Bajan Newscap 6/23/2016
TGood Morning #realdreamchasers. I know I have not done the newscap for the week but I was enjoying not having to read bad news prior or after my birthday :). I’m sorry for any inconvenience caused but we are back to regular programming. Here is your daily newscap.
COKE DOUBT - FOR THE FIRST TIME in a quarter of a century, Banks Holdings Limited (BHL) will be operating on a temporary contract to produce its best-selling soft drink under the Coca-Cola franchise. Sources last night told the DAILY NATION that BHL’s Coca-Cola contract expires next month and AmBev, the new owners of BHL, have been trying desperately to retain the franchise, even though across much of the Americas, AmBev produces Coke’s main rival Pepsi Cola.Officials close to BHL had feared the lucrative Coca-Cola franchise would be threatened if AmBev was successful in its take-over battle for control of BHL because of the competing interests.The Coke franchise includes Sprite, several diet drinks, Canada Dry and Schweppes drinks. BHL got control of the franchise after it acquired Barbados Bottling Company in 1991. BBC had held the contract since November 1945.
PRIME MINISTER UPSET ABOUT VIOLENCE - FOR THE SECOND TIME this week, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has expressed his unhappiness about the level of violence being used to resolve disputes by some in society. It does nothing for the reputation of Barbados to have human life devalued in the way in which I see it being devalued in cold blood by certain elements, admittedly a small element in the society,” he told the media yesterday, after delivering the feature address at Reynold Weekes Primary School’s graduation at the Barbados Workers’ Union Labour College, Mangrove, St Philip.“But that small element can do Barbados’ reputation untold damage . . . . I am not at all happy with these developments.”Stuart said that the entire nation had to come together at all levels and recognise that everyone was “under threat if this approach to life takes hold in Barbados”.
GREATER SECURITY NEEDED AT FETES - A video circulating on social media showing two men brandishing firearms at a fete has prompted law enforcement officials to call on event organizers to beef up security at their events.Spokesman for the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) Acting Assistant Superintendent David Welch said the Force was “urging holders of events or fetes to beef up their security and ensure that all patrons are searched whether the event is on land or at sea”.At the same time he made it clear that the RBPF would continue its initiatives to arrest the flow of illegal weapons onto the streets. A number of guns from a batch of 300 were destroyed today with a machine donated through the United Nations Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Public Relations Officer said.Among the weapons were rifles, shotguns and handguns, including pistols and revolvers of different calibres.“The Royal Barbados Police Force through this process is demonstrating transparency and ensuring the destruction of the firearms. This ensures that weapons do not return on the streets, as one would be unable to reconstruct it,” Welch explained. The guns were obtained through adjudicated cases and police operations, as well as from members of the public who turned in weapons.“So far this year we have seized 44 firearms of various descriptions and those were through different means.“Members of the public can also feel free . . . if they have any firearms in their possession that are not registered to them, they can turn them in to the police. We are also encouraging persons who may know of persons with firearms to give that information anonymously by calling the police directly or Crime Stoppers,” Welch said.The remainder of the weapons are set to be destroyed tomorrow.
NO AUDIENCE FOR AILING NURSE - Former nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Coral Wilkinson Tuesday failed to get her desired audience with either Prime Minister Freundel Stuart or Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite.Fed up with the run around she has been getting from Government since sustaining injuries to her back while at work 34 years ago, Wilkinson headed to Parliament today in a last-ditch attempt to get the Stuart administration to attend to her plight.Moving with the aid of a walking frame and clearly in discomfort, the former nurse arrived at Parliament Building about 10:30 a.m. just before the start of the sitting, but was prevented from seeing either Stuart or Brathwaite by security guards. Back in February Wilkinson said she had received a letter from Principal Crown Counsel Roger Barker, who was handling the case on behalf of the Solicitor General, offering her $145,159.70 so she could have the cervical surgery done in Britain.That offer was rejected in a letter dated March 12, 2015 from Wilkinson’s attorney Sir Richard Cheltenham, QC, who argued that “to offer the meagre sum in full satisfaction of her case, is virtually to condemn her to remaining in her presently helpless condition”.While suggesting the sum of $400,000 instead, Sir Richard advised that the Solicitor General’s offer did not even cover the cost of the medical team in England, whose maximum fee is £33,000, neither did it include the expenses of going to England, which comprised such things as air travel, food, accommodation, internal travel and per diem allowance.
BLAME “JOHNNY” - Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has taken issue with the way the lead attorney for a former Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) nurse has handled her three-decades-old case for compensation against the Government.Wednesday the Prime Minister, who has been criticized for not granting the nurse an audience at Parliament Tuesday, all but accused Coral Wilkinson’s lawyer Sir Richard ‘Johnny’ Cheltenham, QC, of playing games with her matter which dates back some 34 years to 1981, charging it seemed the attorney did not want to see an end to the case. Stuart, who confirmed he listened to the former nurse’s plight as recently as three weeks ago when she called him at home, said he first heard of her in 2008 when he served as Attorney General.However, the Prime Minister insisted Wilkinson’s lawyer should get a judge to settle the matter.“If they are not so happy with the judge’s settlement, appeal it. If they are not happy with what the Court of Appeal says, carry it to the Caribbean Court of Justice. That is how we do business in Barbados.
DIABETIC FOOT CARE - A LOT OF MONEY, lives and limbs can be saved if a multi-disciplinary approach is adopted in caring for the feet of diabetics. Dr Christopher Blanco, of the Miami-based Baptist Health system, said this approach required patients consulting a number of specialists, including the endocrinologist, vascular surgeon, nutritionist, plastic surgeon and physical rehab specialist.He told the DAILY NATION he realised that many patients were unaware of who to consult when treating diabetic foot ulcers. “So there’s been a little bit of chaos in the referral system. So I think it’s very important that we focus on whom the limb salvage team is and that the limb salvage team is made up of multiple physicians to treat the diabetic foot,” he said. The South Florida-based doctor was speaking at the Barbados Diabetes Foundation’s second annual Multidisciplinary Diabetes Conference held recently at the Savannah Hotel in Hastings, Christ Church. Blanco said some people were having amputations because they were not getting the right care. “It’s the approach that is going to help in saving people’s limbs, because it can be catastrophic once a person loses a limb. Their life expectancy severely diminishes over the next ten years,” he added. The two-day conference had as its theme Digging Deeper – More Than Meets the Eye and was attended by over 100 medical practitioners who participated in workshops and lecture sessions.
BLP GOING PARISH TO PARISH - THE BARBADOS LABOUR Party will be headed back to the people tomorrow with its People’s Assemblies at Foundation School, Christ Church at 7 p.m. This was announced by party leader Mia Mottley at a media briefing at the offices of the Opposition, Parliament Building this morning.Mottley said her party had taken a decision to go to the next level of its preparations in the relation to the promise they outlined in the Covenant of Hope document launched on May 6.The party will also be restarting its Rubbing Shoulders programme on June 30 where it will meet with the agricultural sector.
SINCKLER GETS SUPPORT - Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler is receiving tacit support from an unlikely source for his position on the privatization of state enterprises.Economist and Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) hopeful Ryan Straughn believes some public entities could be placed in the hands of the private sector, but only after a comprehensive national dialogue and consensus on the contentious issue.“I believe there should be a national consultation before any action is taken, [however], I think that it is an area that is obviously ripe for some revisiting but we can’t afford to lag much longer,” the BLP candidate for Christ Church East Central said, without naming the agencies.His position closely resembles that of Sinckler, who in January this year said while Government was open to selling off some state enterprises, it had to approach the issue carefully before taking a decision.
ROAD HUMPS IN CITY - MOTORISTS TRAVELLING through Bridgetown yesterday morning were greeted by a different sight at the top of Wharf Road. Two yellow road humps were put down sometime between Tuesday night and yesterday morning.Sources at the Ministry of Transport and Works would only say the humps were in keeping with a project being undertaken by the ministry for traffic calming measures.However, some motorists going over the humps were overheard expressing frustration at what they have described as a “nuisance”. “Them only put these here now to mash up people car,” said one irate driver.“What they put them down for? The road was very fine without them,” said another.Efforts to get a comment from officials at the ministry were unsuccessful up to press time.
LOCKED OUT STUDENTS - CONCERNED PARENTS of students at Blackman And Gollop Primary are frustrated over what they are calling a lock-out of pupils each morning. Within recent months, parents and children have been arriving at the Staple Grove, Christ Church school to find the gates locked. As a result, they have been forced to wait outside until someone arrives to open, sometimes well after 8:30 a.m.When a NATION team visited the school on four separate mornings last week before 8 a.m., it was discovered that the students were, in fact, confined to the outskirts of the school until someone arrived to open the gates, sometimes before 8 a.m. and other times after.It was also observed that while many parents dropped off their children and left, there were those who stayed in their cars and kept a watchful eye until the school gates were opened.
TRACK & FIELD - THE SPRINTS should be electrifying this weekend. That’s because the island’s fastest men, Levi Cadogan, Mario Burke and Burkheart Ellis, have all indicated they are in great shape and keen to meet the qualifying standards in the 100 metres for the Rio Olympics.The three-day track and field National Championships race start tomorrow night with the preliminaries in the 100 and 400 metres, but it is the latter that will captivate fans.Burke, 19, who has just completed his freshman year in Texas at Houston University under the guidance of all-time great Carl Lewis, told NATION SPORT that he was in it to win it. “I am just training every day to get 100 per cent fit. I am doing a lot of physio work on my hamstring because it always gives me problems. I have already qualified for the World Juniors and now trying for the Olympics,” said Burke.
GRAYDON SEALY VS HARRISONS COLLEGE- DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Graydon Sealy and Harrison College will clash in the final of the Co-operators General Insurance Under-16 Basketball Tournament at the Barbados Community College today. Both teams made their way to the final having defeated Deighton Griffith and St Michael in the semi-finals at the BCC gym yesterday.Graydon Sealy prevailed over Deighton Griffith 55-50 after leading the first two quarters 14-8 and 27-23, while Harrison College smoked The St Michael School 52-22.In the third quarter, Deighton Griffith levelled the scores at 27 but the kings went on an unanswered 15-point run as they left the Kingsland, Christ Church school stuck on 27. Deighton Griffith fought back in the fourth quarter to close the margin to 43-48 with 2:25 minutes remaining on the clock.
LUXURY MARKET LAGGING - DESPITE A RECORD INCREASE in visitors to Barbados, luxury hotels are not benefiting from the surge. Neither are the higher arrival numbers being reflected in increased visitor spend. These are the concerns of outgoing chairman of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA), Sunil Chatrani.In his final address as chairman, Chatrani told the association’s annual general meeting at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centreyesterday that an aggressive plan of action must be formulated to tackle the situation.He was particularly worried about the performance of the luxury sector which represents 20 per cent of the tourism industry, and whose revenue accounts for about 75 per cent of tourism earnings.
CROP OVER LAND - THIS YEAR’S CROP OVER could be “more than a festival” and “sweet for days” for one Barbadian if his or her ticket is pulled as winner of almost 5 000 square feet of land in St James. The National Cultural Foundation (NCF), National Housing Corporation, Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union and Capita Financial have teamed up to create the prize to generate more excitement among locals for the festival, which officially launches on Saturday.The lucky person, who must be over the age of 18, will own the land at Lot 5, Deans Terrace, St James, thanks to the Lot 5 For Fifty campaign.It was announced yesterday at a press conference that featured Minister of Culture Stephen Lashley, officials from the NCF including chief executive officer Cranston Browne, and chairman of the board, Maureen Graham.
