October 31, 2003
Don't Miss This!
Antonius Roberts cordially invites you to his Solo Exhibition entitled "Full Range".
Artist Reception
Saturday, November 1, 2003
2:00 - 6:00 pm
At Antonius Roberts Studio and Gallery
Prospect Ridge Road and Prospect Road
October 27, 2003
The 'Atlantis Show'
Airing on ZNS TV, Thursday, October 30th at 8:00pm will be a television production called "Kerzner Today".
The show will feature the latest news and events from, and about, the people at Atlantis, the Ocean Club and Harbourside Resorts.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Shooting for the Hollywood film "After the Sunset" is set to begin at its Paradise Island location today, publicist Cid Swank confirmed.
Although it was confirmed that the multi-million dollar production was delayed by one week because of "other problems", Ms. Swank denied the suspension was due to an inability to obtain lumber for set building, as was reported in the Bahamian media.
New Line Production Company also has denied that acquiring lumber was a "problem" for them "as a production".
"We were supposed to start filming Monday (past); we were pushing for Monday, but we decided to start filming this Monday," she said.
The cast of the movie, led by James Bond star Pierce Brosnan, will be working in The Bahamas until almost the end of the year. The remainder of the filming will then take place in Los Angeles.
New Line Productions recruited some 1,400 Bahamians to participate in the movie, with extras earning $75 per day. The estimated cost of the project has not been released.
Significant Leads in Missing Boys Case
A man is said to be in police custody after bodies, matching the descriptions of two of the five missing boys, were allegedly discovered on a Grand Bahama beach Sunday.
While police remain tight-lipped, rumours spread in Freeport and crowds gathered at Rand Memorial Hospital and the home of 13 year-old DeAngelo McKenzie on Pioneer's Way. DeAngelo was the third boy to vanish.
According to the reports, morticians at Restview Memorial Mortuary were called by police to a remote location in Barbary Beach, where it is believed a body was found in the bushes.
Police are attempting to positively identify the body and a 23 year-old man is assisting police in their investigations. The man has apparently admitted, during interogation, to kidnapping and killing six young boys.
Police Commissioner Paul Farquharson said he would wait until, "we get something substantial," before gathering the press together to inform them of the progress in the investigation.
October 21, 2003
Go Briland, er I mean Dolphins
Here's some great news! Bahamian Junkanoo will be featured during a nationally televised (US) Miami Dolphins half-time show.
The clever folks who have put this altogether need a few more dollars to pull it off correctly. Reach into your pocket and see if you can't help out a bit. It's a great opportunity for Bahamian public relations. And it comes just about the time many Americans are thinking about where to go for the upcoming holidays.
Hmmm, I wonder if the Ministry of Tourism will buy some commercials during the game, featuring their toll-free booking engine.
Kerlick, Kerlick! The Bahamas Salutes the Miami Dolphins Junkanoo Rushers Highlight November Halftime Show in Florida
[22 October 2003 - Miami, Florida and Harbour Island, Bahamas] The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, the Bahamas Tourist Office, Briland Management, the Briland Youth Band and Barabbas Woodside are happy to announce the first Official Bahamas Junkanoo Tribute to the Miami Dolphins, set for halftime during the NFL game scheduled for November 16, 2003 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida. Not only is this the first time a foreign country has ever paid tribute to an NFL team, but it also marks the first time that Bahamian-style Junkanoo music will be performed as a halftime show at an NFL game
The Bahamas Tourist Office is covering many of the expenses for thirty members of the the Briland Youth Band, including funds to create the costumes for the complete traveling group of 150 music makers from Harbour Island, Nassau and Freeport. Barabbas Woodside, award-winning Junkanoo designer from Nassau, is donating his time to build the Junkanoo costumes in Miami Dolphins' team colours at cost, donating his time to create the group's costumes as well as designing forty authentic Junkanoo hats to be worn by the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders throughout the game.
Briland Management is producing 15,000 music CDs to be given away at the stadium event, complete with cover photo shot on Harbour Island and commemorating the event. The CD features four brand-new tunes from Harbour Island's popular Courage Band, including a special song, 'Dolphin Hustle,' written especially for the Miami Dolphins. Briland Management is also underwriting the costs for ten Harbour Islanders working at the event as musicians, performers, dancers, security personnel, including all of the members of The Brilanders music group.
The Miami Dolphins have provided a VIP suite for all visiting Bahamian dignitaries, and Briland Management will be bringing the prime minister of the Bahamas, the Hon. Perry G. Christie into Miami for the celebration. Bahamian media has been invited to the event and will be provided with press credentials.
Corporal Howie Pinder of Harbour Island, Daschiel Roberts and Kayla Davis of Harbour Island will be escorting the Briland Youth Band during their weekend trip to Miami, and are coordinating the raising of all additional funds needed for the youth band Loys Whelan of Briland Management. The group is seeking a total community donation of $9,000, at $300 per band member, to cover meal and travel costs for the Harbour Island bandmembers.
Donations can be made on the island directly to Cpl. Pinder at the Harbour Island Police Station, or by mailing or wiring funds to the Briland Modem Funds stateside account at Bank of America.
For more information, please e-mail Kimberly King-Burns at BMF, info@briland.com. All contributions would be very much appreciated. We thank you for your continued support, and look forward to seeing you in Miami!
Top Hotel Firm Blows Off Bahamas
Marriott, the international hotel brand, is believed to have left the Bahamas completely after relinquishing management rights to the former Marriott Paradise Island Beach Club, a timeshare resort on Paradise Island.
Vacations in Paradise, the operating company owned by businessman Peter Kugler, now manages the property. Mr. Kugler owns the Paradise Island Beach Club and also the Paradise Harbour Club.
Marriott corporation executives were unavailable for comment.
October 17, 2003
MP Accuses PLP of Accepting Donations from Terrorists
In last week's scathing attack on the editor of this nation's leading newspaper, MP Bradley Roberts indirectly accused the PLP of receiving campaign donations from a person they thought was a "terrorist".
In another of his usually foolhardy outbursts, Mr. Roberts labeled Eileen Carron, The Tribune's owner and editor, as a "terrorist," who uses her newspaper as a "weapon of mass destruction".
He also accused Mr. Mohammed Harajchi, the multimillionaire ex-pat who lives on Paradise Island, as being a "terrorist". (Well, basically he accused anyone who disagrees with "his government" as being a "terrorist".) But in branding Mr. Harajchi as a "terrorist", Mr. Roberts has opened up a can of worms for "his government." As this is the same Mr. Harajchi from whom Perry Christie has admitted taking substantial financial contributions from, during the 2002 election campaign.
In essence, Mr. Roberts has accused the PLP of receiving campaign contributions from a person they branded a "terrorist."
It is, of course, no less ridiculous to call Mr. Harajchi a terrorist, than it is to brand Mrs. Carron as one. But it was "Big Bad Brad" who saw fit to label them both as the scourge of society. Good thing he did so in a cowardly manner, behind the walls of Parliament, or he would be facing a couple of major league law suits for defamation of character.
Fortunately, for Mr. Roberts, nobody can defame his character, he has done that enough for himself.
Unless Mr. Roberts publicly apologizes to Mr. Harajchi (and Mrs. Carron), and retracts his statements (or unless the Prime Minister makes him do so) it will be understood that the PLP did indeed receive money from an individual who they "felt" was a terrorist. Even though nobody really believes Mr. Harajchi is a terrorist, Mr. Robert's foolish statements prove that the PLP took the money from a man whom they THOUGHT was a terrorist.
It seems "Big Bad Brad's" big bad mouth has gotten the entire PLP government in hot water with this little outburst. Let's see if PM Christie has the fortitude and ethics necessary to insist on an apology from Mr. Roberts. Or if, as some claim, is it really Mr. Roberts who calls the shots in the PLP government?
Should Brad apologise? Take the Bahamas B2B Poll.
http://www.bahamasb2b.com/community/poll.shtml
What are your comments? Post them on our Message Board.
http://www.bahamascommunity.com/cgi-bin/bbs/bbs_forum.cgi?forum=open&read=002963-000000.msg
October 14, 2003
Hmmm, Maybe We Should Read That Tourism Report
According to the General Manager of a prominent Bahamas hotel, it is a difficult environment for big hotels to make money here, and a lot less money is being made in the Bahamas compared with other Caribbean destinations.
He cited things like wage costs, productivity, electricity prices among the contributing factors, which results in The Bahamas not doing as well as destinations like the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cancun.
Echoes of the Report on Trade Liberalisation for the Tourism Taskforce?
The report, compiled by Nassau Institute Economist Ralph Massey for the Tourism Taskforce on Trade Liberalisation, found that although the average room rate of $131 per night for the Nassau hotel was comparable with the $129 and $115 rates for its Caribbean and US competitors, "the shocker is the bottom line".
The operating profits achieved by Nassau hotels are 59 per cent and 74 per cent lower than their counterparts in the Caribbean and the US, a report on the tourism industry's competitiveness revealed, with high labour and utility costs, pilferage, and low productivity key factors in making The Bahamas a high cost destination that is becoming increasingly uncompetitive.
Right-Click here to download the complete (738Kb) report from the Nassau Institute Web site. (Windows users)
Viewing this downloadable file requires the use of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader on your system, you may download it from the Adobe Web site.
October 12, 2003
Rich Country, Poor Government
There is an abundance of evidence that the government is not only poor in financial resources, but gives poor service to local and foreign investors who are willing to contribute meaningfully in the Bahamian economy. The country's economic growth seems stunted by a vicious circle - a slow bureaucracy and an ever-growing economic and cultural dependence on the outside world.
With powerful changes swirling around us and demanding ever quicker responses, the failure by policy makers to respond effectively would result in the country and its people be left behind in economic despair.
Read the Commentary from The Bahama Journal
October 11, 2003
Boys Charged With Homicide
Pandemonium erupted in Grand Bahama yesterday as four young boys, charged with the manslaughter of one of five missing boys, were led outside a Freeport courthouse into a waiting transport bus under heavy police guard.
The youngsters, ranging in age from 11 to 13, were indicted in connection with the disappearance of Jake Grant, 12, late Friday morning before Magistrate Franklyn Williams in a Freeport Juvenile Court.
It was the first solid break in the high-profile missing persons case in the last five months.
October 09, 2003
The Conch Crisis
The previous generation of fishermen will tell you that they would go out sculling in a wooden boat without an engine and pick up conch with a hook on a long pole. Or just walk along the shore and find plenty.
Now, fishermen are worried, and rightly so. Their livelihood is at stake. Our fishery and a critical part of our culture are threatened. "They used to say conch would never run out-but that is just how much there used to be.
Once the density of conch in a certain area becomes very low, they do not reproduce. We are approaching this threshold here in the Bahamas, and this is something that we should all be concerned about. Conch populations do not easily recover from low levels.
We need stronger enforcement of our current laws regarding harvesting conch, and we should reassess the amount of conch that we export from The Bahamas.
October 08, 2003
Boy Held in Disappearances of Five Youths
FREEPORT - Bahamian police have detained a 12-year-old boy in the disappearances of five schoolboys, alleging that he buried one of them in a field after an accidental drowning, the boy's mother told The Herald on Tuesday.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6958623.htm
Brenda Roberts, the mother of Deangelo Stephan Dorval, said police officers took her son to a wooded lot behind their house early Monday and asked him to point out the area where he buried the body of Jake Grant, who has been missing since May.
Dorval denied any role in the death but hours later police announced that they had zeroed in on a lead in the case, roped off the lot and brought in cadaver-sniffing dogs.
'He said, 'I don't know where it [Grant's body] is because I didn't put it back there,' '' Roberts quoted her son as saying, as she choked back tears. The two boys, both 12-year-old eighth graders, have been best friends since they lived in the same apartment building in 1999, Roberts said.
Police explained the theory to Grant's family Tuesday. They didn't buy it either.
CLOSE FRIENDS
''I don't think none of that's the truth. Jake and [Deangelo] were like this,'' James Ellis, who has raised Jake since he was 2 years old, said, pinching his two fingers together. ``Brothers, you see?''
Deangelo's detention does not appear to account for the fate of the four other boys who have disappeared since May in a case that has rocked the Bahamas, an island nation unaccustomed to major crimes.
FIRST TO VANISH
Grant disappeared first, and within two weeks Mackinson Colas, 12, and Deangelo McKenzie, 13, both vanished. Another boy, Junior Reme, 11, disappeared in July. The last to go missing, Desmond Rolle, disappeared Sept. 28.
The missing boys all vanished from the same area of Freeport, the Bahamas' second largest city, and all but one worked bagging groceries at a local Winn-Dixie supermarket and played games at the same arcade -- prompting investigators to link the disappearances.
Police have not revealed what evidence they have found, or how many people they have detained. Assistant Commissioner Ellison Greenslade, who heads the investigation, canceled a press conference Tuesday.
Relatives said at least four people are now being detained -- though not charged -- in the disappearances; Dorval; Prince Mackey, 19, Deangelo's cousin; Robert Don, 11, a neighborhood friend; and another 11-year-old playmate.
DETAINED, RELEASED
Dorval's mother also was detained over the weekend, but released Monday night.
Police told several of the relatives the same story:
Robert Don and another friend claim that the night Jake disappeared, they saw him at a wake in a local apartment complex. Afterward the friends went back to Dorval's apartment complex to swim. There, Jake accidentally drowned, and Deangelo, frightened, took him into the field and buried him rather than fess up to what had happened.
Robert Don's mother, Mirland, said Tuesday she hadn't talked to her son about that night.
''I don't know what to believe,'' she said, adding that she only wants her son, detained since Sunday, released. ``They put him in a cell, and my boy is 11 years old. He didn't commit a crime.''
Dorval maintains he last saw Jake the day before he disappeared, his mother said, when the two had been working on a research project for school on the Bahamas tourism industry.
Police first detained Dorval Aug. 8 but later released him. He was detained again Sunday, and has been at police headquarters since.
Police have harassed him in detention, his mother told The Herald in an interview, calling him a liar, and asking him to confess.
'He says, `Mom, everything I try to tell them, they tell me I'm a liar,' '' Roberts recalled her son saying. The two talked often while they both were detained.
BY MARIKA LYNCH
mlynch@herald.com
October 07, 2003
Harbour Island "Gets It!"
Some people get the whole community thing, and some don't. The folks on Harbour Island consistently prove that they get it, as shown in this development update from the Briland Modem.
7 October 2003 - Harbour Island chief councillor Eloise Knowles, the Harbour Island District Council and Briland Park president Andrew Johnson agreed this week to jumpstart the bayfront renovation project on Harbour Island with $20,000 in funding from local government, which effectively means that Harold **Sonny** Waugh of Waugh Construction of Freeport, Grand Bahama will break ground immediately on the construction of two basketball courts and a tennis court for the park. Local contractors will then complete the park by adding a gazebo, gym, computer room and complete shower and bathroom facilities for community use.
A groundbreaking ceremony celebrating the formal launch of the project, which will replace the bayfront's former dumping site with a state-of-the-art community park, is scheduled to take place during this week's regatta. Briland Park president Andrew Johnson and vice-president Michelle Kelly have expanded the board of directors for the renovation effort to now include Cecelia Shepard, Natasha Shepard of Island Real Estate and Warren Grant of Grant Construction. Simone Davis of Aranha Construction is secretary of the campaign, Adrian Major of the Royal Bank of Canada is serving as treasurer, and Anthony Dean and Natasha Shepard are bank signatories.
Donations to the Briland Park project may be made directly at the Harbour Island branch of the Royal Bank of Canada, to the Briland Modem Fund for a tax-deductible U.S. gift, or to any member of the board. For more information, Natasha Shepard is chair of the parks fundraising efforts, and can be reached online at
Source: The Briland Modem
Unions Tired of Talk and Promises
After October 28, the Bahamas Public Services union will "do whatever is necessary" to cause the government to understand the need to give civil servants a part of the pay raise they were promised since July, said union president, John Pinder.
While stopping short of saying that the public service would resort to a mass strike, he said he and other union leaders were beginning to feel that government's proposed December deadline was nothing more than a "stalling tactic".
The union president and other public service union leaders met with Foreign Affairs and Public Service Minister Fred Mitchell, on Monday, in what the unions said would be their last meeting if there were no "positive results".
"We don't need to have any more meetings if all we are going to do is continuously talk, talk, talk and there is no action," Mr. Pinder told the press. "There has been absolutely no resolution to any of the positions we have put forth to government," he added.
October 06, 2003
Kerzner International Looking for Contractors
Kerzner International, owners of the World famous Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, is looking for a few good men, and women. In fact, they're looking for entire companies who can assist in the top quality construction project, known affectionately as Phase III.
Request for an Expression of Interest
Project: Atlantis Phase IIIA
Kerzner International Development Limited is seeking to pre-qualify Bahamian contractors, specialist trade contractors and suppliers for the above named project. Expressions of interest are to be from registered and non-incorporated companies only. Bidders for the above project will be invited from a pre-qualified list.
All inquiries are to be addresses to Robert Montgomery or Steve Richards at 242-363-4660.
October 05, 2003
US VISA Forms Move On-line
US Visa applicants can now download forms on-line and fill them out before even stepping into the Embassy's Queen Street offices.
By doing this, the embassy stated in a press release, applicants can cut their actual time visiting the office down to 40 minutes.
The initiative is designed to speed and streamline the non-immigrant visa process.
Beginning Monday, October 6, applicants will be able to complete the application form on-line. The applicant can then bring the form, including the generated bar code, and access a special line.
After paying the non-refundable visa application fee, one would take the application print-out with the bar code to the special line.
To download the application form, logon to the embassy Website at:
http://usembassy.state.gov/nassau.
Your Internet browser must be version MSIE 5.0 or higher, or Netscape 6.2 or higher.
Applicants must make sure, when printing the form, to keep the bar code.
Growing Mediocrity
After a year of hype and spin it is increasingly evident to all but the most ardent party supporter that the PLP government and its leadership are taking The Bahamas down a road of mediocrity, which we can ill afford to travel.
Rather than continue the relentless pursuit of excellence in all we do, we are instead led down a road of slow decline.
Rather than embrace the opportunity to expand the national development, accelerate change, deliver on the promise of openess and true stewardship and empower those who expressed, so vehemently, their spite of the FNM, the PLP threatens to take the Bahamas to a place of darkness. This may seem extreme for there are no visible signs, yet, of dictatorship, no creeping hooliganism, no secret societies (?). But still we are headed for darkness and decay rather than being led into the light of efficient, democratic government.
The indecisiveness and absence of a clear vision mirrors the absence of a coherent national agenda. The lack of focus is evident in the creeping slowness of decisions and the growing inertia. In many cases it is fueled by a fear of reprisal, for certain ministers are not above villification and threats.
The PLP is good at spin. Spin is okay, once you have some substance and a list of achievements to put your stamp on. But empty spin produces contempt and a credibility gap. The country is increasingly falling into the yawning credibility gap of the distance between the facts and the pronouncements. Because the PLP was able to hitchhike on a number of accomplishments of the former government, and label them as their own, the PLP fuels contempt and cynicism.
The Soviet Union was brought down by its inability to to control the information flow and to make real life reflect the lies about its economy. In The Bahamas, the constant refrain of how well we are withstanding external shocks, and the reality of life in many of our communities, will soon come into direct conflict.
The evidence of a spin hoax is hard to refute. The many Bahamians employed on the streets are not equipped with productivity improving tools to increase their output and teach them lifetime skills. Those who place them at work with primitive tools, force them to surrender their labour and aspirations. They callously help these people down the road of mediocrity. The Bahamas must not waste its human resources this way.
The growing resentment, bred and cultivated by the unbridled hypocrisy, will place a costly burden on future administrations and wreak havoc with the public trust.
The government has failed to engender a spirit of "oneness" in The Bahamas. It has allowed spite and vindictiveness to come back. It has stirred up the most virulent old resentments and predjudices. The government has used consultation and commissions, under the guise of inclusion, to delay decisive action. Its lackluster leadership is hamstrung.
The government has spawned a culture of greed, by allowing its membes to rule unchallenged over little fiefdoms. The government has reduced the level of expectations and aspirations among Bahamians, especially among young Bahamians, by governing at such a mediocre standard; they have lowered the bar.
Edited from a letter to the Editor of The Nassau Guardian by Kairos.
300 Bahamians To Be Employed
When the Mississippi-based Isle of Capri Casino opens yet another branch in December, it is expected to employ some 300 Bahamians, said the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Colin Higgs.
The casino, the second to open in Grand Bahama, is expected to open by the Winter of 2003 and will transform Our Lucaya into a complete casino and beach resort facility for vacationers.
Our Lucaya, which is operated by Starwood Resorts, includes a Westin Hotel, a Sheraton Hotel, 16 food and beverage outlets, a tennis centre, pool, spa and a Butch Harmon School of Golf.
October 03, 2003
Police Progress in Missing Boys Case
Police have received their first real breakthrough in the investigation concerning the five missing boys on Grand Bahama.
Police in Freeport are holding a Bahamian man for questioning in connection with the disappearance of the five missing boys.
This is the first major breakthrough in the case that has left the nation shocked and international police forces assisting in the investigation baffled.
Until the arrest, the lack of evidence has been a "bitter pill" for police to swallow. Now they are hopeful that this will be the first step towards solving the case.
Police are hesitant to release any information on the man arrested, only to say that there was substantial evidence to bring him in for questioning, and that he is a Bahamian.
Hundreds of Grand Bahama residents gathered in the area of the Winn Dixie food store, the place where all five of the missing boys worked, after police on a warrant closed the store for a search.
Rumours spread about what may have happened including the belief that body parts were found in a freezer in the store. Police have denied all the rumoured reports.
The crowd was also incensed that a Bahamian might have committed the crime and not a foreigner as they had thought.
Police still urged the public to come forward with any information that might be useful. Contact the incident room at: 351-9111 or 351-9991.
No Casino For Emerald Bay
The casino operation planned for Exuma's new Four Seasons Emerald Bay resort has been put on hold indefinitely, following a management decision to utilise the facility's floor space to store furniture and equipment being brought in for the November 1 opening of the $275 million hotel, the Tribune reports.
Kevin Clemente, president and chief executive for the resort's developers, yesterday, said that although space had been earmarked from the conception of the property for a casino, there was never any intention to open the facility at the same time as the hotel. It had always been the plan that it would instead be brought on stream after the resort was operational.
The delayed opening strategy had never been mentioned in the press before and it is not known if the people who have bookings at the hotel for the upcoming holiday season were aware that there would be no casino. The resort claims to be booked heavily until April, 2004.
Industry insiders have indicated that the resort is having trouble finding an operational partner for its casino, with some feeling the 219 room resort would be unable to generate enough business for a profitable operation. The original plans called for a 6,000 sq ft casino.
October 02, 2003
Share the Silver Screen With 'Bond'
He has been the world's most dashing secret agent as James Bond and the mysterious private detective as Remington Steele. Now Pierce Brosnan is playing his latest role on Bahamian soil and looking for a troupe of Bahamians to assist in his most recent film project.
The Tribune reports that open auditions will be held on Wednesday, October 8, between 6pm and 8pm at the Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts, Mackey Street. Also on Saturday, October 11, between 1pm and 3pm.
The Bahamas Film Commission, on the second floor of the Hotel Licensing Building at Nassau Court, will receive headshots prior to auditions.
Craig Woods, head of the Bahamas Film Commission, said Bahamian film officials are delighted and grateful to have such an outstanding project being shot in the Bahamas.
Anti-Terror Act Will Destroy Freedoms
Former FNM Cabinet Minister Kenneth Russell charged, in Parlaiament Wednesday, that the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act will destroy freedoms guaranteed Bahamian by the country's constitution.
Mr. Russell said that, "In the context of foreigners, the Bill could be considered a good Bill. In the context of the Bahamas and Bahamians, the Bill has a whole lot to be desired, a whole lot of negative things that will affect our people, and that is not what a government should be about."
"This Bill will destroy our freedom, our freedom that we have taken for granted for too long," Mr. Russell insisted.
Mr. Russell listed the following "negative" impact the Bill, in its present form, could have:
Persecution of relogius leaders;
Discriminate against certain religions;
Give the government broad powers to increase spying on the public;
Further restrict privacy and remove from citizens the protection from government abuse;
Intrudes on basic freedoms such as free speech, privacy, freedom of association and religion;
Makes it easy for the government to initiate surveillance and wire tapping and eliminates judicial oversight;
Force innocent Bahamians to be arrested on mere suspicion;
Allow for the Attorney General to access accounts without proper authorisation;
Harm Bahamians' ability to a fair trial by limiting defence attorneys from challenging the use of secret evidence.
October 01, 2003
The Bahamas Must Learn To Do It Better
Insisting that the Bahamas can do a better job, a letter to the Editor of the nation's leading daily, The Tribune, has blasted the Bahamas legal profession, once more, for shortcomings and corruption.
It is only the tip of the iceberg, the letter says, that German investor Harald Fuhrmann has had serious problems with the Bahamas' legal system since 1992. He became a victim of shortcomings in our legal profession and the corruption embedded in the political culture of the Bahamas.
His frustration has ended in an ongoing anti-Bahamas campaign which started in December, 2000. Mr. Fuhrmann claims that the Bahamas legal profession and the Bahamas government have turned deaf ears on his plight. Disgraced Attorney General Alfred Sears announced an investigation but nothing has been brought to the public's attention up to now.
Meanwhile, Harald Fuhrmann has created a world-wide network of 2,600 journalists and his public relations machinery spreads almost daily news of the Bahamas' "hostile atmosphere" and its government of victimisers promoting neputism and favouritism.
This negative publicity has a serious impact on our tourism industry and the financial services and investment sectors.
The situation cries out for a solution. Either Obie Wilchcombe sits down with Alfred Sears to solve the problem or Prime Minister Christie should enforce the legal code of ethics to ensure the right attitudes are shown to foreigners.
No matter how the PM ducks and dodges this important question regarding shortcomings in our legal profession and in high government offices, those burning questions will keep arising until they are answered satisfactorily.
Government must govern. Unfortunately, too many politicians think that favouritism in our country is normal behaviour.
If ministers and lawyers practise favouritism they can not be fully honest.
Harald Fuhrmann asks only for morality, justice and fair play. We should grant him this even if it hurts some of us. Mr. Fuhrmann's Websites hurt us all.
The government and lawyers might not want to be bothered with all this but the anti-Nassau website goNassau-Paradiseisland.net.tc is expected to raise another disturbing issue later this month and will, one asumes, be even more hard-hitting. It will not be to our credit.
It's time to act. Small hotel owners and others, like Sol Kerzner, have the right to have these issues resolved too. Or don't we want to do it better?
Police To Get Tough With Parents
Parents of school age children, found roaming the streets of downtown Freeport could face possible prosecution under the Children's and Young Person's Act, ACP Ellison Greenslade warned Tuesday.
Mr. Greenslade said police were "very discouraged" when a parent reported the disappearance of the fifth missing child so late.
He appeared a little frustrated when he said, "The laws are clear, and we have not prosecuted parents. We were very discouraged last evening for having received the report so late of this fifth child and we could get nothing done, because the adults we were dealing with could offer us no assistance."
"We simply need to start doing what we should have done. We are about to be enforcing the laws of the country," he said sternly at a press briefing at the new police headquarters on the mall.
He added, "If we meet children loafing downtown who are unable to give an account of themselves, their parents are goig to have to come see us and maybe, you know, we are going to have to apply the letter of the law with respect to the Children's and Young Person's Act.