest stage of the majors and he did not shy away from the bright lights.

“Jazz” was the first Bahamian to launch a homer in a World Series in game five against the LA Dodgers. Although the Yankees ultimately fell 4-1 in the series, Chisholm Jr made Bahamian history after he homered a fly ball from Dodgers’ pitcher Jack Flaherty at the bottom of the first inning.

He wrapped up his third postseason run batting .182 with 10 hits, two homers, two RBIs, and six stolen bases.

A change of scenery certainly paid dividends for “Jazz” as the pastures were definitely greener in the Big Apple.

Buddy HieldSecond Place Grand Bahamian Chavano “Buddy” Hield also benefited greatly from a trade in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Hield has garnered lots of attention for his scorching hot start in the Bay Area to replace the services of former “Splash Brother” Klay Thompson, but his play during the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament this summer in Valencia, Spain was second to none.

The Bahamas came within one game of making Bahamian history as the first sporting team to make the Olympics and the Grand Bahamian threepoint specialist was a key part of that run.

Before coming up short against Spain in the Finals, The Bahamas enjoyed wins against Finland and Poland in the group phase and then against Lebanon in the semis.

“Buddy” led the way for The Bahamas in the 96-85 victory against Finland. He paced the team with 24 points and six rebounds while shooting 6-for-12 from deep.

He was the second highest scorer for The Bahamas in the 90-81 win against Poland. He played the role of scorer and facilitator, dropping 17 points and 10 dimes.

The Grand Bahama native picked up yet another double-double, this time against Lebanon in the

semis to book a trip to the finals. He scored 19 points, dished out 10 dimes and picked up two steals.

Despite the heartbreaking 86-78 loss against Spain in the finals, Hield went down shooting.

He turned in a team-high 19 points, six rebounds and one assist in 37 minutes played.

During the four games played, “Buddy” led the team in scoring and assists with 19.8 ppg and 5.8 apg respectively.

Outside of FIBA play, the NBA three-point veteran carried his momentum over to the Bay Area alongside superstar point guard Stephen Curry.

He is currently averaging 12.9 ppg, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists while shooting 43.6 per cent. Additionally, he has had some big scoring nights and some historic

moments along the way.

The 32-year-old hit 10,000 career points in November against the OKC Thunder. He connected on a three at the 2:55 mark of that particular game to achieve the feat.

In addition to that, he became just the 17th fastest player in NBA history to hit 2,000 made threes in the Warriors’ loss against the Houston Rockets in the quarterfinals of the Emirates NBA Cup.

He is now up to 2,014 made threes trailing behind Bahamian shooting guard Eric “EJ” Gordon.

Lamar TaylorThird Place

Another Grand Bahamian stole the spotlight in 2024. There are many certainties in life and one of them is definitely Lamar Taylor breaking a national record.

Taylor left the 2024 World Aquatics (Short Course) Championships with his name attached to three national records.

He swam a blazing time of 46.89 seconds in the prelims of the men’s 100m free to advance to the semis. He lowered his time to 46.34 seconds in the semis to set a new national record and finish 13th overall in the event.

The University of Tennessee student also set a new national record in the men’s 50m butterfly prelims. He touched the wall in 23.24 seconds for 39th overall. Additionally, he set a new national record of 23.51 seconds in the men’s 50m backstroke event prelims.

He also emerged as a two-time national champion at the Bahamas Aquatics National Championships, winning gold in the 50m free and 100m free.

The 21-year-old was also successful at the NCAA Division II Championship. He came first in the 100m freestyle and third in the 100m backstroke.

Taylor also made a first time Olympic appearance at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

He finished the meet clocking a new national record of 48.84 seconds in the 100m free to place 26th overall.

The University of Tennessee graduate student will certainly continue to make his mark in the aquatics community in 2025.

ELANA MACKEY GRADUATES

liked it,” she stated. “And I felt I got a lot more competition over there playing college tennis than I did when I was playing here. I felt playing against so many different people helped me to improve my game.”

In completing her tenure at Mars Hill, Mackey missed the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s 2025 Giorgio Baldacci National Tennis Tournament two weeks ago.

But she indicated that she’s informed the BLTA that she hopes to be available for the final trials for the final selection for the Billie Jean King Cup. She’s eager to play on her third team, having participated in 2022 and 2023.

“I’m going to try and play a few Futures tournaments in Florida when I get back in shape, although that won’t be before April,” she stated. “I have to get back in shape because I start playing again and hopefully that will help me to get ready for the final trials for the Billie Jean King Cup.

“I have to start all over from scratch because I haven’t played in about 4-5 months. So I’m going to try and train in Florida while I go job hunting. I’ve been looking for a job since October. But I’m looking at trying to get a job when I go back on January 6.”

Since returning home, Mackey said she’s pretended to be a “tourist,” literally going everywhere including going to junkanoo, but she’s also spending a lot of time taking care of some special chores at home for her parents.

Mackey thanked her parents, Patrick and Ella Mackey, her local coaches Michael Andrews and Vince Andrews and God for giving her the ability to perform.

She hopes to pass on her experience to her younger brother, Patrick Mackey Jr, who is still at NCA, and who is currently developing his game as a tennis player. Eventually, Mackey said she would love to see him compete at the collegiate level as well.

SPARKS ROWING THIRD ANNUAL TRAINING CAMP

FROM PAGE 15

from Massachusetts.

“We have three coaches with us who have specific coxswain experience and so they are working with the people who are talking and steering the boats.”

While here, Horton said the campers will do a lot of rowing as they talk and learn about how they can be more effective on the water as they engage with their partners in the boat.

“We are placing them in groups with persons they are not familiar with so they can get as much exposure teaming up with different people, both from the United States and the Bahamas.”

While they have some returning campers, Horton said there are some new faces that they are bringing in, fitting into what she described as an improved venue for the NRC since their last trip here in 2023.

“It’s really good to be here,” said Horton, who noted that the campers are all eager to learn and then to take back the knowledge they received to their respective clubs.

Two of the visiting campers expressed how enthused they are to be here in the Bahamas for the first time.

Brooks Bateman, who hails from New Jersey, said when he got here, he could only notice how fantastic the Bahamas is.

It was beyond his wildest dream.

“The water is so beautiful and the beaches are breathtaking,” he said.

“But the airport was messed up.”

Despite his mixed reaction to the Bahamas, Bateman said when he leaves, he hopes that he will be able to learn some valuable lessons about coxswain.

“It’s going to be fun trying to get to know everybody,” he pointed out.

As for Katlyn Corche, a 16-year-old from New Hampshire, the hospitality she received from the Bahamian people was second to none. She’s just eager to soak it all in.

“I hope to gain more knowledge about the whole process and how to analyse my coxswain experience,” she stated. “I’m just glad to be here and to get a chance to row on this beautiful water.”

Nick Rowett, the head coach of the NRC, headed by president Kyle Chea, welcomed the group back and indicated that this year’s trip will be more meaningful than the previous two.

“It’s been going very well. It’s fabulous to host overseas rowers in training camps in the Bahamas,” said Rowett, who has been here in the Bahamas coaching rowing since October, 2022 after he spent considerable time in

the United Kingdom, New Zealand and South Africa.

“Surely, it’s good for tourism because it’s too cold to race in the United States and Canada so people are always looking for warmer climates and so what better place than in the Bahamas.”

So far during the camo, Rowett said the Bahamian rowers have been able to interact with the visiting rowers and the coaches from some of the most prestigious rowing colleges and universities have been a part of it.

While the NRC is only providing the equipment and rowers, Rowett said Sparks Rowing has been a welcomed addition to the Bahamas at this time of the year. Rowell noted that they have been able to give the local rowers a golden opportunity to improve their skills, especially those who are interested in coxswain.

FROM PAGE 15

LAMAR TAYLOR in action.

ELANA Mackey celebrates after her graduation from Mars Hill University.

Huntley fills in for injured Tagovailoa, leads Dolphins past Browns 20-3 to keep playoff hopes alive

By TOM WITHERS

AP Sports Writer

CLEVELAND

(AP) —

Tyler Huntley scrambled for a touchdown and threw for one while starting for Tua Tagovailoa, and the Miami Dolphins stayed in the playoff race heading into their season finale with a 20-3 win over the Cleveland Browns yesterday.

With Tagovailoa sidelined by a hip injury, Huntley did enough to keep the Dolphins (8-8) alive with one game left.

Miami needs to win next weekend at the New York Jets and hope the Denver Broncos lose at home to Kansas City to get a wildcard berth. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and many of the topseeded Chiefs’ starters are expected to rest.

Tagovailoa’s status for next week is unclear, but Huntley showed he can get the job done if necessary.

VIKINGS

27,

PACKERS 25 MINNEAPOLIS (AP)

— Sam Darnold added another exploit to his career-altering season, passing for a personal-best 377 yards and three touchdowns as the Minnesota Vikings hung on to beat the Green Bay Packers 27-25 yesterday for their ninth consecutive victory that put them one win from the NFC’s top seed for the playoffs.

Darnold hit Jalen Nailor, Jordan Addison and Cam Akers for scores to raise his passing touchdown total to 35, the fourth-most in NFL history by a player in his debut season with a team.

The Vikings (14-2) set up a final-week showdown in Detroit for both the NFC North title and the first-round-bye-plus-home-

field-advantage package that comes with the best record in the conference. Jordan Love’s only touchdown pass for the Packers (11-5) came with 2:18 left, a 3-yard toss to Malik Heath that trimmed their deficit to two points and reignited the “Go Pack Go!” chants from the green-clad fans mixed in among the purple in another classic edition of this divisional rivalry. Despite another fierce climb out of a gaping hole against Minnesota this season, following a 31-29 loss in Green Bay on Sept. 29 that started with a 28-0 deficit, the Packers fell to a troubling 0-5 against the top three teams in the NFC. They were swept by the Lions, too, and lost the opener in Brazil to the Eagles.

EAGLES 41, COWBOYS 7

PHILADELPHIA (AP)

— Saquon Barkley rushed for 167 yards to top 2,000 on the season, backup quarterback Kenny Pickett ran and threw for scores before departing with injured ribs, and Philadelphia clinched the NFC East title by routing Dallas. Barkley has 2,005 yards and needs 101 in next week’s mostly meaningless regular-season finale to top Eric Dickerson and his 2,105 yards for the Los Angeles Rams in 1984. The Eagles (13-3) led 24-7 in the third quarter when Pickett was drilled by defensive end Micah Parsons, ending his first start in place of the concussed Jalen Hurts. Tanner McKee, a career thirdstringer, entered the game and the Eagles finished the drive with a field goal. McKee later threw two TD passes, a 20-yarder to A.J. Brown and a 25-yarder to DeVonta Smith, in front

of a roaring crowd delighted to watch the Eagles dominate their fiercest rival to wrap up the division title and at least the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

BILLS 40, JETS 14

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.

(AP) — Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, and Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC’s No. 2 seed with a rout of unravelling and undisciplined New York.

The Bills put the game away by capitalising on two Jets turnovers and scoring three touchdowns over a 5:01 span in the closing minutes of the third quarter. Buffalo’s defence forced three takeaways overall and sacked Aaron Rodgers four times, including a 2-yard loss for a safety in the second quarter.

Allen had a short and efficient outing, finishing 16 of 27 for 182 yards with a 30-yard TD pass to Amari Cooper and a 14-yarder to Keon Coleman before giving way to backup Mitchell Trubisky with Buffalo leading 33-0 through three quarters. And Trubisky piled on by completing a 69-yard touchdown pass to practice squad call-up Tyrell Shavers 2:23 into the fourth quarter.

Allen’s two-TD passing outing was the 64th of his career to match Peyton Manning for the third most in a player’s first seven NFL seasons. Patrick Mahomes holds the record with 67 two-TD outings in that span, followed by Dan Marino’s 65.

Allen also became the NFL’s first player with five consecutive 40-TD seasons, while his 1-yard score was the 65th rushing TD of his career, matching the team record held by Thurman Thomas.

JAGUARS 20, TITANS 13

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Mac Jones threw two touchdown passes, including one to standout rookie Brian Thomas Jr., and Jacksonville beat Tennessee in the rain to sweep the season series for the fourth time in 30 years.

Jones completed 15 of 22 passes for 174 yards, with most of them going to Thomas. The first-round draft pick from LSU finished with seven receptions for 91 yards. His 11-yard TD catch with 7:05 remaining gave him his eighth game with at least 60 yards and a score, tying him with Hall of Famer Randy Moss for the most by a rookie in NFL history.

Thomas, who has five TD catches in his past four games, also became the fifth player in Jaguars history with double-digit TD receptions in a single season. He joined Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns, Marcedes Lewis and Reggie Williams.

BUCCANEERS 48, PANTHERS 14

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Baker Mayfield threw for 359 yards and five touchdowns to help Tampa Bay keep their division and playoff hopes alive with a 48-14 rout of Carolina.

Tampa Bay’s fifth win in the past six weeks nudged the first-place Bucs (9-7) a half-game ahead of Atlanta for the best record in the NFC South, with the Falcons set to play on the road later Sunday night at Washington.

Atlanta holds the tiebreaker in the division race and can end Tampa Bay’s three-year reign as NFC

South champions by beating the Commanders and winning again next week at home against the last-place Panthers (4-12).

Mayfield threw TD passes of 2 and 1 yards to Mike Evans, and Tampa Bay produced points on five straight first-half possessions to build a 27-7 lead. Jalen McMillan scored on receptions of 10 and 16 yards, linebacker J.J. Russell returned a blocked punt for a third-quarter TD and rookie Bucky Irving had another big game against Carolina with 120 yards rushing on 20 carries and four receptions for 77 yards.

RAIDERS 25, SAINTS 10

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Aidan O’Connell passed for two touchdowns, tight end Brock Bowers broke two rookie NFL records, and Las Vegas won for just the fourth time this season over struggling New Orleans.

Bowers’ seven catches for 77 yards gave him 108 receptions for 1,144 yards this season, eclipsing Mike Ditka’s 1961 rookie tight end mark of 1,067 yards receiving and Puka Nacua’s 2023 mark of 105 catches by a rookie at any position. Bowers also surpassed Darren Waller’s franchise mark of 107 receptions in a season, which had stood since 2020.

Ameer Abdullah rushed for 115 yards for the Raiders (4-12) — the journeyman running back’s first 100-yard game in his 10 NFL seasons.

O’Connell finished with 242 yards passing, including a 3-yard TD pass to Jakobi Meyers and an 18-yarder to

Tre Tucker. Daniel Carlson kicked four field goals — his longest from 54 yards — for the Raiders, who didn’t look fazed by flight delays on Saturday that got them into their hotel after midnight, less than 12 hours before kickoff.

GIANTS 45, COLTS 33

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — New York snapped a franchise-record 10-game losing streak and ended Indianapolis’ slim playoff hopes as Drew Lock threw four touchdown passes and ran for another in a victory.

New York earned its first home win of the season and it no longer has control of the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

Lock sandwiched touchdown passes of 31 and 59 yards to Malik Nabers around TD passes of 32 yards to Darius Slayton and 5 yards to Wan’Dale Robinson in leading the Giants (3-13) to their first win since beating Seattle on Oct. 6. Ihmir Smith-Marsette had a 100-yard return on the second-half kickoff on a day the league’s worst offence set a season high for points. Jonathan Taylor scored on runs of 3 and 26 yards for Indianapolis (7-9), while Joe Flacco, subbing for the injured Anthony Richardson, threw touchdown passes of 13 yards to Alec Pierce and 7 yards to Michael Pittman, the last bringing the Colts within 35-33 with 6:38 left in the fourth quarter. Lock, who finished 17 of 23 for 309 yards, iced the game by leading a nine-play, 70-yard drive that he capped with a 5-yard run.

Bengals keep playoff hopes alive with 30-24 victory over Broncos in overtime

CINCINNATI (AP)

— Joe Burrow threw his third touchdown pass to Tee Higgins with 1:07 left in overtime, and the Cincinnati Bengals kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a wild 30-24 win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday. Following a Broncos punt, Burrow completed a 31-yard pass to Higgins to the Denver 3, then went back to the lanky receiver for the game-ending play. Higgins finished with 11 receptions for 131 yards.

Cade York had a chance to win it for the Bengals with about three minutes left in overtime, but his 33-yard field goal bounced off the left upright. Denver then went three-and-out, including a Bo Nix incompletion on third down, handing the ball right back to Cincinnati (8-8).

It was the Bengals’ first win this season against a team with a winning record. They need another victory in their final game at Pittsburgh and some help from other teams to make it to the postseason for the first time since 2022.

The Broncos (9-7) would have secured an AFC wild card with a victory over the Bengals. They’ll have another opportunity to earn a postseason berth when they host Kansas City next weekend.

Burrow continued his stellar season, going 39 for 49 for 412 yards and three touchdowns, all to Higgins. Ja’Marr Chase finished

with nine receptions for 102 yards.

Burrow has at least 250 yards passing and three touchdowns in eight straight games, extending his NFL record.

CHARGERS 40, PATRIOTS 7

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Justin Herbert threw three touchdown passes and the Los Angeles Chargers clinched their second playoff appearance in three seasons with a victory over New England. The win also secured the fourth postseason appearance in Jim Harbaugh’s five seasons as an NFL coach, adding to the three he made during his stint with the San Francisco 49ers.

Herbert finished 26 of 38 for 281 yards to become the third player in NFL history with at least 3,000 passing yards and 20 touchdown passes in each of his first five seasons. He joins Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson.

Ladd McConkey had eight catches for 94 yards and pulled in TD throws of 6 and 40 yards. With a 10-yard reception in the second quarter he passed 1,000 yards receiving for the season, making him the third Chargers rookie receiver to reach that milestone.

JK Dobbins rushed 19 times for 76 yards and a TD. The Patriots have lost six straight games, their second such losing streak

CINCINNATI Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) celebrates following the team’s 30-24 victory over the Denver Broncos during an NFL football game Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

of the season. They are now 2-14 the last two seasons at home. New England quarterback Drake Maye finished 12 of 22 for 117 yards and a touchdown.

RAMS 13, CARDINALS 9 INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Ahkello Witherspoon made a diving interception on a deflected pass in the end zone with 37 seconds to play, and the

Los Angeles Rams barely maintained command of the NFC West race with a victory over Arizona.

Puka Nacua had 129 yards receiving and Kyren Williams scored the only touchdown for the Rams (10-6), who grinded through a difficult offensive night and survived a hair-raising fourth quarter for their fifth consecutive victory.

The Rams host Seattle (9-7) in their regular-season

finale next weekend, but they could already have coach Sean McVay’s fourth division title clinched before then. If the Bills, Browns, Vikings, Commanders and 49ers combine for three wins — or two wins and a tie — over the next two days, Los Angeles will be NFC West champions based on its strength of schedule, no matter what happens against Seattle. If the Rams don’t get that strength-of-schedule help this week, they’re still in command of the division race: The Seahawks will have to beat the Rams and get help from multiple teams to claim the West while denying the Rams’ sixth playoff berth in eight seasons under McVay.

COMMANDERS CLINCH A PLAYOFF SPOT BY BEATING FALCONS 30-24 IN OT

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Jayden Daniels connected with Zach Ertz in overtime for his third touchdown pass of the game to get the Washington Commanders into the playoffs by beating the Atlanta Falcons 30-24 last night in a back-and-forth prime-time showdown between highly drafted rookie quarterbacks. Daniels ran for a season-high 127 yards and completed 24 of 36 passes for 227 yards and had two TD passes to Ertz and another to Olamide Zaccheaus to make the playoffs in his rookie year. In his latest comeback performance in a season full of them, Daniels shook off an interception

and a 10-point halftime deficit and led the winning drive in overtime that was capped with the 2-yard pass to Ertz. The Commanders (11-5) could move up to the sixth seed in the NFC and set up a wild-card round game at Tampa Bay or the Los Angeles Rams if they win their regular-season finale at Dallas next weekend. They otherwise would be seventh and visit division-rival Philadelphia unless Green Bay loses to Chicago. The Falcons (8-8) lost control of their chances of winning the NFC South and ensuring a home playoff game. They now need to beat Carolina and for the Buccaneers to lose to New Orleans to qualify altogether.

MIAMI Dolphins fans hold their wish list during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns last night in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

AYTON POSTS DOUBLE DOUBLE21 POINTS AND 16 REBOUNDSTO HELP PORTLAND BEAT DALLAS

PORTLAND, Oregon

(AP) — Shaedon Sharpe

had 23 points, Anfernee Simons scored 22 and the Portland Trail Blazers held off the Dallas Mavericks 126-122 on Saturday night.

Deandre Ayton had 21 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks and Deni Avdija had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Scoot Henderson had 19 points, four rebounds, six assists and a career-high five steals off the bench.

Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 46 points and was the only consistent offensive threat for the Mavericks who were playing without Naji Marshall, PJ Washington — suspended for their involvement in an on-court fight against the Suns — Luka Doncic and Dereck

Lively II. Irving had 20 points in the fourth quarter as Dallas tried to mount a comeback that ultimately fell short.

Takeaways Blazers: Saturday was Portland’s second win in a row, just their second winning streak of the season.

Mavericks: Outside of Irving, no other Mavericks player was able to shoulder the scoring load with much of Dallas’ rotation out due to either injury or suspension.

Key moment After Dallas mounted a fourth-quarter comeback, Ayton stole the ball from Thompson on the perimeter with 20 seconds remaining to ice the game.

HEAT 104, ROCKTS 100

HOUSTON (AP) — Tyler Herro scored 27

Bahamian big man steals ball with 20 seconds left to ice the

points before being one of six people ejected after a fight in the final minute of the Miami Heat’s 104-100 victory over the Houston Rockets last night. Herro was thrown to the ground by the Rockets’ Amen Thompson with 35 seconds left and the Heat leading 99-94. Players and coaches from both benches then came onto the court.

Both players were thrown out along with Rockets guard Jalen Green, coach Ime Udoka and assistant coach Ben Sullivan. Terry Rozier was also ejected for Miami.

Houston led 92-85 after Fred VanVleet’s layup with 8:10 to play, but the Rockets missed their next 11 shots, allowing Miami to tie the game when Herro found Haywood Highsmith for a 3-pointer with 4:47 to play.

Herro’s jumper with 1:56 to play put the Heat on top for good.

MAGIC 102, NETS 101

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — Cole Anthony drove for a layup with 0.2 seconds left to complete Orlando’s 17-point fourthquarter comeback in a win over Brooklyn.

Cam Thomas missed a jumper from the corner at the final horn.

Anthony scored 10, and Tristan da Silva scored 13 of his 21 points in the fourth

quarter for Orlando, which was down 71-51 midway through the third quarter. Goga Bitadze added 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

The Magic’s comeback was their second in eight days after Orlando rallied from 25 points down to beat Miami 121-114 on Dec. 21.

Thomas came off the bench with 25 points to lead the Nets in his first game since Nov. 25. Jalen Wilson added 16 points including two free throws with 6.2 seconds left.

PACERS 123, CELTICS 114

BOSTON (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points and Indiana rebounded from a 37-point loss to Boston two nights earlier by winning the rematch. Andrew Nembhard, who returned after missing Friday’s game with tendinitis in his left knee, added 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Pacers. Pascal Siakam chipped in with 17 points and Bennedict Mathurin had 14.

Jaylen Brown led Boston with 31 points and six assists. Jayson Tatum had 22 points, nine boards and six assists. Payton Pritchard added 21 points and Derrick White scored 17.

The Celtics lost their sixth game at home already this season. Last season, they went 37-4 at TD Garden during the regular

LeBron James at 40: A milestone birthday today for NBA’s alltime scoring leader

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

WHEN LeBron James broke another NBA record earlier this month, the one for most regular-season minutes played in a career, his Los Angeles Lakers teammates handled the moment in typical locker room fashion.

They made fun of him.

“They told me I’m old as hell,” James quipped.

By NBA standards, they’re not wrong. He was dubbed “The Kid from Akron” when the Ohio native entered the league with a limitless future nearly 22 years ago. He’s now the 40-year-old from Los Angeles with wisps of gray in his beard. His milestone birthday comes Monday, one that will make him the first player in NBA history to play in his teens, 20s, 30s and 40s.

Such a feat has happened a couple of dozen times in baseball before. It has happened in hockey — Gordie Howe was a five-decade player, appearing in the NHL from his teens to his 50s — but never in the NFL or the NBA. Until now. James is making more basketball history and creating a club all of his own.

“In some ways he’s a freak of nature,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “I’ve been around a lot of great players and he’s one of the hardest-working

players I’ve been around. I mean, he doesn’t take a day off. He seems to not take an afternoon off. He’s always working on some part of his body. You meet with him and he’s always soaking something or eating something with some contraption attached to him.”

A 40th birthday, in NBA terms, means the on-court end is near. James will become the 30th player to appear in a regular-season game with a “4” as the first digit of his age; only nine logged more than 51 games after that birthday. He’ll be the 32nd player to play after turning 40 overall; Tim Duncan and Danny Schayes both turned 40 during playoff runs in what became their final seasons.

And for the most part, big numbers are largely nonexistent at that age. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who did it three times), John Stockton (twice), Michael Jordan, Robert Parish and Karl Malone have averaged more than 10 points in a season after turning 40. Jordan averaged 22.4 points in 30 games after turning 40 in his final season with Washington; Malone is the most recent to do it, averaging 13.2 points in 42 games after turning 40 while with the Lakers in 2003-04. James, meanwhile, is still putting up All-Star level numbers: 23.5 points, 9 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game. Forget how doing that at 40 is unheard of. Doing that at 30 is practically unheard of. The only players to have those numbers in all three categories in a season after turning 30 are James (who did it at 33 and 35) and James Harden (who did it at 31).

“The size, the strength and the IQ … with his

game

season and 9-2 in the play-

offs en route to the NBA championship.

HAWKS 136, RAPTORS 107

TORONTO (AP) — Trae Young had 34 points and 10 assists, De’Andre Hunter scored 22 points and Atlanta routed Toronto for their fourth straight win.

Clint Capela had 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Hawks opened a sixgame trip by handing the reeling Raptors their 10th consecutive loss.

Scottie Barnes scored 19 points and RJ Barrett had 17, but the Raptors fell behind by more than 30 points and allowed more than 130 for the second straight game. Toronto gave up a franchise-worst 155 points in Thursday’s loss at Memphis.

Young shot 7 for 13 from 3-point range, singlehandedly making as many shots from distance than the entire Raptors team, who combined to go 7 for 24.

frame and the way he takes care of himself, he doesn’t have to be the best athlete on the planet. At one time he was,” Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

“We’re not talking about the best athlete in the association. He was the best athlete on the planet arguably, just size, strength, agility, explosiveness combined.

But at this size and if he just wants to slow the game down and just play off his brain and IQ, he could do that for another decade. I doubt he’ll find interest in that. But he could.”

Nobody knows when James will stop playing. And it surely isn’t going to get any easier: James wanted to play all 82 games this season and couldn’t, was widely criticized when the Lakers went through a slump earlier this season and took tons of backlash when his team drafted his son Bronny in the second round last summer in what many thought was simple nepotism.

He has always been a lightning rod. If his play declines at 40, his naysayers will be lined up to revel in that.

“It’s a lot harder, physically and emotionally, to face what those guys face night after night after night,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said of top NBA stars getting up in years, like James and the Warriors’ Stephen Curry — who’ll turn 37 in March.

“There’s a reason players have to retire. You know, they can’t do it forever.”

James won’t either.

But even while playing alongside elite 30-year-olds like Giannis Antetokounmpo, James — who reportedly spends more than $1.5 million annually on his fitness and

130, GRIZZLIES 106

THUNDER

OKLAHOMA CITY

(AP) — Shai GilgeousAlexander scored 35 points and Oklahoma City won their 11th straight game, beating short-handed Memphis in a matchup of Western Conference leaders that turned lopsided before halftime.

Rookie Ajay Mitchell scored 17 points, Aaron

Wiggins contributed 16 and Jalen Williams added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder (26-5), who opened a five-game lead over second-place Memphis.

Gilgeous-Alexander made 14 of 19 shots to go along with seven assists, six rebounds and a team-high four blocks. He sat most of the fourth quarter. Oklahoma City blocked nine shots, including three by center Isaiah Hartenstein. The Thunder led 76-50 at halftime behind 23 points from Gilgeous-Alexander

and 12 each from Mitchell and Kenrich Williams, who combined to go 5 for 7 on 3-point shots. Oklahoma City outscored the Grizzlies 42-19 in the second quarter to take control.

Desmond Bane had 22 points and nine rebounds for Memphis (22-11), which played without star Ja Morant (shoulder) and Zach Edey, the team’s No. 9 overall draft pick, who was in concussion protocol. Jay Huff added 17 points but Jaren Jackson Jr managed 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting.

has an on-site mechanic of sorts at all times for anything his body needs in personal athletic training guru in Mike Mancias — has shown how to play long past what used to be considered an NBA player’s peak years.

“What he’s done is incredible, never been done, especially at the level he’s playing,” Antetokounmpo said.

“For me, I always look at the other players that kind of set the blueprint for us, and this is something that’s never been done before. I definitely want to play late into my career, like 37, 38, 39, as much as my body can allow me to play.

“But I have to do a good job of taking care of my body, which I believe I do, but he kind of set the path for us, set the blueprint for us. We’ve just got to follow.”

The accolades are countless: James is the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, has a place in the GOAT conversation, most minutes played, four NBA championships, three Olympic gold medals, 20 and likely soon to be 21 All-Star selections, oldest to do this, oldest to do that, generational wealth with a net worth exceeding $1 billion, and on and on and on. It begs the question: What does one

get a 40-year-old who has everything?

CALENDAR FROM PAGE 15 registration or the schedule of events are asked to contact T-Bird Flyers’ head coach Foster Dorsett or competition director Bernard Newbold for more information.

BBSF SOFTBALL LEAGUE THE Bahamas Baptist Sports Federation will hold its 2025 softball league, starting on Saturday, February 1 at the Charles W Saunders High School, Jean Street. The co-ed slow pitch league will allow each team up to a total of 15 players with the registration fee of $200. The deadline for team registration with rosters and team payment is Saturday, January 25, 2025. Interested persons can tournament director Thomas Sears at 424-2888 or email 242softball@gmail.com or Brent Stubbs at 4267265 or email stubbobs@ gmail.com.

“I don’t even know,” lamented Bronny James — another example of how James is one of one, becoming the first dad in NBA history to have his son as a teammate. James has hinted that the end is near. “Don’t make me feel old right now,” he said, only half-kiddingly, when asked earlier this month about the looming 40th birthday. He is under contract for next season but hasn’t offered any guarantees about how long he will play, saying he isn’t “going to play that much longer, to be completely honest” and insisting that he won’t be “playing till the wheels fall off” because he doesn’t want to disrespect the game. No player scored more points in his teens than James did. Same goes for his 20s. Only Malone and Abdul-Jabbar scored more points in their 30s than James. And now, here comes his 40s, with James still going strong. It’s the final decade of a basketball career like none other. “Fans pay attention every time he steps on the court because they’re watching one of the greatest ever and still playing an incredibly high level, despite turning 40 this month,” Silver said. “I marvel at him.”

UNITED States’ Lebron James looks up the court during the first half of a preliminary men’s basketball game against France at the 2012 Summer Olympics, on July 29, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

TRAIL Blazers’ Deandre Ayton dunks against the Mavericks during the second half on Saturday in Portland, Oregon. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)