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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 6/14/2019

Good MORNING #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Friday 14th June 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT), Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) or by purchasing a Weekend Nation Newspaper (WN).

WHARTON ‘FRONT-RUNNER’ FOR TRANSPORT BOARD JOB – A ZR driver and owner is among the candidates vying to be behind the steering wheel of the Transport Board. Reports reaching the Weekend Nation indicate that Fabian Wharton, who is also public relations officer for the Public Service Vehicles Workers’ Association, has applied for the post of general manager at the problem-plagued state entity. He and two other candidates were being considered for the job, but sources said Wharton appeared to be the front-runner. (WN)

EX-BAICO WORKERS TELL KPMG: WE WANT OUR MONIES – Former employees of failed British American Insurance Company (BAICO) showed their displeasure with its judicial manager, KPMG, with a short peaceful protest in front of the accounting firm’s Hastings, Christ Church office yesterday. The protest, however, hardly lasted 15 minutes, as KPMG senior management hastily asked to meet with a few of the protesters to discuss the matter. Some of the protesters who remained outside spoke to the Weekend Nation about their frustrations. (WN)

DLP DEBT – The Democratic Labour Party owes several contractors more than $200,000 for services rendered during the 2018 general election campaign, Barbados TODAY investigations have revealed. The services include stage lighting, sound, lighting towers, chemical restrooms, advertising and meeting coordinators. Williams Industries, GKY Lighting, S&R Rentals and A&R Electrical are some of the companies which are said to have been affected. The managing director of Williams Industries, Stuart Williams, confirmed to Barbados TODAY that his company had supplied several light towers to the DLP’s failed bid for reelection to government. Williams acknowledged that he had not dealt directly with the DLP, but with suppliers who were acting on behalf of the party. Williams said to date he had only received around 20 per cent of the debt. He said: “We dealt with suppliers who ordered equipment on their [DLP] behalf, so I did not have any conversations directly with Verla DePeiza. “We supplied several light towers for events. We have received promises of payment, but we haven’t received anything substantial. “What we have been told by those suppliers is that they have not been paid yet and are therefore unable to pay us. They have been unwilling to pay us without being paid.” But Williams said he was confident that the outstanding debts would be settled once “everything was sorted out”. A meeting coordinator who spoke to Barbados TODAY on condition of anonymity revealed being owed close to $5,000. Numerous attempts to reach out to DePeiza to arrange payment failed, the source said. The contractor told Barbados TODAY: “I was on the ground from the time Prime Minister at the time Freundel Stuart called the elections. “I was running around arranging everything and I also had to be at every single meeting in the constituency I was stationed. “I worked from the time elections were announced until it came to an end but no one came forward to make any payments. “We were told that payment wouldn’t have been an issue because they had received funding for the election campaign, but now I am hearing that there is no money.” After several failed attempts to get paid, the source said they were left with little choice but to put the matter in the hands of their lawyer. But even this had proved problematic, the source said, as letters and phone calls to DePeiza had gone unanswered. “They didn’t have the decency to call and say anything or to arrange any payment plan. This is downright ridiculous,” the source added. When contacted by Barbados TODAY, DePeiza said she was not authorised to speak on DLP matters in public. She said: “I have no authority to discuss DLP business in the public domain, that is number one. Number two; I think from what you said to me Mr Williams made it pretty clear that he didn’t contract with the DLP to do anything.” When asked if she could reveal if she had been contacted by anyone about being paid for work done during the campaign, DePeiza responded, “No I can’t tell you that”. (BT)

BADMC INDUSTRIAL STRIFE DEEPENS – Industrial unrest is intensifying at the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), as the National Union of Public Workers delivers a fresh ultimatum to management. NUPW Acting Deputy General Secretary Wayne Walrond has told management that it has another “couple of weeks” to respond to its proposals on a wide range of concerns to avoid the union stepping up to undisclosed industrial action. Walrond told Barbados TODAY this afternoon: “We are waiting on a meeting… and it is causing unrest among workers. We hope that that would be very soon.” He said BADMC management has asked for time to take the union’s proposals to the board of directors for discussion before the two sides could start negotiations on a fresh collective agreement. Asked how long the union was willing to wait, Walrond replied: ”Within a reasonable time. If within the next couple of weeks we can’t meet around the table, we would have to see how we can advance the matter. I wouldn’t say directly what we intend to do, but if within the next couple of weeks we can’t have this meeting, we would have to determine what strategy to engage. “[Industrial action] is always a tool that unions can’t rule out. It is not a first option, but it is something that unions could never rule out. The whole idea of taking action for the pursuance of a dispute if we declare there is a dispute… and people use their collective power to draw attention to have their issues addressed; that is always a possibility.” The proposals centre around a need for a new collective agreement, the union boss said. “It would contain things like the hours of work, sick leave policy, vacation leave, disciplinary action, grievance procedure; it would speak to probation, pensions and promotion policies,” Walrond told Barbados TODAY. He accused the BADMC of seemingly bent on trying to move away from proper industrial relations practices in recent years but said the union wants to return to the bargaining table to work out a collective agreement. But the acting deputy general secretary said morale at the corporation has hit rock bottom in an environment where he claimed the rights of employees were being eroded. “We still want to sit down with the corporation. The corporation over the years has moved away from a relationship with NUPW where it is more like they are trying to set their own terms and conditions… but we are insisting we want to get around the table and have a collective agreement in place. I think that is one of our greatest battles,” Walrond said. He added another issue is how decisions were being implemented at the farm production and marketing board. The NUPW official told Barbados TODAY the workers fear that the BADMC human resources department seemed more interested in making decisions to their disadvantage instead of trying to empower them to feel a part of the organization. “They are not happy with the state of affairs…they feel their rights are being undermined and the management is seemingly looking at ways to reduce whatever benefits they enjoy or terms and conditions they enjoy. So they are not happy generally and there is low morale at the BADMC.” Management of the corporation could not be reached for comment. (BT)

NUPW CUTTING TIES? – It appears that the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) is set on ending its association with General Secretary Roslyn Smith. This afternoon Barbados TODAY was reliably informed by sources close to the organisation that the executive body of the largest public sector trade union had opted not to extend Smith’s contract, which expired on March 31. “Ms Smith was sent a letter informing her that the contract would not be renewed. I can’t say if she received the letter, but we have to now wait and see how she responds,” said one source, who noted that Smith had the option of appealing the decision. Smith is recovering from an undisclosed illness and has been receiving treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) since last December. She had submitted a request for a leave extension in a letter dated March 15. At the time union president Akanni McDowall said a decision on the matter should be deferred to the union’s incoming executive committee and national council. However, another source explained to Barbados TODAY that while a new national council is yet to be formed, the executive of the NUPW took the decision not to renew the contract. “The new council is being formed now but the executive would have made the decision as it pertains to Roslyn [Smith]. The executive made the decision that the contract not be extended,” the source explained. However, the source also pointed out that a new national council, once in place, could reverse the decision. “A new national council could decide that they want to bring the General Secretary back. So, there is nothing cast in stone and that would be up to them, but as of March 31, she was not being paid by the NUPW,” the source, said while noting that it might be some time before the NUPW seeks a replacement as there is currently an acting General Secretary and an acting Deputy General Secretary in place. “We currently have Delcia Burke acting as General Secretary and Wayne Waldron acting as Deputy General Secretary. So, I don’t believe that the union would necessarily be looking for someone right away,” the source explained. Barbados TODAY made several attempts to reach Smith for comment but was unsuccessful. In recent months, Smith’s relationship with the NUPW president has been volatile. In the days leading up to NUPW’s elections last April, news broke that Smith and McDowall were heading to court to settle a lawsuit stemming from a memo dated August 28, 2018, in which McDowall made certain statements to the NUPW’s National Council referencing Smith’s use of the union’s credit card. Smith has accused McDowall of making several “extremely serious, sensational and irrefutably false statements against her”, which had the potential to cause her to lose her job. According to a release issued by Smith last March, correspondence was sent to McDowall’s lawyers on January 11, 2019, informing him of the planned action. However, at the time, McDowall, who is represented by the legal firm Clarke Gittens Farmer, has claimed that he is protected from any defamation lawsuit. A letter sent to Smith’s attorney Duana Peterson, a copy of which was obtained by Barbados TODAY, stated that McDowall was protected under the Trade Unions Act, as president and chairman of the national council. “In fulfillment of this duty, our client issued the memo to the national council under the letterhead of the NUPW and in his capacity as chairman and president. Therefore, the memo was issued by our client on behalf of NUPW. Consequently, we have advised our client that he is afforded protection from your client’s claim of defamation pursuant to Section 7(1) of the Trade Unions Act CAP 361,” the letter stated. (BT)

LAND TAX DISCOUNTS ‘END IN AUGUST’, SAYS BRA – A discount on this year’s land tax bills has been extended until the end of August, the Barbados Revenue Authority announced this evening. BRA spokeswoman Carolyn Williams-Gayle said the rebate was in line with a promise made during the Budget. She said in a statement: “In accordance with the Budgetary Proposals 2019, there will be a single discount of five per cent this year on all accounts that are paid in full on or before August 31.” The BRA official said there are alternative payment options so homeowners could avoid standing in line at their offices. Williams-Gayle added: “We are encouraging persons to use the other options for paying their land tax bills which include using the drop boxes for cheques at our locations, wire transfers for those persons living overseas and paying online using EzPay on the government portal. The EzPay option requires persons to register for this service and a direct link to registration can be found on our website www.bra.gov.bb/Pay.” Bill payments could be made at the authority’s offices in Bridgetown at the Treasury Building and the Weymouth Corporate Centre, at Warrens Tower II, and in Oistins and Holetown, the release added. The opening hours for the Treasury Building and Holetown offices are Monday to Friday between 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., while the other locations are from 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., it said. (BT)

TRAFFIC CHANGES FOR OFFICIAL VISIT OF GHANA DELEGATION –There will be several temporary traffic changes tomorrow in Bridgetown to facilitate the visit of president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, to Parliament. From 6 a.m., no parking will be allowed in the area and footpaths around the Parliament Building, Broad Street, Shepherd Street, Trafalgar Street, High Street, Ricketts Street, and Palmetto Street. There will be traffic diversions at St Michael’s Row, Bay Street and Broad Street from 3 p.m. Traffic travelling into The City along St Michael’s Row will turn right on to Spry Street, and exit The City, or turn left on to Bridge Street, travel across the bridge in the direction of Probyn Street and exit The City. No traffic will be allowed to turn right on to Wharf Road, as it will be closed to all traffic. Commuters along Bay Street going into The City will be allowed to turn right on to Independence Square and travel towards the traffic lights at the junction with Bridge Street, Probyn Street and Fairchild Street and either travel straight to Fairchild Street or turn right on to Probyn Street and exit The City. There will be no left turns on to Bridge Street. Motorists travelling along Lower Broad Street will be diverted at the junction on to Prince William Henry Street and travel in the direction of Coleridge Street and exit The City. Uniformed police officers will be on duty during the event and road users are urged to comply with all directions given. Motorists wishing to travel these areas during this period are encouraged to seek alternative routes. (WN)

COMMON ENTRANCE RESULTS TO BE ANNOUNCED NEXT MONDAY – The results of the 2019 Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination (BSSEE), more popularly known as the Common Entrance Exam or 11-Plus will be announced next Monday, June 17. Minister of Education,Technological and Vocational Training, Santia Bradshaw, will make the announcement at 10a.m. in the Minister’s Conference Room at the Ministry’s Constitution Road, St Michael headquarters. (MR/BGIS)

PLASTICS ‘ARE EVERYWHERE’ – A conservationist has warned that plastic pollution globally could be more pervasive than previously thought. Addressing a panel discussion on single-use plastics last night, the director of public education and awareness at the Barbados Sea Turtle Project Carla Daniel said recent environmental studies have shown that humans may be ingesting as much as five grammes of plastics which can be found in the air, in drinking water and the oceans. Daniel said: “They’re saying that you are ingesting about five grams of plastic. Where’s this plastic coming from? It’s coming from your bottled water that you love so much. And it’s also coming from tap water. “People are not sure what the health impact from all of this plastic ingestion is but they do know that basically every week you’re eating a credit-card sized amount of plastic.” According to Daniel, land-based microplastic pollution may be as much as four to 23 times as high as marine plastic pollution. “So you’re really concerned about all the plastic in the water and so on, but all of that soil you’re walking on, all of that soil you’re putting your crops in, all of the rivers that are flowing through…. All of those things have plastic as well. “Research is suggesting that 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since then… 6.3 billion metric tonnes is plastic waste. So even with the best intentions of recycling, we still have 79 per cent of this buried in landfills or in nature. And if we continue at this rate of production … without better recycling infrastructure, 12 billion tonnes of plastic waste in landfills by 2050. That’s probably the size of a few Barbadoses.” She also described the impact of plastic litter on Barbadian wildlife, particularly sea turtles, whose hatchlings are sometimes trapped in plastic bags. “One of the issues with putting garbage on the sand is that sometimes when turtles try to lay their eggs they will bury that garbage in with the eggs. Sometimes what happens is that people that are cleaning the beach or people who are on the beach think they are doing a good deed somehow by burying their dirty diapers, burying their Styrofoam or whatever containers, burying their plastic bags down in the sand.” But she believes that Barbados can improve the state of its environment. “This is the golden age of technology, we have the opportunity to be a shining example. “We have the opportunity to clean up our act, we have the opportunity to clean our island. “We have 166 square miles, we have approximately 280,000 people, if we all got on board we could probably clean up this place in no time.” Dominique Tudor, the founder of Eco Rebel, a provider of environmentally friendly products, hailed the ban on single-use plastics, which took effect on April 1. (BT)

‘WEEDED OUT’ – One Canadian-based preventative and medical physician has poured cold water on any notion that Barbados could compete with other jurisdictions for the growing of cannabis for export. At the same time, Professor Louis Hugo Francescutti is warning Barbadian authorities to proceed with caution as they establish a medical marijuana industry here. He was addressing the opening of a Barbados Employers’ Confederation one-day seminar at the Savannah Hotel on Thursday under the theme Decriminalization of Marijuana: The Employers’ Response. Highlighting the country’s ongoing drought, the past president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada said growing on a large scale would require a lot of water and he did not see Barbados being able to do that on a sustained basis. “Just in case you wanted to start growing it here, you know, if you think that ‘we are going to grow Barbados marijuana and we are going to make a fortune and the revenue is going to be great’… Well, to grow marijuana makes no difference if they are growing it in the Arctic or in Barbados, you are not going to be growing it outdoors. It has to be grown in a controlled environment,” said Francescutti. “And a controlled environment is going to require certain amount of humidity, a lot of electricity and a lot of water. Water woes continue. So I don’t know if you are the right place to start growing marijuana to try and compete with countries that are so far ahead of you. In Canada the operations are unbelievable. I don’t think an island like Barbados could compete at any level,” he said. The Mia Mottley administration has already announced the addition of five marijuana-based drugs to be added to the local drug formulary, a first step towards fully establishing medical cannabis industry. However, when it comes to legalization of the weed for recreational use, Government has promised to have a referendum. Francescutti warned that it was critical that the country put certain mechanisms in place including laws similar to those in Canada that would make provision for employers to accommodate users of cannabis and cannabis products even if they become addicts. “Eventually if you are following what other countries are doing you may end up with laws like that, or if somebody challenges you and take it to the court system you have to accommodate them,” he said. “If you are going to go down this route you better start putting some serious dollars towards treatment because you are going to need it. And if you are an employer you better start figuring out how you are going to deal with people that are going to show up at work under the effect,” he warned. He added: “Make it mandatory that if the government goes through to legalization and is promoting this industry, that 40 per cent of it is directed towards treatment.” He said if there was a country that Barbados should look to for guidance in rolling out a medical cannabis market is Portugal. He said that country had a “very robust detoxification programme and support programmes in place”. Francescutti said he did not see the decriminalization of the drug impacting the illicit drug trade, since those who want to buy large quantities would still do so. He said while the medical cannabis industry could be a lucrative one there were a number of devastating consequences that should be considered. “The only good consequence I guess is that there is a little more revenue, but you have to balance that by how much more policing and expense in medicine that you are going to have to put into this. So you can do it but do it very carefully,” he cautioned. The past president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) told the room of professionals that with the decriminalization of marijuana, the country faces the risk of having an increased number of addicts and suicide cases. Using the state of Colorado as an example, he also stated that cannabis use could result in more high school dropouts, an increase in fatal road accidents and a decline in tourist arrivals. “If there is a family history of schizophrenia, starting to smoke at a young age will increase the risk of the schizophrenia manifesting itself. You are going to see a lot more psychotic episodes and we are beginning to see this right now in Canada,” he warned. “Start measuring drops in tourism as well because quite frankly, you go down this route and your motor vehicle rates go up, your fatality rates go up because the lifeguard is up in the lifeguard shed smoking a joint and not seeing people drowning….The little things like that and word gets out, who is going to want to come to Barbados? …. So it is going to impact on your tourists. It is going to impact on your productivity,” he said. He suggested that any law put in place should ensure that the use of cannabis-based products or the use of small quantities of the drug was by individuals over the age of 25. Pointing out that marijuana had not yet undergone extensive research, Francescutti said there was need for frank and open discussions in Barbados before government established a medical marijuana industry. He noted that establishing such an industry meant that marijuana would be included in many things including food, body products and medications. Stating that it was a difficult but crucial conversation that would evoke a lot of emotional responses, he warned of the impact it could have on the youth under 25 that could be irreversible. In frank terms, the physician said if Barbados ended up with an increase in addiction due to decriminalization of cannabis and did not have resources and mechanisms in place to deal with them “then you are sc…ed”. “Because what you are doing is creating a population of addicts but you are not providing any kind of means to help them,” he said. (BT)

MINISTER SHOULD QUIT OVER PRISON ‘TRAVESTY’ – An outspoken senator is demanding the resignation of Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson and Superintendent of Prisons Lieutenant Colonel John Nurse over the recent discovery of inmates on remand being lost in jail without having their day in court. Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn who is also industrial relations consultant to the Prison Officers’ Association of Barbados is livid that a person on remand should, in modern Barbados, be left to languish in jail for nearly ten years for a petty theft which attracts a sentence of no more than six months. A week ago, it was revealed in the High Court that Winston Agard had been on remand for seven years without going to court. Criminal attorney-at-law Angella Mitchell-Gittens, who has been fighting on behalf of some of those prisoners has told Barbados TODAY she was informed that there were close to 50 persons at HMP Dodds who had not appeared before the court for a prolonged period. But yesterday Minister Hinkson suggested the numbers were considerably lower when he said that there is “less than a handful” of prisoners on remand at HMP Dodds who have not been to court in over two years. Hinkson said that a list of prisoners on remand at the penal institution was vetted, revealing those numbers. However, Senator Franklyn today insisted that the Minister was misleading the country. “In any case, one, is one too many. We should not be behaving like a banana republic. Nobody should be lost in prison. All hell has broken loose up there [Dodds Prison]. All kind of things seem to be going wrong under him [Minister Hinkson]…and the Prime Minister should take away the rest of his portfolios let him go back doing what he was good at…being a successful criminal lawyer,” Senator Franklyn told Barbados TODAYthis afternoon. “In fact, they all should resign; Hinkson and the superintendent,” added the industrial relations consultant. “Nobody should be lost in prison. A warrant is issued by a magistrate and it has a deadline on it. So when that deadline is gone you go and get the person to appear in court. I don’t know what he [superintendent] doing up there. He come and change up everything. John Nurse should resign,” the controversial Franklyn declared. Meanwhile Minister Hinkson has described Agard’s situation as a “travesty”. He said after it was highlighted he met with senior prison management, senior management of his ministry, as well as the chairperson of the Prisons Advisory Board, Queen’s Counsel Cicely Chase. “There are, however, less than a handful of persons who have been on remand for more than two years without their cases being before the courts, and whose earlier sentences have recently expired, or who are not serving any sentence at the present time.” The minister said those persons would be provided with the opportunity to come before the courts and plead guilty, or otherwise be given a trial hearing. But Mitchell-Gittens said while she was relieved to hear that action was being taken, the numbers given by the Minister did not add up. Barbados TODAY reached out to prison boss Nurse for a comment, but he declined saying that the Minister had already spoken to the matter. Efforts to contact Hinkson this afternoon for a response to Franklyn’s call to resign proved futile. (BT)

HINKSON DEFENDS DODDS – Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson is hitting back at criticism that the medical unit at HMP Dodds is not up to scratch, particularly for inmates with certain health challenges. He was responding to queries from the Weekend Nation, after the personal physician of Richard Arthur, who was convicted last month on ammunition charges but later granted bail on medical reasons, criticised conditions at the St Philip facility. Hinkson said the unit has up-to-date emergency care equipment, three doctors daily, prison officers qualified as nurses and an ambulance on site. (WN)

CRUISE PROMOTERS: BLAME IT ON SOCIETAL VIOLENCE – Party cruises not to blame! With dozens of party cruises already scheduled for this year’s Crop Over season, promoters have joined scores of Barbadians pleading with authorities to take the unprecedented spate of violence more seriously. The promoters have unanimously agreed that the problem is not as a result of the parties, but is a manifestation of the growing violent culture taking over the country. The discussion followed last weekend’s fatal shooting of security guard Dave Archer while at a Sand 2 Sea promotional cruise on the MV Dream Chaser. In recent times, cruise boats officials have introduced changes in security protocols including banning glass bottles and instituting extensive searching of patrons including the removal of footwear before entry. Officers of the Royal Barbados Police Force are also present at the docks before vessels depart and when they return. Reacting to the most recent incident, Shakeel Greaves, promoter of popular summer cruise, Beards and Bikinis argued that boat owners and promoters have been taking reasonable steps to respond to safety concerns. “It’s a problem with the country moreso than the party cruises,” he declared. “It’s a problem the country needs to confront altogether. I hear people blaming cruises and saying there are not going on cruises anymore, but to be honest, somebody was shot while in Sheraton and people have been shot in town. It is more something that we have to do as a country rather than simply going after the party cruises.” Promoter of the popular Waves Cooler Cruise Ken Mason described the problem as “a reflection of society”. “We have to look at things a bit differently. Conflict resolution is a thing of the past and people nowadays are just quick to run for the gun. What can be done in the communities to prevent them from having these guns that are ending up on the streets?” asked Mason. “That is where the conversation should be headed instead of dealing with the promoters. All we can do is to bring ten more guards or 20 more guards; it does not negate the fact that the gun was already there. It’s just a matter of ensuring the guns are off the streets as a whole. It must be a collaborative effort between the community, the police and the coast guards to ensure the presence is there.” While suggesting more support from the police and coast guard, Mason said the onus is also on boat owners to better screen promoters who request the use of their vessels for parties. He in fact identified three categories of cruises: ‘boujee’, ‘ghetto’/urban cruises and “those in between”. While admitting he frequents “all different types” of cruises, Mason admitted the urban or ghetto cruises were often singled out as trouble cruises. Another promoter who requested anonymity revealed some have started restricting registration to persons known to themselves and their committee members. The source, a long time entertainment entrepreneur also revealed while hiring police as security was often preferable, promoters are often deterred by exorbitant prices. “The average cost of a security guard is between $80 to $120 per guard for the night. The average cost of a police starts at $120. A constable starts at $120 but that is the lowest level of police and when you are employing police, you can’t just employ constables. You have to employ inspectors and superintendents as well,” said the source, adding the RBPF would often determine how many police would be required if they were employed to cover the event. “They may recommend 15 constables, a station sergeant and an inspector. In addition to that, before you even sell a drink at your event, the police have to be paid. So as a party promoter, you tend to shy away from the police, because obviously it’s difficult and at the end of the day, it is a business too. “I’m not saying that you want to play with people’s lives, but if it is difficult to acquire the services of the police, and you could understand why, the promoter would be at a disadvantage as opposed to someone who can afford. It’s still a struggle, because you can only have about 750 people on a boat,” the source argued. On the other hand, promoter of Amped: The Cruise Russell Grant revealed for at least one pleasure boat, the RBPF served as official security. This, he said would continue to be his vessel of choice. “I think it’s all about the crowd and as a promoter, I know the crowd that we will attract and I know the people… I think that a certain cruise might be considered a ‘bad man’ cruise unfortunately. “The more popular the boat, the more problems it will have… it started out being the Buccaneer, then it became the Jolly Roger and now it’s the Dream Chaser. “I just think the police presence makes a difference and many of these guys know who are the police, so they probably won’t go onto the boat with a gun. They know the possible repercussions if they shoot a police officer may be different. So I think the boats need to just hire more police,” said Grant. (BT)

BOYCE URGES YOUTH RESTRAINT AGAINST DISRESPECT – Too many young people are resorting to violence over petty slights, Deputy Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce has complained. Boyce expressed concern that youngsters are demonstrating a lack of restraint whenever faced with perceived disrespect. “We see this coming out when we do our investigations. We hear things like ‘this person disrespect me or this person disrespect my girl or my family and as a result, I had to take the action that I did.’ This is not the way to respond,” the senior police officer said. Boyce made the comments in the feature address at the Drug Awareness Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) graduation and awards ceremony for the George Lamming Primary School, which was held today at Prince Cave Hall in the District ‘A’ Police Complex. Boyce urged the graduating class to arm themselves with appropriate problem-solving skills, as they would encounter these issues on a regular basis as they go through their adolescent lives. “Disrespect is a word that is used quite often in the criminal landscape. I want to urge you that things will happen and you have to build the sort of resilience and the power to prevent yourself from being drawn into situations that will cause you to go down the wrong side of the road.” The deputy commissioner also told the graduating class of a number of other areas that they need to be on the lookout for, as they handle conflict resolution in their lives, suggesting that at times their courage would be challenged. But he urged them to bear in mind that they have nothing to prove to their peers. “You would hear words such as spine, disrespect, you are a worm, crime, violence and bullying. All these are now going to be part of your vocabulary as you move from this stage of life to the other. “When you hear someone does not have spine, it is meant to mean that person is a coward. Quite often many persons see that as a way to show off their manhood.” “How you deal with those matters would be critical in the understanding of your own personal development. You have been given lessons of right and wrong and you must determine what is best for you. Your response must be contingent on how you want to be seen,” he said. (BT)

UNNATURAL DEATH IN ST PHILIP – Police are on the scene of an unnatural death in St Philip. Preliminary reports indicate a man is dead in the Ruby area. (WN)

RAPE ACCUSED ON BAIL – A 27-year-old labourer accused of committing three offences against a woman is out on $10,000 bail. Mark Sylvester Vaughn, of No. 31 Watermill Place, Bayville, St Michael is alleged to have raped the woman on May 26 and occasioned actual bodily harm on her. He is further accused of using a computer between May 26 and 30 to send indecent and reckless electronic communication which could cause annoyance, inconvenience, distress or anxiety to the same woman or any other person to whom he intended its contents to be communicated. He secured bail before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant when he appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ recently. His bail conditions state that he must report to the Hastings Police Station every Tuesday and Saturday before noon with valid identification. Vaughn was also warned to stay away from the complainant and not to communicate with her in any manner. His next court date is October 15. (BT)

JAMAICAN MAN DENIES ASSAULTING HIS WIFE – The freedom of a Jamaican man appears to rest solely with his wife who he claims is Barbadian and is accused of assaulting. Despite being married since September 5, 2018, Derief Austin Noble, of 2nd Avenue Flint Hall, St Michael does not have a certificate to prove his union and has no official legal status in Barbados. The 37-year-old self-employed man appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court this afternoon charged that he assaulted Kaydene Clarke on May 15 occasioning her actual bodily harm. He pleaded not guilty to that charge as well as the allegation that he assaulted Donna Phillips, his wife, on June 9 occasioning her actual bodily harm. Following the not guilty pleas an immigration officer informed Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant that Noble arrived in the country on January 22, 2016 and requested a 14-day stay but was granted six months. However, he remained in the country illegally when the time expired and had not made any applications to regularise his status. The officer said that Noble had informed her that he was married to a Barbadian but did not produce any documents to substantiate that statement. His lack of status prompted Station Sergeant Cameron Gibson to raise an objection to his bail. Noble’s attorney Mohia Ma’at told the court that his client was “indeed a married man here in Barbados” and was married at a church in St Andrew. “It is quite simple to ascertain if they are married. That marriage . . . places him in a unique position as it relates to his status. He is not someone that overstayed,” the lawyer submitted. Magistrate Cuffy-Sargeant pointed out that Noble had been in the country illegally before his marriage last year. “And having been married to the complainant he did nothing to regularise his status,” the magistrate said before remanding Noble to Dodds until July 11. (BT)

CAR SMASHER GETS JAIL TIME – Twenty months in prison. That’s how long Lamar Keelan Eversley, of Vauxhall Gardens, Christ Church will spend at Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds for breaking into several vehicles. The 30-year-old unemployed man had previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court this afternoon. Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant imposed a six-month sentence on him for damaging a motorcar belonging to Phillip Garnes between October 29 and 30, 2018. He got four months to run consecutively with the first sentence for stealing a book and $5 cash belonging to Perry Dennis between April 5 and 6. For stealing an ashtray and $3.50 belonging to Laura Nicholls between the same dates he will spend a further six months at Dodds which will run consecutively. Added to that he will also spend a further four months for stealing an ashtray and $10 cash belonging to Jamaala Fagon on March 21. Eversley was convicted, reprimanded and discharged for the offence of loitering on the premises of Grantley Ifill on March 22 when there was cause to suspect that he was about to commit theft. Officer Kenmore Phillips said in all the incidents the complainants secured their vehicles and on their return found them broken and entered and the items missing. In Garnes’ case he found the left side rear window smashed. In Ifill’s case he was sleeping when he suddenly awoke due to noise on the outside. When he looked he saw it was Eversley and proceeded to throw rocks at him but the culprit made good his escape. (BT)

PINELANDS WOMEN GET BAIL – Two St Michael women accused of using abusive language towards a police sergeant appeared in court recently and were granted bail. They are 20-year-old Nariba Davini Maynard and 22-year-old Tamara Shanice Francis both of No. 21 York Terrace, Pinelands. Maynard is alleged to have used the words “Don’t pay he no mind he is a p**** and f*** you too. You feel somebody care if you is a police or not” towards Sergeant Frank Olton. She is further accused of obstructing and resisting the sergeant in his line of duty on June 10. Francis meanwhile is alleged to have said “I don’t know who the f*** he think he talking to. Go and look for the weed and big guns yuh c***,” also to Sergeant Olton on the same date. Both women entered not guilty pleas to the charges leveled against them before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant. However, Francis pleaded guilty to a separate charge of wearing a dress made of the camouflage pattern. A probation report has been ordered on her in preparation for sentencing on that offence. Magistrate Cuffy-Sargeant has also ordered that the case involving the officer be completed by December 12 with disclosure to be served to the accused on their next court appearance on July 8. In the meantime they must report on Tuesdays and Wednesdays before noon with valid identification to a police station – Maynard to Hastings and Francis to Black Rock. (BT)

SLAPPED AND BULLIED – Student Ian Elroy Gibson “was being bullied” on the day he was involved in an accident along Sunbury Road, St Philip. That was the evidence of former third form Princess Margaret Student Julia Howard who took the stand in the No. 2 Supreme Court today in the manslaughter case against three former schoolmates. Shaquille Shamal Khalleel Bradshaw and Doniko Javier Alleyne both of Balls Land, Christ Church and Maria Antoinette Goddard of Parish Land C, Balls Land, Christ Church are on trial before an eight-member jury accused of the unlawful killing on September 20, 2009 of then 11-year-old Gibson, a Princess Margaret student. Howard told the court that she was sitting on the side of the road on Friday, September 18, 2009 with friends waiting on a bus to go home when Alleyne walked up to Gibson and told him ‘you was wukking up behind me today’ and started to “slap him up”. “Ian ran across the road and Maria hold him and she was hitting him . . . . Maria said to Shaquille that Ian said something about his mother . . . . Shaquille was walking towards him with a stick and Ian was saying ‘leave me, leave me.’ And all I heard was a sound and saw Ian on the ground,” Howard told the court presided over by Justice Randall Worrell, while answering questions posed by Principal Crown Counsel Alliston Seale. Under cross-examination by Arthur Holder who is legal counsel for Bradshaw, the Crown’s witness said she could not recall if Devon Brathwaite was at the scene on the day neither could she say whether someone had taken up a piece of galvanise. She however said that someone named Earl did hit Ian but did not know a Jamal Cox. Howard also stated that she saw Bradshaw hit Gibson with a stick but “can’t remember how many times”. “I honestly can’t remember how everything play out”, she admitted even as she stated that the car, which Gibson collided with, was “white”. Her evidence followed that of the Director of Medical Services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Dr Anthony Harris who read the report of the attending doctor who pronounced Gibson dead at 12:58 a.m. on September 20, 2009. That doctor has since left the QEH. The Crown then closed its case. The trial resumes tomorrow. (BT)

RIGHT ON, MIKEY! – They might’ve been fierce opponents on the field, but former West Indies fast bowler, now commentator Michael Holding has got New Zealand’s Jeremy Coney is his corner over a recent controversy with the International Cricket Council (ICC). A day after Holding stood firm because the ICC asked him to avoid pointing out the errors of umpires on air during the ongoing World Cup, Coney says what the ICC is trying to do is “just not on”. “People saw the mistakes. Do you want silence at that moment, especially if its (video) being replayed? No you don’t,” said the 66-year-old Coney, who is working as a radio commentator for the BBC at the World Cup. (WN)

RAPTORS WIN FIRST NBA TITLE, KAWHI IS MVP – The Toronto Raptors delivered Canada its first NBA title with a 114-110 victory over the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors on Thursday that set off a country-wide celebration. With a nation hanging on their every shot, Canada’s only NBA team put the finishing touches to a remarkable 4-2 series upset that denied the Warriors a fourth championship in five years. “I can’t really think right now, this is crazy. This is awesome man,” said Toronto guard Kyle Lowry. “Toronto! Canada! We brought it home baby! We brought it home!” When the final buzzer sounded, jubilant Raptors fans flooded the streets of downtown Toronto for a night of celebration not seen in the city since Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays last won a World Series title in 1993. Toronto forward Kawhi Leonard, who arrived in a blockbuster trade with the San Antonio Spurs last July, was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. “Last summer I was going through a lot. I had a great support system, I just kept working hard, working hard and had my mind set on this goal right here,” said Leonard, who last season was limited to nine games due to a quadriceps injury. “I came to a team, a new coach, and that mindset was the same as mine. This is what I play basketball for, this is what I work out for all summer, during the season and I’m happy that my hard work paid off.” Leonard, who also won the award in 2014 while playing for the San Antonio Spurs, joins basketball greats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players in NBA history to win Finals MVP with two different franchises. Lowry and Pascal Siakam each had 26 points for Toronto and Leonard 22, while sharp-shooting Warriors guard Klay Thompson, who left the game with an injury in the third quarter, had 30 points. Despite playing against a more playoff-seasoned opponent, the Raptors proved unflappable throughout the series and whenever the Warriors looked set to seize momentum Toronto would use some smart passes and precise shooting to maintain control. (WN)

GRYNNER NOW FOREVER KING OF THE ROAD – Iconic calypsonian MacDonald The Mighty Grynner Blenman is once again, and for all time, King of the Road. Grynner, whose seven-time champion road marches dominated the soundscape of the Spring Garden Highway will now be officially associated with the one-mile stretch of tarmac which is to be renamed The Mighty Grynner Highway. News of Blenman having the highway renamed in his honour broke last night when an image of new signage near the Esso service station at the Holborn end of the highway, went viral on social media. Since then, members of the entertainment industry have shared on social media their congratulations to the pioneer of the Barbadian calypso art form. An elated Grynner told Barbados TODAY he never imagined that he would have a road renamed in his honour. He said: “I feel very good and I am glad to know that I get something before I go along. I am proud and happy with the response I received. I am glad things work out for me like that I never had it in a dream, but I get it.” The seven-time road march king said he will be doing all of his celebrations at the official rededication which is yet to be announced. “It depends on when it is. Once they have the official one, I have to be there. No, I am going to wait till the official opening,” he said. Tent manager of De Big Show Calypso Tent Merle Niles shared on her Facebookpage: “Congratulations to the road boss! Leo McDonald Blenman. The Mighty Grynner”. Also giving kudos was entertainer Ishaka McNeil who said in a Facebook post: “Oh, this is what I call one of the most beautiful days in history. This highway should have the Leggo I Hand section, the Mr T section, Wait for me Grynner section and De Bajan Yankees section of the Highway. Congrats to a legend well deserved.” Longtime friend Adonijah told Barbados TODAY the renaming of the road was well deserved. “The ol’ dawg is the King of the Road. Congrats to him,” he said. Tent Manager of House of Soca calypso tent Sharon Carew also offered her congratulations to the veteran calypsonian. Carew said: “I think he is deserving of it. It is very fitting. It is an accolade that I am so glad that he is alive to see it. I really think that you could not have given it to a nicer person and someone that deserves it.” Blenman first won the calypso monarch title back in 1976 with Crop Over Bacchanal. Since then Grynner has become the lone calypsonian to have two hat-tricks in the Tune of The Crop – the Kadooment Day Road March – as he reigned from 1983-1985 with the songs Mr T, Stinging Bees and More Grynner. He returned in 1988-1990 and once again captured the crown with Wait For Me, Leggo I Hand and Get Out De Way. In 1998, he was once again in winner’s row with his song Grind Dem which won the Tune Of The Crop making it his seventh time capturing the coveted title. He also produced such hits as Bajan Yankee in 1986, Ah Coming in 1991, My Car in 2014, Turn Up The Speaker in 2016, King of The Road which featured veteran calypsonian Ras Iley in 2017 and Lock Dem Up in 2018. (BT)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 201 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

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classicfilmfreak · 7 years

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New Post has been published on http://www.classicfilmfreak.com/2017/08/10/big-sleep-1946-starring-humphrey-bogart-lauren-bacall/

The Big Sleep (1946) starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall

“Let me do the talking, angel. I don’t know yet what I’m going to tell them. It’ll be pretty close to the truth.”-Philip Marlowe

Seven bodies! At least that’s the rumored total in Raymond Chandler’s novel The Big Sleep. When William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett were working on the film’s screenplay and couldn’t discern who had murdered one character, they called the author. Chandler told them his identity was in the book, to read it. After checking his own novel, Chandler called back sometime later and told the writers that he didn’t know, that they could designate the killer as they liked.

The two screenwriters, even with the talents of a third, Jules Furthman, remained confused by the already confusing first novel of Chandler, and generally retained that murkiness, which might be one of the film’s charms. The Big Sleep is the best of the few detective films Warner Bros. made after The Maltese Falcon during the 1940s. If not plot, then, the big pluses include the tight direction of Howard Hawks, the sharp-edged dialogue—there’s a lot of talking—and the romantic repartee between its two stars, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Despite Bacall’s come-hither, deep-voiced overtures to her leading man, anyone who has seen the first scene will be astounded by the schoolgirl teasings, no less provocative, of Martha Vickers as a precocious nymph, Bacall’s sister in the film, and wonder why she’s not seen more.

In fact, Vickers’ sexy chemistry was so threatening to the studio’s new discovery—this only Bacall’s fourth film after her sensational début in To Have and Have Not (1944)—that most of the younger (by about eight months) star’s scenes were cut. A major overhaul of Bacall’s part by the studio and director ensued, with reshoots, new scenes and added sexual innuendos between her and Bogart.

Filming was further complicated by the tension of Bogart’s impending divorce from his third wife and the affair he was conducting on the set with Bacall. Rumor had it that Bacall was so nervous over the divorce, and, from some sources, that the actor was still debating whether to proceed with the divorce, that during filming her hands shook when she poured a drink or lighted a cigarette.

Bacall had written in her autobiography, By Myself, that, despite the anxiety over the divorce, much fun was had on the set, which prompted a cautionary memo from studio head Jack L. Warner. And when the most famous of the screenwriters, William Faulkner, author of The Sound and the Fury and other stories of the South, asked Hawks if he could write “from home,” since the studio atmosphere unnerved him, Hawks okayed the request, assuming the writer meant his office at the studio. The director was quite displeased when he learned that Faulkner was writing from“home” all right—in Oxford, Mississippi.

Some brave souls have tried to condense the impenetrable plot into a nutshell, though, at best, it’s of minimum importance. Let’s see, how does it go, or appears to go. . . .

Private detective Philip Marlowe (Bogart) visits a decaying old man, General Sternwood (Charles Waldron, who died before the film was released), who sits, wheelchair-bound, shawl-enshrouded, in his putrefying greenhouse. (In the 1978 remake, James Stewart’s portrayal of the role seems more a copy of Waldron’s performance than any original approach of his own.) The dialogue in this one scene, and coming so early in the film, can be seen as setting the ethical tone of the movie and the nature of the characters, the private eye included.

The General says to Marlowe:

“You may smoke, too. I can still enjoy the smell of it. Hum, nice state of affairs when a man has to indulge his vices by proxy. You’re looking, sir, at a very dull survival of a very gaudy life—crippled, paralyzed in both legs, barely I eat and my sleep is so near waking it’s hardly worth the name. I seem to exist largely on heat, like a newborn spider.”

He tells Marlowe that he’s being blackmailed, again, and asks him to check on the gambling debts his younger daughter, Carmen (Vickers), owes to a book dealer named Geiger (Theodore von Eltz). (Carmen is a nymphomaniac in Chandler’s novel, but the Hollywood censors would permit no more than what is seen; any inferences otherwise must be the viewer’s own.)

As Marlowe is leaving, the butler (Charles D. Brown) tells him Mrs. Vivian Rutledge (Bacall) would like to see him. In trying to feel him out, she confides that she believes her father has asked him to search for his friend Sean Regan, who has been missing for a month.

Next scene, Marlowe visits Geiger’s rare bookstore (a source for pornography in Chandler’s novel). With the front of his hat turned up, he assumes a clipped speech and eccentric manner, asking for specific editions of two books. The proprietor (Sonia Darrin) says she doesn’t have them.

He then goes across the street to another book store run by a proprietress (Dorothy Malone) who comes on to Marlowe, and he to her. He asks her for the same editions of the books and she rightly tells him there are none. “The girl in Geiger’s bookstore,” he says, “didn’t know that.”

He asks her if she knows Geiger on sight, she describes him down to his glass eye and he requests she let him know when he comes out of the bookstore. (The three-and-a-half-minute scene is one of the best in the film, and, interesting, like Marlowe’s scene with Sternwood, it exudes rapport and chemistry without Bacall.)

When Geiger does emerge, Marlowe follows him to a house. Hearing a woman’s scream and a gunshot, he enters to find a dead Geiger, a drugged Carmen and a hidden camera, without any film. After taking Carmen home, he returns to the house, only to find . . . the body is gone.

It’s just the beginning, and from here on it’s nothing but a convoluted, indecipherable mess, first and most prominent, murder, then gambling, blackmail, car chases (not the apoplectic ones of today), love triangles, red herrings, organized crime, subtle suggestions of pornography and general mayhem.

Although no threat to the overwhelming charisma between Bogart and Bacall, the dialogue has its own fascination, often poetic and occasionally unforgettable, however “written” it may sometimes sound. This is true of General Sternwood’s lines in his one scene and in some of Marlowe’s, particularly this retort during his first scene with Vivian, when she says she deplores his manners:

“And I’m not crazy about yours. I didn’t ask to see you. I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners. I don’t like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long, winter evenings. I don’t mind you ritzing me or drinking your lunch out of a bottle, but don’t waste your time trying to cross-examine me.”

These lines, some given at a fast, breathless pace, are reminiscent of a Bogart scene in The Maltese Falcon—the address to the district attorney about “the only chance I’ve got of catching them [the murderers], and tying them up, and bringing them in, is by staying as far away as possible from you and the police . . . ”

The most famous dialogue exchange, with its sexual innuendos, is between Bogart and Bacall, sitting across from each other at a nightclub table:

“Speaking of horses,” she says, “I like to play them myself. But I like to see them work out a little first, see if they’re front runners or come from behind, find out what their hole card is, what makes them run. . . . I’d say you don’t like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a little lead, take a little breather in the backstretch and then come home free.”

“You don’t like to be rated yourself,” he says.

“I haven’t met any one yet who can do it. Any suggestions?”

“Well, I can’t tell till I’ve seen you over a distance of ground. You’ve got a touch of class, but I don’t know how far you can go.”

“A lot depends on who’s in the saddle.”

This scene doesn’t need, and doesn’t receive, any underpinning music. Max Steiner’s musical score is one of his more problematic, containing both the strong and weak points of his style. The main title is something of a nondescript blur, noisy and tuneless, serving, if nothing else, as a foretaste of the impervious plot and unsavory characters.

In the insouciant motif for Philip Marlowe, Steiner captures the detective’s sluggish, yet quixotic nature, which serves to brighten the predominantly dark music. The slowly ascending notes at the start of the main love theme suggest, perhaps—assuming Steiner’s thinking was this nuanced—the hostile beginning of Marlowe and Vivian’s relationship, the rest of the theme infused with a kind of smothered passion their love would become by the end.

In scoring for two similar settings, it is interesting to compare the disparate approaches to the greenhouse scene, with all its tropical trees and ferns, and Violet Venable’s (Katharine Hepburn) jungle garden in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). For whatever the reason, Steiner elects to ignore representing the humid atmosphere General Sternwood has prepared for his orchids, while composers Malcolm Arnold and Buxton Orr convey almost breathable damp and mildew for Violet’s steamy surroundings.

The Big Sleep is a film where everyone except General Sternwood—perhaps he, too, if he had another scene—carries a gun, and when guns are unavailable, then fists do quite well. With the moral slant of the film, that is, with less than admirable characters and their ugly motives, it’s hard to like any of them.

Truth is, you’re not supposed to like the characters in a film noir, sympathize with them maybe.. But the actors you can like. It’s hard not to like Bogart and Bacall—not as accomplished actors, but as personalities of the screen, as stars were viewed in the ’30s and ’40. Then movie-goers didn’t go to see Philip Marlowe or Vivian Rutledge, not that any one coming out of the theater would remember her last name; they went to see Bogart and Bacall.

Bogart, like Cagney and Flynn, is a personality, a man who always, or generally always, plays himself. Bacall, who still hadn’t learned to act at the time of The Big Sleep, would have been easily overshadowed by Vickers had her original scenes been left intact, and Dorothy Malone has all the charisma and magic of Bacall, just another kind of charm.

Bosley Crowther, one of the most famous movie critics of the 1940s, warned in his New York Times review of August 24, 1946, that the film would be confusing and unsatisfying. And apparently in all sincerity, he asked, “[W]ould somebody also tell us the meaning of that title . . . ” Why, it’s what seems obvious, that which at least seven of the characters in The Big Sleep experienced . . . DEATH.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-K49CUaeto

#Howard Hawks #Humphrey Bogart #Lauren Bacall

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