#ch: shelli anderson

[bradfordchens]

Shelli Anderson + the pilot pjs

[stephaniefchase]

Bajan Newscap 3/12/2017

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Over 10,000 Barbadians of various ethnic, social & religious backgrounds congregated in Jubilee Gardens to stand in solidarity that they were FED up with the constant downgrades, high cost of living, poor social services and lack of competent leadership offered by the Democratic Labour Party. It was their love of country that propelled them to march and they fearlessly spoke of their hardships & displeasure. Would it be wise to ignore the loud cries of the people? Only time will tell.  Here is your daily news cap for Sunday 12th March 2017. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Today (BT) or by purchasing a Sunday Sun Nation Newspaper (WN).

MINISTRY RESCUES LEGGINGS MARCH - The Life in Leggings march had a much bigger threat than the perceived clash with the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) Step Up If Yuh Fed Up march. It is understood that funding from an international organisation to the tune of $7 000 was pulled at the last minute, and the march was cancelled. The Ministry of Social Care stepped up and offered the lifeline, which made it possible for yesterday’s march from Queen’s Park through Bridgetown and back. Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett, who walked the route with his wife Eleanor, confirmed to reporters that his ministry helped with “enough” funds to make the march a success. (SS)

DLP FIGHTS BACK THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA – The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has taken to WhatsApp to counter the Opposition Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) criticism of how the Freundel Stuart administration is running the country. According to general secretary of the DLP, George Pilgrim, the BLP is developing a campaign of fear and corrosion with an objective to undermine the image of Brand Barbados. He was speaking Friday at the George Street auditorium headquarters of the DLP, where the party launched its first E-Facts cards with 2018 WhatsApp messages to show its accomplishments over the last nine years. “We don’t believe Barbadians should be burdened by fear in their daily lives. The party councils accept the importance of facts, which should allow for people to have a clear indication of what this party has delivered to Barbados,” Pilgrim said. (SS)

RISE IN ATTACKS ON BUS DRIVERS - Violent attacks against Transport Board drivers by schoolchildren are increasing. Lynda Holder, the Transport Board’s manager of marketing and corporate communications, said drivers are dealing with more of these attacks which are putting them at serious risk of injury. “Right now we have had a number of incidences where passengers and more often than not, it is the minors, school children, who are physically and verbally assaulting our drivers,” she said. She pointed out that the offenders were usually from first to third form, a matter they have already raised with police. Holder said that as recent as last Thursday, schoolchildren threw rocks through a bus window. (SS)

ROUNDABOUT MESS – The Speightstown roundabout is in a woeful state. It is overgrown with bush and weeds, as is the small plot of land opposite that was earmarked for a mini park and garden. Compared to other roundabouts, it is shabby. But it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Back in 2010 the SUNDAY SUN carried an exclusive story that Government had brokered a deal, the first of its kind, for the owner of an offshore company to finance the construction of the roundabout at a cost of $2 million.  (SS)

VAT NOW ON MEDICINES – Pharmacies have been told that they must apply value added tax (VAT) to a host of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs that had escaped the tax for the past 20 years. That means consumers could be paying at least 17.5 per cent more for popular cough medicines such as Histal, asthma inhalers, and skin medications such as Calamine Lotion, as well as painkillers like Panadol, a pharmacist told the SUNDAY SUN. The directive was handed down by the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) at a meeting last Thursday attended by over 50 pharmacists and pharmacy owners. They were told that pharmaceutical retailers had been breaking the law since VAT was introduced in 1996, the pharmacist said. (SS)

BWA GOING AFTER REVENUE – The true cost of the provision of water services will be put on the front burner of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) under its new management. But that does not mean customers should brace for another rate increase, new general manager Keithroy Halliday has suggested. He is still promising a complete change in how the BWA does business in 2017 and beyond under his watch. According to Halliday, it should not be lost on Barbadians just what a difficult task lies ahead, since the island remains in drought-like conditions, and the BWA has been forced to spend millions on upgrading its mains, some of which are more than a century old, while also dealing with issues at the South Coast Sewerage Project and the Bridgetown Sewage Treatment Plant. (SS)

HAULERS UNSURE ABOUT SUCCESS OF TIPPING FEE – Almost two years after Government introduced a contentious tipping fee, the head of the Waste Haulers Association is not sure if it has served its purpose. The fee was introduced in 2015 as a way of recouping money for waste disposal. Shortly after being implemented, it was met with great resistance by waste haulers, who launched a protest. That eventually led to Minister of the Environment Denis Lowe disclosing that a tipping fee solution was coming. “I really don’t know if the tipping fee has achieved its target. What I can tell you is that it is still in place and there have been no exceptions,” said Charles Read, chairman of the association. (SS)

IN PAIN AFTER ELEVATOR FALL – Elmeanor Forde still remembers the terrifying elevator crash she and six other people experienced last year at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). It was the evening of April 11, 2016, when she and a group, including four nurses and an orderly, got on the lift on the ground floor heading to the A floor. However, when it got to its destination, the elevator, without warning, took a rapid descent, hitting the ground floor with a bang. “I thought there was an earthquake,” Forde said, as she related how she and the other passengers screamed and tried to hold on to anything or anyone “for dear life”. They were trapped in the elevator for 45 minutes, but to Elmeanor it seemed like a lifetime. She recently found out that the lift had fallen 52 feet. (SS)

BARBADIAN IS FRONT-RUNNER FOR LIAT CEO - Barbadian Julie Reifer-Jones is among three people short-listed for the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LIAT. The Antigua-based Observer Radio quoted “a usually reliable source at the airline” who said Reifer-Jones is the front-runner for the position. The source did not divulge the names of the other candidates but has said they are from outside of the region. The source also said that for the first time, a performance clause will be written into the contract of the new CEO. LIAT is paying back a US$66 million loan to the Caribbean Development Bank and the source said the CDB has to approve the appointment of the new CEO. Reifer-Jones has been acting CEO since the resignation of Briton David Evans in April 2016. She also acted as CEO in 2013 following the departure of Trinidadian Ian Brunton. (BT)

COSCAP IN LIMBO AFTER BBS CASE - BARBADOS’ Copyright Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (COSCAP) won a legal case against one of this country’s radio stations almost three years ago but is yet to see a single cent. In fact, COSCAP still has no idea how much money it will receive, despite a positive decision from the Copyright Tribunal in a lawsuit against the Astoria, St George BBS radio station. Back in October 2015, the tribunal ruled in COSCAP’s favour, after lengthy evidence was given by BBS owner Anthony Bryan. The tribunal’s attorney, Emmerson Graham, confirmed they had issued an oral decision in the matter, but that a written decision remained outstanding, and would be forthcoming, although he could not say when. (SS)

FED UP WARDERS GO TO COURT - The Prison Officers’ Association is putting its money where its mouth is. The country’s lone membership association for prison warders has followed through with a threat to challenge to the Prisons Act, which currently prevents them from joining a trade union. The civil action was filed in the Supreme Court last week, and a hearing was set down for April 24. The association is challenging a 1982 amendment to the act, to provide for a Prison Officers Association. Previously, the warders were all members of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW). (SS)

REID REMANDED TO PRISON - Anderson Wycleff Reid was remanded to prison when he appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrate Court today on a charge of criminal damage. Reid, 38, of  Woodstock Road, Spooners Hill, St Michael, was arrested and charged by police on Friday morning. Two workmen at the Carlton & A1 Complex in Black Rock caught Reid damaging the Republic Bank Automated Teller Machine (ATM) at the complex. (BT)

JAMAICAN PASTOR GETS 20 YEARS FOR SEX WITH MINOR - A Jamaican pastor has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. The sentence was handed down Friday by Justice Lorna Shelly Williams when he appeared in the Home Circuit Court. Pastor Reverend Paul Hanniford of the Pentecostal City Mission Church was convicted by a seven-member jury, on January 24 of having sexual intercourse with a minor. According to Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, the complainant, who is now 15 years old, testified in court that on March 12, 2015, she and her five-year-old brother went to the church for choir practice and after the rehearsal, they asked Pastor Hanniford for a drive out in his van. The pastor took the children to his house in Kingston where he sexually assaulted the girl. According to the evidence presented to the court, after the incident, the pastor gave them some cornflakes to eat and later warned the complainant not to tell anyone as it was their “secret”. In his defence at the trial, the pastor denied having sexual intercourse with the complainant and said that he had given the children a drive out but not on the day in question. (BT)

FIVE MORE MAKE THE GRADE - Five swimmers assured of places in the Barbados team for the CARIFTA Games achieved the qualifying standards in other events on the fourth day of the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association’s National Long Course Championships at the Aquatic Centre on Friday night. Keilani Talma made the mark for the Central American And Caribbean Championships (CCCAN) in the 11-12 Girls’ 200 metres butterfly where she crushed the field to finish 15 seconds ahead of her nearest challenger. Talma won in a time of two minutes, 38.63 seconds, well inside the CARIFTA requirement of 2:51.07 and comfortably clear of the CCCAN mark of 2:44.52. Christopher Pollard, who has been having a good time at the championships, reached the CARIFTA qualifying standard in the 11-12 Boys’ 400 metres freestyle and 200 metres butterfly. (SS)

BCA SET ON RULE CHANGES – When the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) meets for its annual general meeting later this year, one of the major changes to the rules governing the association will be a reduction in the number of directors. BCA president Joel Garner reminded the audience at Friday night’s annual awards ceremony, held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, that the new board will consist of nine members, five fewer than it now has. “One of the principal features of the 2016 rules is the reduction of the board of directors from 14 to nine. This decision is taken in concert with our desire to apply principles of best practice concerning governance. “It is a move we hope will redound to the benefit of cricket in Barbados,” said Garner, the current West Indies senior team manager. (SS)

LEGEND BAFFLED BY CHOICE OF OVERSEAS COACHES - SIR GARFIELD SOBERS is confused by the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) decision to appoint a third non-West Indian coach over the past 13 years. Contending that there are suitably qualified candidates in the Caribbean, the legendary former West Indies captain feels the choices suggested a lack of confidence in regional coaches. “If you figure the ones you have at home are not good enough . . . that is the only reason you should bring in outside coaches, because you figure your own don’t have the same skills as the overseas coaches,” Sobers said when asked by SUNSPORT for his views on the appointment of another Australian coach. (SS)

That’s all for today folks. There are 294 days left in the year Shalom! #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #bajannewscaps #newscapsbystephaniefchase