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HIGH 85ºF LOW 72ºF Volume:117 No.109, MAY 1, 2020

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Aid networks’ huge challenge to support families facing crisis By EARYEL BOWLEG ebowleg@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Feeding Network executive director Philip Smith fears 100,000 people in the country are now facing hunger in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Smith, along with other charitable groups and ministries collecting food parcels from the network, told The Tribune yesterday their organisations have seen an increase in demand for food. “There’s so many people now without a job,” Mr Smith said. “You know the Department of Statistics said that there were 43,000 persons that were affected

(by hunger). They did those statistics six years ago and that number, because of Hurricane Dorian, increased tremendously and now this. “So those 43,000 is probably at least 100,000 now I could imagine. People that are actually experiencing hunger or food insecurity and so definitely the demand has spiked tremendously.” The network cooked and distributed 6,000 meals prior to the pandemic, but has had to stop to adhere to social distancing measures. However, food parcels and gift cards are still available for distribution.

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis said yesterday it is “disgraceful” that two Americans were allowed entry to the country while Bahamians in some cases have been made to suffer in foreign countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Describing the decision as a “show of hypocrisy”,

challenge

COMEDY IN TIMES OF THE CORONAVIRUS

SEE PAGE EIGHT

HEALTH STAFF TESTS - JUST ONE INFECTED GIVEN recent decline in new COVID-19 cases, government officials are considering moving to the next stage for re-opening the country, one that would see a relaxation of exercise restrictions. Dr Merceline DahlRegis, co-ordinator of the government’s COVID19 task-force, revealed this during a press conference yesterday as officials announced just one additional confirmed COVID-19 case for a total of 81. SEE PAGE FOUR

‘USE BY’ DATE THREATENS BEER STOCKS

SEE PAGE THREE

Mr Davis said the country deserves an explanation as to why this was allowed. The two Americans, who are said to be residents of The Bahamas, were allowed to land in New Providence on Wednesday despite the closure of the country’s borders to commercial flights with incoming passengers, Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands confirmed yesterday. SEE PAGE FIVE

pages 8 - 9

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

WHY WAS US COUPLE ALLOWED TO FLY IN? By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

Pages 14 -15

Be your own muse

Local artist creates live pain ting

100,000 NEED HELP WITH FOOD

STROKE OF A PEN

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A VOLUNTEER for the Bahamas Feeding Network helping to pack parcels for distribution. The network’s executive director, Philip Smith, estimated that at least 100,000 are in need of help. Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

POLICE SHOOT DEAD MACHETE ATTACKER By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net A MAN who attempted to “chop” police with a machete was shot and killed by officers in Abaco on Wednesday night, officials said yesterday. According to a police report, shortly after 10pm on Wednesday, officers were responding to a dispute involving neighbours in the Dundas Town

ADRIAN WRIGHT community. “Upon their arrival, the officers were attacked by a

male armed with a machete who attempted to chop them,” police said. “The officers, being in fear for their lives, discharged their service weapons in the direction of the male, hitting and fatally wounding him. “Prior to the arrival, two people were injured and taken to hospital where they were later treated and discharged.” SEE PAGE SEVEN

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

A BAHAMIAN brewery and liquor distributor yesterday voiced fears that $500,000 worth of beer it is holding will soon go to waste due to the lockdown, adding: “Something’s got to give.” Gary Sands, the Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company’s general manager, told Tribune Business that the inability to sell beer and other inventory that will soon reach its expiry date was a problem facing the entire liquor industry and not just his firm. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

STANDSTILL LIFE BUT NOT FOR MOTHER NATURE

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Friday, May 1, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

1,500 FED AS HUNGER MOUNTS By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama civic leader Dudley Seide is helping to feed thousands of people affected during the COVID-19 shutdown that has left many unemployed and struggling to put food on the table. Some 1,500 persons turned up at the Reach Out Community Centre on Banyan Lane, Freeport, where they were fed a hot meal and given a grocery care package. Mr Seide met droves of people waiting outside the centre when he arrived around 7am. “I could not believe it when I came here today and saw all the people waiting for us. The Lord laid it on my heart four weeks ago to do this,” he said. Mr Seide made an appeal four weeks ago to people in the community to bring food and other items to the community centre for distribution to needy families. The response from local residents was overwhelming. He described it as like the miracle of the five loaves of bread and three fish. “What we have seen is a miracle – all of this

happened without the help of any major sponsors, just the community donating towards this cause,” he said. Mr Seide was able to distribute 500 pampers on the first day, and on the second day distributed grocery packages, including 700 bags of chicken. “This week we fed 1,000 people, and today alone we fed 1,500 persons who came here,” he added. Mr Seide thanked a local church and the Grand Bahama Disaster Relief Foundation for their assistance. “I also want to thank those folks who dropped off items. This is really a community effort, and I feel humbled that I am doing this. I know that I am only here as a vessel of God who is using me to do this work,” he said. Seide and his team of boys have also travelled into West End, Pinder’s Point, and Holmes Rock distributing groceries to families in West Grand Bahama. He explained that helping people is a “passion” for him because he knows what it is like going to be bed hungry. “I could remember not having anything to eat going to bed hungry, and

DUDLEY Seide and his team distributing food in Grand Bahama, above and right. having no lunch money when I was growing up. I know how people feel when they don’t have anything to eat. “It is a passion of mine to help (people) in this way. I feel good when I can feed a family,” Mr Seide said. According to Mr Seide, they have helped some 3,000 persons since they started. “It is amazing to see God work. It is a miracle,” he said. Mr Seide, and his wife, Katie, are the founders of Reach Out Ministries and Reach Out Community Centre, which assists the needy persons in the community. Mr Seide is also the founder of the Reach Out Youth Organization (ROYO), which mentors young men. Every year it hosts the Boy to Men Conference, which is one of the largest youth mentoring conferences for boys in Grand Bahama.

HOME BECOMES HELP CENTRE By STEPHEN TAYLOR

A KEMP Road home is turned into a centre for the needy by Apostle Laura Johnson Taylor.

FOR many residents in the poor areas of New Providence the current COVID crisis has just magnified the problems thrown at them in life. In normal times the worry of putting food on the table, a roof over the family’s head and paying the bills is a constant challenge. Many find help in their

church and charitable organisations who dig deep to help their brother and sister Bahamians in need. In the Kemp Road area one of these Good Samaritans has long been Apostle Laura Johnson Taylor who, supported by a raft of charitable organisations, has turned her home into a help centre for the needy - whether it’s a bag of food or household essentials. Laura even

sends out packages to help the need in the Family Islands. In the current crisis each Thursday around 60 people turn up for a hot meal and Sunday that number jumps to almost 200. As the crisis continues the numbers arriving for help keep on rising but they can rest assured so long as Laura and her supporters have the means to do so, help will be provided.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, May 1, 2020, PAGE 3

100,000 need help with food from page one Rosetta Minns, of Greater Chippingham Church of God, admitted it has been hard for the church ministry to try to deal with so many people looking for help. She said: “There are many people coming in young and the elderly. They want their rent paid, they want their light paid. They need food. They need (diapers) for their kids. They need milk. “... And you can’t just say no to some of them being in the ministry of being benevolent. You can’t say no because you don’t know who’s real and who’s not, so you just have to be grateful and just give to all.” Seeing 50 plus people ask for help twice a week, Ruby Darling from Ruby’s Kitchen has observed a change in the types of people seeking assistance as well. “They have been coming and there’s been no pride anymore,” she said. “The mask of pride has been taken off because people are in need and so whereas it was just the inner city (previously), you find out people have been coming from the periphery….. from the hills...” Thanks to a generous anonymous donor giving $100,000, the Bahamas Feeding Network was able to distribute about $75,000 worth of items yesterday. The parcels included corned beef, sugar, grits, rice, and canned fish. Mr Smith explained each parcel can feed a family of four for about a week. To prevent any overlapping and ensure accountability, those receiving the goods were required to fill out an application. On site helping with distribution was Roy Solomon from The

SOME of the food items being distributed by the Bahamas Feeding Network. Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff Alliance, a group of individuals working with organisations helping during the coronavirus pandemic, emphasising the importance of supporting others during this crisis. “We all have to get through this together and if we’re not here to help our brothers and sisters – what

are we doing? You know we need to get this economy up and running and we need to look after one another,” Mr Solomon said. Waiting to collect a parcel, Bishop Melanie Bodie from Miracle Deliverance Restoration Ministry expressed her gratitude for the organisation’s assistance to those in need.

“In all seasons, this ministry helps 24/7 – it touches lives. Those that are oppressed, those that are downtrodden. I mean just whatever they get – dinner, food, a bag of rice – whatever. It is important. . .I tell you it’s super and I am greatly (pleased) to be a part of this ministry,” Bishop Bodie said.

GoD

PAGE 4, Friday, May 1, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Health staff tests just one infected from page one The patient, according to Health Minister Dr Duane Sands, is a healthcare worker; the only one to test positive for the virus from among a group of healthcare workers who were tested after being potentially exposed to a patient

with the virus at Princess Margaret Hospital. The next phase of the country’s reopening, phase 1b, would see businesses allowed to provide goods and services through delivery and curbside pickup during weekdays, construction would be allowed Monday through Friday and home and hardware

stores, nurseries and auto part stores would be allowed to expand their services to five days. If the trend of few cases continues, Dr Dahl-Regis says a real examination of moving to phase two would then begin. Dr Sands said 1,284 tests have been performed to date, eight people are

currently hospitalised with COVID-19 and there are 45 active cases of the disease in the country. He said health officials are working with law enforcement and information technology experts to introduce technology to monitor people who should be complying with selfisolation and quarantine

requirements. She further said their investigation into Bimini continues, with more than 76 swabs collected in the past two days from that island. She said their findings will determine whether they embrace West Grand Bahama and Bimini MP Pakesia Parker-Edgecombe’s proposed plan to lockdown the island for two weeks. Meanwhile, Dr Nikkiah Forbes, infectious disease expert, said the country is looking to join clinical trials involving the antiviral drug Remdesivir, use of which has been proven successful elsewhere in the world. “To get this drug, one has to be through clinical trials,” she said. “We did apply to be considered for a clinical trial. We are getting information and are in the pre-enrolment phase. If we can enrol patients in the trial, we will consider using that drug and will have authorisation to do so.” Dr Sands, asked about recent decisions to re-open some businesses just as the country begins to flatten the epidemic curve of COVID-19, said finding the right balance has perplexed

countries throughout the world. “How do you strike a balance between addressing the challenge of COVID-19 and the everyday reality of people that have to eat, that have to live, that need medication, whose car might get a flat tyre, whose electrical system might require attention, who might need their clothes to be sorted and so on? We have sought to deliberately and slowly and oftentimes to great criticism, expand the scope and extent of businesses that are open.” Dr Dahl-Regis said officials are looking to enhance protocols for detecting COVID-19 throughout a number of units at PMHl. “(Testing) wouldn’t be hospital-wide but we’ve approached this unit by unit. The dialysis unit was the next grouping. We’ve looked at all the close contacts of patients and as testing permits we tested all of those and we are still awaiting the results. Given the last case we will have to embark on a systematic approach to unit by unit determining what the exposure might have been and where the contacts might have been.”

MINISTER of Health Dr Duane Sands

POTTER’S CAY: WHY LET RESTAURANTS OPEN BUT KEEP OUR STALLS CLOSED? By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net VENDORS at Potter’s Cay are calling for the government to allow them to resume their operations, saying it’s “unfair” that other restaurant operators have been allowed to stay open amid the COVID-19 pandemic while their businesses remain closed. Noting that vendors are just as “essential” as other restaurant workers, owner

of Tall Boy’s Conch Stall Dwain Bastian said it’s not right that other businesses are given preferential treatment. “All of Kentucky open, Burger King open, Wendy’s open, Bamboo Shack open but the small man can’t open,” he told The Tribune yesterday. “If those other restaurants could open and they have the same licence as we have, why can’t we open?” He added: “They make it seem like we can’t do

social distancing and we are stupid and illiterate people and that’s what you telling us…but a lot of us have good common sense and come from good old fashioned families so we needed to be treated equally. “If it could work the same way Kentucky working and Burger King working, we could do the same thing.” In March, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis ordered the closure of all non-essential businesses and public beaches, the Fish

BAHAMAS RENDEZVOUS AS SHIPS PREPARE TO REPATRIATE CREW NEARLY 20 Carnival Cruise Line ships will head to The Bahamas over the next several days as the final plans are put in place to sail nine of the ships to repatriate more than 10,000 healthy crew members who remain on board due to restrictions limiting air travel to Asia, Africa, Europe, India and Latin America, according to Seatrade Cruise News. “The ships have been at various US homeports provisioning and bunkering for their journeys.

Certain crew will join ships using water shuttles off the coast of the Bahamas. Once this is completed, nine ships will sail to their destinations with crew from North Americanbased ships on board,” the website reports. “The remaining nine ships will spend most of their time in anchorage positions in the Bahamas or Panama and eventually all ships will reduce their crew numbers to safe operational manning levels.” The website said

Carnival President Christine Duffy thanked the crew for their “hard work, patience and understanding during this process,” and acknowledged the government of the Bahamas for their support of this operation, as well as the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, US Coast Guard, US Customs and Border Protection and local port agencies. Returning crew have undergone health checks and have been cleared to travel, it was reported.

Fry at Arawak Cay and the stalls at Potter’s Cay in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. However, local restaurants and fast-food eateries were allowed to remain open for take-out and delivery. Dr Minnis has since relaxed restrictions for certain businesses, revealing several entities will be allowed to reopen, but only under certain guidelines. Mr Bastian said while he and his family are “fortunate” to have some sort of income during these hard times, there are many vendors who are struggling to find a morsel to eat. “We’re only making it now by the grace of God,” he said. “I’m a little bit more fortunate than the other vendors because I’m not just a businessman in terms of a small entrepreneur in a stall, I also have my little fishing boat even though they stole both of my diving gears and equipment, I could still keep my head above water. “But, a lot of those who depend on that day-today on Potter’s Cay, a lot of them hurting and some can’t even find food right now.” What makes matters worse, Mr Bastian said, is the fact that many vendors

still have not recovered financially from last year when police officers began enforcing a government policy, disallowing parking in front of stalls. The move upset vendors, who complained of reduced business. Due to that policy, manager of Archie’s Restaurant, Gregory Bowles said he and his wife have been struggling to keep up with their financial obligations for some time now. Now, with no income due to the COVID-19 restrictions, he said the family faces eviction from their apartment as they are several months behind in payments. “Right now, we ain’t managing because we’ve been out of work now,” he said. “We got an eviction notice from our apartment. We have to find a place to live now because ever since the parking policy came on, business has been almost like nothing. “We fell behind a few months on our rent just before this pandemic came on and we’re trying to catch up with the rent but then the pandemic came on and we got shut down completely so now there’s no type of income coming for us. “We were supposed to be out by today, but I’m asking

the landlord if he could give us until Monday so we can take our things out. It’s really rough. We’re not working.” Mr Bowles said he feels the government should allow dock vendors to re-open. “I don’t see why they shut us down because just before they shut us down completely, we were following the social distancing protocols because how we set up, we can operate as a take-away. “I see Wendy’s operating, I see Kentucky operating, the Chinese operating and we ride down Bain Town and East Street the other day and people selling clothes.” Meanwhile, Mr Bastian said if the government were to further relax restrictions, vendors would ensure that customers adhere to the social distancing deadlines. “We have a strategy put in place for that,” he said. “We don’t have to have a great amount of people piled up around the stalls so we could have that social distance, people could just take their orders. We don’t have to have no one come and sit down and dine in no restaurant, you understand. If it could work the same way Kentucky working and Burger King working, we could do the same thing.”

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, May 1, 2020, PAGE 5

Probe begins over patient snubbed for wearing his shoes By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands said yesterday a formal investigation is underway after a patient complained about being ordered to remove his shoes by a doctor before receiving treatment at Princess Margaret Hospital’s Dialysis Unit. The letter of complaint was sent to the Public Hospitals Authority by dialysis patient Marvin Johnson, accusing Dr Frederick Smith, head of nephrology at PMH, of aggressively refusing to give him treatment because he wouldn’t take off his shoes. Dr Smith said he was simply trying to enforce the unit’s policies in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to patients and staff. Asked if Dr Smith was just trying to enforce the rules, Dr Sands said, “That is most likely the situation, but when a concern is voiced it needs to be

investigated and a determination made if there is merit and so on. That is due process. “The process is not instantaneous or in a particular news cycle. Some very strong allegations have been made and posted on social media and printed in your newspaper, so it requires now that a proper and complete investigation be done to determine if there is merit, if so how much, what is the science, what is the appropriate approach, is there a compromise needed, but clearly this confrontation is not helpful.” Mr Johnson’s son, Giavano Bowe, raised the issue in the press and advised his father to write an official letter of complaint against Dr Smith to PHA. An excerpt from the letter of complaint reads: “Because of the statements made by Dr Smith, I am a patient placed in that position – in fear of losing my life. I do believe that Dr Frederick Smith, though being a private doctor has

been hired by the government and is being paid through the government by way of taxpayer’s dollars. And, as a taxpayer, it is his duty to facilitate all of my needs in regards to my health at all costs – not make me fearful of losing my life. To that end, it is evident that the oath has been broken by Dr Smith.” Yesterday, Dr Sands said “it’s always unfortunate when things get into a confrontation.” Dr Sands continued: “And, I think it’s really an issue of trying to look at the merits of any particular physician. There are policies and requirements to minimise several things like infection as well as damage to the equipment in the Dialysis Unit. These two things come together. “There have been adjustments made and put forward to the hospital and to the Executive Management Committee and once those policies are put in place the idea is to try to get as much compliance. Ultimately the hope

THE covered shoes that were reportedly rejected as sufficient, above, and, right, another patient wearing shoes. is that if there is strong opposition to it that a reasonable approach be made to try and get some resolution. So this is where we are.” Dr Sands said he is not going to get into any ‘he say, she say’ in the absence of a full and fair evaluation because he doesn’t want to get into trouble for listening to one side of the story.

WHY WAS US COUPLE ALLOWED TO FLY IN? from page one

LEADER of the Opposition Philip Davis. Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

His comment came after a local daily reported the news. Dr Sands said the Americans came on a cargo flight bringing donated COVID-19 tests and that he authorised their entry into the country. The decision has angered Bahamians at home and abroad as being unfair. Mr Davis said: “I had been admonishing the government not to abandon one of its primary and cardinal obligations to Bahamians. You can’t just leave your citizens in a strange land. “What we’ve seen today is a selective admission of persons who are able to come. This is what has characterised their conduct since our engagement began with this virus. It has always been selective. It appears to be rules for some and not for others and when you balance it all appears to be more beneficiary to a select few and not an ordinary Bahamian. “It just continues to expose the hypocrisy. “They are not governing for the Bahamian people.” He said as far as people

knew, provisions were being made for the return of citizens and residents, not that people were already being allowed in the country. “As far as we knew provisions were being made. What has espoused is they continue to use welcoming words, things that people want to hear but then it’s not truly actions, they say one thing but do something else. “A lot of students were calling and wanted to come home. The problem too is that their parents couldn’t go to a money transfer agency and send them money so they were left at the mercy of the benevolence of family or relatives. “It is truly disgraceful the way that the government has mistreated our people. I think this cries out for an explanation whether they want to give it or not. But again they say one thing, do another and so now they have to let the Bahamian people know what they are doing.” The two Americans were allowed to quarantine at home, Dr Sands has confirmed yesterday and officials are awaiting their COVID-19 test results. However, on Monday Prime Minister Dr Hubert

Minnis said officials were finalising details to ensure Bahamians stuck abroad are brought home. He said upon their return, Bahamian citizens would be kept in a designated quarantine facility guarded by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. At the time, Dr Minnis said some 200 Bahamians were seeking to return home. Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials have said that number has increased exponentially. A Bahamian woman, who was teaching English in Japan and has been stuck outside the country for one month, said she was not surprised that she, along with hundreds of others, is prohibited from returning home. Shakara Rolle said she left Japan in late March hoping to return home but has been unable to. However, she told The Tribune she was happy to not be between a rock and a hard place, and doing okay in Texas where she’s been held up for the past few weeks. Ms Rolle said the entire process has been frustrating since March 28. “I went from Japan to Hawaii, Hawaii to San Francisco then to Florida

and as soon as I got off that plane I was told by numerous family and friends that the borders would be closing that very day and then they followed up by saying to foreigners but not to citizens,” Ms Rolle said. She tried, without luck, to get information from the Office of the Prime Minister and the COVID-19 hotline. Calls made to the airport authority, she said, were also unsuccessful. Ms Rolle said she later booked a flight on Silver Airways at a cost of $388 from Florida to Grand Bahama but before she could catch that flight the decision was made that the country would be closed to all. “March 28 was the date of my flight and this whole process was annoying because I was trying to get a refund from Silver Airways and they are giving me the run around saying the flight did leave for Freeport and I am like how if you weren’t supposed to land in the Bahamas.” Asked her thoughts about the two Americans being allowed in on Wednesday, Ms Rolle said: “What would I expect from our government? I am not really surprised.”

SANDS: I MADE THE DECISION TO ALLOW AMERICANS INTO THE COUNTRY By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands defended his decision to allow two American permanent residents entry into the country and to quarantine at home, saying they brought muchneeded COVID-19 testing supplies. However, Dr Sands suggested he was blindsided by the Americans’ arrival on Bahamian soil, saying the tests were flown on a cargo flight and once in the country, the donors asked for permission to disembark. He said he made the decision to allow the two Americans to disembark, but later conceded if he had to do it again, some things might be done differently. Officials are awaiting the

Americans’ COVID-19 test results, he added. The Minnis administration came under fire for the decision yesterday because hundreds of Bahamians stuck abroad have been denied entry to the country. “The Ministry of Health was prepared to receive a donation of 2,500 double swab, diagnostic test kits on Wednesday from a private donor,” Dr Sands said. “The approach was for delivery of the cargo only. The whole world is aggressively competing for test kits. They are very hard to obtain. “As minister of health, I thought that this was a matter of urgency. We then received a last minute and unexpected request for the donors, who are permanent residents of The Bahamas and were traveling on the

same private plane, to disembark. The plane was here and we had to make an urgent decision. The plane was here to bring muchneeded donations. I made the decision to allow the couple to disembark. The pair were not displaying symptoms of COVID-19 upon their arrival and they were evaluated by a nurse of the airport public health surveillance unit. They were instructed to selfquarantine for 14 days and they were tested today for COVID-19. We are grateful for the donation of the test kits. We need to significantly increase testing to protect the Bahamian people’s health and save lives. The kits and swabs will be used to continue ramping up testing, including of nursing home personnel, prison workers and healthcare providers.”

Pressed on whether the entry of the residents was a quid-pro-quo, Dr Sands said there are exceptions to the government’s policies and there is unlikely to be a “free-for-all” with others returning to the country. Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has said once the government allows Bahamians stuck abroad to return home, they would have to quarantine at a designated facility which will be guarded by law enforcement. Yesterday, Dr Sands said not every returning resident will be forced into that facility. “I have tried to point out that there are some exceptions. If you have a child or you are a person who has recently come out of hospital, it is unlikely that person will be required to go into the quarantine

facility. Disabled people are not likely to go into such a facility. We would have outlined what transpired in this instance and a decision was made on the spot based on the totality of the information. We recognised the value of the swabs that were provided and I’m sure that entered into the totality of the ultimate decision made. Decisions are made on the spot. I take full responsibility for it. If we had to do it again perhaps we might have done a few things slightly differently. “The price of gaining access to the sovereign airspace of the Bahamas requires the approval of civil aviation, tourism, immigration, customs and ultimately health,” he said. “It is unlikely there will be a free for all. The prime minister would have

signalled a plan for us to begin the process of bringing our people home. We understand that there (is) significant hardship, people who have undergone surgery, people who find themselves in places they no longer wish to be. We will make it happen. It is a process and that process requires that we look at a number of things: how, when and where?” Through his emergency order, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis closed the country’s borders on March 27, allowing only flights out of the country. Under the order, Bahamians, permanent residents and visitors are denied entry to the country. This prohibition does not apply to outgoing flights, cargo, commercial courier, and emergency medical evacuation flights.

PAGE 4, Friday, May 1, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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The other battle - against hunger ONE in four people in The Bahamas may now be facing hunger. That’s the stark reality of the impact of the coronavirus on the country. Bahamas Feeding Network executive director Philip Smith fears as many as 100,000 people are now worrying about where their next meal will be coming from – and given the network’s experience in helping people in need, that’s an opinion to be taken seriously. After all, with people already in poverty now being added to by the huge number of newly unemployed as businesses have shut down their operations, it is no surprise. When the money dries up, how can you pay for food? And rent. And power. And water. Over in Grand Bahama, when Dudley Seide arrived at a community centre to prepare food and care packages, people had already been waiting outside since 7am. A total of 1,500 people were fed at the centre. Seeing our nation at its lowest ebb has brought out the best in helpers, doing all they can to make sure people manage through this. Of course, what will help out most is when the nation can reopen and go back to business. People can go back to jobs, earn their own money, pay their own way. There are of course calls to reopen sooner rather than later – and one only has to look across at the US and some of the protests of the lockdown there to see how widespread dissent is. The nightmare however would be starting again too soon. Let’s be clear – no matter what we do, a large sector of our economy depends on money coming in from visitors, and those trips aren’t starting again in a hurry, and we won’t be high on the list of places to visit if we haven’t already defeated the virus here. The choice is not between fighting the virus and restarting the economy – it’s ensuring that we don’t have both a healthcare battle and an economic battle all at once. The nightmare would be opening again only for the virus to force us to shut down all over again. For now, we must help those in the greatest need. Those who are struggling to pay for food. Those who need a helping hand from their Bahamian brothers and sisters. In one day yesterday, the Bahamas Feeding Network distributed $75,000 worth of items – with parcels containing enough food to feed a family of four for about a week. That was funded thanks to an anonymous donor who gave $100,000 – whoever that donor was, we thank you.

To others, who might be lucky enough not to worry where their next meal is coming from, your donations will be greatly welcomed. To the government, we urge you to redouble your efforts to ensure people are fed. MPs, use your constituency funds to help out those in your community. Political parties, urge your donors to put their money where your voters’ mouths are. This is a long battle, and we are only just starting to see its effects.

A tough choice

The story of two Americans being allowed to enter The Bahamas is a curious one. A flight arrived bringing COVID-19 testing supplies – but once in the country, the two Americans on board asked for permission to disembark. Caught on the hop, Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands gave his approval. There clearly seems to have been some weighing of the situation – the need for test kits against the fact of allowing people into the country when the borders are closed. There’s an old saying about the need to bring about the greatest amount of good for the greatest number. Clearly, there is good for the Bahamian people in obtaining these test kits. However, Dr Sands seems to have been put in a bad position by the donors and tried to find the best way out with not a lot of time to think it through. The looks are bad, of course – two well-off arrivals circumventing the rules at least in part because they showed up with a donation. But had Dr Sands said no and turned away both arrivals and test kits, would that be better? The arrivals should not have placed Dr Sands in such a position – it would have been very easy to ask beforehand rather than force the decision when they got here. We believe there was no easy choice for Dr Sands. Credit to him for taking the responsibility, but even he admits he might have done things differently if he were to do it again. By taking it on his shoulders, he leaves it to others to decide if he did the right thing, and that’s as straight an answer as there should always be from politicians. One question though - what do we do if the same thing happens again? Let’s have our answer ready now rather than be caught in the moment. And as for Bahamians abroad wondering why they can’t come home when Americans can fly in? Let’s bring them home too.

We must innovate EDITOR, The Tribune. “INNOVATION is the ability to see change as an opportunity, not a threat” – Steve Jobs. Change is inevitable for us to progress as a nation. We must first begin to steer away from the outdated mentalities that have left us stagnant and shift to a mentality that requires us to take immediate action. We must be doers and not talkers, often people talk about what situation they should’ve been in or what the government is doing wrong but the best way to see a change is to be the change. We must find it within us to strive to better ourselves and our country. We must also appreciate what we already possess in order to truly identify what we don’t have. This is how we can enable ourselves to find the best solutions. They say that the future is bright but you can’t see it with your back turned. We often hear people saying

they miss “the old days” and how things used to be, but the past is nothing to dwell on, yet we should use it as a lesson and see how we can learn from it to create a better future. Staying stuck in the past while in a world that is constantly evolving will only cause us to stay behind as a nation. The islands of The Bahamas hold so much untapped potential that is waiting for us to not only see it...but to take action. Another step towards an innovative Bahamas is to diversify our economy; To diversify our country we must reform the educational system. We cannot have an agricultural industry without farmers, we cannot be a tech hub without technicians and we cannot have those professionals without the proper education. Albert Einstein once said: “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” We can’t expect the youth to want to take interest in

other fields if there aren’t any proper educational platforms that allow them to explore different industries. Also, they may not want to explore different fields if they grow up thinking that being a doctor or lawyer is the only way to success. To bring diversity to the economy we must first introduce it into our curriculum. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” - Albert Einstein. Change is a key component of innovation. Moving our country forward has to be a joint effort between the government and the people. It is the government’s job to teach the people how to fish, but they cannot make the people go fishing. We have to take it upon ourselves to help the country move forward together and it is up to us to “Believe in The Bahamas”. BRYANT LOWE Nassau, April 28, 2020

Let your light shine EDITOR, The Tribune. COVID-19 is a new coronavirus that has spawned a global health crisis and economic collapse. In order to survive, move forward and thrive we must unleash the creativity and resilience of the Bahamian people. Let us work together to stop the virus and rebuild The Bahamas. The new coronavirus is contagious and potentially fatal. Although we currently do not have a cure, the virus is an important reminder that cleanliness and personal hygiene are essential to prevent the spread of diseases. Simple acts like washing our hands and face can prevent COVID-19 from spreading. To promote cleanliness and build sustainable businesses, Bahamians can use their knowledge and creativity to make organic soaps, hand sanitizers, moisturizers and other products. Chemical-free hand sanitizers can be provided in dispensers located at the entrance and exit of stores, offices, restaurants, hotels, airports, police stations and other areas. Dispensers should be touchless to prevent the spread of diseases, and they should be made of durable, non-toxic materials so we reduce the amount of plastic waste in the environment. Wearing protective face masks also prevents COVID-19 from spreading. Due to a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), Bahamians can use their talent to make protective face masks. They should be comfortable, washable, and made with non-toxic materials proven to prevent viruses, bacteria and other toxins from passing through the mask. Protective garments and shoe covers should also be made for healthcare workers. Reports indicate that COVID-19 has been found in the eyes. Bahamians can use their skills to make protective face shields for healthcare workers and first responders. Protective

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net shields can also be made and placed at service and check-out counters to protect workers and customers. Overall cleanliness and unity in The Bahamas can be achieved by creating fun community challenges that inspire everyone to keep their home, office, property and surrounding area clean. Mow the grass, trim the hedges, remove debris and add a fresh coat of paint. Also donate items no longer needed so they can be enjoyed by others. These simple practices will create a beautiful and safe environment for everyone; instill cleanliness, discipline, pride and generosity into our culture; and build communities better equipped to provide a support system for the elderly, homeless, disabled and victims of abuse. COVID-19 highlights the necessity to be selfsufficient and lead a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. Long lines at food stores, potential food shortages and a lack of money are a wake-up call to create organic gardens and farms. By cultivating and appreciating the delicious and nutritious Bahamian fruits, vegetables and herbs, as well as utilizing the magical and natural healing power of “bush medicine,” Bahamians will be healthier and more self-reliant. Food, as well as Bahamian cookbooks, can be sold at local farmers markets, restaurants and many other locations. Uncertainty and illness resulting from COVID19 remind us that we must increase the flow of oxygen to our body, balance our immune system, exercise and reduce stress. We can do this by practising easy breathing exercises, walking on the beach and swimming in the incredible ocean that embraces the shores of every Bahamian island.

The current health and economic crisis forces us to reevaluate the direction of our lives. In the process it provides an opportunity to discover, enjoy and promote Bahamian talent and The Bahamas. So draw, paint and teach others. Write a poem, song, short story or book. Play an instrument, sing and dance. Let’s show the world the style and rhythm of Bahamian musicians, the police band, school and church choirs, Junkanoo … and how we can rake, scrape and shake our Bahamian boongies! Athletes, trainers and sponsors can have a positive impact on the future of The Bahamas by creating a roadmap which encourages and helps others to be involved in sports instead of drugs and destructive habits. Athletes can share short videos of their favorite workouts, stretches and breathing exercises. They can also discuss ways to stay inspired and overcome challenges. Through sports Bahamians can enhance their physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being. The coronavirus has resulted in the closure of schools. It is critical that educational providers at all levels pool their knowledge, resources and talent so that Bahamian children can continue to learn, dream and grow. Encourage them to express their concerns and their ideas. Proud, happy, well-educated children with high standards and values are the future of The Bahamas. COVID-19 and the economic collapse have turned our lives upside down and inside out. But if we open our hearts and minds, unleash Bahamian talent, create a sustainable plan and work together, we will grow stronger and overcome the obstacles in front of us. Let your light shine. FORWARD, UPWARD, ONWARD, TOGETHER USA, April 29, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, May 1, 2020, PAGE 7

Police shoot dead machete attacker

from page one Police did not release the victim’s identity. However, he has been identified by friends and family members as 42-year-old Adrian Wright. A close relative conceded that Wright had “challenges”, but still remembered him as a loving person. The relative said: “Everyone has their challenges and Adrian certainly has his share, but despite the challenges, he was a loving, caring person who respected his elders. He was hardworking and would help anyone in need. “He was not eloquent with words as some may be, but he used his actions to express how he felt… We are torn apart at this tragedy and will try to pick up the pieces as the way he died was no way to go. But, we want the world to know he was loved.” The Tribune understands that Wright, who

is originally from New Providence, had recently relocated to Abaco to find work on the island to assist with the rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Dorian. “(Wright’s) roommate brought him here to Abaco to get some work…These guys have been fixing my roof and house after the hurricane and they just stuffed my roof before this COVID-19 came up,” said Dundas Town resident, Cay Mills. “So, I know them personally.” Noting that residents are still healing from the trauma of Dorian, Mr Mills said the incident has left some members in the tight-knit community in shock. He said: “My friend that was there, his mother is 89-years-old and that disturbed her so much (she said) her heart rate sped up because she was close to seeing it and she heard the gunshots and then she heard that someone got killed. “She said she couldn’t

sleep all night.” Mr Mills said the incident has also heightened the level of fear and distrust towards police on the island. He said: “People in Abaco have been afraid of police since the hurricane because they’ve been treating Abaco bad.” He claimed there have been other confrontations with police and people on Abaco recently. “How is that going to ease the community and people trust in police, no matter what the problem is? We ain’t used to people getting killed,” he said. After Hurricane Dorian in early September, the government deployed a number of law enforcement officers to Abaco to address the safety concerns on the island. However, in recent weeks, residents have been complaining about the officers abusing their rights and using harsh tactics to intimidate locals. The issue resurfaced yesterday following Wright’s

GOING OUT FOR A DRINK COSTS WOMAN $500 By FARRAH JOHNSON fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN who told police she violated the national curfew because she lost track of time while out drinking was fined $500 yesterday. She was among several people who appeared before Magistrate Andrew Forbes for curfew and lockdown infractions. Keva Rolle, 22, was charged after officers found her on East Street South around 11.05pm on April 28. She pleaded guilty and was fined $500. Failure to pay the fine would result in Rolle spending three months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. Rolle was charged with Ted Stevens, 53, who also pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $500 or three months in prison. Prosecutor Samatha Miah told the court that during a record of interview with police, Stevens told the officers he was outside during the curfew because he was heading home after visiting his ill mother-in-law. However, Sgt Miah said during her interview, Rolle, a passenger in Stevens’ car, told officers they had just come from drinking under the dock and had lost track of time. As a result, both defendants were cautioned and charged. Meanwhile, Roscoe Armbrister, 19, and a 16-year-old relative were also charged after officers found them on

Baillou Hill Road around 11.50pm on April 26. The two pleaded guilty to the charge and were each fined $500 or three months at the BDCS. Sgt Miah said at the time of their arrest, both boys said they were walking from the Big Pond area to get a soda. During the hearing, Magistrate Forbes told the defendants they had an obligation to remain in their own homes while the emergency orders were in effect. He explained that walking around the corner to get a soda meant that the boys were found outside the boundaries of their yard and told them that it automatically made them in violation of the law. Aleesia Kelly, 30, was also charged after officers found her in the Carmichael Road area around 2.45pm on April 12. The country was under a five-day lockdown at the time. She pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $500 or three months in prison. Kelly was also charged with disorderly behaviour, resisting arrest and assaulting two police officers. She denied those charges and the matter was adjourned to October 21 for trial. Kelly was granted $500 bail in the interim. Officers found 26-yearold Carlin Smith on Robinson Road around 9.20pm on April 24. He pleaded guilty to the curfew violation and was fined $500 or three months in prison. Clyde Bethel, 27,

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was charged after officers found him on Robinson Road around 11.55pm on April 24. He also pleaded guilty and was given a $500 fine or three months at the BDCS. Leon Saunders, 26, was charged after officers found him on Palmetto Avenue around 8.55pm on April 25. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $500 or three months in prison. Sgt Miah said during his record of interview, Saunders told officers that he came out of his house to get a soda because he didn’t get a chance to go to the store.

death, with some people even calling for the immediate removal of non-local officers. In fact, one Abaconian wrote on Facebook yesterday: “We never had all these police involved incidents . . .They making Abaconions look like criminals, but we don’t do like that over here. From they start doing these swift rotations with officers it’s been hell. Please send our old officers back.” Wright’s death marks the fifth police-involved killing for the year, according to this newspaper’s records. However, it is the first to have transpired on a Family Island. In March, police shot and killed Cedric Thompson, 75, after he allegedly pointed a gun at an officer at the Fox Hill Police Station. Thompson was at the station as part of his bail conditions for a grievous harm matter, according to previous reports. Police said Wednesday’s matter will be handed over to the coroner for further investigation.

ADRIAN WRIGHT

THREE YEARS IN JAIL FOR BREAKING INTO BUILDINGS By FARRAH JOHNSON fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

AN Exuma man was sentenced to three years in prison for breaking into two government buildings and several restaurants between January and April of this year. Kejanno Morley, 21, appeared before Magistrate Andrew Forbes charged with nine counts of shop breaking, five counts of stealing and one count of receiving. He pleaded guilty to all of the charges and was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services for three years for each count of shop breaking and stealing, which were ordered to run concurrently. According to the facts, Morley, a George Town native, broke into a cottage at Exuma Beach Resort on April 20 with the intent to steal. He also broke into a villa at the same resort a day later. Morley was also accused

of breaking into the Wonderation Restaurant and Bar between April 16 and 19 and stealing $710 worth of goods from Latroy Wright. It is alleged he also broke into the Krusty Krab Restaurant and Bar between April 17 and 20 and dishonestly received three cans of orange juice, one bottle of Jimmy Dean whiskey and one gallon of mayonnaise which belonged to Triphene and Anthrum Smith. Morley was also charged with breaking into Charlie’s Karaoke Bar and Restaurant between April 17 and 18 and breaking into the Ministry of Tourism’s office and stealing $40, one bottle of Kalik Gold and two large towels - all valued at $104 between April 3 and 6. The prosecutor said Morley broke into the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) tech office and stole $726 worth of products within that same timeframe. Morley was further accused of breaking into the Ministry of Education’s

office between March 23 and 24 and stealing an iPhone charger, 27 granola bars and an assortment of Bluebird juices. It is also alleged he broke into St Andrew’s Anglican School and stole a $60 bottle of cologne from Leon Mars between January 7 and 8. When given an opportunity to speak during the hearing, Morley told Magistrate Forbes that he had “only broken into all those places” for alcohol. He claimed the boys he “hung out with” were always complaining there was no rum, so he decided to go out at night and get some. In response, Magistrate Forbes told Morley he did not understand his logic and said he hoped his time in prison would give him an opportunity to reflect on his actions. Magistrate Forbes also told Morley he would make a recommendation to the commissioner of corrections for him to take up a trade while he is incarcerated to become more enlightened.

PAGE 8, Friday, May 1, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

STORM clouds and rain off Montagu yesterday - as Mother Nature carries on regardless of lockdowns and viruses.

Life at a standstill - but not for Mother Nature THERE is nothing normal about the new normal, and that might be a very good thing. Not in all ways, of course, but maybe in some ways and maybe, just maybe some of those are worth stopping a moment for, thinking about and yes, appreciating. If we look around, we see a lot of good in the new normal. While mothers all over struggle to become teachers as well as cooks and wage earners, one mother in The Bahamas has gone out of her way to make our lives special during this time. Mother Nature has showered us with days of balmy breezes. She has given us, without our even asking for it, brilliant sunrises and sunsets so fierce in salmon, reds and pinks that a cell phone camera cannot capture them. While we are in lockdown Mother Nature has exploded with energy. Think about this. If we were rushing to work and worried about the traffic jam, would we have noticed that the yellow elder and the poi-poi trees all bloomed within three days of each other last week? Maybe when I was rushing before, I did not notice their bursts of bright yellow and delicate pink at the same time or maybe they rushed out their majestic outstretched arms laden with soft jewelry as compensation. In the alternate routine of the new norm we see a dazzling display whose raw beauty chokes us up. We let our imagination wander, and we wonder, did an artist look at a clear blue sky and say ‘I can make it even prettier’ and draw a hologram of yellow and pink

By Diane Phillips

PRACTISE WHAT YOU PREACH IN the do as I say, not as I do category, the winner this week has to be the government of The Bahamas, though intentions were well-meaning. When Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said these words in his Monday address to the House of Assembly: “We are in a new era…We have to enhance the use of digital technologies and delivery services,” did he not realize that the private sector has been working in the digital space with great success and is increasing its digital capacity all the time while government still wants you to show your face? Nowhere is the dichotomy between the two worlds of the future and past more obvious than National Insurance (NIB). Headed by one of the brightest minds in the country, NIB has one foot in the digital age and a whole boot in antiquity. Bravo for the digital wallet concept, allowing even those without a bank account to receive and use funds. Contrast that with an artefact from days gone by, the need to appear in person to make sure you are alive and someone else is not trying to collect your benefits when your ashes are on the mantel or your body six feet underground. Why, in this era, could pensioners, those with disabilities and others receiving recurrent benefits not use Skype, Zoom or live video chat on WhatsApp, holding their

FORMER Police flowers upon Commissioner Ellison nature the azure canvas. Greenslade sharing we just Mother Nature a photograph of a don’t has sent us more White Crowned piunderbirds than ever, birds geon in locked down stand,” Nassau yesterday. whose flight we can says follow with our eyes Pericles as they search for berMaillis, ries in the trees and whose a man whose songs we can hear now that knowledge of trees would there are fewer cars on the fill a wikiBahama-pedia. road. Trees, flowers, bloom, “It’s part climate, part birds, the beauty all around genetic and the rest is up to us seems enhanced, the the Lord.” Despite a near timing advanced. wipe-out last year, and a “There are clocks of worrying shortage of rain,

the Maillis farm in New Providence and another farmer’s in North Eleuthera are both bursting with thousands of mangoes in their trees. Apple trees and guava bushes are loaded with fruit. The lockdown has brought other benefits. We are learning to work productively remotely. We miss our friends, colleagues and associates but not the need to wear stockings. On a personal basis my underwear drawer has never been neater, nor my insurance files better organised. I am waiting to find time to

passport and looking into the lens? To the best of my knowledge, though I have never seen it tried, it’s pretty hard for a dead person to WhatsApp you and carry on a good conversation. As for knowing who is dead, all NIB, has to do is require all funeral homes, hospitals and morgues to submit a weekly list of the newly deceased. All one heck of a lot easier to learn who died than to make the elderly and physically challenged traipse to NIB twice a year, wait until their name is called and ‘show their face.’ A national register of deaths may sound morbid but BTC, which continues to print a phone book, might just be willing to pay a few dollars for it and clean up some of the dead folks who apparently still have working phones. If the Rotary Club of East Nassau can have more than 100 on a Zoom meeting as it has a few times since the lockdown and is expecting closer to 500 from as far away as Africa for its weekly meeting today, surely government departments that are lagging behind can make the leap from antiquated practices to the digital age with the help of a smart device you can hold in your hand. It’s not so difficult to move from good intentions to good practices, especially when leadership at the highest level and at NIB are techsavvy and get it.

learn new things like many people already are. There may not be a lot of glamour in cooking, scrubbing bathrooms or much else of what I do when not at my home desk, but I find that I am better able to focus on one task at a time until it is completed. None of this is meant to downplay the reality of an economy in freefall and what it will take to recover. But if having more time to appreciate the simple things, to spend with family, and to be creative helps to compensate, we need to

appreciate both sides of the absence of normal. There will be discoveries and inventions during this time. I have no doubt of that. I just wish that I had the know-how to invent a mini orbital sander that could fit into tiny spaces. Since I don’t have the workshop to test motors and put together a new power tool, maybe someone will do it for me and I’ll just go back outside, look up at the trees and listen to the songs of the birds. One thing at a time. The upside of a downtime.

Comedy in times of the coronavirus THIS coming May 10th, Lord spare my life, will be my 22nd year as ‘House Comic’ at the Jokers Wild Comedy Club, and as a professional stand up comedian, both locally and internationally. To God be the glory. Sadly, I, like so many of my fellow stand up comedians, (people who I consider brothers and sisters, in the stand up comedy fraternity) have no place to perform and earn a living. Don’t get me wrong, the time with my family is priceless and I cherish every moment I spend with them during the quarantine, curfew and lockdown. I’m finally getting to make up for nights spent performing at Jokers Wild over the past twenty-one years. However, after five weeks of lockdown writing coronavirus material, and not being able to perform and work on it live on stage, has got me antsy, like a cat on a hot tin roof. So before I do a live show on Zoom, I decided to give you my loyal readers a private show in this week’s

A Comic’s View

By INIGO ‘NAUGHTY’ ZENICAZELAYA

column, and I’m quite sure based on some of your comments to some of my previous columns, you all will let me know, what to keep in my repertoire, and what to discard.

DISCLAIMER Now before you read any further, please bear in mind the golden rule of comedy, which is “What makes you laugh, also makes you cry, and what makes you cry, also makes you laugh”. It’s just comedy, don’t get your ‘undies’ in a bunch! So jump on in and get your laugh on.

DOMESTIC If Minnis causes me to

be locked down with my wife and kids, for one more weekend, it wasn’t corona that killed me! Dear Diary, day 13 without sports. Found a lady sitting on my couch today, apparently she is my wife. She seems nice. How come the liquor stores don’t have empty shelves? Doesn’t the government understand that people will be quarantined with their spouses and kids?

HOARDING AND PANIC PURCHASING To the people who bought all of the hand sanitizer and soap, leaving none on the shelves for others, you do realise that to stop

getting Coronavirus, you need other people washing their hands too. My body has absorbed so much soap and disinfectant lately, now when I pee I clean the toilet. Back in the day the only time we started panic buying was when the bartender yelled “last call” at Waterloo. Ok, so if the Corona Virus isn’t about beer, why do I keep hearing about cases of it?

SCIENCE AND THE CHINA CONNECTION Ah the irony - When the Year Of The Rat starts with a plague. Don’t worry, the coronavirus won’t last long... it was made in China. Chinese doctors have confirmed the name of the first person to contract coronavirus. His name is Ah-Chu. The science community has figured out that the spread of Coronavirus is based solely on two things.

1. How dense the population is 2. How dense the population is People with a cold - “I just want to stay in bed and do nothing, I feel terrible” People with coronavirus - “I feel terrible, I think I will go skiing in Austria, visit the Eiffel Tower and maybe do some white water rafting in Camino de Santiago.” With all this talk of coronavirus, the people who make sanitising gel are rubbing their hands together.

SOCIAL DISTANCING The coronavirus has achieved what no female has every been able to achieve. It has cancelled sports, closed all bars and kept all guys at home! Social distancing rule: If you can smell their fart, move further apart. Thinking a mask is going to stop Covid-19 is the same as thinking that your underpants will protect everyone from a fart. Before coronavirus, I

used to cough to cover a fart, now I fart to cover a cough. They said that a mask and gloves were enough to go to the supermarket. They lied, everyone else has clothes on. I sneezed in the bank today, it was the most attention I have received from the staff in the last ten years. Having trouble staying at home? Shave your eyebrows off.

LAUGH NOW CRY LATER I know it’s tough to stay positive when coronavirus deaths continue en mass globally and entire nations go on lockdown. However, no matter how hard it gets, there’s always a cold weapon known as a sense of humour. So, even though it’s difficult to be positive during these difficult times, let’s try to keep a smile on our faces and a bit of laughter in the air. After all, what other options do we have?

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, May 1, 2020, PAGE 9

BAHAMAS IMAGE VOTED BEST TAKEN FROM SPACE

A STUNNING photo of The Bahamas taken from space has been voted as NASA’s all-time best image. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, NASA asked the public to choose its best image. After 56,000 votes and five rounds, Ocean Sand, The

Bahamas, was crowned the winner of Tournament Earth, NASA announced on its Instagram account this week. While the image resembles “a new age painting straight out of an art gallery in Venice Beach, California”, NASA explains that it is a satellite

image of the sands and seaweed in The Bahamas. “The image was taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) instrument aboard the Landsat 7 satellite,” NASA said. “Tides and ocean currents in The

Bahamas sculpted the sand and seaweed beds into these multicoloured, fluted patterns in much the same way that winds sculpted the vast sand dunes in the Sahara Desert.” Visit earthobservatory.nasa.gov for more spectacular images of the planet.⁣

Armed activists protest US stay-at-home orders

MAN FIRES ON CUBAN EMBASSY WITH RIFLE

LANSING, Michigan Associated Press

A MAN armed with an assault rifle was arrested after opening fire outside the Cuban Embassy in Washington early Thursday, his bullets tearing holes into the walls and pillars near the front entrance in what authorities suspect was a hate crime. The gunfire broke out around 2am outside the embassy in northwest Washington. Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to the scene after neighbours reported hearing gunshots, authorities said. No injuries were reported. Officers found the man, Alexander Alazo, 42, of Aubrey, Texas, armed with an assault rifle, and they and took him into custody without incident, police said. A police report obtained by The Associated Press describes the shooting as a “suspected hate crime” and says Alazo “knowingly discharged multiple rounds from an AK-47 rifle into the Cuban Embassy”. But the report also says Alazo’s motivation is unknown. Officers recovered the

THE Republican-led Michigan House refused yesterday to extend the state’s coronavirus emergency declaration and voted to authorise a lawsuit challenging Democratic Gov Gretchen Whitmer’s authority and actions to combat the pandemic. The step came as hundreds of conservative activists, including some who were openly carrying guns, returned to the Capitol to denounce her stayat-home order. Whitmer wanted lawmakers to extend her emergency declaration by 28 days. But at the same time, she believes she has other powers to respond to the crisis and does not need a legislatively-approved extension except to ensure that health care workers would continue to have special legal protections. She has said the state of emergency will continue regardless. The declaration is the foundation for Whitmer’s stay-at-home measure, which will remain in effect through May 15, and other directives aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. It has infected more than 41,000 Michigan residents and contributed to the deaths of 3,789. The virus and the steps taken to curb it, including the closure of nonessential businesses, have had a devastating effect on the economy. The House voted 59-41, along party lines, for a bill that would temporarily codify many of Whitmer’s orders but not her stay-at-home directive. Restaurants could begin dine-in service on May 16, when bars, casinos, gyms and other places of public accommodations also could reopen. Businesses open to the public would have to adhere to social distancing and other mitigation measures until

MEMBERS of the Michigan Liberty Militia join protesters at a rally at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, yesterday. Photo: Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP May 30. The state Senate remained • Egged on by President Jair Bolin session to consider the legislation sonaro, who has routinely scoffed despite a certain veto by Whitmer. at both the virus and stay-at-home House Speaker Lee Chatfield, a policies, Brazilians are heeding his Levering Republican, said the death call for revolt. Support for isolation toll is “terrible”, but other lives have is faltering, particularly among the been “negatively impacted unnec- wealthy, and more people are milling essarily because of how we have and mixing. From the sun-worshipers handled this pandemic. We believe we to the Instagram influencers and you can prioritise public health yet be pro-Bolsonaro protesters, denial is reasonable in your approach to fight- spreading and quarantine is coming ing COVID.” apart. But, unlike other countries Outside the Capitol, speakers took looking to ease restrictions, Latin turns addressing a crowd on the lawn. America’s largest nation is still weeks Protesters’ placards read, “Shut from the peak in its viral curve. down the lockdown,” “No work Bolsonaro referred to the coronavino freedom,” and “Tyrants get the rus as “a little flu” and said his history rope.” Some people wore the “Don’t as an athlete would protect him. Tread On Me” flag as a cape. Others Since then, he has doubled down chanted, “Lock her up,” in reference time and again, saying only high-risk to the governor. Some wore Presi- Brazilians need to be isolated, even as dent Donald Trump’s “Make America the official count of cases rockets past Great Again” hats or carried signs 85,000 and deaths surpass 5,900 — more supporting him. than the amount suffered by China.

US INTEL SAYS VIRUS NOT MANMADE WASHINGTON Associated Press

US INTELLIGENCE agencies are debunking a conspiracy theory, saying they have concluded that the new coronavirus was “not manmade or genetically modified”. But they say they are still examining a notion put forward by the president and aides that the pandemic may have resulted from an accident at a Chinese lab. The statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the clearing house for the web of US spy agencies, comes as President Donald Trump and his allies have touted the as-yet-unproven theory that an infectious disease lab in Wuhan, the epicentre of the

Chinese outbreak, was the source of the global pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 people worldwide. In recent days the Trump administration has sharpened its rhetoric on China, accusing the geopolitical foe and vital trading partner of failing to act swiftly enough to sound the alarm about the outbreak or to stop the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. US officials have said the Chinese government should “pay a price” for its handling of the pandemic. The new statement says, “The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified.” “The IC will continue to rigorously

examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.” Trump yesterday again blamed China. “We just got hit by a vicious virus that should never have been allowed to escape China,” he said during an Oval Office meeting with New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy. Earlier this month, Trump addressed the lab theory saying, “More and more, we’re hearing the story.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added at the time, “The mere fact that we don’t know the answers — that China hasn’t shared the answers — I think is very, very telling.”

WASHINGTON Associated Press

rifle, ammunition and a white powdery substance that was found in a small baggie after Alazo’s arrest, according to the report. Alazo was arrested on charges of possessing an unregistered firearm and ammunition, assault with intent to kill and possessing a high-capacity magazine, a US Secret Service spokeswoman said. Alazo remained in custody Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had a lawyer. Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that embassy staff members were “safe and protected” but that the shooting caused “material damage” to the building. Photos showed large holes left in the building’s facade near the front door and in pillars outside the building. The Cuban government didn’t know the suspect’s potential motives, the statement said, adding that the State Department was aware of the incident. “It is the obligation of States to adopt appropriate steps to protect the premises of diplomatic missions accredited to their country,” the statement said.

WAYWARD HARRISON FORD WRONGLY CROSSES RUNWAY HARRISON Ford was piloting a plane that wrongly crossed a runway where another plane was landing, and federal authorities are investigating, officials and a representative for the actor said on Wednesday. Ford was at the controls of a small plane last Friday at Hawthorne Airport in the Los Angeles area when, according to a statement released by Ford’s publicist, he crossed the runway after mishearing an instruction from air traffic control. “He immediately acknowledged the mistake and apologised to ATC for the error,” according to the statement from publicist Ina Treciokas. “No one was injured and there was never any danger of a collision.” It was the latest of several similar incidents over the years for the 77-yearold actor, who collects and

frequently flies planes and helicopters. Most recently, he flew low over an airliner with 116 people aboard moments before mistakenly landing on a taxiway at another Southern California airport in 2017. Without naming Ford, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that a two-seat Aviat Husky plane crossed the runway while another aircraft was performing a touch-and-go landing just over a half-mile away. Ford’s statement says the purpose of his flight was “to maintain currency and proficiency in the aircraft”. In 2015, Ford was injured when he crashed his World War II-era plane on a Los Angeles golf course after engine failure. Federal investigators found that Ford was not at fault for the crash, which was entirely mechanical.

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MORE RUSSIAN DOPING CASES IN PIPELINE AS INVESTIGATION ENDS MONTREAL (AP) — Russian sports could face a new wave of doping charges after the World AntiDoping Agency said yesterday it completed its investigation of a vast trove of evidence on nearly 300 athletes, with nearly half the files showing signs of manipulation. WADA dug through a computer archive it obtained last year from the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, where past doping cases were covered up. Of the 298 athletes investigated, WADA said it found signs of manipulation in files relating to 145 of them. Investigators had to contend with deliberate attempts to throw them off the scent, WADA said. Those ruses could still undermine attempts to charge and ban athletes who doped. It said the athletes investigated came from sports governed by 27 different international federations, but didn’t say which. “The Russian doping crisis has dominated WADA’s time and resources over the past five years and the agency’s investigations team has been on the front line,” WADA president Witold Banka said in a statement. “I would like to thank them for their diligence, professionalism and expertise, as well as the organisations that have now received case packages for the work they will do and their ongoing cooperation in protecting clean sport and for bringing as many cheats to justice as possible.”

After years of bruising legal battles around Russian doping and the 2014 Sochi Olympics, prosecuting the newest cases could be extremely difficult. WADA has argued the data archive was manipulated while in Russia, with some evidence deleted and false trails laid. That’s the basis of an ongoing legal battle to ban Russia’s name and flag from the Olympics and other major events for four years. WADA can appeal if the individual sports bodies choose not to charge athletes based on its evidence. The agency also said it can bring cases directly to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if the relevant federations don’t decide on charges within a “reasonable timeframe.” Separately, WADA has already been re-testing samples which had been stored at the Moscow lab. A total 57 cases are under way based on that analysis. Russian authorities have strenuously denied there was any state involvement in doping. Instead, Russian law enforcement has sought to paint WADA’s star witness, former lab director Grigory Rodchenkov, as a liar who coerced clean athletes into taking drugs. Russian representatives have also denied any effort to manipulate the data archive. They’ve suggested that it could have been edited from abroad, or that the database system could have corrupted some files.

Joshua Burrows commits to Trojans By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net JOSHUA Burrows’ athletic and academic career will go the prep basketball route for the upcoming year. The former Doris Johnson Mystic Marlin and junior national team player announced his commitment to the Illinois Prep Trojans in Carbondale, Illinois. Prep programmes offer student athletes an opportunity and hone their skills during a “gap year” between the completion of high school and the beginning of college or university. According to the Trojans website, joining the programme affords student athletes access to top-notch training, coaching and mentorship from coaches with college experience. “You will gain experience and exposure by playing national high school teams and JUCO’s all without losing a year of eligibility,” the organisation said. “Our post-graduate programme is for athletes that have completed their high school education but need

JOSHUA BURROWS more exposure in order to receive a scholarship or make a collegiate team. A player’s collegiate level is often determined by game performance, work ethic, athletic ability, size for position, and college position needs. This programme

allows athletes to take a year off before attending college (also known as a “gap year”) without losing any of their four-year eligibility. “Athletes in this programme will compete against many of the top prep schools, independent high schools and junior colleges in the country. After 35+ games, players will have the experience and confidence to play at the next level.” Burrows’ local high school basketball career is filled with accolades at every level. As a junior, he helped lead the Temple Christian Suns to an undefeated season and BAISS championship. After his transfer to the Mystic Marlins, he was a member of back-to-back GSSSA championship teams and also was a member of the school’s first Hugh Campbell winning team in programme history. At the junior national team level, he was a member of the Bahamas’ historic FIBA Centrobasket Under17 Championship team that won bronze in the Dominican Republic and qualified for the Tournament of the Americas.

FIFA PROBE: FIRST BANKS ADMIT MONEY LAUNDERING ROLE By RONALD BLUM AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) — An Israeli bank and its Swiss subsidiary agreed to pay over $30 million for their role in conspiring to launder more than $20 million in kickbacks to soccer officials, becoming the first financial institutions implicated in the FIFA scandal to reach a resolution with US prosecutors. Bank Hapoalim BM in Israel and its wholly owned Swiss company Hapoalim Ltd. agreed to forfeit $20.73 million and pay a fine of $9.33 million as part of a non-prosecution agreement, the US attorney’s office in Brooklyn said yesterday. The scheme took place through the banks’ Miami branch from 2010-15, with many of the payments tied to marketing rights for the Copa America. Eugenio Figueredo, a former president of the South American governing body CONMEBOL and Uruguay’s federation, was among those accused of receiving the bribes, along with Luis Bedoya, a former president of Colombia’s federation and like Figueredo a onetime member of FIFA’s executive committee. Former federation presidents Sergio Jadue of Chile and Rafael Esquivel of Venezuela also were implicated by the US Justice Department, along with Jose Luis Chiriboga, whose father, Luis, was president of Ecuador’s federation.

Bank Hapoalim (BHMB) and Hapoalim Ltd. (BHS) reached a deal with the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office in which they and BHMB subsidiary Hapoalim (Latin America) SA will not be subject to prosecution for any of the crimes admitted in the deal, except for criminal tax violations. No bank employees involved in the illegal activities were identified by name. “This announcement illustrates another aspect in the spider web of bribery, corruption and back-room deals going on behind the scenes as soccer games were played on the field,” William F. Sweeney, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said in a statement. “Bank Hapoalim admits executives looked the other way, and allowed illicit activity to continue even when employees discovered the scheme and reported it.” In a weave of bribes that included details from wiretaps and unidentified individuals referred to as Relationship Manager 1, Compliance Employees 1 and 2 and Co-Conspirators 1 and 2, prosecutors detailed the actions by Full Play Group, the Argentine company that won rights to sell media and marketing for the 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023 Copa Americas, South America’s national team championship. Traffic Sports, a Brazilian company, held the rights from 1987-2011. Traffic Sports and Traffic Sports USA reached guilty pleas

and were fined a total of $1 million last year. Full Play is controlled by Hugo Jinkis and son Mariano, who were first indicted in 2015 and have been charged with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Full Play had accounts at the banks in the names of subsidiaries Bayan Group, Cross Trading and Yorkfields, and the two Jinkises used those accounts to make at least 53 bribe payments totalling more than $14.02 million from 201014 to Bedoya, Chiriboga, Esquivel and Figueredo as part of Full Play’s deal to acquire marketing rights to the 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023 Copa Americas, prosecutors said in a statement of facts. “For nearly five years, Bank Hapoalim employees used the US financial system to launder tens of millions of dollars in bribe payments to corrupt soccer officials in multiple countries,” Brian A Benczkowski, assistant attorney general of the criminal division, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement

demonstrates the Department’s commitment to holding financial institutions to account when they knowingly facilitate corruption and other criminal conduct.” Federal authorities in Manhattan said yesterday that Bank Hapoalim and its Swiss subsidiary also agreed to pay $874 million to resolve allegations they conspired with US taxpayers to hide more than $7.6 billion from the IRS through deposits in more than 5,500 secret Swiss and Israeli bank accounts. Esquivel took at least 34 payments from about 2009-14 totalling more than $9.41 million. He pleaded guilty in November 2016 to racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy and awaits sentencing. Bedoya received 19 payments totalling $3.81 million from 2008-15. He pleaded guilty in November 2015 to racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy and awaits sentencing. Jose Luis Chiriboga got 12 payments totaling $2.12 million on behalf of his father from

Jinkis-related accounts from about 2009-14, the statement said. He was indicted in November 2015 on charges on racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money fraud conspiracy. Jadue received three payments totalling $1.54 million in 2014 from Bayan. He pleaded guilty in November 2015 to racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy and awaits sentencing. Figueredo received at least three payments from BHS totalling $950,000 from 2012-14, prosecutors said. He was indicted in May 2015 on charges of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, unlawful procurement of naturalisation, and aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns. Full Play made at least 15 bribe payments totalling $1.74 million from the Yorkfields account to accounts belonging to or controlled by soccer officials, and Full Play paid $130,000 from a Cross Trading account to Bedoya’s

account at BHBM. Yorkfields made a payment of about $200,000 in 2007 to a currency exchange. Since the first arrests of people attending the FIFA Congress in May 2015, there have been 26 publicly announced individual guilty pleas, many from former soccer officials, including CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer. Former Brazilian federation president José Maria Marin and former CONMEBOL president Juan Ángel Napout of Paraguay were convicted at trial and sentenced to prison, and there were four corporate guilty pleas and one corporate deferred prosecution agreement. This was the second corporate non-prosecution agreement following a deal by Imagina Media. Prosecutors revealed new details April 6 of alleged bribes paid to FIFA executive committee members for their World Cup hosting rights votes and charged a pair of former 21st Century Fox executives with making illegal payments to win broadcast rights for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

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LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES CANCELLED FOR 1ST TIME WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — This year’s Little League World Series and the championship tournaments in six other Little League divisions have been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Little League President Stephen Keener announced the cancellations in a Facebook Live broadcast yesterday afternoon from league headquarters in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, saying it would be “impossible” to hold the events amid ongoing restrictions on large gatherings and travel. The Little League World Series has been held every August since 1947 and had never been cancelled before. Next year was to be the 75th playing of the tournament; that milestone has been pushed back to 2022. “Let me tell the folks in all those communities and all the sites

where we have regional qualifying tournaments how disappointed we are to have to do this, but it was inevitable,” Keener said. “It would be irresponsible and impossible to bring teams and thousands of people from all over the world into the community of Williamsport as well as those six other communities that have been such great friends and supporters of ours over the years.” He added that travel restrictions would make it equally impossible to hold qualifying tournaments for international teams and to bring those teams safely to the United States. Little League has not, however, called off the 2020 regular season. Keener said there was reason for optimism that teams could play this spring and summer, depending on restrictions in states and localities.

The annual major league game in Williamsport, which this year was to feature the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles on August 23, has been cancelled, MLB said. “While the cancellation of the 2020 Little League World Series is extremely disappointing, the health and safety of all of the people involved must be the paramount consideration. We look forward to our return to Williamsport for the 2021 MLB Little League Classic,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. Little League announced in March that the season was on hold until at least May 11 because of guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention against gatherings of 50 people or more. After that date, Keener said, districts and leagues should look to states and localities for

guidance on when or if the season can resume. He also urged districts to hold all-star tournaments to give kids at least a taste of the competition they’ll be missing missing with World Series qualifying scrapped. “We will be very amenable to (changing) eligibility requirements and be very flexible to allow as many kids the opportunity to play as possible for whatever can remain of the 2020 Little League season,” he said. Along with the Little League World Series, which is held in South Williamsport, the other events cancelled were the World Series of Little League Softball in Greenville, North Carolina; Junior League Baseball in Taylor, Michigan; Junior League Softball in Kirkland, Washington; Senior League Baseball in Easley, South Carolina; and Senior League Softball in Sussex County, Delaware.

MARTIN TRUEX JR., (78) and Jimmie Johnson (48) crash on the final lap during the NASCAR Cup series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. on September 30, 2018. Charlotte Motor Speedway will host the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24 to mark 60 consecutive years the longest race on the NASCAR schedule will be held on Memorial Day weekend. The track in Concord will then host a Wednesday race three days later. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

NASCAR to resume season on May 17 with 7 races in 10 days By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR plans to restart its engines with a flurry of races at two historic tracks. NASCAR said yesterday it is set to return May 17 with an elite Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, the first of seven events in an 11-day stretch across the top three series. There will be no practice, no qualifying and drivers will jump into their cars for the first time since March 8 and attempt to tackle “The Track Too Tough To Tame.” “Events are going to look different than they have in the past,” said John Bobo, NASCAR vice president of racing operations. NASCAR has set guidelines to safely hold the events using CDC guidelines on social distancing and personal protective equipment. The entire venue will be used to maintain distancing in garage stalls and where the haulers are parked, while drivers will have to self-isolate in their motorhomes as they prepare to compete. “Our priority right now is to try and get back racing in a safe way,” said Steve O’Donnell, chief racing development officer. NASCAR follows the UFC as the first major sports organisations to get back to work since the coronavirus pandemic shut down US sports in mid-March. The Professional Bull Racing Series resumed competition last weekend and there has been some horse racing. NASCAR’s revised schedule goes only through May and has a pair of Wednesday Cup races, fulfilling fans’ longtime plea for midweek events. The first of those races will be at Darlington, three days after the return race at the 70-year-old, egg-shaped oval.

Charlotte Motor Speedway will then host the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24 to mark 60 consecutive years the longest race on the NASCAR schedule will be held on Memorial Day weekend. The track in Concord, outside NASCAR’s home base of Charlotte, will then host a Wednesday race three days later. There also will be lowertier Xfinity and Truck series races at the two tracks. The North Carolina governor has said the the Charlotte races can be held as long as health conditions in the area do not deteriorate. “This has been a proactive effort to put our motorsports industry back to work and boost the morale of sports fans around the world,” said Marcus Smith, president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports. He said “sports fans around the world need this, a return to some sense of normalcy with live sports on TV, and NASCAR is uniquely positioned to deliver it from a competition standpoint.” NASCAR suspended its season March 13 with only four of its 36 scheduled races completed. The stock car series, heavily reliant on television money and sponsor payments, has vowed to complete its full schedule. The revised schedule for now stays at tracks within driving distance of Charlotte-based race teams and in states that have started reopening. O’Donnell said NASCAR wanted to get seven events completed within driving distance of North Carolina before it resumes competition in states that require air travel and hotels. NASCAR has completed a fully revised schedule but would not reveal it yesterday as so much relies on the pandemic and guidelines in different states. Darlington will now have three coveted Cup races

for the first time in track history. It is also scheduled to open the playoffs with the Southern 500 on September 6. Because the track now has two additional dates, NASCAR will lose two Cup races from its other properties. The same goes for Speedway Motorsports, which gained one additional race so far and will have to forfeit one at another facility.

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“For the couple tracks where we need to move an event, we want to do that in the right way,” O’Donnell said. “We just want to take a little time here before we’re able to announce that.” Almost all teams began returning to their shops this week with either a reduced initial workforce or in split shifts.

Now that NASCAR has told the teams where it will be racing this month, they can start preparing cars suitable for the two tracks. Although Florida and Texas invited NASCAR to compete in those states without spectators, the sanctioning body is holding off on announcing races in those states because of the travel required. Stay tuned.

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EX-JAGUARS LB SMITH CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH MINOR By MARK LONG AP Sports Writer FORMER Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Telvin Smith was arrested Wednesday on a charge of having sexual activity with a minor. The 29-year-old Smith was booked into the Duval County Jail around 5pm and released about five hours later on a $50,003 bond. He had no scheduled court date. No details or police report was immediately available. According to Florida Statute 794.05, which was the listed charge in the jail log, unlawful sexual activity with certain minors is a seconddegree felony and applies to any person age 24 or older who engages in sexual activity with a person 16 or 17 years old. “The Jaguars are aware of the report involving former linebacker Telvin Smith,” the team said in a statement. “The club is unable to comment further on this ongoing investigation.” Citing an anonymous law enforcement source, ESPN reported that Smith is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl multiple times, both at his home and in his vehicle, last August and September. The ESPN source said the victim told a friend and family member what happened after the first encounter with Smith. The source also said investigators found evidence in Smith’s car linking him to the victim. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office deputies were at Smith’s home on November 27, and his SUV was towed. He was not arrested then. A fifth-round draft pick from Florida State in 2014 and a Pro Bowl selection in 2017, Smith announced last April he was stepping away from football to “get my world in order.” Smith has 586 total tackles with 445 solo tackles, nine interceptions, 7½ sacks and five forced fumbles in five seasons in Jacksonville. He’s one of only 13 players in NFL history to record 100 or more tackles in each of their first five years in the league. He signed a four-year, $45 million extension in October 2017 that included $20 million guaranteed. He restructured that deal in March 2018, turning an $8 million roster bonus into a signing bonus to create extra cap space for the team.

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PSG DECLARED CHAMPION AFTER SEASON ENDS EARLY BRAZIL’S PRESIDENT By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Sports Writer PARIS (AP) — Paris SaintGermain’s latest French league title came without the usual celebrations and fanfare. Instead, there was just a formal ruling from league executives that provided another example of how the coronavirus has upended sports across the world. PSG was officially crowned Ligue 1 champion yesterday — two days after the government ruled that the league had to be cancelled because of the pandemic. “We have (acknowledged) the end of the 2019-20 season and we have awarded the league title to PSG,” league president Nathalie Boy de la Tour said. Handing the title to PSG was basically a formality, with the team 12 points ahead of secondplace Marseille with 10 rounds of matches left to play. But other teams objected to the decision to finalise the league standings based on a points-per-game formula, with Lyon threatening to take legal action after missing a chance to qualify for the lucrative Champions League. It was PSG’s seventh title in the last eight years — and ninth overall — although this one certainly had a different flavour to it.

PSG’s Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his side’s fourth goal during the French League One soccer match between Paris-Saint-Germain and Dijon, at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on February 29. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) Instead of the normal onfield celebrations, there was just muted reaction on social media. In a statement, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi dedicated the title to the “healthcare staff and to all the everyday heroes on the front line whose commitment and self-sacrifice over many weeks have earned our deepest admiration.” “We understand, respect and support the decisions taken by the French government to end the championship,” Al-Khelaifi

said. “Health, as the government has always said, must be everyone’s priority.” Star striker Kylian Mbappé posted photos on Twitter of himself raising the league trophy on two previous occasions. But there was no immediate public reaction from Brazil forward Neymar. Any celebrations with fans, such as the traditional open bus parade, will have to wait until social distancing is over.

Marseille qualified directly for the Champions League while third-place Rennes will enter the qualifying rounds and fourth-place Lille goes into the Europa League. At the bottom of the standings, last-place Toulouse and 19th-place Amiens were relegated while second-division leader Lorient and secondplace Lens were promoted. The relegation-promotion playoff between the team in 18th place in the first division and the team in third in the second division was scrapped. “We gave our leagues every chance to start again in midJune,” Boy de la Tour said in a conference call with reporters. “It brings an end to the uncertainty.” The Dutch league has also cancelled the rest of its season, but without any team being crowned champion or relegated. UEFA had initially warned leagues that cancelling their seasons prematurely could lead to teams being denied entry into the Champions League or Europa League, but has since softened its stance. Both the French and Dutch leagues were left with no choice after their governments banned sports events until September. Other leagues, including in Spain, Germany and England, still hope to resume play.

EPL’S SAUDI PIRACY CONCERNS AS NEWCASTLE TAKEOVER ASSESSED By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer THE English Premier League has to decide whether to approve Saudi Arabia’s takeover of Newcastle while concerned that piracy of its broadcasts from the kingdom poses a “significant risk” to the competition’s revenue. The league wrote to the Office of the United States Trade Representative in February complaining about the bootlegging of live match coverage by the Saudi-based beoutQ service, according to newly released documents.

Having received submissions about beoutQ’s conduct from global soccer bodies, also including FIFA, the American government confirmed on Wednesday in its annual report on “notorious markets for counterfeiting and piracy” that Saudi Arabia would remain on its “Priority Watch List.” The Premier League’s own grievances with the Saudis are a further complication for the lawyers having to decide whether northeast English club Newcastle can become majority owned by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund. It is a sovereign wealth fund overseen by

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who, Amnesty told the Premier League, has been involved in a “sweeping crackdown on human rights” as the activists try to thwart the takeover. Qatar-owned beIN Sports, which has a three-year contract worth $500 million to exclusively air the Premier League across the Middle East, has also asked for the buyout of Newcastle to be potentially blocked due to the inaction on broadcasting piracy. BeIN had the backing of the Premier League in its Feb. 5 submission to the Office of the United States

Trade Representative. “A high proportion of the Premier League’s revenue is generated from the sale of exclusive audiovisual broadcasting rights,” the London-based soccer competition wrote in the letter. “The scale and nature of online piracy, such as that committed in Saudi Arabia and detailed below, continues to place this revenue at significant risk. “This in turn threatens the Premier League’s ability to continue investing in, and contributing to, the quality of the competition, the sport more generally, community projects and the wider global economy.”

WANTS SOCCER TO RETURN AMID COVID-19 By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wants to see soccer competitions start back up again soon despite the country’s high number of coronavirus cases, arguing yesterday that players are less likely to die from COVID-19 because of their physical fitness. Bolsonaro is one of the few world leaders that still downplays the risks brought by the coronavirus, which he has likened to “a little flu.” Most soccer tournaments in Brazil were suspended on March 15. The Brazilian championship was scheduled to begin in May, but that looks unlikely as the country has become Latin America’s coronavirus epicentre with more than 5,900 deaths. Doctors say the peak of the pandemic is expected to hit within two weeks. “There is a lot of people in soccer that are favourable to a return because unemployment is knocking on clubs’ doors too,” Bolsonaro said in an interview with Radio Guaiba. “Footballers, if infected with the virus, have a small chance of dying. That’s because of their physical state, because they are athletes.” Brazil’s president said his new health minister will issue a suggestion that games return without any fans in the stadiums, but he acknowledged many players might be reluctant. “The decision to restart soccer is not mine, but we can help,” Bolsonaro said, adding he has spoken with Gremio coach Renato Portaluppi about the issue and was told that players are still worried about the virus. Neighbouring Argentina has already cancelled the rest of the 2019-2020 season because of the pandemic. France also decided to end the season, declaring Paris Saint-Germain as league champion yesterday. Brazil’s soccer confederation said in a statement on Tuesday that competitions should return “whenever it is possible, with safety and health care assurances for all those involved.” Earlier Thursday, the sports body sent Bolsonaro’s health ministry suggestions of the steps that need to be taken before a restart, but it did not reveal details. A director at Sao Paulo FC, 1994 World Cup winner Raí, said his club is against resuming play during the pandemic. He also called for Bolsonaro’s resignation because of his “irresponsible” management of the crisis.

SPORTS SECTION E

FRIDAY, MAY 1ST, 2020

‘PM, allow the elite athletes to resume training at TAR stadium’ By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

W

ith their season still hanging in the balance, high jumper Jamal Wilson is calling on Prime Minister Hubert Minnis to allow the elite athletes to use the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium to resume their training. Wilson, who has already qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games that has been rescheduled for July 23 to August 8, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, said they still have a season to look forward to whenever the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, so they will need to be ready to compete. “I just want to put out a request to the Honourable Hubert Minnis to allow us to work out again as athletes,” he said. “I know it takes manpower to open the doors at the stadium, but at least it would help the National Sports Authority to keep some of their employees working. “We just need a couple of hours to come in and do what we have to do. So I humbly ask for us to be able to go into the stadium and do what we like to do, which is to work out and train. “The season isn’t over yet. They only put everything on hold, but we still have a season to complete.” While they have taken advantage of the announcement for persons to exercise at home or in the vicinity of their homes, although the public parks have been closed, Wilson said there’s only so much they can do in those environments. That is why he’s reaching out to the prime minister on behalf of all his peers. Without calling names, Wilson said he’s in communication with about 10 elite athletes who are home and still have a season ahead of them to compete when they get the all clear from World Athletics, the governing body for the sport in the world. But he said he doesn’t want to make the decision on who should be allowed to train in the facility and who should not. He said if it’s not approved, he believes that “nothing beats a failure, but a try.” If granted, Wilson said they would like to work out between the hours of 7am and 2pm.

BACH: ‘WE WILL ALL NEED TO MAKE THE NECESSARY ADJUSTMENTS TO THE NEW REALITIES’ By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

HIGH jumper Jamal Wilson shares a special moment with coach Ronald Cartwright.

Anthony Joshua could fight without fans in first title defence By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer ANTHONY Joshua’s first fight as the restored world heavyweight champion could take place in front of no spectators. British boxing’s governing body told promoters yesterday it hopes to be able to have shows back from July after months of inactivity because of the coronavirus outbreak. Initially, though, bouts are expected to be held without fans, meaning Joshua’s fight against Kubrat Pulev — the first since the Briton regained his WBA, IBF and WBO belts by beating Andy Ruiz Jr in December — would surely be switched from its planned venue, the stadium of English soccer club Tottenham which can hold more than 60,000 spectators. The Joshua-Pulev fight had been scheduled for June 20 before being pushed back to an as-yetunconfirmed date because of the

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BRITAIN’s Anthony Joshua celebrates after beating Andy Ruiz Jr to win their World Heavyweight Championship contest at the Diriyah Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, December 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) pandemic. A rearranged date of July 25 has been touted. Joshua wanted the first defence of his belts to take place in London. Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, said his Matchroom Boxing organisation was planning to stage “two or three” Saturday fight nights in

July before returning with a bigger show, provided boxing and other sports get the go-ahead to return from the British government. Hearn said he wouldn’t want to stage a fight in an enclosed location like a TV studio because he doesn’t see how it “does anything for the sport.”

“I want to build a fight camp, a different kind of environment, more dramatic,” Hearn said in an interview with the BBC. “It will look spectacular on TV. We need to dramatise it. “It’s about taking over a hotel, testing all the teams, creating a sterile fight camp where no one goes in until we know they’ve had a negative test. It’s about creating changing room areas, ring walks. It will add to the story.” The British Boxing Board of Control said if boxing was to return in July, there would be an emphasis on “minimal numbers” of officials and broadcast personnel. Medical staff were required at ringside, too. Anyone at the events will have to have been in pre-fight quarantine and had tests for COVID-19. There will initially be a maximum of five fights in a show. The BBBofC said it continues to follow advice from government and medical authorities.

INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach issued his first statement to the Olympic Movement on the social, economic, and political impact of the organisation in a post coronavirus world. Bach said the Olympic Movement across the globe will have to approach sport with a renewed perspective as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. “We will all need to take a close look at the scope of some of our activities and make the necessary adjustments to the new realities. In this context, the IOC administration is reviewing the IOC’s budget and priorities. This review will shortly be presented to the IOC Executive Board for discussion and approval,” he said. “The motto when we launched Olympic Agenda 2020, and which is written on the wall at Olympic House: “Change or be changed”, is in this crisistime more relevant than ever. As challenging and difficult as the circumstances may appear right now, if we draw the right lessons from the current situation, we can shape our future to even strengthen the relevance of our Olympic Movement in the world. Therefore we should drive further the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020, in particular with regard to sustainability, in order to address this crisis.” He cited E-Sports as one of the possible avenues for member federations to consider as sports looks to become a unifying platform. “We can highlight the significance of sport for inclusivity and integration. Sometimes, sport is the only activity that unites people regardless of their social, political, religious or cultural background. “Sport is the glue bonding a society together. Such inclusivity is even more important in otherwise deeply divided societies,” he said.

ROSS TAYLOR WINS TOP CRICKET AWARD FOR 3RD TIME WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Veteran batsman Ross Taylor has won the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal as New Zealand’s cricket player of the year, claiming the top award for the third time in its 10-year history. The presentation was made by Hadlee today, on the final day of New Zealand Cricket’s virtual awards ceremony. In a season of milestones, Taylor surpassed Stephen Fleming as New Zealand’s leading test run-scorer and became the first player from any nation to play 100 international matches in all three formats. The 36-year-old scored 1,389 runs across in tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches in the 2019-2020 season, playing in all but one of New Zealand’s 32 internationals in the awards period.