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The Tribune
Volume:118 No.36, JANUARY 15, 2021
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By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net A STRUCTURAL fire has claimed the life of a mother and daughter and left a man and a juvenile in the hospital. Residents suspect that Jestine Clarke-Kerr, a renal technician at Princess Margaret Hospital, risked her life trying to save her mother, Yvette Jolly, during the blaze. Sadly, they both died. Police said they received reports of a structural fire shortly after 1am at Williams Drive off Cowpen Road.
“Moments later a fire Delta Unit arrived on scene at a single-story orange and white stone structure which was engulfed in flames. The fire was extinguished. The officers then breached the house and conducted a sweep of the residence,” police said. “A male and female were rescued. Another female was found unresponsive in a northeastern bedroom. Emergency Medical Service responded to the scene; they examined all the victims and pronounced the unresponsive female lifeless.”
OIL LICENCES UNPAID IN WRANGLE WITH GOVT By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Petroleum Company yesterday warned against “making mountains out of molehills” after it was revealed the Government had refused to accept its payment of outstanding licence fees. Carl Bethel QC, the attorney general, disclosed that the two parties were now engaged in a “reconciliation process” to resolve the dispute over how much the oil explorer owes to the Public Treasury. “They’ve sent the money, sent a cheque, but we’ve not accepted it,” he said. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A MAJOR Paradise Island resort will offer workers voluntary separation packages following this Sunday’s closure that will put at least 85 percent of staff back on temporary furlough. John Pinder, the director of labour, yesterday confirmed that the RIU Paradise Island resort had informed the Government it plans to close again until “some time in March” and temporarily lay off hundreds of workers. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
SEE PAGE TWO
and budgetary surpluses, Dr Minnis said. While the country is not yet at that stage, Dr Minnis said there are valuable land and natural resource assets at citizens’ disposal. This fund, he said, will enshrine an accountable and transparent means for Bahamians to ensure that national assets are deployed and developed for the benefit of the entire country. SEE PAGE THREE
pg 07
RIU OFFERS SEVERANCE AS IT SHUTS DOWN AGAIN
‘WE’LL CREATE A FUND TO BENEFIT OUR NATION’ By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday announced the government’s intention to implement a Sovereign Wealth Fund, saying the law governing the fund will likely be updated. Countries typically look to form a sovereign wealth fund to manage and invest excess cash from royalties
Page 10
A new haven for art
Black Box Live offers platfo rm for creatives
Hospital technician thought to have died trying to save her mom
GROW STRAWBERRIES!
THE SCENE of yesterday’s blaze, which left two people dead and two more in hospital. Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff
GOVT APPEAL BID REJECTED IN $27M CASE By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE Court of Appeal has rejected the government’s effort to appeal orders involving a Jamaican seeking $27m in damages for false imprisonment before the Supreme Court judge hearing the matter issues her final ruling. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bowe-Darville ruled in Matthew Sewell’s favour
MATTHEW SEWELL last September. Arrested at 18 in 2006 after being accused of raping a six-year-old, Mr
Sewell spent nine years being imprisoned and detained intermittently without facing criminal charges. Represented by Fred Smith, QC, he sued the government for damages related to false imprisonment, assault and battery, malicious prosecution, arbitrary and unlawful detention and breaches of his fundamental rights under the constitution. SEE PAGE SEVEN
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspa-
WHAT IF RIOTERS HAD BEEN BLACK?
SEE PAGE NINE
RESOLUTIONS HIT A SPEED BUMP?
SEE PAGE EIGHT
PAGE 2, Friday, January 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
BOARDING up after the fire that left two people dead yesterday.
Photos: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff
Two dead in house blaze from page one
“The medical technicians then transported three persons to the hospital. They include an adult male, an adult female and a juvenile male. The female later succumbed to her injuries.” Area resident Kenson Anais lives in a property nearby and recalled waking up that morning thinking there was a raid happening. “When I took a look, they were inside the front house,” he told The Tribune. “So when I opened the door and everybody was getting pulled out from the fire, I was trying to help. They didn’t want me to help. The police didn’t want me to help. “I saw the man outside laying down (with) hardly no clothes on. Only his shirt on and stuff and I had to give him pants to put on.”
He said he was trying to help the survivor while waiting on an ambulance. “I just was guiding the man who get burn right up. Keeping him alive until the ambulance came. “He had to catch himself for like 30 minutes. (For) 30 minutes he couldn’t talk or nothing. He was saying the same thing over and over.” According to Mr Anais, the gentleman was asking about his family. “Like where his daughter, how the aunty doing, where his wife, where is the other grammy, his wife grammy – that’s all he was saying over and over. I’m saying ‘everything going to be all right’ and the police told me don’t tell him nothing because they say two deaths in the situation. So, I’m trying keep him calm,” he recounted. Mr Anais said he heard Mrs Clarke-Kerr made it out of the home, but went
back to save a relative. “I heard she came back out with her son and then as soon as the son looked around, she went back in there and she ran back in to save somebody and that’s the last time you saw her.” The resident knew both of the women all his life and lamented the tragedy that happened to a “lovable” family. “It feels horrible. It feels painful. It feels like you gotta be careful in life.” To him, Mrs Clarke-Kerr was like a “fairy” who “gave you talks to make you feel like a better person in life”. Her husband, Tony who is in hospital, would always hail him when he passed by. He said Ms Jolly used crutches and normally took her time getting up and moving around. Yesterday, a statement from the Public Hospitals Authority said the agency and Princess Margaret
Hospital are saddened to confirm Mrs Clarke-Kerr’s death. “Mrs Clarke-Kerr passed away as the result of a house fire early this morning; her husband remains in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at PMH,” the statement said. Mrs Clarke-Kerr was posted in the PMH Dialysis Unit at the time of her death and served for 25 years in Nursing Support Services. “The managing director, senior executives, and all staff of the PHA join the Princess Margaret Hospital management and staff in extending condolences to the children, relatives, friends, and colleagues of Mrs Clark-Kerr. Her service and memories will be cherished forever,” the statement said. Police have not given a cause for the fire. An investigation is continuing.
ACTION PROMISED TO TACKLE ISSUES AFTER NURSES’ SICK-OUT IN ABACO By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net HEALTH officials say they are working to rectify all issues with nurses at the Marsh Harbour Clinic in Abaco after they engaged in a “sick-out” earlier this week because of “poor” working conditions and safety concerns. The Tribune previously reported that about a dozen trained nurses on Abaco called in sick on Wednesday because of unresolved security and sanitary issues at the clinic. One nurse, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, said workers also called in sick yesterday, adding that some intended to do so again today until the problems were resolved. When contacted by The Tribune yesterday, community health administrator at the Department of Public Health, Charlene Bain said the concerns are being addressed. “We’re addressing their concerns and the care of the people of The Bahamas is very important to us and we will address all the concerns of the health team,” she said. Nurses there are concerned about the lack of
safety protocols and unsanitary conditions, citing issues with running water at the facility. The group also claims the building is not being properly sanitised and cleaned due to negligence. “We have observed their (cleaning) staff going missing for an entire shift or only present at the beginning of the shift to change the garbage bins,” the nurses wrote in a letter this week. “There are also issues with the toilet not flushing and the water running. We are still running daily clinics in these conditions, which are very unsanitary.”
Sources said the nurses’ absence has greatly affected the operations of the Marsh Harbour Clinic, saying some patients are even being told to check back the next day for their medications. Yesterday, Ms Bain admitted that while the facility does not have its usual staff capacity, those with urgent needs are being cared for. “Persons with urgent matters are being seen by the physicians and the healthcare team and operations have been continuing. We’re not at the level that we would wish for it to be, but we’re addressing the
(nurses) concerns,” she said. Bahamas Nurses Union President Amancha Williams told The Tribune yesterday that the officials should have addressed the concerns of workers when they were first brought to their attention, noting that they have a duty to ensure safety and cleanliness in the workplace. “These issues were outstanding for a very long time and we would like them to be immediately dealt with. The minister and various departments had the various information from the union and from members for a very
long time and it’s now boiling and I think that they are very slothful in handling the affairs of the people,” she said. “People can’t wait for six months to be in these types of unsanitary environments. It causes people’s morale to drop down and so forth. You’re in a government place where you can’t flush the toilets. It’s a disgrace and then you want these (high) standards of the workers when you’re not keeping up your part of the bargain. “You should make sure their health and safety come first.”
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, January 15, 2021, PAGE 3
PLANE MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING IN NEW PROVIDENCE A PIPER Aztec was forced to make an emergency landing at Lynden Pindling International Airport yesterday. According to Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority Chief Investigator Delvin Major, the small plane had to make the landing after experiencing problems with its landing gears. Mr Major said: “Yes, we are investigating an emergency landing at LPIA. The pilot was on the way to
Long Island. When he took off, the landing gear would not retract so he attempted to land. But when he did that, the gear would not extend. “There were four people on board. Thankfully there were no injuries.” Mr Major said the plane began to experience technical challenges around 12.55pm and about 20 minutes later, the pilot was forced to make the emergency landing using only one of its gears.
‘We’ll create a fund to benefit our nation’ from page one
The Economic Recovery Committee in its report last year recommended the establishment of such a fund. “The government has already executed a legal review of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act of 2016, with a view to enhancing the provisions of the legislation,” Dr Minnis told those gathered at the 2021 Bahamas Business Outlook yesterday. “The proposed legislative changes fully embrace the Santiago Principles, which are international best practices designed to address concerns by investors and regulators about transparency, accountability, and the governance structure of such funds. “Countries typically look to form a sovereign wealth fund to manage and invest excess cash from royalties and budgetary surpluses. While The Bahamas is not yet at that point in our development, we appreciate that we have valuable land and other natural resource assets. “We also recognise that the country needs an independent, non-partisan,
transparent, accountable entity to manage some of our most valuable land and our precious natural assets for the benefit of the Bahamian people. Such oversight may help to reduce corruption by public officials.” He continued: “This Sovereign Wealth Fund will also likely manage a special sub-fund that will be dedicated to expanding critical infrastructure throughout The Bahamas, especially in our Family Islands. “To maximise the
potential of our Family Islands, critical transportation, healthcare, education, heritage, cultural, commercial and power infrastructure must be built, and built to world-class standards. In the face of climate changes, such infrastructure must be resilient.” Dr Minnis told the conference that a National Infrastructure Fund will mobilise public and private capital, from local and international sources, to be
deployed in the true spirit of public-private partnerships (or PPPs) to meet the estimated two billion in infrastructure development needs throughout our extensive archipelago. “The Sovereign Wealth Fund and the accompanying National Infrastructure Fund will transform the way in which we approach the development of our country. These funds will enshrine accountable and transparent means for Bahamians to ensure that
our national assets are deployed and developed for the benefit of the entire country.” Dr Minnis also said his administration is focused on economic recovery and getting Bahamians back to work as quickly as possible. However he said given the current state of public finances, the government has had to make some “tough” decisions. “As a temporary measure to avoid any further deterioration in our fiscal position, we are reducing new capital expenditure for the current fiscal year,” the minister of finance said. “However, for a number of planned new projects, the government is exploring creative alternatives to finance such critical infrastructure.” These projects include site works at the Exuma International Airport; the Long Island International Airport at Deadman’s Cay; the North Eleuthera International Airport and upgrades to the Leonard Thompson International Airport at Marsh Harbour. “Similar to the Lynden Pindling International Airport model, the government intends to aggressively implement a public private
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net ABACO and Grand Bahama’s recovery post Hurricane Dorian will require one of the most ambitious and dynamic public-private partnership initiatives in Bahamian history, according to Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday. Speaking during the 2021 Bahamas Business Outlook, Dr Minnis described the progress made on both islands as “steady”, but there is still a long way to go. To date, Dr Minnis said three million cubic yards of debris have been removed from Abaco and its cays along with portions of Grand Bahama. Additionally, $11m has been spent with hundreds of homeowners assisted under the Disaster Reconstruction Authority’s Small Home Repair Programme. Dr Minnis also said “working with various partners” the DRA has
provided 150 temporary housing domes on Abaco and the cays and 20 homes for families at Sweeting’s Cay and East Grand Bahama. Two, 60-acre sites in Spring City and Wilson City, Abaco, have been identified for permanent housing, he said. “The government, through a public-private partnership with the Discovery Land Company, is developing 46 homes that will be gifted to 46 families. The government is committed to repairing and providing logistical support to 250 homes in Cooper’s Town, Blackwood, and Fire Road, Abaco.” He referred to the recent groundbreaking of a state-of-the-art $1.8m complex for Greater Abaco, which will serve as a community centre and hurricane shelter. Several other forms of assistance to residents from both Abaco and Grand Bahama were also highlighted yesterday. “More than $9.5m has
been paid in unemployment benefits to residents of Grand Bahama and Abaco affected by Hurricane Dorian. “The Small Business Development Centre has approved 74 applications for funding: 31 for Abaco and 43 in Grand Bahama.” There was also $2.2m approved in small business funding and $27m spent to restore power in Abaco. When completed, Dr Minnis said, the total cost to restore the electricity infrastructure will be approximately $90m. As he spoke of the wider economy, Dr Minnis said recovery, including tourism, will take time but the work has already begun. “There is concrete, tangible hope and our economy will turn around. The Bahamas’ business and economic outlook for 2021 is a much better economy, many more jobs, an improvement in public finances, and the beginning of the end of this terrible pandemic. “The Bahamas is getting
back to business. Let us work together to rebuild
our economy and country and to get Bahamians
PRIME MINISTER DR HUBERT MINNIS
partnership programme to complete these capital projects. “Such public private partnership methods may include the use of passenger facility charges and other airport usage fees to fund the development of our Family Island infrastructure, as opposed to funding exclusively via the Public Treasury,” Dr Minnis said. “While we must adapt the mode of financing for a number of key infrastructure projects, our commitment to develop Family Island infrastructure remains as strong as ever. “Such significant investment in airport infrastructure will support increased airlift to our Family Islands as tourism rebounds. It also represents some $150m in infrastructure stimulus spending in these islands.” In December, Senator Kwasi Thompson, the newly-appointed minister of state for finance, told the Senate that the Minnis administration is aiming to slash $100m apiece from both its capital and recurrent (fixed cost) spending after 2020-2021 first quarter revenues came in $68m below projections while spending soared.
back to work as quickly as possible.”
MINNIS AIMS FOR HISTORIC PARTNERSHIP TO RESTORE ABACO AND GRAND BAHAMA
GOVT ‘SOLIDARITY’ WITH GUYANA THE government has joined the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in standing in solidarity with Guyana and “repudiating all acts of aggression” by Venezuela. In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
said it fully supports the judicial process underway at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Guyana/Venezuela dispute. This comes after CARICOM issued a statement expressing deep disappointment and
concern regarding actions taken by Venezuela pertaining to its long-term border dispute with Guyana, including intimations of the creation of a strategic area of national development called “Territory for the Development of the Atlantic Façade”.
PAGE 4, Friday, January 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
Good news with no holiday surge in COVID cases By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net WITH low COVID-19 infections being recorded for the past few weeks,
a local infectious disease expert says it appears the recent holiday celebrations did not lead to an uptick of cases as officials initially expected. Dr Nikkiah Forbes’
TOTAL CASES
comments to The Tribune came after health officials reported ten new positive cases on Wednesday – pushing the nation’s tally to 8,021 — and confirmed 146 additional recoveries.
TOTAL DEATHS
8,021 175 NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES WEDNESDAY 10 CASES NEW PROVIDENCE GRAND BAHAMA
TOTAL TESTS
55,753
6 4
HOSPITALISED
6
CASES IN ICU
0
RECOVERED
6,507
Yesterday also marked the end of the 14-day incubation period for the New Year holiday celebrations. Dr Forbes, director of the National HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme at the Ministry of Health, said the low numbers could be a reflection of good human behaviour and the fact that most Bahamians had adhered to the health protocols over the holiday season. However, she said that while the numbers look “promising”, it’s still important for Bahamians not to develop false hopes and become relaxed. “The numbers have been pretty consistently manageable in the high single digits or low double digits and that’s very promising and so it could be that we have followed the public guidelines very well and I think that’s a reflection on how well persons would’ve followed the public health guidelines,” she said. “And COVID-19 is going to be here for a while so it’s very important that we learn to consistently do those guidelines so we can live with it and keep these cases low and to a management level essentially and so that could be a sign of that and what is happened and that’s very good because the human behaviour is a very important part of what spreads COVID-19.” As for Wednesday’s high COVID-19 recoveries, Dr Forbes said: “It’s very good. We’re using the
DR NIKKIAH FORBES clinical definition which does not necessitate for retesting. It’s CDC recommendations looking at the number of days since the person tested positive and the resolution of their symptoms knowing they will not be able to transmit COVID after a certain time and so it’s very promising and we always want people to recover.” This comes amid warnings for the country to brace for more infectious variants of COVID-19 as seen abroad that could lead to a potential third wave. Yesterday, Dr Forbes said officials have not ruled out the possibility of a third wave, but again stressed the situation could be avoided if everyone follows all of the health protocols. “Nobody could rule out the possibility of the third wave,” she said. “No country could do that. It’s very dependent, like I said, what we are all doing, how we are protecting ourselves and one another and then there’s also other factors – when you identify cases, when you identify them quickly, isolating the cases, doing contact tracing quickly and putting persons in quarantine and control
and management of identified cases. “That’s very important. Vaccination is going to be a very important part of the containment strategy to combat COVID-19. However, a third wave doesn’t have to happen if we’re very good and if we’re very adherent to those public health recommendations.” The Bahamas does not currently have the capacity for the genomic sequencing that is necessary to determine if any of the new strains are present in the country. However, Health Minister Renward Wells told reporters on Tuesday the government is currently looking at ways to secure the tools needed to do so. “We are looking at that but, in any event, if we need to we are able to send samples abroad and get the results back very, very quickly,” he said. “We are testing for COVID-19 (strains) if we see a circumstance that they saw in the UK where the virus was spreading at a particular rate that was unusual in regards to its normal spread then the government of The Bahamas will take normal steps to be able to test.”
TABLETS DONATED TO HELP STUDENTS
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net THE Grand Bahama Port Authority Ltd presented 42 tablets yesterday for school students in East End that are now attending three public schools in Freeport. Sarah St George, chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), and Telina Smith, human resources manager, made the presentation at the GBPA headquarters. The tablets will be given to East End students at
Sir Jack Hayward High Jr, St Georges’ High, and Sister Mary Patricia Russell Junior high schools. Joyanne Pennerman, principal at Jack Hayward, thanked Ms St George and the GBPA for remembering the children and families in East End. “I would like to express a heartfelt thank you to Ms St George and the team of the GBPA for...thinking about the families and students of East End,” she said. The Ministry of Education in October 2020 officially launched its
‘One Laptop or Tablet Per Child’ initiative, which is designed to promote inclusivity in the education sector. The estimated cost to provide laptops and tablets is $4.5m. The objective is to ensure that every school student has access to a tablet device for electronic, online and virtual learning programmes in the public school system. The ministry believes this could be attainable with help and partnership with companies in the private sector. Remelda Thomas, a
senior mistress at Jack Hayward Junior High, described the donation of tablets by GBPA as a “kindhearted gesture” to students of EGB. Ms Thomas was the principal at a school in McLean’s Town that was destroyed in September 2019. She also lost her son, Philip Thomas Jr., known as “PJ,” and three grandchildren during the storm. “Hurricane Dorian decimated EGB,” Ms Thomas recalled. “Not only did that storm take lives, it also took our material possessions, including school supplies
and devices. And so as a former principal of East End Junior High School, I am certain that our students who are now here in Freeport attending school, will feel blessed that they have received these gifts, and I am sure they would be overjoyed,” she said at Thursday’s presentation. Cecil Thompson - who helped Sarah St George and Lady Henrietta St George at GBPA organise the memorial service in December 2019 for Dorian victims – said the late GBPA chairman Edward St George would be proud
about what his daughter and the GBPA is doing to assist students of East End. Mr Thompson stated that the GBPA also built a monument at the foot of the Jack Hayward Bridge to memorialise the victims. “Mrs Remelda Thomas and her husband, Philip Thomas, lost their son, and three grandchildren during the hurricane,” he said. Mr Thompson stated that the GBPA has been a “good friend” to the residents of GB and East End.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, January 15, 2021, PAGE 5
THE STENA IceMAX drillship.
Smith praises govt over costs decision By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE government will not seek security for costs from environmentalists in the judicial review proceedings involving Bahamas Petroleum Company’s exploratory oil drilling, drawing praise from attorney Fred Smith for removing a potentially significant obstacle. This revelation came as lawyers representing environmentalists and BPC tussled during a Supreme Court hearing yesterday over whether BPC should be added as a respondent in the matter. “We applaud the government for respecting the rule of law and the judicial process,” lawyers representing Waterkeepers Bahamas and Save The Bays said in a press statement. “They have removed a major obstacle to the hearing of
this case. So many times in the past, public interest litigation has been derailed and priced out of justice by security for cost applications, which would require those bringing actions in the public interest to ensure due process and lawful development, to put up funds before they can actually have their day in court. “Initially the government did apply for security but yesterday indicated to the court that it was withdrawing. From the beginning, we have sought to have a trial on the merits of the case and avoid delays and obstructions that prevent us accessing the courts until it is too late. Time is of the essence, the drill bit is turning, and if we are successful it would be a shame for this to have been an exercise in futility. The government has taken a huge step in the direction of the swift administration of justice
and we thank them for their responsible behaviour.” Making the case for why BPC should be included as a respondent to the action, BPC’s lawyer, Clare Montgomery, QC, argued that the company and its affiliate, Bahamas Offshore Petroleum, will be affected by the judicial review proceedings as the companies which respectively received the environmental authorisation to drill and holds the license. She argued that the judge, Justice Petra HannaAdderley, will eventually require BPC’s evidence on the “potential prejudice and detriment that may be occasioned” by quashing the environmental authorisation. She said the companies would suffer financially if the authorisation is quashed. She noted that if BPC is added as a respondent,
the company will have the right to file evidence, to be heard, to seek disclosure, to seek security of cost and to seek permission to appeal. “In our submission, that clearly is the requirement of justice in this case given how closely the interests are affected,” she said. “It would do a fundamental injustice to companies that are going to be very significantly affected potentially by the public law relief that’s sought if you were to hold they were not either to be permitted to intervene under the current dispensation…or that they were not potentially directly affected so as to indicate to Mr Smith that when he does finally issue his notice of motion that he is to serve it on them as persons directly affected.” Mr Smith insisted that BPC has no direct interest in the case and that BOP has only an indirect interest.
“To the extent that BOP might be the holder of licence,” he said, “we have every intention to serve them with the notice of motion. “They had a direct interest in the stay application and we had no objection to them being heard on the stay application because they had a direct financial interest that was affected, but there is nothing which now affects them. We have no (issue) with those companies, whoever they may be. Our (issues) are with the government respondents. Order 15 Rule 6 exists for the determination or the opportunity for someone in an existing action to be able to come into it to have an issue determined but there is nothing that they are affected by between now and the issuance of the notice of motion.” Mr Smith suggested BPC wants to be involved
in the proceedings as a respondent to frustrate environmentalists. BPC, he said, wants to be included “to file evidence, so that they can start asking for discovery, so that they could resist discovery, so they could ask for security for costs, so they could do everything under the sun as if we sued them. “We have no issue with the oil companies. Our issue is with the government and the process on whether or not they have complied with the relevant statutes. This is an attempt by a party that we have not sued, that we have no cause of action against, to come into our action to insinuate themselves, to run interference for the government, to wage trench warfare against us, to ramp up costs and to try and oust us from the seat of the opportunity of getting a judgment on the merits.”
US BUSINESS LEADERS: STOP THE DRILLING By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net THERE is growing opposition to oil drilling in The Bahamas as business leaders in the United States have called on government leaders to put a stop to it. Advocacy group, Our Islands, Our Future, has said US businesses are “alarmed” at the possibility of new oil drilling allowed as close as 50 miles off Florida’s coast considering the US federal government’s ban of offshore drilling in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. “Experts predict a Bahamian oil disaster could impact the Atlantic seaboard, and result in severe effects in the neighbouring Caribbean Sea,” the group stated. According to Jerry Libbin, president and CEO of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce: “An oil spill in The Bahamas could absolutely devastate
Miami’s coastal economy. The BP Deepwater Horizon disaster was from an exploratory well which is the same type being pursued in The Bahamas. We encourage all South Florida business owners and our government leaders to ask the Bahamian prime minister to recognise our shared interest in protecting our economy and ban dirty and dangerous offshore drilling.” Robin Jacobs, the chamber’s board chair, added: “The Chamber’s board of governors has a long-standing position in opposition to offshore drilling that could impact the coast of South Florida and severely damage our fragile tourism economy.” Meanwhile Tom Kies, president of the Carteret County Chamber of Commerce and co-founder of the Business Alliance Protection of the Atlantic (BAPAC), highlighted the efforts against drilling only for that to be “threatened” by The Bahamas.
“We have worked tirelessly to protect the Atlantic Coast and our coastal economy from destructive drilling, only to have our progress threatened by decisions from our neighbours in The Bahamas,” he said. “If we are remotely serious about protecting Florida and the Carolinas from oil spills, we must ask The Bahamas to stop oil exploration immediately.” Tyler Zlatlin, chief marketing officer for Miami-based marketing firm Ballyhoo Media, said: “South Florida and The Bahamas are close neighbours and share many mutually beneficial relationships. Unfortunately, when it comes to offshore oil drilling in the narrow waters between our shores, we also share the danger of huge destruction to our marine ecology and local economy. “Ballyhoo Media’s partnership with BREEF,
Oceana, and Our Islands Our Future is meant to sound the alarm for our community and politicians on this urgent issue. We see this as performing a service for our own community as well as supporting our friends who are fighting this in The Bahamas.” These comments come after Ballyhoo Media ran massive floating billboards up and down Miami Beach, alerting Floridians of this impending threat and encouraging tourists to sign the www.StopBahamasOilDrilling.com petition. In December, a letter signed by several members of the United States Congress addressed to Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira urged them to reconsider the oil drilling agreement with Bahamas Petroleum Company. BPC began drilling an exploratory well in December.
12 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HELD IN LEWIS YARD By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net A JOINT law enforcement operation resulted in the arrest of 12 illegal
immigrants at a residential complex in the Lewis Yard settlement earlier this week. Superintendent of Police Terecita Pinder reported that on Wednesday, January
13, officers of the Immigration Department, Drug Enforcement Unit and Mobile Division, while acting on information, went to Lewis Yard where they discovered 10 Haitians and
two Jamaicans at an apartment building. She said the immigrants were all handed over to the Bahamas Department of Immigration for further investigation.
TEMPLE CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL
ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2021-2022 Temple Christian High School will hold its Entrance Examination on Saturday, January 16, 2021 at the school on Shirley Street from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon for students wishing to enter grades 7, 8, 9 and 10. Application forms are available at the High School Office. The application fee is twentyfive dollars ($25). Application forms should be completed and returned to the school by Friday, January 15, 2021. For further information, please call telephone number: 394-4481/394-4484.
PAGE 6, Friday, January 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
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Less talk, more action on nurses’ issues NURSES at the Marsh Harbour Clinic in Abaco had enough of waiting for their concerns to be heard this week. About a dozen nurses called in sick, not because they were ill, but because they were sick and tired of waiting for issues to be sorted out. They say that the building is not properly sanitised or cleaned due to negligence. They wrote in a letter about issues with the toilet not flushing, and cleaning staff only showing up to change bins and then not being seen for the rest of the shift. “We are still running daily clinics in these conditions, which are very unsanitary,” wrote the nurses. It may have taken the sick-out, but health officials have been stirred to respond, with community health administrator Charlene Bain saying yesterday: “We’re addressing their concerns and the care of the people of The Bahamas is very important to us.” By saying concerns are being addressed, it is acknowledging there were concerns in the first place – so why take so long to sort them out? Some of these matters – like making sure cleaning staff are carrying out their duties – are simple management functions, so why is the issue left to drag on until nurses withhold their service to draw attention to it? Lest we forget, as if we could, we are in the middle of a pandemic, when issues of sanitary environments are more crucial than ever. That’s a matter of crucial importance for staff, and for patients. Let’s hope that these concerns really are addressed – and we’ll be checking with nurses to see if they are. After all, in another matter relating to nurses, it was back before Christmas when Health Minister Renward Wells promised the government will pay
healthcare workers the honorariums it promised for offering services during the start of the pandemic. Just last week, the president of the nurses union said that money still had not been paid. Words, alas, are easy to say but it is action that is needed.
RIU closure
The news that the RIU hotel on Paradise Island is closing its doors again is sad indeed – and a sign that the nation’s reopening to tourism will be a difficult one, with setbacks along the way. The hotel did not comment yesterday, but it is thought that the decision is down to the simple economics of not having enough occupants to keep the doors open. At least, not right now. The hotel aims to re-open for Easter if all goes well. With the government committed to supporting furloughed employees to the end of January, that obviously leaves a gap for some who may find themselves still not back at work for months yet. The government has extended its arrangements before to cover that gap – and it had better be budgeting for the worst case scenario in case it needs to extend that aid. Sandals is another whose properties have had their reopening pushed back – and different resorts will be sizing up the best time to get into the market once more. We all know it hasn’t been an easy road so far trying to get through the worst of the pandemic – and the RIU news shows that we’re not at journey’s end yet. The truth is, we won’t be for a long time.
Two-party nation EDITOR, The Tribune.
WHAT do the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), The People’s Movement, Bahamas National Coalition Party, Bahamas Democratic Movement, Bahamas Constitution Party, Vanguard Nationalist and Socialist Party, Workers’ Party and the Coalition for Democratic Reform all have in common? They’re all fringe political parties that have failed miserably to make a difference on the political landscape of The Bahamas, unlike the Free National Movement (FNM) and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) – the two dinosaurs that have staying power, like the Democratic Party and Republican Party in the US. With the political pendulum swinging between the FNM and PLP each election cycle since 1997, this has reinforced the age-old consensus that The Bahamas is a two-party state. Since 2012 with the popularisation of Facebook and other social media, there appears to be a new Facebook superstar who arises to challenge the political establishment in the leadup to the silly season, while mesmerising the Bahamian population in the process like a suave snake-oil salesman. In the lead-up to the 2017 general election, it was We March Bahamas lead organiser Ranard Henfield, who was appointed to the Senate by the FNM government. Since his appointment, We March Bahamas seems to have dissolved. The activist organisation held several mass demonstrations throughout New Providence, drawing thousands of irate Bahamians who were unhappy with the PLP administration of former
Prime Minister Perry G Christie. Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis wooing Henfield into the fold of the FNM was a strategic move, which effectively neutralised We March Bahamas. That was in 2017 – a lifetime in Bahamian political years. Fast forward to 2021. We are currently witnessing the meteoric rise of another Facebook political superstar: Lincoln Bain of Bahamian Evolution. On January 11 -- one day after Majority Rule Day, Eyewitness News alleged that Bain was in custody. This development made the rounds on Facebook, giving the impression that Bain is a political martyr suffering under the heavy hand of the Minnis administration and PLP operatives. Bahamian Evolution representatives are convinced that Bain’s well-timed arrest was aimed at preventing a planned demonstration or rally that was scheduled by the outspoken political activist. I was not at all surprised when Bain announced that he would be fielding 39 Independent candidates to contest the upcoming 2022 general election. My only shock was that he took this long in making the announcement. Bahamians saw this announcement coming miles away. Bear in mind that Bain was nominated by the DNA in Pinewood in January of 2017. Bain managed to get just 380 votes. It wouldn’t surprise me if Bain amalgamated his organisation with the PLP. I have noticed that his criticisms of the PLP is moderate, when compared to his criticisms of the Minnis administration. This is a telltale sign that Bain is at least keeping the door open to joining the PLP, his only realistic shot at becoming
a member of Parliament in 2022. I would hope that Bain is not reckoning the tens of thousands of views, likes and shares of his Facebook videos as votes on election day. Bain is popular because his message of The Bahamas having a sovereign wealth fund like the United Arab Emirates and Norway has captivated thousands of Bahamians who are struggling financially. Being told that oil reserves in The Bahamas, if found, would transform each Bahamian citizen into instant millionaires sounds like a pipe dream worth having. Bahamians are tired of living from hand to mouth. They’re tired of paying upwards of $350,000 on low-cost threebedroom houses built at a cost of $40,000 by the opportunistic Canadian banks that charge Canadians less than six percent interest rates on mortgage loans. Bain comes along and tells the Bahamian masses exactly what they want to hear. To Bain and Co, never mind the noise in the market. Bahamians are a funny set of people. They will urge these young aspiring activists to challenge the two political giants at the polls, and then turn around and vote FNM and PLP on election day, while the popular activists fail to recoup their hard-earned $400 election deposits. In the event Bain and Bahamian Evolution officials misread the tea leaves by staying the course as Independent candidates, they will see just how deeply entrenched our two-party political system is in 2022. KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama, January 13, 2021.
Governance by attitude EDITOR, The Tribune. AS A long time practising metaphysician I have discovered that the easiest way to achieve or to get something done is to follow the path of least resistance. No I am not suggesting for one minute that one should sacrifice principles or morals to get one’s way, but rather to come to the understanding that once something is conceived in one’s mind (conscious) that that sub-consciousness automatically kicks in and figures out a plan to accomplish the same. This may sound like Obeah to the untrained, but those who know the secret, so to speak, are more than aware of the power of mind coupled with action. Let us look at a case in point. The Fisheries Amendment Act (2021) has been passed by both Houses of Parliament but not yet published in The Gazette so as to bring it into force. A very large and vocal section of the fishing industry has come out against the same alleging discrimination and that the Act itself is unconstitutional or ultra vires The Bahamas Independence Order (1972). Without delving into the pros and the cons of the Act or the legal arguments being advanced by learned counsel for the opposing group of fishermen and fisheries any law which seeks to unilaterally bar or ban native Bahamians or those who are conferred residency and the right to work regardless of original nationality is clearly ultra vires. Who advises the administration and ministers of the law of the land? It is supposed to be the Attorney General, who also sits in cabinet. It is commonly known that there was a time when I was a partisan of the current AG, especially when a revolt was being hatched against the former Prime Minister Ingraham by certain elements within the FNM. No I am not, and have never been an FNM. I am a student of politics
LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net and my loyalty remains where it has always been since I turned 18 years of age. Over successive appointments as AG I have watched Carl Wilshire Bethel’s performance in office. I am not and have never been impressed with his legal acumen, such as they might be, or with his skills. Yes he is now a Queen’s Counsel, but we all know how that rank, at least in The Bahamas, is filled. Having said the above it is clear that the Minnis administration has an individual and collective in your face attitude towards governance. It starts with the PM himself. Remember when the pandemic first arrived? Big as Billy the PM declared that ‘If Bahamians could not/ would not listen to his one man edicts that they would feel’? Even before this the administration brought in some UK based Queen’s Counsel to assist in the failed and flawed prosecutions of the Hon. Shane Gibson and the Hon Frank Smith. To this very day the AG has failed to disclose just how much fees were paid to them. Surely as taxpayers we deserve to know how our money is being spent. When asked about the Freedom of Information Act that was promised on the campaign trail by the FNM in opposition, Carl Wilshire Bethel bluntly and boldly stated that he did not recall the FNM making such a pledge! Perhaps because he is legally trained we should expect this attitude and posture. Instead of out of court settlements this administration seems hell bent on frivolous court cases which even the most stupid of lay persons would determine could not be won in a competent court of law. Since this crew has been in office a number of high
profiled cases have been decided against it and the poor taxpayers must pony up substantial awards of damages and legal costs. Weeks ago when the proposed Fisheries Amendment Act was being bandied about, former AG the Hon Alfred M Sears, a real deal Queen’s Counsel and not necessarily a paper one, wrote a letter of protest to the Hon Michael Pintard (FNM-Marco City) outlining serious objections to this Bill. Pintard being the smart pants that he tends to come across as, said that he understood that the letter had been received by his ministry BUT that he did not intend to read it! How stupid and politically injurious! Now litigation, well researched and drafted by Sears has been filed and the administration must scramble to mount a defence in what may well turn out to be an indefensible case. This will result in more taxpayers’ dollars being possibly wasted at the end of the day. Is the Hon Elsworth Johnson (FNM-Yamacraw), Minister of Immigration still around? In opposition he was all over the place lamenting the human rights posture of the then Christie led administration. Now in office he has presided over some very damaging immigration cases/matters with a very straight face and strident tones. Brother Brensil Rolle (FNM-Garden Hills), Minister for the Civil Service and NIB threw out the suggestion that rates for NIB may have to be increased. User fees are going up in an already challenged economy. Governance by attitude is not desirable and for sure it is not working. Unless and until this crew makes adjustments Flight # 533 is doomed to fail. To God then in all things be the glory. ORTLAND H BODIE Jr Nassau, January 14, 2021.
THE TRIBUNE
Friday, January 15, 2021, PAGE 7
BAHAMIANS IN WASHINGTON AREA SAFE, SAYS AMBASSADOR By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS ambassador to the United States Sidney Collie said all Bahamians living in the Washington area are safe as US fears mount over possible violence ahead of President-elect Joseph Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, January 20. Last Wednesday, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building as lawmakers were carrying out the ceremonial act of ratifying President-Elect Biden’s win.
The mob, fuelled by unproven conspiracies that the election was “stolen”, stormed the building to forcefully get Congress to overturn the results. After many hours, the military eventually gained control of the situation. Five people, including a police officer, are dead because of the violence. Armed forces and security have increased in the area in the aftermath. “Everything you see in the media truly reflects the state and atmosphere here in the entire region – Washington, Maryland and Virginia. Ground zero
is Washington and particularly downtown, Capitol Hill and the federal area,” Mr Collie said. “The latest advisory coming from the mayor’s office today says residents and visitors should stay away from the downtown area. In addition we got advisories that most of the major roadways, in and around the Capitol and even extending beyond the Capitol, have been closed down. “So the federal area, which includes the White House, the Capitol and a slew of federal buildings are all inaccessible. For us at
the embassy as well as the consulate, we have no need to go downtown. We have been working remotely pursuant to the mayor’s order for two weeks now which ends on the 19th. And, I imagine she will probably extend that until after inauguration. “We have two offices. The consulate is downtown and the embassy is on Embassy Row on Massachusetts Avenue which is not in the downtown area. We are all safe. We have sent out advisories to members of the diaspora who are in our database just to caution them to stay away
from the downtown area and to stay safe.” As safety concerns mount about more violence on Inauguration Day, Ambassador Collie said the best thing for everyone to do is just avoid the area completely. He said: “(From) all accounts everyone is safe and doing well. We have a regular check in every day and everybody’s fine. The immediate staff of the two offices are on a group chat and so it’s very easy to stay in touch. So everybody’s doing well. It is more difficult to get timely information on Bahamians in
the diaspora, but from all accounts from the information we are getting there are no incidents involving Bahamians. “The area is very militarised and from all accounts there are about 20,000 National Guards, federal police, Capitol police and DC police and the FBI. I won’t go as far as to say it’s a war zone, but it’s very militarised. The best advice is that everyone just stays away from the area.” The ambassador is hopeful that the city settles down and retains some level of normalcy on the days following the inauguration.
Govt appeal bid rejected in $27m case from page one
Justice Bowe-Darville struck out government lawyers’ defence on August 19, 2020, crippling their case because they failed to comply with her discovery orders. “The chronology of the file shows that the defendants delayed from inception,” she wrote in a judgment. “The file shows no further action by the defendants from the filing of the defence. This history of non-compliance is unacceptable.” In a written ruling delivered by Sir Michael Barnett yesterday, the Court of Appeal noted that government lawyers did not appeal Justice Bowe-Darville’s order within 14 days after she made it, “notwithstanding that the effect of the ruling was to leave the
intended appellants without a pleaded defence. The effect of the absence of a pleaded defence was that pursuant to Order 18 rule 12 the facts alleged in the statement of claim are deemed to be admitted.” Justice Bowe Darville ruled in favour of Mr Sewell on September 7, 2020. She scheduled an October 28, 2020 hearing to assess damages. Two days prior to that date, government lawyers filed a notice of appeal. They have since also filed an application for the extension of time within which to appeal the judge’s two orders. The Court of Appeal said that because Justice Bowe Darville’s rulings are interlocutory orders, an appeal requires leave of her court. “The intended appellants had two weeks to appeal each order,” the Court of Appeal wrote. “They are
clearly out of time. They now seek leave to appeal out of time. The problem is that they have not sought, much less obtained, the leave of the trial judge to appeal these interlocutory orders. “There would be no basis for this court to extend the time unless and until the court below grants them leave to appeal those interlocutory orders. “As no leave to appeal has been obtained, we are unable to accede to the intended appellants’ request to extend the period of time to appeal. There is no basis for us to dispense with the requirement to satisfy the rule requiring the prior leave of the court below,” the Court of Appeal added. “If the intended appellants obtain the leave to appeal these two interlocutory orders
MATTHEW Sewell pictured in 2015 after being released, with his lawyer, Fred Smith, left. (notwithstanding that the has been done, there is no the door to the governassessment of damages has basis for us to grant the ment’s hopes in the case already taken place) then application for an extension – an appeal could still be they are at liberty to apply of time.” launched after Justice The Court of Appeal’s Bowe-Darville releases her for an extension of time. But unless and until that ruling does not close final order in the case.
LAPTOP THIEF IS JAILED By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A TEENAGER who stole a man’s laptop and then sold it to another man was sentenced to two months in prison. Police arrested John Etienne, 19, after he broke into a man’s car and stole his $1,200 MacBook Pro and $215 terabyte external hard drive on January 5. He was arraigned with Reynaldo Johnson, 28, who was charged with dishonestly receiving the stolen laptop.
Both men admitted to the offences during a hearing before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes. The court was told that the complainant had told police that an unknown person had broken into his vehicle to steal his electronics. An investigation into the matter led to Etienne’s arrest. When he was questioned in custody, he owned up to the theft and took police to the residence of the man to whom he had sold the laptop. After Johnson was arrested, he told police he had purchased the device
from Etienne, but was not aware that it had been stolen. Both men were subsequently charged. The prosecution said the laptop was also returned to its rightful owner. During the hearing, Johnson maintained his original explanation and told the magistrate he would never have bought the laptop if he had known it had been stolen. As a result, he was fined $500 or two months in prison. Etienne, on the other hand, said he did not have anything to say when he was given a chance to
DRUGS COUNSELLING ORDERED By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A 23-YEAR-OLD man who attempted to flush 10 grams of marijuana down the toilet when officers raided his home was ordered to attend drug counselling classes for a year. Rasheed Seymour appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes charged with one count of simple possession, after officers found $30
worth of Indian hemp in his home on January 11. The court was told that officers went to Seymour’s residence around 4 o’clock that morning. On their arrival, they showed the occupants of the home a warrant and informed them of their search. During their investigation, officers discovered marijuana residue in the toilet bowl and on the window sill in one of the bathrooms of the home. Seymour was subsequently arrested and taken to the Drug Enforcement
Unit. In an interview with police there, he said he had bought the drugs for his personal use. During the hearing, the accused pleaded guilty. As a result, he was conditionally discharged for 12 months on the condition that he would attend drug counseling classes at the Department of Social Services. Magistrate Forbes warned the accused that if he failed to comply with the conditions of his release, he would be sentenced to three months behind bars.
MAN ACCUSED OVER UNLICENCED GUN By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A HARBOUR Island man who denied having an unlicenced firearm and a quantity of illegal ammunition was yesterday granted bail ahead of his trial. Police alleged Daxton Gibson, 30, had a 9mm pistol, along with nine unfired rounds of 9mm
ammunition in his possession on January 11. He denied the allegations during a hearing before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes. As a result, a trial was scheduled for June 15 and Gibson was granted $3,500 bail in the interim. Yesterday, two other Eleuthera men who denied assaulting another man with a deadly weapon in
Harbour Island last week were released on bail. Clarington Bowleg, 29, and Jehu Francis, 27, were arrested after they were accused of using a firearm to assault Ashley Barry on January 11. Both men pleaded not guilty to the charge and the case was adjourned to June 15 for trial. In the meantime, Bowleg and Francis were each granted $3,000 bail.
speak. However, when questioned, he said he had thrown the complainant’s external hard drive in the garbage after he had stolen his laptop that day. In response, Magistrate Forbes noted the complainant was greatly disenfranchised as his hard drive probably contained valuable information that would be hard to recover or replace. He also said he considered the fact that Etienne did not appear remorseful for his actions. As a result, he sentenced the teenager to two months behind bars.
ACTIVIST BAIN ACCUSED OF BREAKING GLASSES By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net ACTIVIST Lincoln Bain was yesterday granted $500 bail after he denied breaking a man’s glasses last year. The 44-year-old appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes accused of damaging Hiram Kelly’s Progressive Lens and Frame eyeglasses in November 2020. He was arraigned with Tiara McCartney, 19, who was also accused of causing damage to the $644 eyeglasses.
Yesterday, both accused denied the allegations and the case was adjourned to June 14 for trial. Bain and McCartney, who are represented by Wayne Munroe, QC, were each granted $500 bail in the interim.
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PAGE 8, Friday, January 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
Resolutions hit a speed bump? OKAY it’s January 15th, 2021, a week since I wrote about New Year’s resolutions and the importance of making the right resolution choices. Remember the part about some of you not lasting too long? If you just “sucked” your teeth after reading the previous sentence, relax you’re one of them too, and also like many other people. As I mentioned in last week’s column, some of us make resolutions without
A Comic’s View
By INIGO ‘NAUGHTY’ ZENICAZELAYA
giving much thought to the resolutions, nor how we are going to go about achieving them. Instead, we jot a few things down in a smart
phone note, of all the things we would like to accomplish or change in our life and call it a day. By now it’s mid-January, heading towards the first
part of February, you have given up on your New Year’s resolutions and may even start to feel just a little like a failure. If this scenario sounds like you, don’t beat yourself up too much over the broken resolutions, and here’s why. Studies show that less than 20 percent of people even keep their resolutions. Plus, breaking New Year’s resolutions might actually be a good thing. You are only human, I’m
sure some of you feel some type of way about breaking your resolutions. Breathe! Most psychologists indicate that breaking New Year’s resolutions should not be taken seriously as some people have allowed it to become. Instead, look at your broken New Year’s resolutions as an opportunity to learn a little more about yourself rather than beating yourself up for not sticking to your diet or hitting the
gym every day. Instead of beating yourself up, use your broken New Year’s resolutions as an opportunity to learn more about your habits and your true preferences. This allows you to fine tune your goals and come up with a plan that is more ‘you’ and more importantly attainable. Now before I leave you all to get to work on your New Year’s resolutions ..... again!
TOP TEN EXCUSES WHY YOU CAN’T KEEP YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS • You don’t believe in yourself. • Too much thinking, not enough doing. • You’re in too much of a hurry. • You don’t enjoy the process. • You’re trying too hard. • You don’t track your progress. • You have no social support. • You know your what but not your why. • You have no social
support. • You know yours, what but not your why. That’s your story and you are sticking to it! I’m quite sure you all can spread it around in your broken New Year’s resolutions WhatsApp chat groups for references and motivation. All right, get up you aren’t hurt, dust yourself off and get back out there. Carpe Diem!
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THE TRIBUNE
Friday, January 15, 2021, PAGE 9
SMOKE fills the walkway outside the Senate Chamber as supporters of President Donald Trump are confronted by US Capitol Police officers inside the Capitol on January 6. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
What would have happened if the rioters were black? THERE are moments you never forget. They are seared into your brain as hard-wired as the DNA you were born with. Like November 22, 1963, the day John F Kennedy was shot. I was a freshman at the University of Florida on my way to a chemistry class. A bell rang out, speakers blared, students were running in every direction. I made it into a classroom, don’t remember which, and in seconds everyone – strangers who had never met before – everyone was crying and huddled together in shock and disbelief. It was a different kind of shock and disbelief on Wednesday, January 6, when tens of thousands of Americans descended on Capitol Hill, white supremacists, rednecks, Trumpsters and some who probably fell for the lies that the orange-topped president of the United States had been spewing
By Diane Phillips
for weeks that the election was stolen. I am writing this the morning after while the memory of the siege of Capitol Hill is still fresh and hurtful. I write as a dual citizen BahamianAmerican. I am an American who still stands at the start of a football game when the American National Anthem is played, though always thinking it’s not nearly as moving as the Bahamian National Anthem for which I stand even straighter and with greater pride at the start of any ceremony. What happened on a night that should have been
a routine part of a peaceful transition of power from one president to the next, the ho-hum reading of electoral votes leading to certification of the election, turned into a melee of the mad and crazies storming the supposedly sacrosanct and hallowed halls of the American capital demanding that a properly conducted election be overturned because THEY did not like the results. As an American, I was ashamed. As a Bahamian, I was horrified. As both, I was embarrassed, humiliated and stunned for all the same reasons most Americans, including the
majority of Republicans were ashamed, embarrassed, humiliated, horrified and angry. How could a group of hoodlums who should have been arrested the minute they started up the steps been allowed to get as far as they did? How did they get past security, smash windows, invade offices, one resting his feet on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, another carting out a podium? And what really sickened me was what stared millions across the globe right in the face – they got away with it to start with because they were white. Had a group of black Americans or Arab- or Asian-looking Americans stormed Capitol Hill, they would have been met with brute force, not officers posing for selfies while a likely deranged president’s words, “Watch, it will be wild,” rang in their ears. On that night of January
6, when a piece of the transition of power was supposed to unfold, an evil that stretches as far back as the Civil War raged with new fury in the halls of the capital. It was a clear as black and white. It was there in the waving of the Confederate flag and in the eyes of the out of control mob who made Donald Trump’s promise that it would be wild come true. America the Beautiful was America the Divided. I was prouder than ever to be Bahamian. And sadder than ever to be American. There are times I am a victim of racial profiling here at home in Nassau. I don’t like it, but I get it and generally it passes quickly. While it is uncomfortable because of its injustice, it is not life-threatening as it is for blacks in America. I’ve never had to tell my child to kowtow to authorities or not wear a hoodie or dark jacket at night or, if stopped by police, to keep her hands
1ST BAHAMIAN CADDY ON LPGA TOUR FIGHTS MS, WINS BIG TANEKA Sandiford wanted to play basketball. It just so happened that she was also very good at golf which turned out to be exactly the hole-in-one she needed to win big. Sandiford, a Bahamian, was coaching golf at a community college in Oklahoma in 2018 when she came home for the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic being played for the sixth time at the Ocean Club on Paradise Island. That year, an up-andcoming American golfer from North Dakota named Amy Olson, taking her chances on the 6,644-yard
course, picked Sandiford up as a caddy. The two connected and Olson invited Sandiford to caddy for her at the Australian Open a few months later. More tourneys followed and Sandiford, diagnosed the next year with multiple sclerosis, learned her dream of basketball would have ended but caddying she could and she did. Olson relied more and more on her friend and teammate. Fast forward a little less than two years. In December, at a bitterly windy and freezing LPGA Women’s Open being played in
where cops can see them at all times. I may live in fear of being misunderstood but not in fear that my life could be snuffed out by mistaken identity because of my colour. If there is one thing that the attack on Washington, DC, showed us in The Bahamas and around the world, it is this – no one has a monopoly on ethnic unrest, but most of us who were appalled by what we saw are willing to stand up against it and fight for justice. We do it in small ways, a new friendship, an exchange of ideas, a respectful nod of the head. So long as we are the majority, one day we will get there. As individual, that is the lesson we have to take away from the night and the images we will never forget. We can do better. We can be better and one day it will be better. That day will be seared into memory, overshadowing days like November 22, 1963 and January 6, 2021.
TANEKA Sandiford and Amy Olson.
Houston, Texas, Amy Olson was in the lead going into the final round. She had a chance at the title crown, the jewel of women’s golf, complete with a $1m purse and bragging rights you never have to forego. That Saturday night with the final set for the next day, Amy and her husband
got word his father died suddenly, a man Amy Olson adored. Her husband flew home Sunday morning and Amy, grief-stricken, had to face a weather day and still consumed by grief, compete on Monday. On the course, players heard her singing the Josh Groban song,
“You raise me up” over and over. With her faithful caddy and Bahamian friend by her side, Amy Olson in a second-place tie, just one point behind the winner. Her take-home pay was $487,286. Rule of thumb is 10% for the caddy in a title match, that’s $48,000 for
Taneka Sandiford, the first Bahamian caddy on the LPGA tour and a woman who just wanted to play basketball but found a calling that worked out even better. Thanks to golfer and friend Mike Keating for a tip about this story.
PAGE 10, Friday, January 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
Biden plans to fight climate change in a way no US president has done before By BILL RITTER JR Colorado State University JOE Biden is preparing to deal with climate change in a way no US president has done before – by mobilising his entire administration to take on the challenge from every angle in a strategic, integrated way. The strategy is evident in the people Biden has chosen for his Cabinet and senior leadership roles: Most have track records for incorporating climate change concerns into a wide range of policies, and they have experience partnering across agencies and levels of government. Those skills are crucial, because slowing climate change will require a comprehensive and coordinated “all hands on deck” approach. We did that with energy when I was governor of Colorado, and I can tell you it isn’t simple. Energy policy isn’t just about electricity. It’s about how homes are built, how they generate power and feed it into the grid and how the transportation, industrial and agriculture sectors evolve. It’s about regulations, trade rules, government purchases and funding for research for innovation. Coordination and collaboration among agencies and different levels of government is crucial. A coordinated approach also helps ensure that vulnerable populations aren’t overlooked. Biden has committed to help disadvantaged communities that have too often borne the brunt of fossil fuel industry pollution, as well as those that have been losing fossil fuel jobs. The Biden-Harris team’s depth of experience will be vital as they take over from a Trump administration that has been stripping government agencies of their expertise and eliminating environmental protections. With Democrats gaining control of both the House and Senate, the Biden administration may also have a better chance of overhauling laws, funding and tax incentives in ways that could fundamentally transform the US approach to climate change. Here are some of the biggest challenges ahead and what “all hands on deck” might mean. Dealing with all those climate policy rollbacks From its first days, the Trump administration began trying to nullify or weaken US environmental regulations. It had rolled back 84 environmental rules by November 2020, including major climate policies, and more rollbacks were being pursued, according to a New York Times analysis of research from Harvard and Columbia law schools. Many of these rules had been designed to reduce climate-warming pollution from power plants, cars and trucks. Several reduced emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas production. The Trump administration also moved to open more land to more drilling, mining and pipelines. Some rollbacks have been challenged in court and the rules then reinstated. Others are still being litigated. Many will require going through government rule-making processes that take years to reverse. Pressuring other countries to take action Biden can quickly bring the US back into the international Paris climate agreement, through which countries worldwide agreed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming. But reestablishing the nation’s leadership role with the international climate community is a much longer haul. Former Secretary of State John Kerry will lead this effort as special envoy for climate change, a new
Cabinet-level position with a seat on the National Security Council. Other parts of the government can also pressure countries to take action. International development funding can encourage climate-friendly actions, and trade agreements and tariffs can establish rules of conduct. Cleaning up the power sector The Biden-Harris climate plan aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector to net zero by 2035. While 62 major utilities in the US have set their own emission reduction goals, most leaders in that sector would argue that requiring net zero emissions by 2035 is too much too fast. One problem is that states are often more involved in regulating the power sector than the federal government. And, when federal regulations are passed, they are often challenged in court, meaning they can take years to implement. Reducing greenhouse gases also requires modernising the electricity transmission grid. The federal government can streamline the permitting process to allow more clean energy, like wind and solar power, onto the grid. Without that intervention, it could take a decade or more to permit a single transmission line. What to do about vehicles The power sector may be the easiest sector to “decarbonise”. The transportation sector is another story. Transportation is now the nation’s leading emitter of carbon dioxide. Decarbonizing it will require a transition away from the internal combustion engine in a relatively short amount of time. Again, this is a challenge that requires many parts and levels of government working toward the same goal. It will require expanding carbon-free transportation, including more electric vehicles, charging stations, better battery technology and clean energy. That involves regulations and funding for research and development from multiple departments, as well as trade agreements, tax incentives for electric vehicles and a shift in how government agencies buy vehicles. The EPA can facilitate these efforts or hamstring them, as happened when the Trump EPA revoked California’s ability to set higher emissions standards – something the Biden administration is likely to quickly restore. The other “hard to decarbonise” sectors – buildings, industry and agriculture – will require sophistication and collaboration among all federal departments and agencies unlike any previous efforts across government. A new climate bill The best way to tackle these sectors would be a comprehensive climate bill that uses some mechanism, like a clean energy standard, that sets a cap, or limit, on emissions and tightens it over time. Here, the problem lies more in the politics of the moment than anything else. Biden and his team will have to convince lawmakers from fossil fuel-producing states to work on these efforts. Democratic control of the Senate raises the chances that Congress could pass comprehensive climate legislation, but that isn’t a given. Until that happens, Biden will have to rely on agencies issuing new rules, which are vulnerable to being revoked by future administrations. It’s a little like playing chess without a queen or rooks. Years of delays have allowed global warming to progress so far that many of its impacts may soon become irreversible. To meet its ambitious goals, the administration will need everyone, progressives and conservatives, state and local leaders, and the private sector, to work with them. • Originally published on theconversation.com
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Friday, January 15, 2021, PAGE 11
Hot again: 2020 sets another global temperature record EARTH’S rising fever hit or neared record hot temperature levels in 2020, global weather groups reported yesterday. While NASA and a couple of other measurement groups said 2020 passed or essentially tied 2016 as the hottest year on record, more agencies, including the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, said last year came in a close second or third. The differences in rankings mostly turned on how scientists accounted for data gaps in the Arctic, which is warming faster than the rest of the globe. “It’s like the film ‘Groundhog Day.’ Another year, same story — record global warmth,” said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann, who wasn’t part of the measurement teams. “As we continue to generate carbon pollution, we expect the planet to warm up. And that’s precisely what we’re seeing.” Scientists said all you had to do was look outside: “We saw the heat waves. We saw
the fires. We saw the (melting) Arctic,” said NASA top climate scientist Gavin Schmidt. “We’re expecting it to get hotter and that’s exactly what happened.” NOAA said 2020 averaged 58.77 degrees (14.88 degrees Celsius), a few hundredths of a degree behind 2016. NASA saw 2020 as warmer than 2016 but so close they are essentially tied. The European Copernicus group also called it an essential tie for hottest year, with 2016 warmer by an insignificant fraction. Japan’s weather agency put 2020 as warmer than 2016, but a separate calculation by Japanese scientists put 2020 as a close third behind 2016 and 2019. The World Meteorological Organization, the British weather agency and Berkeley Earth’s monitoring team had 2016 ahead. First or second rankings really don’t matter, “but the key thing to take away is that the long-term trends in temperature are very very clearly up and up and up,” said Schmidt, who heads NASA’s Goddard
Institute for Space Studies that tracks temperatures. “We’re in a position where we’re pushing the climate system out of the bounds that it’s been in for tens of thousands of years, if not millions of years.” All the monitoring agencies agree the six warmest years on record have been the six years since 2015. The ten warmest have all occurred since 2005, and scientists say that warming’s driven by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. Temperatures the last six or seven years “really hint at an acceleration in the rise of global temperatures,” said Russ Vose, analysis branch chief at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. While temperature increases have clearly accelerated since the 1980s, it’s too early to discern a second and more recent acceleration, Schmidt said. Last year’s exceptional heat “is yet another stark reminder of the relentless pace of climate change, which is destroying lives and livelihoods across our
planet,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century.” The United States, which had its fifth warmest yea r, smashed the record for the number of weather disasters that cost at least $1 billion with 22 of them in 2020, including hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and a Midwest derecho. The old record of 16 was set in 2011 and 2017. This was the sixth consecutive year with ten or more billion-dollar climate disasters, with figures adjusted for inflation. Earth has now warmed 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times and is adding another 0.2 degrees Celsius (0.36 Fahrenheit) a decade. That means the planet is nearing an international warming threshold set in Paris in 2015, Vose and Schmidt said. Nations of the world set a goal of preventing at least 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming, with
a tougher secondary goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). “We cannot avoid 1.5 C above pre-industrial now -- it is just too late to turn things around,” University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado, who wasn’t on any of the measurement teams, said in an email. “I also fear that the 2 C threshold is slipping away from us too unless changes become much more immediate in the US and other nations.” Earth has warmed 1.6 degrees (0.9 degrees Celsius) since 1942, when President-elect Joe Biden was born, and 1.2 degrees (0.6 degrees Celsius) since 1994, when pop star Justin Bieber was born, according to NOAA data. The main reason the agencies have varying numbers is because there are relatively few temperature gauges in the Arctic. NOAA and the British weather agency take a conservative approach in extrapolating for the
missing data, while NASA factors that the Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the globe, hitting 100 degrees (38 Celsius) in the Russian Arctic last June, said NASA’s Schmidt. The pandemic may have added ever so slightly to last year’s warming, enough to edge 2020 past 2016 in NASA’s calculations, Schmidt said. Around the globe, people were driving less — and that reduced short-term aerosol pollution which acts as a cooling agent by reflecting heat. Schmidt said fewer cooling aerosols could be responsible for .09 to .18 degrees (.05 to .1 degrees Celsius) warming for the year. NOAA’s Vose and Schmidt expect 2021 to be among the top five hottest years but probably not a record breaker because of natural temporary cooling in parts of the Pacific called La Nina. NOAA and NASA measurements go back to 1880, while the United Kingdom Met Office has readings back to 1850.
NEW YORK AG SUES POLICE OVER PROTEST RESPONSE NEW YORK Associated Press
MEMBERS of the National Guard walk past the dome of the Capitol Building in Washington yesterday.
Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP
NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS FLOODING IN AS WASHINGTON LOCKS DOWN WASHINGTON Associated Press
ALL through downtown Washington, the primary sound for several blocks was the beeping of forklifts unloading more fencing. There were no cars or scooters and seemingly no tourists on Wednesday, just the occasional jogger and multiple construction crews at work. The US Capitol, which proved such a soft target last week, was visible only through lines of tall, black fence. Two blocks from the White House, a group of uniformed National Guard troops emerged from a tour bus and headed into a hotel as a state of lockdown descended on Washington that will last through the January 20 inauguration. The number of National Guard troops coming to Washington to assist with security has so far grown to about 21,000, Army General Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told Vice President Mike Pence at a briefing Thursday. And officials have said the number could grow as law enforcement agencies review the ongoing threats. “Clearly we are in uncharted waters,” said Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser. Last week’s “violent insurrection” at the Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump has “impacted the way we are approaching working with our federal partners in planning for the 59th inauguration,” Bowser said Wednesday. The FBI has warned that armed protests by violent Trump supporters were being planned in all 50 state capitals as well as in Washington for the days leading up to the inauguration of
President-elect Joe Biden. Between the pandemic and the security threat, Bowser is flat-out asking people not to come to the District of Columbia for the inauguration. And at Bowser’s request, a National Special Security Event declaration was moved up to January 13, a distinction she said “puts in place an entirely different command and control structure” for security. The NSSE status is normal for a presidential inauguration and other major events like an international summit or the Super Bowl. But it’s rare to start the lockdown so far in advance of the event. Police vehicles sealed off a huge swath of downtown DC on Wednesday, causing immediate traffic snarls. Starting on Wednesday, Bowser said, anyone inside the inauguration perimeter might be stopped and questioned. Starting Friday, all parking garages in the downtown restricted zone will be sealed through the inauguration. Bowser is asking DC residents to avoid the downtown area entirely, and the city announced that 13 Metro stations inside the security perimeter will shut down for several days. Bowser is also being pushed to deny lodging options to potentially violent protesters. The local Black Lives Matter affiliate and Shutdown DC issued a joint statement Wednesday urging all downtown hotels to voluntarily close and pay their staffs. In addition to the threat of violence, the activist groups say Trump supporters are a threat to the health of hotel staff for their general refusal to wear facemasks during the pandemic. Several downtown hotels, including one which had become a favorite hangout of the militant Proud Boy faction, chose to avoid
trouble by closing last week. “Closing hotels completely for these six nights is the only way to guarantee the safety of hotel workers, neighbors, vulnerable and unhoused residents, incoming administration officials, members of Congress, and our democracy,” the statement said. “If hotels do not willingly close, we ask Mayor Bowser to extend today’s emergency order and close all hotels in the city.” On Wednesday, Airbnb announced it was canceling all reservations in the Washington metro area. Bowser said she had been in regular contact with Airbnb officials since last week, but did not specifically request this step. “We are aware of reports emerging yesterday afternoon regarding armed militias and known hate groups that are attempting to travel and disrupt the Inauguration,” a company statement said. “We are continuing our work to ensure hate group members are not part of the Airbnb community.” On the ground, much of the most visible security will come in the form of the National Guard troops, some of them armed. Pentagon officials approved requests to have some of them carry either long guns or handguns, particularly those assigned near the Capitol building. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security details. National Guard members operate under strict rules of engagement on the use of force. But generally speaking, troops can use lethal force to protect the lives of others and themselves. DC Police Chief Robert Contee estimated Wednesday that more than 20,000 National Guard members would be active in the city on Inauguration Day.
NEW York’s attorney general sued the New York Police Department on yesterday, calling the rough treatment of protesters against racial injustice last spring part of a longstanding pattern of abuse that stemmed from inadequate training, supervision and discipline. Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit includes dozens of examples of alleged misconduct during the spring demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd’s police killing, including the use of pepper spray and batons on protesters, trapping demonstrators with a technique called kettling and arresting medics and legal observers. “We found a pattern of deeply concerning and unlawful practices that the NYPD utilised in response to these largely peaceful protests,” James said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit. James, a Democrat, was tasked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo with investigating whether NYPD officers used excessive force to quell unrest and enforce Mayor Bill de Blasio’s nightly curfew. She issued a preliminary report in July that cited a “clear breakdown of trust between police and the public”. James is seeking reforms including the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee the NYPD’s policing tactics at future protests and a court order declaring that the policies and practices the department used during the protests were unlawful. The lawsuit in federal court named the city, de Blasio, police Commissioner Dermot Shea and Chief of Department Terence Monahan as defendants. James criticized de Blasio for saying the use of kettling was justified and Shea for saying that the NYPD “had a plan which was executed nearly flawlessly” when officers aggressive cracked down on protesters on June 4 in the Bronx. In June, at the height of the protests, de Blasio was accused of misleading the city when he told reporters that he personally saw “no use of force around peaceful protests,” even after officers had been caught on video moving on demonstrators without provocation and bashing them with batons.
SPORTS PAGE 12
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2021
PHOENIX Suns centre Deandre Ayton (22) shoots during the first half against the Washington Wizards on Monday in Washington. Ayton and the Suns have had their third consecutive game postponed in accordance with the NBA’s health and safety protocols put in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Ayton and Suns have 3rd straight game postponed By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
D
eandre Ayton and the Phoenix Suns have had their third consecutive game postponed in accordance with the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Following a January 11 loss to the Washington Wizards, the Suns have had Wednesday’s matchup
against the Atlanta Hawks, tonight’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors and tomorrow’s scheduled contest against the Indiana Pacers all postponed by the league. On January 13, the league announced that of 497 players tested for COVID-19 since January 6, 16 new players have returned confirmed positive tests. “Anyone who has returned a confirmed positive test, or has been identified as having been in
close contact to an infected person, is isolated or quarantined until they are cleared under the rules established by the NBA and the Players Association in accordance with CDC guidance,” the league said in an official statement. Since the game against the Wizards, the Suns have not been able to field the league-required eight available players to proceed with the following games. The NBA and NBA Players Association announced an
agreement on additional measures to supplement the current Health and Safety Protocols governing the 2020-21 season. In response to the surge of COVID-19 cases across the country and an uptick among NBA teams requiring potential player quarantines, the following measures will take effect immediately. Measures include limiting team meetings, restrictions on the road, gameday protocol, face masks and increased testing.
NFL, PAGE 15
BAAA TAKES TIME OUT TO GIVE THANKS TO GOD By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net ALTHOUGH it was a very dismal year with very little competition staged due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations took the time out to give God thanks. Normally this time of the year, the BAAA would hold an annual church service, but the pandemic restrictions negated that. So the BAAA decided to stage a prayer vigil inside the original Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium. The event took place on Wednesday night following the practice sessions of the athletes who, for the most part, stayed around to receive their blessings. Along with a praise and worship session, Randy Moss, a coach and father of Wendira Moss, along with Bishop Arnold Josey, a long-time patron, offered prayers on behalf of the association, athletes, coaches, officials, parents and spectators. “The purpose was to find an alternative to our annual church service,” said BAAA president Drumeco Archer, who spoke to the audience in a setting that was created by former public relations officer Kermit Taylor. “We wanted the federation to bring (in) our track and field (season) in prayer, as we always do, asking God for his guidance and protection over the athletes and the entire track and field family.” Notwithstanding the fact that it wasn’t in a church atmosphere, the ambience was one that got everybody
SEE PAGE 16
‘Buddy’ Hield books his best offensive game of the season By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net CHAVANO “Buddy” Hield broke out of a shooting slump for his best offensive game of the season, but the Sacramento Kings squandered a late lead to lose their sixth game in their last eight appearances. Hield scored a season high 26 in the Kings’ 132126 loss to the Portland Trailblazers’ Wednesday night at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. He shot 8-18 from threepoint range. Over the last two games, Hield is shooting 15-32 (47 percent) from the field including 14-29 (48 percent) from three. In the process, he extended his league leading streak to 78 consecutive games with a three-point make in the first quarter. “I’m confident in myself. I knew I wouldn’t shoot terrible the whole season. It’s a sprint, not a marathon. I’m trying to make my way, be myself and just go out there and make plays for my teammates defensively and offensively. I didn’t make shots in the last five minutes when my teammates needed me but other than that I shot the ball pretty well tonight.” The Kings led by 20 midway through the second quarter, 58-38. They also once led 94-75 in the third
and took a 105-100 lead into the fourth quarter. The Trail Blazers tied a franchise record with 23 three pointers led by Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Lillard finished with 40 points and 13 assists, while McCollum had 28 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. It was Portland’s second consecutive game against the Kings in five days following a 125-99 win at home on Saturday. At one point Hield was 8-12 from three but during the Kings’ second half collapse, he missed his final six attempts from beyond the arc. “We have to have the will to sustain that. When they make a three we have to come down and run good sets...not taking quick shots, just being more mature and trying to weather the storm. We were up 16, 18 twice and we didn’t weather the storm,” Hield said. “The game comes down to making shots, I had some good looks and I didn’t make the shots. Whatever it is, I feel like I have to make those shots that were given to me that were pretty good looks.” Hield also added six rebounds and five assists with no turnovers in 38 minutes. “I talked to Luke [head coach Luke Walton] before the season about things he needs me to improve on, stuff like that motivated me. I’m a scorer so I think score first but
SACRAMENTO Kings guard Buddy Hield, left, drives against Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum during the second half in Sacramento, California, on Wednesday. Hield scored 26 points. The Trail Blazers won 132-126. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) I also know I have team- a-- gets busted, I’m not pandemic. “We just have mates, I have to get them gonna lie, but that happens to stick to the rules. A lot the ball too and I also in this league, the best of of guys may not be for know I have to be better the best gets scored on.” the rules but it’s all about on the defensive end. Rex As for the NBA’s new player safety, the coaches, [assistant coach Rex Kala- stricter protocol meas- staff and their surroundmian] challenges me to be ures, Hield said players ings, we have to protect a better defensive player, will have to amend to the ourselves first and we have yeah there’s going to be new normal of life and to respect the league,” some nights where my sport amid the COVID-19 Hield said.
BLTA MATCHPLAY FOR JUNIORS THE Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association has started a matchplay series to jumpstart tennis play for juniors at the National Tennis Centre as competitive tournaments in The Bahamas were previously prohibited. “The players are playing with more confidence and learning the rules of the game,” said Shayvon Clarke, who is organising the matchplay on behalf of the BLTA. “There are players in the programme at different levels. The kids are progressing quickly as each week goes by. This is a way to keep the kids in a competitive mode during this pandemic. We look forward to seeing more kids added to the pool of players as time goes on.” Patrick Mackey Jr and Aidan Miller were the two top players with the most matches played. President Perry Newton remarked that the matchplay is a good junior tennis initiative and thanked Clarke for her oversight of the programme. “The BLTA continues to expand programme offerings from the ‘Play Tennis’ for beginners to JTI programmes for intermediary and advanced players,” Newton said. “We would like to thank the parents, coaches and players for their involvement.” Juniors are invited to join in at 4pm Fridays at the NTC. If you wish to be a part of this programme, please register your child by return email and Clarke will include all players in the matchplay.
SPORTS
PAGE 14, Friday, January 15, 2021
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Arsenal remain in midtable after 0-0 draw with Palace By FRANK GRIFFITHS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Arsenal’s three-match winning streak in the Premier League ended with a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace yesterday as the Gunners missed a chance to keep their momentum going and climb up the table. Arsenal remained rooted in 11th place with 24 points, while Palace stayed in 13th with 23 points. “We’ll take it,” Palace winger Eberechi Eze said. “It’s a good point to take.” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was under severe pressure before Christmas after the team’s worst start to a season since 1974. But wins over the festive period against Chelsea, Brighton and West Bromwich Albion moved his team back into midtable and in sight of the European positions. But Thursday’s game saw his team revert back to its old form, lacking creativity in midfield and cutting edge up front. Arteta partly blamed fatigue, saying his players lacked “some freshness and some quality in the final third. “We lacked the last pass or the last shot. We had to generate more to win that game,” he said. Arsenal controlled the match against Palace in the opening stages of the first half with the home side’s clearest chance coming in the 20th minute. Captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cut inside from the left and unleashed a curling shot that appeared to fool goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. He wildly palmed the ball just in front of him and then mispunched before collecting it. But Palace slowly grew into the match, putting Arsenal under pressure in midfield and on the counterattack. The visitors came close from a free kick in the 39th when James Tomkins leaped above centre back Rob Holding
SPAL UPSETS SASSUOLO TO SET UP QUARTERFINAL AGAINST JUVENTUS MILAN (AP) — Second-division team Spal will face Serie A champion Juventus in the Italian Cup quarterfinals after winning 2-0 at 10-man Sassuolo on Thursday. Spal is the only Serie B side left in the competition. Sassuolo, which had an impressive start to the Serie A season, was the better side in the first half but the match turned immediately after the restart when midfielder Filip Đuricic was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Spal defender Leonardo Sernicola. Spal took the lead two minutes later when Demba Seck ran into the area and pulled the ball back for Simone Missiroli to sidefoot into the bottom right corner. The visitors doubled their advantage in the 58th minute. Marco D’Alessandro put in a cross from the left to the back post where Lorenzo Dickmann volleyed in from close range. Sassuolo hit the post twice in the match.
CRYSTAL Palace’s Joel Ward, left, tries to stop Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, right, during their English Premier League soccer match at Emirates Stadium in London yesterday. (Neil Hall/Pool via AP) and headed the ball against wide after Palace failed to Manager Roy Hodg- loads of players,” Bellerin the crossbar. clear and the ball fell to son lauded his team’s said. “I felt that the little Three minutes later, him in the 46th. performance, saying he spark of creativity was Christian Benteke beat Aubameyang’s scoring was happy to come away missing today. Today, we defender David Luiz in drought continues in the with a clean sheet. “It was didn’t have that little bit of an aerial duel to a cross Premier League. After a fantastic piece of disci- luck that we needed.” from Tyrick Mitchell and his chance in the first half, pline and hard work from Arteta also acknowlthe forward’s close-range Crystal Palace defenders the players,” he said. “It edged that the absence of header nearly beat Bernd did everything to keep the was a good evening for us.” Tierny, who will have an Leno. forward from taking the He added: “If we keep MRI scan today, was a big But the goalkeeper’s ball on his favoured left playing the way we did factor. “He’s a real threat leaping fingertip save was foot. today, I think there’s points and the way we attack on enough to push the ball out Palace assistant man- in the bag.” the left is really imporof danger for a corner. ager Ray Lewington kept Arsenal missed the pace tant, but he is injured,” the Arsenal piled on the shouting “right, right” at and creativity of left back manager said. “We needed pressure at the start of the top of his lungs to urge Kieran Tierney, who was to find other options. We the second half, creating his players to keep the ball rested as a precaution with knew the plan, but the a number of chances with on Aubameyang’s weaker muscle tightness. “They execution wasn’t enough Hector Bellerin firing just right foot. did defend very well with today.”
ATHLETIC KNOCKS OUT MADRID TO REACH SUPER CUP FINAL VS BARÇELONA By DANIELLA MATAR Associated Press MÁLAGA (AP) — Athletic Bilbao knocked out defending champion Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup with a 2-1 win yesterday, setting up a final against Barcelona. Raúl García scored two firsthalf goals to put Athletic in Sunday’s final in Seville against the Catalan club, which beat Real Sociedad in a penalty shootout in the other semifinal on Wednesday. Athletic is looking to win its third Spanish Super Cup title, and first since beating Barcelona in the 2015 final. The Basque
Country club also won the competition in 1984. Real Madrid was going for its 12th Spanish Super Cup trophy. This year’s Super Cup was moved to southern Spain after the coronavirus pandemic stopped it from being held in Saudi Arabia for a second straight season. The tournament’s revamped Final Four format includes the top-two finishers in the Spanish league and the Copa del Rey. García opened the scoring for Athletic in the 18th minute with a shot past Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in a one-onone situation inside the area. He added to the lead by converting
a penalty kick in the 38th after a foul by Lucas Vázquez. “We played a very tough opponent but we knew we could come through with the victory,” said García, who was sent off less than 15 minutes into Athletic’s 3-1 loss to Madrid in the Spanish league in December. “We played a great match.” Madrid reduced the deficit in the 73rd when Karim Benzema scored his first goal in four matches with the help of video review after he was originally called offside. The French striker appeared to have scored an equaliser in the 82nd but that goal was disallowed for offside.
Defender Sergio Ramos missed another chance with a header by the post in the 88th. A few minutes later Madrid wanted a penalty after Ramos appeared to be grabbed inside the area, but video review determined there was no foul. “They got off to a good start and we struggled to get going,” said Madrid’s Marco Asensio, who twice hit the woodwork when the score was 2-0. “They gained confidence after the first goal and we were not able to recover.” Madrid was coming off a scoreless draw at Osasuna in the Spanish league. It was stuck in Pamplona after the match
ATALANTA ADVANCES In-form Atalanta beat Cagliari 3-1 to advance to a quarterfinal against either Lazio or Parma. Atalanta had scored 12 goals in its past three matches and thought it had taken an early lead but Aleksej Miranchuk’s strike was ruled out for offside. Miranchuk did break the deadlock on the stroke of halftime. The Russia forward has now scored on his debut for Atalanta in Serie A, the Champions League and Italian Cup. Cagliari goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario had pulled off a number of saves in the first half under an Atalanta siege and he continued to do the same after the break. And the visitors were given hope when Riccardo Sottil levelled 10 minutes into the second half. But Atalanta sealed the match shortly after with two goals in three minutes from Luis Muriel and Boško Šutalo.
because of a snowstorm that has disrupted the city Madrid in the last few days, having to travel directly to Málaga from there. Athletic reached the final boosted by the arrival of coach Marcelino García Toral, who was hired less than two weeks ago to try to halt the team’s struggles. It was only his second match in charge of the club, coming after a 3-2 home loss to Barcelona in the Spanish league last week. “These players have given everything they have since I arrived,” the coach said. “To beat Real Madrid is always very gratifying and Athletic hadn’t beaten them in 11 matches.”
BAAA takes time out to give thanks to God FROM PAGE 12 in the mood to reflect and give thanks to God. “As a priority for me and the federation, I want to develop wholesome athletes, wholesome individuals, who represent the islands of the Bahamas,” he stressed. “I think we achieved that in this exercise.” With all that is going on with COVID-19 and the restrictions placed on sporting activities, not only in the country, but around the world, Archer said they want to remember that God is still in control. “I think we put a lot of emphasis on everything but God. So I just want the track and field community to come out here and remember that with God all things are possible,” he stated. “I don’t take that lightly. I think in track and field, it’s mind, body and soul. It’s that true essence of the sport. So I want to remind the athletes that as we continue to excel not only on the field of play, but in their classrooms as well, when they put God first, they can do all things.” Despite the restrictions of having to practice social distance,
ARNOLD JOSEY
RANDY MOSS
DRUMECO ARCHER
the BAAA has seen two meets come off successfully, starting with the Odd Distance Track Classic in December and the T-Bird Flyers Track Classic this past Saturday. Moving forward, it is anticipated that the BAAA will seek to stage at least one meet by their affiliated clubs per month up until May, including the possibility of the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association’s Championships that is still pending. “I don’t anticipate that there will be any disruption in the
competition, although the dates may shuffle a bit,” he said. “CARIFTA is expected to be much later, presumably in the summer period, so we will have to spread our competition out. “But I know there is an ongoing discussion we are having with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health with hosting the high school nationals, so we’re hoping that will come off as well,” he added. As for the two meets staged so far, Archer said he was very pleased with the performances
turned in, although there were not that many qualifiers. But he noted that because the season will be extended, they have athletes to prime at the right time to compete in any international meets being staged. “Although a lot of the performances that I saw were not CARIFTA qualifiers, I see that there is a lot of opportunity for growth,” he said. “So we are grateful to be able to give God thanks the past year and we look forward to this year with great expectations even though we are still dealing with the pandemic.”
While some of the throwers, who have already qualified for CARIFTA, improved on their performances, there were two performances from the T-Bird Flyers Classic that went unnoticed as the curtains came down on the one-day meet. In the open men’s 5,000 metres, the last event that took place on Saturday, Nathan Duncan of the T-Bird Flyers and Christopher Saintus from the 4D Stallions came through the finish line in 16 minutes and 00.26 seconds to surpass the under-20 boys’ qualifying standard of 16:05.60. The 2020 CARIFTA Games, which was postponed from last year because of the pandemic, is scheduled for Bermuda, but the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC), the regional body headed by Mike Sands, is looking at pushing the event to summer, rather than the regular Easter holiday weekend. The BAAA is also watching the development of the postponed 2020 Olympic Games. It was also postponed last year because of the pandemic and has been rescheduled for July 23 to August 8, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.