Commentary

OSWALD BROWN WRITES:

(EDITOR’S NOTE: In my recent OSWALD WRITES column on Father Marcian Peters and St. Bernard’s Sporting Club, I briefly mentioned that as a member of St. Bernard’s Sporting Club, Cynthia “Mother” Pratt excelled in virtually every sport in which she participated. Searching through my files, I found this OSWALD BROWN WRITES column on “Mother” Pratt that documents her achievements in sports and politics. It was originally published in the Freeport News and the Nassau Guardian in August of 2007.”

CYNTHIA “MOTHER” PRATT: AN EXTRAORDINARILY AMAZING WOMAN

She has not yet closed the book on her political career, but her accomplishments so far have been so noteworthy that she has already secured for herself a prominent place in the annals of Bahamian history.

There is no question that Cynthia “Mother” Pratt’s rise to prominence in politics is a remarkable story that could be developed into a blockbuster movie. To be sure, five decades ago, no one would have anticipated that the gangling 12-year-old who was living in abject poverty at the time in an Over-The-Hill area just south of Meeting Street would have reached the heights she has attained in her almost 62 years on this earth.

I have recounted this story before, but it is worth repeating. Back in 1999, The Nassau Guardian published an extraordinary story that provided some insights into how this immensely talented woman established the values that were the guiding principles for her sojourn in life.

A Canadian couple, on a visit to Nassau in 1999, recalled how impressed they were by the determination and work ethics of a young girl they encountered during their nightly stroll down Bay Street when they first visited The Bahamas on their honeymoon in 1958. Thirteen-year-old Cynthia Moxey, who at the time was assisting her mother in selling her wares at the straw market, left such an indelible impression on Daniel and Louise Bolduc that they made inquiries about her on subsequent visits to Nassau over the years.

As noted in The Guardian’s story in February of 1999, Bolduc said he and his wife concluded that the young girl would one day be successful in whatever she pursued because when they met her “she was putting in more of an effort in going the extra mile, which is the reason why people become successful.”

Bolduc said he was not surprised, therefore, when he asked a female Immigration officer on his arrival in Nassau, during his visit in February of 1999, if she knew Cynthia Moxey, and was told she was a Member of Parliament.

When asked by a Guardian reporter if he was surprised to find out that Moxey had become a Member of Parliament, Bolduc was quoted as saying: “No, because she belongs there, and maybe as Prime Minister, more than just a member of parliament.”

Given current speculation about a pending leadership change in the Opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and Mother Pratt’s life achievements despite the odds, the possibility that Bolduc may have been clairvoyant cannot be ruled out. True, at 62, age may not be on her side, but it is also true that among the top contenders to replace Perry Christie as leader of the PLP is Dr. Bernard Nottage, who is at least two years older than Mother Pratt.

What’s more, more so than any of those who served in Perry Christie’s cabinet when he was Prime Minister, Mother Pratt is the only one who was given the opportunity to demonstrate that she has the mettle to be Prime Minister when she acted in that capacity for several months when Christie fell ill.

And it cannot also be overlooked that she was Christie’s choice to serve as his Deputy Prime Minister. Of course, there were those who did not think she was an appropriate choice when she was named to that position back in May of 2002, but if she was not, she was a quick study and her development was simply remarkable, so much so that even those who doubted her ability at the outset had to admit that she served extremely well as Deputy Prime Minister, if honesty is a cultural trait they developed at some point in their lives.

So surely, Cynthia “Mother” Pratt deserves consideration for the leadership of the PLP, if she is inclined to seek that position. Wouldn’t that be a remarkable fairy-tale ending to what is already an extraordinarily amazing story?

Life for Cynthia Moxey Pratt has not been a crystal stair, but she was able to overcome tremendous obstacles to establish a successful career in two other professions before entering politics. As a young girl, poverty defined the environment in which she lived on West Street and she and her siblings visibly reflected this in the way they dressed. But being poor did not put limitations on the natural ability that she had in virtually all areas of sports.

It was through sports that Cynthia Moxey would lay the foundation for the success which she has attained and the ethical standards that govern her life. No small amount of credit for this is due to the late Father Marcian Peters, a Roman Catholic priest, who was responsible for putting many young persons in The Bahamas – myself included – on the right road to becoming productive citizens of this country.

As the founder of St. Bernard’s Sporting Club, Father Marcian provided many wayward youths with an outlet to not only develop their sporting talent, but to improve their social graces and to establish a camaraderie with other youths who were from “better-off” or, in some cases, “well-to-do” families.

Among the club members, there were no social differences, and superbly gifted athletes like Cynthia Moxey were popular members of St. Bernard’s. She excelled in virtually every sport and attained “superstar” status in basketball and track and field and, in later years, was also a standout in softball, volleyball, netball, and cycling, among others.

Armed with a determination to succeed in life, in 1963, at the age of 18, Cynthia Moxey decided to pursue a career in nursing and began training to become a practical nurse. This was the profession through which she made a living for 17 years, during which time she changed her last name from Moxey to Pratt when she married Joseph Pratt, who was employed with the Bahamas Electricity Corporation for many years.

Cynthia Pratt subsequently decided that nursing was not what she wanted to do as a life-long profession and embarked on a career centred around her skills and knowledge of sports. She became a teacher and coach at C.C. Sweeting High School, but quickly realized that to advance up the ladder in this field, she had to further her education.

On entering St. Augustine College in Raleigh, North Carolina, she approached her studies with the same drive and dedication that had been hallmarks of her sporting life. The result was that she graduated in 1983 second in a class of 400-plus with a Bachelor of Arts degree in health and physical education and a minor in sociology.

She returned to C.C. Sweeting, where she remained until 1991. During this time, she helped to build a sports dynasty and used her status to assist many Bahamian youngsters to get a higher education in the United States through sports scholarships. In 1991, she moved on to the College of The Bahamas as assistant director of student activities.

Mother Pratt decided to enter the political arena in the 1997 general election because, as she said at the time, she felt that if given the opportunity, she could help open the doors to opportunities for the masses.

The rest, as they say, is history, but the final chapter has not yet been written.

Oswald T. Brown is editor and general manager of The Freeport News.

(ADDENDUM:  Since this article was first published, “Mother” Pratt has accomplished many  other landmark achievements, including becoming a published author of a book based on her life, which has received rave reviews and could make my comment in this column that her “rise to prominence in politics is a remarkable story that could be developed into a blockbuster movie” prophetic.)

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

FATHER MARCIAN PETERS HELPED TO NURTURE THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANY YOUNG  BAHAMIANS

WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 27, 2019 —  Ricardo P. Deveaux recently posted an historic sports photo on his Facebook page that he obviously found among the sports memorabilia of his father, Edward “Shark” Deveaux, who is unquestionably one of the most knowledgeable sport historians in The Bahamas.

In the caption that accompanied the “Throwback Thursday” photo, Ricardo noted:  “I am taking it back to the good ole days of Basketball when The Kentucky Colonels was the BEST Basketball Team in the league. I would like to thank my dad Edward Deveaux who took his sons to experience good sportsmanship at its best.”

What makes the photo all-the-more historic is the fact that it includes the late Roman Catholic Priest Rev. Father Marcian Peters,  the founder of St. Bernard’s Sporting Club, which helped to nurture the development of many, many young Bahamians in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s not only in sports, but also in life generally to become responsible, law-abiding human beings.

I am speaking from personal experience. I owe a great deal of gratitude to Father Marcian Peters for steering my life in the right direction during my teenage years from a rocky road strewn with marginal criminal activities to a highway towards being a relatively “responsible” young man. It helped, of course, that grew up in a very strict Roman Catholic family at Stanyard Creek, Andros.

When my family moved to Nassau in 1952 to a  homestead established through Paul Meeres Corner (now Fleming Street) by my late uncle, Clarence Elliott Sr., before he relocated to New York in the 1940s, the fast-pace and bright lights of the “big city” initially steered me in the wrong direction, and if  it were not for Father Marcian and various other  committed Roman Catholic priests – like Father Cornelius Orsendorf, who was the priest in charge of Our Lady’s Church on Deveaux Street that became our parish church when we moved from Stanyard Creek —  my life’s journey certainly would have been different from what I consider today to be a pretty good life so far.

Father Marcian’s intervention in my life when I joined St. Bernard’s Sporting Club in the mid-1950s was undeniably a major factor in turning my life around during my teenage  years when I routinely did some things that could have resulted in me ending up in Reform School – the “Formatery, as we called it at the time – a “correctional institution” for bad boys.

Although I was a speedy runner, I was never all that great in any of the sports I played, no matter how hard I tried. However, I was fairly good in both baseball and basketball, and I gave 110 percent effort in an attempt to develop my skills in both sports, in which some of my close friends excelled.

The late Preston Stuart, Jr., with whom I developed a very close friendship at Southern Junior shortly after I moved to Nassau and later at Southern Senior, was a “natural” in virtually every sport he played, especially baseball, basketball and cricket.

The late Leo Dean, another close and dear friend that I first met at Southern Junior, was also an excellent baseball and cricket player, but he did not possess superior basketball skills. And to this day, childhood contemporaries at Southern Junior and Southern Senior will support my contention that the late Glen Cooper was not only an excellent  basketball player, but was arguably one of the best shortstops on St. Bernard’s baseball team.

Then there was John “Money” Green, who was also a very good basketball player – albeit prone to committing rough fouls – but he also excelled in baseball as a catcher and went on to establish himself as one of the best catchers in the history of the Bahamas Baseball Association (BBA).

St. Bernard’s  Sporting Club developed so many good basketball players that in the early 1960s it entered both an “A” and a “B” in the highly competitive Bahamas Amateur Basketball Association (BABA) annual league games played at the Priory Court on the grounds of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral on West Street Hill.

The “A” team included outstanding basketball players like Charles Williams, Lou Adderley, Godfrey “Pro” Pinder, Leonard “Skinny” Archer, James “Jimmy” Coakley, Prince “Heads” McIntosh, Orlando McKenzie, and Everette Archer, who was one of the most prolific scorers in the league. Meanwhile, my teammates on St. Bernard’s “B” team included Preston Stuart, Jr., Leo Dean, John Green and several others whose names the passage of time has shamefully erased from my memory.

St. Bernard’s also annually entered extremely good teams in the Bahamas  Baseball Association (BBA) annual league games after baseball became a popular participatory sport in The Bahamas in the aftermath of Andre Rodgers becoming the first Bahamian to sign a professional baseball contract and made it to the Major League in 1957.

Prior to that, cricket was the most popular sport in The Bahamas; indeed, it was because of the natural skills he developed as a cricket player that Andre attracted the attention of a Major League baseball scout and was invited to a “tryout.”

At the height of cricket’s popularity in the country, St. Bernard’s Sporting Club  over the years annually fielded one of the most talented cricket teams in the country for games played generally on Sundays. All of the “Cricket Clubs” had an army of female supporters and on any given Sunday afternoon at parks where games were being played, well dressed – with white being the colour of preference – female  supporters would turn out in huge numbers to support their respective teams.

With the passage of time and the ascendancy of baseball and basketball as extremely popular sports in The Bahamas, in no small measure because of The Bahamas’ close geographic proximity to the United States, the popularity of cricket in the country declined considerably, to the extent that today the vast majority of its fans in The Bahamas migrated to this country from one of the sister Caribbean nations to the South with a similar British colonial history as The Bahamas.

St. Bernard’s Sporting Club also developed some extremely good female sports performers. Indeed, one of the most outstanding Bahamian female sports icons, Cynthia Moxey — better known these days as Cynthia “Mother” Pratt —  developed her natural abilities as a member of St. Bernard’s Sporting Club. Of course, “Mother” Pratt excelled in virtually every sport in which she participated.

So, it was therefore natural that when I saw the photo of Father Marcian with a Kentucky Colonels basketball team posted by Ricardo Deveaux, an avalanche of pleasant memories of my years as a member of St. Bernard’s Sporting Club flooded my mind. Most of the members on the team in that photo were previously members of St. Bernard’s basketball team.

Given all the problems that exist in The Bahamas today, with far too many young men — and increasingly more young women — headed in the wrong direction in their youthful lives, a modern-day Father Marcian Peters and an organization like St. Bernard’s Sporting Club surely could certainly help to turn their lives around.

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OSWALD BROWN WRITES

WILL THE BAHAMAS ENTER TWO COTESTANTS IN THE SCRIPPS SPELLING BEE?

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 22, 2019 —  Every year since it was introduced in 1998, the winner of the Bahamas National Spelling Bee (BNSB) has represented The Bahamas in the highly prestigious annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.,  but this year as a result of a new invitational program called RSVBee introduced by Scripps last year, an additional avenue has been created  to allow jurisdictions to send two contestants to  the Scripps National Bee.

Unless I missed seeing it in the news, the Ministry of Education and the BNSB Committee have yet to announce if The Bahamas will take advantage the opportunity to send a second contestant to this year’s  Scripps Bee, in addition to Roy Seligman, the 10-year-old Lyford Cay International School student who won the 22nd annual Bahamas National Spelling Bee championship held sat Atlantis on Paradise Island on Sunday, March 10.

Most jurisdictions quickly responded to the RSVBee offer last year,  and as a result  the number of participants in the 2018 Spelling Bee increased substantially  from the 291 spellers who participated in 2017 to 519 contestants in the 2018 Scripps Bee. Out of the 519 spellers, 278 of them were from the traditional sponsorship programs and 241 competed through RSVBee, including the overall winner, 14-year-old Karthik Nemmani of McKinney, Texas.

I think it would be a shame if The Bahamas does not enter a second contestant in this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, near Washington, D. C., from May 27 – 30, 2019.

The ideal second contestant, of course, could be Kevin Williams, the 11-year-old Yellow Elder Primary student who finished second in this year’s BNSB finals. Actually, both Kevin and 13-year-old Arjun Shetty, an eighth-grader at Queen’s College who finished in third place, are headed to D.C. for the  Scripps Bee, given the fact that a trip to observe the Scripps Bee has been one of the prizes won by the spellers placing second and third since the introduction of the Scripps Bee to The Bahamas.

Kevin participated in the BNSB finals as the Western District of New Providence champion, so he already meets one of the stipulations of RSVBee that the second contestant must be a district champion from within jurisdiction. All that’s required now is to find a sponsor to cover the entrance fee if the Nassau Guardian, which is the principal corporate sponsor of the BNSB, decides not to sponsor a second contestant.

As the person responsible for introducing the Scripps National Spelling Bee to The Bahamas when I was Editor of the Nassau Guardian, my passion and support for this very important educational program in our school system has not ebbed from when we received the good news back in 1997 that The Bahamas’ application to Scripps had been approved.

As I have noted on more than one occasion, I previously lived in Washington, D.C., for 21 years before returning to The Bahamas  in 1996. For more than 12 years, I was News Editor of The Washington Informer, an award-winning African American-owned newspaper that took over the sponsorship of the D.C. City-Wide Spelling Bee in 1982. I attended my first Scripps Bee in 1983 and was very impressed by its potential to have a tremendous impact on the educational system of The Bahamas. I promised  myself back then that whenever I returned to The Bahamas I would make a concerted effort to convince those responsible for the administration of education in the country to support my idea to annually select a spelling champion to participate in the Scripps Bee.

Back then, newspapers were the primary sponsors of competitions through which Scripps National Spelling Bee contestants were determined, and when I became Editor of the Nassau Guardian in 1997, I discussed my idea with Kenneth “Six” Francis, the then Publisher and General Manager of The Guardian, and he threw his full support behind my initiative.

Fortunately, at the time current Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes was Minister of State for Education. As everyone in The Bahamas should know by now, whatever skills I possess in my chosen profession of journalism were nurtured and developed by Dion’s father, Sir Arthur Foulkes, who was News Editor at The Tribune when I joined that newspaper’s editorial staff as a trainee reporter in May of 1960. I later joined Sir Arthur at The Bahamian Times in 1965 after it was established several years earlier by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) to promote its political message among the Bahamian electorate. So, I have known Dion since he was a little boy who distributed copies of Bahamian Times and consider him to be a “brother.”

My “brother” Dion did not have to do much to convince the then Minister of Education Ivy Dumont, who later became Governor General of The Bahamas, to fully support the first Bahamas National Spelling Bee, given her life-long commitment to the educational development of young Bahamians. A good friend of mine, Agatha Dean Delancy, and Tonya Adderley, who were both then employed by IBM Bahamas, helped to convince IBM’s  then General Manager Felix Stubbs to become a principal sponsor along with The Guardian of the first Bahamas National Spelling Bee in 1998.

The winner was Dominique Higgins, a 12-year-old Jordan Prince William High student, and he performed exceptionally well in the Scripps competition, but did not  advance to the finals. Incidentally, 1998 was the year 12-year-old Jody-Anne Maxwell, Jamaica’s  spelling champion, made history as the first non-American to win Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Wouldn’t it be great if this year The Bahamas matches Jody-Anne Maxwell’s acccomplishment two decades ago? Surely, we’ll stand a better chance if we send two contestants.

 

 

 

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; A WONDERFUL D.C. TOUR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. , March 20, 2019 — There are so many benefits to being an AARP Experience Corps volunteer. There are, of course, the training sessions, accompanied by some rather fancy breakfasts and lunches, and the hours spent tutoring elementary school children, and the rapport you will develop with them. But aside from the obvious benefits of interacting with children on a regular basis, there are the activities that the Experience Corps staff arrange for those mid-term holiday breaks.

The week of February 18th-22^{nd, 2019,} was crammed with activities that included a lunch and learn session about the pitfalls of online and telephone scams, a book club, and – my favourite – a trip to the Library of Congress. This beautiful building has to be one of the most exciting venues in Washington D.C. I have done the tour of the Library a few times, and it is definitely my most favourite of all the historic buildings in the capital.

In 2016, my daughter Claire arrived in DC from the UK. We had a week to explore the capital together, and as I was a new arrival to the capital I was anxious to show her around. Knowing that Claire loves museums and art galleries I asked her where she would like to start. Claire has always loved books, and in fact has a Masters degree in Library and Information Studies, so it was no surprise that she chose the Library of Congress first. It was also my first time going there, and it was wonderful to share this experience with her.

The AARP Experience Corps trip was no less special. Our group met up at the entrance at 9:30am on a freezing cold Tuesday. The weather was gearing up for a snow storm beginning that night, so we were very glad that it held off long enough for us to make this tour. It began with a docent (tour guide) showing us around the great hall and surrounding libraries and exhibits, where we learned that the Library was established by an Act of Congress on April 24^th, 1800. Three men, who all became Presidents of the United States, were the prime movers and shakers behind the establishment of the Library; Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison. We also learned about the three fires that had beset the original library, destroying many valuable and irreplaceable documents and books, the first being in 1814, when the British set fire to it along with the Capitol, in revenge for US troops destroying the Parliamentary Library in Canada the year before.

Throughout the Great Hall and various libraries and study rooms, there are many elaborate paintings and statues that represent early poets, writers, and copyrights from the four corners of the Earth. We marvelled at the intricate designs of the columns, the beautifully polished marble quarried from Italy, France and Tennessee, and the 15 foot high glass mosaic of Minerva, goddess of wisdom, designed by Elihu Vedder in 1896 . Early maps of the globe from Germany dating back to 1516 included the famous Carta Marina by Martin Waldseemueller. Thomas Jefferson’s amazing circular library, and the incredible reading room under the main dome were all part of the tour. Our last stop was at the famous Gutenburg Bible, the first book in the Western world to be printed using moveable type, in the year 1454-55.

At the end of the tour we were scheduled for a very special treat. We were met by Michael North, head of the Rare Books department of the LOC, who took us up to the second floor, to a climate controlled room. There we sat around a table while Michael gave us a stunning presentation of some of the oldest and rarest books in the collection. These included the Book of Hours, which is a medieval book of prayers from Europe dating back to 1480; a vellum copy of the Nuremburg  Chronicles from 1493; the Bible on which Presidents Lincoln and Obama swore their Presidential oaths of office; a page from the Gutenburg Bible, and the original copy of L.Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz that was submitted for copyrighting on August 1st, 1900.

This was a really wonderful tour, and thanks to the great team at Experience Corps for organising it for us, especially Abby Greene and Tracy Eichelberger. These ladies do a phenomenal job of putting together the training for the literacy tutors, as well as fun events like this trip to the Library of Congress. If ever you are in Washington, DC, this tour should be on your “must see” list.

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

DESPITE THE STATE DEPARTMENT WARNING, “IT’S STILL BETTER IN THE BAHAMAS”

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 3, 2019 — A neighbor sent the U.S. State Department’s travel advisory on The Bahamas to my Facebook inbox and asked if I had seen it.  “What’s going on in The Bahamas?” she pointedly asked. “This is really not good for your country.”

Not only had I seen that particular version of the warning – given the fact that it was a news item on the website of WJLA-TV, the local ABC channel in Washington, D.C., — but the disastrous threat to The Bahamas’ economic lifeline had been widely circulated by various other news media seemingly throughout the United States.

It was extremely painful for me to read comments such as this: “I can say first hand that this advisory should be taken seriously! During a jet ski excursion on the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas this summer one of the jet ski operators tried to coerce my 14-year-old daughter to leave with him while she was out on the water with him. Of course, she was frightened because this was a grown man.”

That mother went on to explain that her daughter “did the right thing by staying calm, but as soon as they pulled back up on the beach she immediately informed us about what had happened,” then the mother added: “Of course I went off and they tried to dumb it down and say that the operator would be sent home for the day. That wasn’t enough for me, I asked for the police to be called. Ironically, the police was there in a booth watching the whole thing play out. They also attempted to minimize the situation. In that very moment it hit me that they were working together, and this was the norm…”

Potential visitors to The Bahamas who read those comments certainly would think twice about choosing The Bahamas as their vacation destination if they seriously believed that “the police was there in a booth watching the whole thing play  out” and “also attempted to minimize the situation,” not to mention her conclusion that “they were working together and  this was the norm…”

There is no doubt in my mind that this woman’s version of what transpired was an exaggeration of what actually occurred, but the questionable behavior of jet-ski operators has been a matter of serious concern for quite some time and it is long past time that some very strict rules and regulations be put in place and vigorously enforced to prevent them from doing incalculable damage to the good name of The Bahamas.

But an even more serious aspect of the State Department travel advisory are claims that “crimes such as burglaries, armed robberies, and sexual assaults are common, even during the day in areas frequented by tourists,” specifically noting that the “majority of the crimes are taking place on New Providence and Grand Bahama island.”

Coming as it did during the Spring Break season, with New Providence and Grand Bahama being two popular Spring Break destinations, there is no doubt that the State Department warning triggered a great deal of consternation among American parents with children in college who may have already chosen or planning to choose The Bahamas to get some respite from the bitter-cold winters of northern America.

Obviously, it was good to read that Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson said the police are doing all that they can to ensure that all visitors and Bahamians are safe in The Bahamas, according to an article in the Nassau Guardian.

“We are very aware of what is being said,” the commissioner said. “We are doing everything that we can in order to make the entire Commonwealth of The Bahamas safe for every single Bahamian [and] every single person who would visit our shores, not just one set of people. I think if we start to do a good job with ourselves then we can do a good job with other people.”

Commissioner Ferguson also noted that overall crime in The Bahamas decreased by eight percent in 2018 compared to 2017. Be that as it may, Commissioner Ferguson must strictly maintain and enforce a Zero Tolerance Policy regarding the crimes specifically mentioned in the State Department Advisory.

Those Menaces to Society who persist in committing crimes that could eventually destroy tourism, the main economic pillar of The Bahamas’ economy, should know that they will pay for their destructive behavior by any means necessary, even if it includes denying them certain civil liberties.

This is in essence what Jamaica did for several months last year. When crime spiraled out of control in some popular tourists’ destinations, Jamaica declared a State of Emergency and announced “a zero tolerance approach to crime in the parish of St. James, where Montego Bay is located, and nearby communities,” according to a news report at the time. The State of Emergency included a strictly enforced curfew in some areas.

As part of his crime-fighting strategy, Commissioner Ferguson should immediately move to impose a curfew in certain areas of Over-the-Hill where criminal activities are prevalent and increase police presence in those areas frequented by tourists. Persons who break the curfew and cannot provide a good reason for doing so should be arrested and released the following morning. The bottom line is that it should not be “business as usual” for criminally inclined persons in The Bahamas.

Fortunately, Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar and his management and promotional teams at the Ministry of Tourism have done such an excellent job marketing The Bahamas as one of the world’s leading tourist destinations that their success has resulted in a wellspring of good publicity that has to some degree offset the bad publicity generated by the State Department travel warning.

To be sure, in the court of public opinion, “It’s Better In The Bahamas,” is more than just an advertising slogan, and the recently launched Lenny Kravitz “The Islands of the Bahamas Fly Away” advertisement has reinforced this viewpoint internationally.

This being the case, Commissioner of Police Ferguson has more than sufficient incentive to “play hard ball” with the criminal elements in our society who are hellbent on destroying this country’s good name and in the process our economic lifeline. Declaring a State of Emergency should certainly be given serious consideration.

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

SIR SIDNEY HAS MADE INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BAHAMAS

(NOTE: As legendary Bahamian-American actor Sir Sidney Poitier celebrates his 92^nd birthday today, here’s a column I wrote back in October of 2012 about the monumental contributions that this “Son of The Bahamas” has made to this country.)

“It is better to be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” The truth inherent in this sage axiom currently is being proven in a number of posts on Facebook in response to the decision by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government to rename the Paradise Island Bridge in honour of Sir Sidney Poitier, the internationally acclaimed Bahamian-American actor, to launch the activities being put in place for 40th anniversary celebrations of The Bahamas’ attainment of independence.

Virtually all of the comments that have been posted so far have been very critical of the government’s decision. One person even asked this stupid question: “Other than being Bahamian what has Sidney Poitier done for The Bahamas?”

Young persons who never developed a love for reading can be forgiven for not being aware of the immense contributions made to this country by arguably The Bahamas’ most famous “son,” but there are some surprisingly negative comments from some older persons who should know better and most certainly should be aware of the significant role Sir Sidney played in The Bahamas’ struggle for majority rule in the 1960s.

What many Bahamians tend to forget is that the struggle by black Bahamians against racism and for equal rights in this country was waged simultaneously with the civil rights struggle in the United States, where racism was sanction by law. Sir Sidney was actually born in Miami, Florida, and as an American citizen by birth he was one of the celebrity activists very much involved in the American civil rights struggle, working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders in the United States in the 1960s.

But he never forgot  his Bahamian “roots.” How could he? He was just a few months old when his parents, Reginald and Evelyn Poitier, returned to Cat Island from Miami, and Sidney spent  his  boyhood days in The Bahamas. The remarkable story of how he became one of the world’s  greatest actors has been well documented. As noted in Wikipedia, the Internet online encyclopaedia, at the age of 10, his family moved to New Providence from Cat Island and the age of 15 was sent back to Miami to live with his brother. Subsequently, he moved to New York at the age of 17 and held “a string of jobs as a dishwasher.” The rest of the life story of this remarkable Bahamian-American is a template for achieving success through sheer grit and determination to succeed in his chosen profession.

What has Sir Sidney done for The Bahamas? During his involvement with civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s, it was well  known at the time that Sir Sidney used his celebrity status to focus attention on the concomitant struggle for equal rights and to stamp out racism in The Bahamas.

This was around the time when his acting career was in “high gear.” I recall that I was a young reporter at The Tribune when he became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in “Lilies of the Field” in 1963, and I covered the gala dinner held in his honour at the British Colonial Hotel following a massive welcome-home motorcade through the streets of Nassau.

It is important to keep in mind that the United Bahamian Party (UBP) was the then government, and although I can’t quote verbatim any portion of the powerful speech Sir Sidney delivered in thanking the UBP for honouring him so lavishly, I do remember how proud I was listening to my “black brother” talk about the evils of racism and its undesirable existence in The Bahamas. Surely, this national recognition by the UBP of Sir Sidney’s accomplishment as an actor,  just a year or so after the Savoy Theatre on Bay Street had been integrated, must have stoked the simmering embers of discontent among politically active young blacks  involved in the “quiet revolution” and helped bring about the downfall of the UBP in the historic  January 10, 1967, general election.

Obviously, Sir Sidney was very pleased with the outcome of that election because he was present at the opening of the House of Assembly following the election along with several of his celebrity friends, including Bill Cosby, Sammy Davis  Jr., and Clarence Williams III, one of the stars of The Mod Squad, one of the top-rated television shows in 1967.

This was also the year when Sir Sidney became the movie  industry’s Top Box  Office star of the Year with three successful films: To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

Given this fact, Sidney Poitier’s name and accomplishments are known in every corner of the world and I am sure that he’s recognized primarily as a great Bahamian actor. To be sure, it is impossible to put a “dollar value” on what  this has meant  to a tourist destination like The Bahamas.

So let me congratulate my good friend Charles Carter and Dr. Nicollette Bethel, co-chairs of the Bahamas’ 40th Independence Anniversary Steering Committee, for recognizing someone who is indeed well deserving of such a high honour for his invaluable  contributions to this country.

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

BUJU BANTON’S LONG WALK TO FREEDOM TOUR

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 26, 2019 — Questions have been raised as to whether the Department of Immigration exercised good judgement in granting permission for Buju Banton, the Jamaican reggae star, to perform in concert at the Thomas Robinson National Stadium in Nassau on March 30, 2019.

One of the main objections to allowing Banton to perform in a so-called Christian nation is that he is not considered to be a good “role model” for young Bahamians, many of whom are his most ardent fans, because he was recently released from prison in the United States after being incarcerated for eight years following his conviction on dangerous drug-related charges.

Since his Long Walk To Freedom tour was announced shortly after he returned to Jamaica in December following his release from prison, concerts planned in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago quickly sold out, which suggests that Immigration authorities in The Bahamas’ sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have no problem with Banton performing in those countries. This being the case, I certainly see no reason why Buju Banton’s drug conviction should prevent him from performing in The Bahamas.

Regarding concerns about him not being a good “role model” for young Bahamians, Buju Banton achieved international fame as a performer in an entertainment genre that is not noted for producing role models; moreover, there is widespread evidence suggesting that the vast majority of his die-hard fans are already in need of social rehabilitation.

Of far greater concern to me is that the high cost of tickets to see Banton perform could very likely result in an escalation of Nassau’s already out-of-control crime rate. There are reports that general admission for the concert is $65; VIP tickets are $125; platinum, $200; and an all access pass, $350. Sky Boxes are reportedly priced at $30,000 each, more than the annual salary of a nurse at the Princess Margaret Hospital, and a nouveau riche “numbers boss” reportedly has already shelled out $60,000 for two of them.

My concerns are based on the fact that unemployed young Bahamian males account for a huge percentage of the habitual criminals who have transformed some areas of Nassau into extremely unsafe places to be at nights, and in some areas in broad daylight. Surely, if these “menaces to society” want to impress their girlfriends by taking them to the Buju Banton concert and do not have even $130 for two general admission ticket, they will be tempted to resort to whatever means possible to get those tickets.

And given the proclivity of some Bahamians to “show off” and  “live beyond their means”, in all likelihood, these “broke” criminal elements would be more inclined to purchase $200 platinum tickets or, at the very least, $125 VIP tickets; therefore, the hard-working members of our Royal Bahamas Police Force should prepare themselves for an escalation in criminal activities leading up to the concert.

Despite the high costs of the tickets, however, Banton’s concert in The Bahamas will almost certainly be sold-out, as was the case in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, where they were sold out in days after the March dates were announced.

I know that the biblically inspired phrase, “A prophet is not recognized in his own land,” may be partially responsible for the lack of support by Bahamians for Bahamian entertainers, but even an all-star show featuring the very best Bahamian entertainers would not come close to selling out a convention center at one of our hotels at the prices being charged for the Buju Banton concert, which is expected to draw a sold-out crowd at the Thomas Robinson National Stadium.

It has always amazed me beyond measure that Bahamians over the years have developed an deeply embedded “inferiority complex” when it comes to giving Bahamian entertainers the same level of support foreign entertainers generally receive. This is not a new phenomenon. Lack of support for Bahamian entertainers — some of whom could have been international stars, with a little bit of luck and more exposure beyond the geographical boundaries of The Bahamas — has been an inexplicable fact in the entertainment industry in The Bahamas  from time immemorial.

In recent years, entertainers from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have enjoyed a similar degree of  popularity in The Bahamas as some of the legendary Black American entertainers of the 1960s and 1970s who made regular appearances at well-known nightclubs in Nassau like the Cat and Fiddle, the Zanzibar and the Silver Slipper. This is primarily because music entrepreneurs in Jamaica and Trinidad have been very successful in marketing the music of those countries – Jamaica’s reggae and Trinidad’s soca —  internationally, paving the way for some of their entertainers to  become internationally known.

The obvious question this scenario invites is this: Why has there not been an international marketing campaign to promote Junkanoo as a popular music genre? I’m no musician, but it should not be that difficult to transform the exciting cadence of the music that brings Bay Street alive during the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parades into a standardized rhythm for songs that could be classified as a distinctly Bahamian.

Meanwhile, talented Bahamian entertainers have got to make a greater effort to arrange performances abroad to expose their talent internationally at least one or twice a year. When I previously lived in Washington, D.C., for 21 years before initially returning to The Bahamas permanently in 1993, the Mighty Sparrow out of Trinidad and Tobago and Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires out of Jamaica performed in D.C. at least once a year before going on to Philadelphia and New York.

Of course, these sort of arrangements are expensive undertakings, but as the saying goes, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

 

 

 

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

 

 

 

 

 

WHY MUST WE BE TRIBAL?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 15, 2019 – Last night I attended what was for me the second Civil Dialogue event at the Arena Stage Theater in Washington, DC. It is a free event, that provides the people of D.C. an opportunity to hear a diverse selection of experienced and informed panelists discuss their views on society and political issues. The idea for these dialogues came about as a response to the increasing noise in social media that is becoming more and more uncivil, and full of disinformation.

Last night’s topic was, “Why must we be tribal”, and it was for me a very timely one. It was really good to see that not only was the event well attended – every seat was taken – but that although the speakers were older, the audience comprised people from college students to retirees. In fact, one of the most esteemed speakers,  Amitai Etzioni, was celebrating his 90^th birthday.

As a professor of International Relations at George Washington University, senior advisor at the Carter administration, who also taught at Columbia, Harvard and University of California at Berkeley, and president of the American Sociological Association, Amitai Etzioni is ranked as one of the top 100 American intellectuals. He has also written several books, including his most recent, “Happiness is the Wrong Metric: A Liberal Communitarian Response to Populism”. Another member of the panel, Isabel Sawhill, is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institute.

On to the discussion: basically this was about how we have a need as human beings to be part of a community, and how being isolated causes not only health and mental problems, but impacts society negatively. The community needs to grow and to reach out to become part of wider communities to foster greater cooperation, not only in a city, state or country, but eventually worldwide. We see this in local community groups of activists, artists, support groups, then local government, state and main government. Groups like the British Commonwealth, the EU, and trade organisations form the wider world community, and gradually we are all becoming a part of these, and the benefits of being members and being tribal grow.

It was a very interesting discussion, and very pleasing to see that when the audience was given the opportunity to ask questions, the majority of those came from college students. It was also a great experience to listen to a discussion that was held without people yelling and hurling insults at one another for having different opinions. The younger members of the audience held the older panelists in high regard and valued their input. The panelists also treated the young students with respect, and I came away from the event feeling that my time had been well spent.

Then I went home and turned on my computer, and logged in to Facebook. How very sad it is to find that on social media so many people are anything but civil to one another. A person stating their social media has become the anti-community, and has created tribalism of a different sort – them against us. I absolutely will not be drawn into any public political discussion on Facebook, especially when I see that disinformation is being used as the main weapon. You cannot have a civil dialogue with someone who is name-calling and spreading lies and rumours about the individual that they disagree with.

Everyone in politics has an agenda. But when that agenda is to divide, misinform, and attempt to destroy another person’s point of view using character assassination, then the community suffers, and is in jeopardy. No useful discussion can be continued. So if you are a stranger and you inbox me and basically threaten to start causing trouble on a post that someone I am close to has written, not even my opinion, don’t expect me to respond. Nothing good can come out of this. There can be no progress without respectful dialogue, and in this world that is fraught with conflicts, we should be doing more to try to bring people back together, not tearing one another down. History shows that where there was conflict, only one side wins. Where there is diplomacy and community everyone wins. This is why tribalism is so important for communities to function and work together.

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

FEARMONGERS SPREADING FALSE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WTO

WASHINGTON, D.C., January  14, 2019 — A seemingly well-organized group  is voicing strong opposition to negotiations The Bahamas is conducting to become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a global international organization whose members agree to a prescribed set of rules related to trade between nations that have been “negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.”

One of the major problems with the anti-WTO group in The Bahamas is that its members all seem to be woefully ill-informed about the functions of the WTO and the fact that most of  the island nations in the Caribbean have been members of WTO for many years, including those Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries with whom The Bahamas shares a similar colonial history as former colonies of Great Britain. For example, Jamaica has been a member of WTO since March 9, 1995; Barbados has been a member since January 1, 1995; and Trinidad and Tobago has been a member since March 1, 1995.

Rather than educate themselves about the significance of membership in this important world organization, many of the naysayers have become followers of manipulative modern-day Pied Pipers who have convinced them that the WTO is wrong for the country.

There is a body of opinion that some of the leaders of last week’s anti-WTO demonstration in downtown Nassau were influenced by the success that Raynard Henfield, leader of the series of “We March” demonstrations prior to the May 10, 2017 general election, had in using his leadership of those demonstrations as a “stepping stone” for political recognition.

He was relatively successful, given the fact that he was appointed to the Senate by Free National Movement (FNM) government after it won the election. Henfield’s credibility, however, has declined considerably among those who participated I those marches who now feel as if they were used; hence, he does not seem to have a future in politics  beyond being known as a former Senator.

Whether or not Stone McEwan, one of the leaders of last week’s anti-WTO demonstration, is attempting to use the same “road map” to launch a political career remains to be seen; however, he certainly is acting very much in the same manner Raynard Henfield did during his fire-and-brimstone assault on the then Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government prior to the last general election.

McEwan was a very popular entertainer in Abaco some years ago when I was Editor of the Freeport News. At the time, he was a prolific writer of Letters to the Editor, and some of his opinions made a great deal of sense; others did not. His nonsensical fearmongering about the WTO fits into the latter category. However, he is a very intelligent and charismatic individual, no doubt as a result of his years as an entertainer, and my major fear is that his campaign against the WTO may gain momentum if his followers do not take the initiative to do some research on what the WTO is all about.

There is a treasure trove of information on the Internet that would debunk all of the ridiculous claims being made by those opposed to the WTO in The Bahamas. For example, consider this bit of information gleaned from the Internet: “All members have joined the system as a result of negotiation and therefore membership means a balance of rights and obligations. They enjoy the privileges that other member-countries give to them and the security that the trading rules provide. In return, they had to make commitments to open their markets and to abide by the rules — those commitments were the result of the membership (or “accession”) negotiations. Countries negotiating membership are WTO observers.”

As of July 29, 2016, there were 164 members of the WTO, so consider this piece of information: “The largest and most comprehensive group is the European Union and its 28 member states. The EU is a customs union with a single external trade policy and tariff. While the member states coordinate their position in Brussels and Geneva, the European Commission alone speaks for the EU at almost all WTO meetings. The EU is a WTO member in its own right as are each of its member states.”

As I noted in a previous article, negotiations for our accession to the WTO are in good hands. Last September the government announced the appointment of  Zhivargo Laing, former Minister of State for Finance in the previous FNM government led by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, to lead The Bahamas’ negotiating team.

Laing is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Canada, from where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Agro-economics. He subsequently pursued graduate courses at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., concentrating on business administration.

At a press conference last week, Laing provided an update on the current status of the negotiations, during which he noted that the United States has taken the most interest in The Bahamas’ goods and services offer to WTO, adding that seven WTO member countries have asked The Bahamas to set lower tariff rates on certain products, one of them being poultry, according to a the Nassau Guardian.

Laing also released the goods and services offering  by the Government, noting that it lays out how much customs duties would be reduced, should The Bahamas join the WTO, while outlining “what aspects of each service industry would be open or closed to trading countries.”

Referring to public concern about the problems that could arise out of The Bahamas’ accession to the WTO,  Laing explained that the biggest concern is the impact on government revenue due to the reduction in customs duties. He said the government can find ways to make up such a revenue shortfall, which could be about $40 million, adding that one of the benefits of joining the WTO “could be sustained economic growth.

“There is nothing more important to the prosperity of this country than the growth of this economy,” the Guardian quoted Laing as saying. “It is in that growth that we get job creation, business opportunities, income growth, government revenue and the like.”

It seems to me that detractors who have already concluded that the WTO is not in the best interest of The Bahamas should make an extra effort to attend one of the upcoming town meetings during which Laing will continue to make the case for The Bahamas’ accession to the WTO. Their reluctance to do this would further confirm that there are ulterior motives behind the demonstrations.

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

REV. FATHER SEBASTIAN CAMPBELL IS WRONG, DEAD WRONG

WASHINTON, D.C., January 6, 2019 — There is no shortage of so-called religious leaders in The Bahamas who are charlatans using their churches as businesses to provide them with sufficient income to enjoy a lifestyle of luxury. Indeed, they are so good at pretending to be “men of God” that the majority their parishioners place more importance on paying their weekly tithes than they do on paying their rent or buying grocery.

What’s more, many of these religious imposters have made a mockery of the educational requirements to receive a Doctorate of Divinity degree and thus legitimately use the prefix Rev. Dr. before their names. Consequently, there are probably more religious leaders per capita in The Bahamas who currently profess to have completed the necessary educational training to obtain a PhD in Divinity than in any other country in the world. This dishonesty no doubt is something which they will have to answer for “when the roll is called up yonder.”

I have never considered Rev. Father Sebastian Campbell to be one of these charlatans because he is an ordained priest in the Anglican Church in The Bahamas, which historically “can be traced to the earliest English settlements, but it was in 1729, with the arrival of the first Royal Governor, Woodes Rogers, that the Church was established by law,” according to information gleaned from the Internet.

However, Rev. Father Campbell has over the years waged what I consider an “ungodly campaign” apparently aimed at disavowing the historical significance of The Bahamas once being a British colony and, presumably, that includes the fact that it was the first Royal Governor Woodes Rodgers who “established by law” the Church to which  he has dedicated several decades of as a priest.

Indeed, according to information I uncovered during my research for this column, Father Campbell said he always wanted to be a priest; in fact, the desire to become a priest “was sparked within him at the tender age of six while attending the St Andrews Anglican Church in Arthur’s Town, Cat Island, under the pastoral leadership of the late Archdeacon Murillo Bonaby.”

At some point during the 20 years he served the Parish of All Saints in New Providence and subsequently as Rector of the Parish of St Gregory and the Carmichael, he  seemed to have developed an unchristian disdain for the British Royal Family and the contributions that The British made to the development of The Bahamas while it was a colony of Great Britain.

Surely, Rev. Father Campbell cannot deny that the British established and left in place some formidable institutions – Judicial, Political and Educational – that  provided a solid foundation for The Bahamas to  successfully navigate the rough seas of world diplomacy and remain committed to the tenets of democracy after obtaining independence from Great Britain on July 10, 1973.

With our independence coming at a time when the Soviet Union was emboldened by its success in establishing the political ideology of communism as a way of life in Cuba, if democracy had not been so firmly entrenched in The Bahamas, there is no telling how successful the several misguided groups of Bahamians who made serious attempts to introduce communism disguised as socialism to our political system would have been.

I can personally attest to the high quality of education the British established in our public schools. There was only one Government High School during my youthful years, for which you had to sit an entrance exam, and if you were lucky  enough to pass, your parents had to be able to afford the 10 pounds, 10 shillings annual tuition.

The British, however, established Junior and Senior Schools in the Eastern, Western and Southern Districts of  New Providence, and made it mandatory to stay in school until the age of 14, when you were required to sit an examination to obtain what was known at the time as your “Leaving Certificate.” If you decided to remain in school, two years later you sat an examination to obtain your Cambridge Junior Certificate and subsequently your Cambridge Senior Certificate.

During my time at Southern Senior, each of the senior schools had headmasters whose names are legendary in education in The Bahamas. At Southern Senior, Carlton Francis was the headmaster; at Eastern Senior, the headmaster was Donald Davis; and at Western Senior, the headmaster was T.G. Glover. There is a school of thought that the level of education a student received at one of these institutions  was vastly superior to what the proliferation of public high schools in the country are providing their graduates.

To be sure, there is documented evidence that some students who received their Leaving Certificate from one of these institutions and decided to enter the workforce as civil servants eventually held leading positions in some government departments after continuing their education through correspondence courses offered by British continuing education institutes like the City and Guilds of London Institute.

I received my primary school education at Stanyard Creek All-Age School in Andros, and after my family moved from Andros to Nassau, I was enrolled in Southern Junior and subsequently moved up to Southern Senior, where I received both my Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate, before joining the workforce first at Bahamas Telecommunications  Corporation and subsequently at the Parcel Post in Oakes Field prior to joining the staff of the Nassau Daily Tribune in May of 1960.

In all likelihood, growing up on Cat Island, Rev. Father Sebastian Campbell benefited from similar educational policies put in place by the British as I did at Andros that prepared him for his life-long learning experiences. This being the case, it is difficult to understand why he seems to be so “anti-British.” Whatever his reasons, he is wrong; dead wrong.

He again demonstrated his disdain for British honours with his acerbic criticism of the Government’s announcement of  The Queen’s New Year’s Honors, which included Janet Bostwick, the first woman elected to the House of Assembly being named Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of The British Empire for service in politics.

Aside from the fact that the honour bestowed on Mrs. Bostwick is long overdue, I am an unapologetic supporter of the British Monarchy and the Royal Family in general and firmly believe that the historic ceremonial traditions The Bahamas observed while we were a colony of Great Britain should not be capriciously discarded because of the misguided beliefs of Rev. Father Sebastian Campbell.

 

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

HOTEL UNION BOSSES SHOULD HEED THE PUNCH’S SOUND ADVICE

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 13, 2018 – Some Bahamians who regularly read newspapers consider The PUNCH to be an irresponsible member of The Fourth Estate in The Bahamas. Their opinions, of course, are based on their disdain for and misunderstanding of newspapers that are generally referred to as “tabloids.”

Historically, the term “tabloid” was associated with a newspaper’s size – that is, a smaller size publication compared to the standard “broadsheet” newspaper – but over the years it evolved as the definition for a style of journalism based on over-exaggerated sensationalism, gossip and graphic crime stories.

It is an accepted journalistic doctrine that three major goals of a “good newspaper” should be to INFORM, EDUCATE and ENTERTAN. There is no question that The PUNCH does a great job in all three of these categories. It certainly keeps its readers well informed with through its CRIME & COURT BEAT, CARIBBEAN BEAT and WORLD ACTION pages. And although there may be some questions about the “educational value” of its articles, there is no disputing the fact that it is a very entertaining newspaper. Therefore, in the overall context of what a good newspaper should seek to do, as a veteran journalist for more than 55 years, in my view The PUNCH is arguably the best newspaper published in The Bahamas.

What really influences the opinions of those who claim that The PUNCH is not a good newspaper is their seemingly hypocritical disdain for its popular NASSAU GRAPEWINE gossip column, which more likely than not is the first page these same critics turn to when they purchase The PUNCH. I’ll admit that I am a huge fan of NASSAU GRAPEWINE, not so much because I enjoy reading gossip, but it is always a “great mental exercise” trying to figure out the identities of the individuals clandestinely mentioned in the various items in the column.

But the feature that I invariably turn to first in The PUNCH, after reviewing the scantily-clad “Beauty of the Week” on Page 3 for a couple seconds, is Nicki Kelly’s very intelligent and always well-written column, “BETWEEN THE LINES,” which is another reason why I think The PUNCH is The Bahamas’ best newspaper. I had the pleasure of working in the same newsroom with Nicki Kelly as a young journalist at The Tribune and learned a great deal from her during the several years we worked together. At the time, Nicki was The Tribune’s chief political reporter, and I actually developed a deep interest in politics by occasionally covering the House of Assembly.

Another aspect of The PUNCH that does not receive the accolades it rightfully deserves is its insightful and discerning editorial, THE PUNCH SAYS, written by Publisher and Editor Ivan Johnson. The “editorial” in the Thursday, December 13, 2018, edition is a good example of the kind of “commentary” that the major daily newspapers would do well to emulate, rather than daily trying to out-do each other in reporting the latest crime news.

In that editorial, The PUNCH offered Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) boss Darren Woods, who seems hell-bent on doing serious damage to our tourism-based economy by threating strike action against the Atlantis Resort over a nonsensical issue, some very sound advice that he would be wise to heed.

In making its case, The PUNCH, in its no-holds-barred style, opened its editorial by declaring that it appeared as if Woods and his close advisors “have lost their heads.”

It continued, “Our premier resort at Atlantis employ 7,500 workers. Eager staff are gearing up for the peak Christmas and New Year tourist season. There’s plenty money to be made by all from the tens of thousands of tourists who will stay at Atlantis on Paradise Island.

“And with jobs hard to come by, the 7,500 workers are grateful for employment at the region’s leading hotel and casino resort. But union President Woods seems determined to spoil the festive mood and play the part of mean-spirited Christmas Grinch.  Because Woods’ insistence on holding a strike vote next Tuesday, December 18, seems to be uncalled for, unwarranted and out of order…”

The PUNCH goes on to explain, “He’s is upset at Atlantis over the introduction of a new shift structure for housekeepers. And a 12-point disciplinary system regarding staff being late for work. Woods claims that Atlantis failed to complete its consultation and talks with the union before implementing the changes. That may be so. But by law management has the right to manage in the best interests of the company and staff. And the changes are thought to be beneficial to staff and company. Thus, they were introduced in good cause and to the mutual benefit of all for the common good…”

Declaring that Atlantis has “resolved all disputes with the union,” The PUNCH concluded that “there’s nothing to strike about.”

Then it added this bombshell claim: “Indeed, union bosses have failed to draft a new labour contract since the last one expired in 2013. The union’s failure to seal a new deal for workers in five years appears to be gross negligence and dereliction of duty by Woods and his officers. What’s more, since the contract expired in 2013, staff have paid $10 million in union dues out of their weekly pay cheques. And, now, union bosses reportedly want to go on strike without any pay. Yet, workers rightly feel the union is duty-bound to pay them while on strike out of the $10 million they’ve paid into the union coffers.”

The PUNCH made a similar claim in a front-page story, in which it said that only 4,000 of the 7,500 staff at the Atlantis Resort at Paradise Island are members of the union and “the majority of the 4,000 reportedly have said that they do not want to strike and not get paid.” Quite rightly, The PUNCH noted that each of 4,000 members pays $10-a-week out of their wages to the union, which amounts to “$2 million a year –$10 million over five years.”

However, what The PUNCH failed to factor into its calculation of the amount of dues collected by the BHCAWU over this five-year period is the fact that based upon the law that sanctioned mandatory deduction of union dues from the salary of hotel workers, those workers who are not members of the union also are required to pay a percentage of the weekly dues because it was argued at the time the law was enacted that whenever the union negotiated a new industrial agreement, all workers benefited, even if they were not union members. I can’t specifically recall what percentage non-union members had to pay, but I think it was 90 percent. This being the case, then the BHCAWU collects considerably more than $2 million a year from Atlantis, based on The PUNCH’S calculation.

I addressed this issue in my OSWALD BROWN WRITES column several weeks ago when I noted that Mr. Woods may have decided to flex his muscle at this early stage of his administration to indicate to dues-paying members that they did not make a mistake in May of this year when they elected him to succeed Nicole Martin as President of the BHCAWU, the richest and most powerful union in The Bahamas.

As I noted in that column, another reason could very well be that he wanted to prove to the union members that he deserves the huge salary he is making as President of the union. Some Past Presidents of the BHCAWU were known to have received in excess of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) in salary and benefits, as was the case with the late Pat Bain, who was President of the BHCAWU for six years before he died of cancer in November of 2006.

Clearly, if he is not presently salaried at the same level as his predecessor, Nicole Martin, who reportedly made in excess of $150,000 a year, Mr. Woods has his sights set of enjoying the benefits of a six-figure income in the not-too-distant future.

He should not be allowed to “feather his financial nest” by undermining the excellent job the Ministry of Tourism is doing in promoting The Bahamas as one of the world’s leading tourist destinations. Recent reports indicate that 2018 has been an exceptionally good year for tourism – the “lifeblood” of the country’s economy – and it is not only dangerous, but grossly irresponsible for Mr. Woods and his cohorts to be putting their self-interest above the welfare of the country.

As The PUNCH noted in its excellent editorial: “Union bosses need to rethink their strategy and tactics. Now is not the time to stir up unwarranted industrial troubles.”

 

 

MEMBERSHIP IN CARICOM POSES SEVERAL PROBLEMS FOR THE BAHAMAS

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have just completed a two-day meeting (December 3-4, 2018) in  Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago 3-4 December, 2018) during which the implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) was the major topic of discussion.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Chairman of  CARICOM, declared that he could not close his remarks “without recognizing the disappointing number of Heads of Government present today given the decision taken in Montego Bay and the expressed decision taken for us to have focused and pivotal discussions at this meeting.”

He added, “I know that Ministers are undoubtedly empowered to represent their governments, and I welcome you all, but the signal of commitment, is again, less than optimal.”

Obviously the fact Bahamas Prime Minister Dr. Hubert A. Minnis was one of the Heads of Government who did not attend the two-day meeting suggests that The Bahamas’ membership in CARICOM poses a problem that is a matter of concern for many Bahamians, given the widespread consensus that CSME is not in the best interest of the Bahamian people.

In doing some research on CARICOM and this particular issue as a possible topic for my column this week, I “stumbled upon” this very insightful commentary by Bert Wilkinson that was published in the New York Amsterdam News, which has been described as “the voice of one of the largest and most influential Black communities in the country and the world.”

Established more than a century ago, the New York Amsterdam News is an African-American-owned newspaper based in Harlem, New York. Bert Wilkinson’s erudite commentary — published in on March 29, 2018 —  highlights some of the issues why many Bahamians are convinced that some CARICOM protocols are not in their best interest. Here is Mr. Wilkinson’s excellent commentary):

 

BAHAMAS STRUGGLES TO ENACT MORE HUMANE CITIZENSHIP LAWS

By BERT WILKINSON

NEW YORK, March 29, 2018 — Of the 15 nations in the Caribbean Community bloc of nations, it is perhaps easier to become a citizen in any of those countries than in the Bahamas, with its maze of very restrictive, parochial immigration laws.

But if government and some civil society groups as well as some churches have their way, that could change in the coming months, and Bahamian women who now do not enjoy the same rights as the men will soon have the same entitlements and obligations as the men automatically do.

The administration of Prime Minister Hubert Minnis is moving to amend the country’s laws to allow all children born outside of the multi-island archipelago to Bahamian women to automatically become Bahamian citizens.

More than a year ago, the administration of previous Prime Minister Perry Christie had taken the issue to a referendum, asking Bahamians to indicate whether they want the country’s highly insular laws to be amended or remain as they are. A key component of that referendum attempt was the fact that it is much easier for a Bahamian male to pass on citizenship to a child than a female. Critics say the attempt failed in part because Christie’s government had by then become unpopular and was eventually voted out of office.

The idea is now for the Status of Children Act to be amended to allow unmarried men living in the Bahamas and foreign women automatic rights to citizenship. The Nationality Act is also being looked at in what officials are saying is the most comprehensive attempt to deal with an issue that has dogged successive administrations for decades.

Bahamians almost to a fault have been very protective of their citizenship, fearing that if qualification is made easier, the island chain could be overrun by people from all over the world, especially poor people from neighboring Haiti, who often wash up on shores in rickety vessels seeking a better life.

Immigration officials estimate that approximately 75,000 Haitians are living on various islands, most of them illegally. They account for approximately 23 percent of the population. There are also thousands from other Caribbean states, including hundreds of Jamaicans, Guyanese, Trinidadians and others, working as teachers, police officers and other professionals.

As an indication of how protective islanders are of things Bahamian, the country is a key member of CARICOM but has ensured that it is not an active player in the free single-trading market system. A key component of that very system would be free movement and free travel of participating nations. So far, Nassau wants none of it.

Bahamians often say they fear being overrun by the poorer people from the south Caribbean.

A recommendation in the proposed amended laws would allow children of unwed Bahamian fathers with foreign mothers and married Bahamian women living abroad automatic entitlements to citizenship once they have filed the necessary documents and if they have no felony convictions.

The current laws also make it harder for women with foreign spouses to pass on citizenship to children, whether they were born in the Caribbean or Timbuktu.

“My government will make changes to the Immigration Act to ensure that all children born to Bahamian women, single or married, out of the Bahamas are automatically conferred citizenship,” a defiant Minnis said recently.

 

 

 

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

LEARNING TOGETHER – A BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — November 25, 2018 —  A few weeks ago I wrote about my experience training as a literacy mentor with AARP’s Experience Corps here in Washington, DC. A group of about 30 senior citizen volunteers trained at AARP’s headquarters on 6^th and E streets for about a month. The goal was to place us in elementary schools around the District to tutor three to five-year olds in literacy fluency – to take on the children who may be lagging behind the rest of the class. My assignment is at Van Ness Elementary School in SE DC, which is quite convenient as it is only about 11 blocks from home, and I can walk there and back quite easily. I have eight children in total, divided into two groups of three, with the remaining two children having one on one tutoring.

At first I was a little nervous. I have not worked with children before, other than my own two who are now adults in their 30s. Raising them was not without some difficulties, as when my son was about eight years old both he and I were diagnosed as having ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). I am eternally grateful to the late Dr. Matthew Rose for his help and understanding, and also Rochelle Basden, who worked with him. I have learned a lot over the years about children with this problem, and perhaps that has helped me to be more patient, not only with other people’s children and my own, but with myself. So despite my initial trepidation, I soon found the eight wriggly, giggly girls and boys were not really so hard to work with.

I have now been going twice a week to the school since the beginning of October. Each session with the groups or individual children takes 30 minutes, so I am tutoring for two hours in all. We play games to identify syllables and sounds, such as clapping for each syllable, and alphabet bingo. There is also a book to read, and the children are taught the concepts of print. This entails identifying the cover and spine of the book, and the elements on the cover – the author, illustrator and title – and what the functions of these are. The children are also asked to describe what they see in the illustrations and what these might tell us about the story. Then I read them the story and we talk about each page and the illustrations on it.

Before each session begins, the children are usually excited to see me, so we spend a couple of minutes catching up on what they have done since I last saw them, and, if necessary, a little jumping up and down, leg and arm shaking “to get their wiggles out”. Most of them don’t “get their wiggles out” completely, so I have to deal with a lot of giggling and wriggling throughout the session. But one little girl seems to be getting really keen on learning her alphabet and word games.

At first I was rather worried about her, as her attention wandered quite a bit. She is one of the children I have one on one, and seemed to really be having difficulty learning her ABCs. Something must have happened about three sessions ago. When I go to get her from her class, she runs to me, grabs my hand and smiles happily up at me as we walk down the corridor to our desk and chairs in the quiet corner. Two sessions ago she was not feeling very well, all stuffed up with a cold and coughing every few minutes. I suggested she might like to go back to class where the other children were having their after lunch nap. Although she wasn’t looking too happy that day, she shook her head and said, “No, Miss Elisabeth, I want to stay with you.”

It was last Monday that I realised that I was really getting through to her. We were going through the alphabet, and any letter that she could not identify she automatically called W. Patiently I went over the 26 letters with her twice, and she began to get more and more of them right. Then her teacher came and asked her if she would like to rejoin the class for a few minutes, as one of the children had brought some birthday cupcakes. Not wanting her to miss out, I encouraged her to go. But no! She shook her head firmly and told her teacher she didn’t want a cupcake, she wanted to stay with Miss Elisabeth! Absolutely nothing we said to her would change her mind. So she stayed, and we continued with our word games, and read our book.

I think that was one of the most precious moments I have experienced in a very long time. I have been dealing with some personal stress for quite a while, but that little girl made my day, my week, my whole year. Here was someone who absolutely appreciated me, and what I am doing for her is really much bigger than everything else, and it may mean her being successful in the future, encourage her to learn, graduate high school – even go to college and get a degree. The sparkle in her eyes and her delighted smile – with her two missing front teeth – gave me so much pleasure, such a feeling of satisfaction, and the knowledge that I was doing something really, really good. And after all, what four year old would rather play word games over eating a cupcake!

After our session she did go and get her cupcake. She was also smiling much more than I have ever seen her smile before. She obviously had a great sense of achievement. When I told her I would see her next Monday, as this week is Thanksgiving and school is closed for a few days, she squeezed my hand and nodded happily. I know I must give all the children equal attention, but I am really looking forward to seeing this little girl most of all.

A few hours a week can make all the difference to children who are struggling to keep up academically. It can also make a huge difference to senior citizens who feel like they have been “put out to pasture”. The AARP Experience Corps program has shown that there are health benefits for the seniors who take part, as well as the feeling that they are still making a useful contribution to society. It could be a wonderful program in all schools if adopted in The Bahamas. In fact, the seniors’ contribution helping young children in this way could have life changing, positive effects – reducing illiteracy, poverty, bad behaviour, crime, and generally making life “Better in The Bahamas”.

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

THE THREAT OF INDUSTRIAL ACTION AT ATLANTIS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The government must take immediate and decisive steps to “nib in the bud” the likelihood that the threat of industrial action against the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island made by Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) President Darrin Woods becomes a reality.

In an article in the Nassau Guardian on Monday, November 20, 2018, Woods said a “vote to commence industrial action was taken on September 27 and a trade dispute was filed with the Department of Labour on October 25.” He noted  that the decision to take industrial action was the result of the implementation of a 12-point-system and a shift change for housekeepers without input from the union.

“Since we had a special call general meeting, the members unanimously voted to take industrial action against the Atlantis resort so we’re here now to put our membership at large, those covered by the [Bahamas Hotels Employers Association], on what we call ‘alert’,” Woods was quoted as saying. “They’re now on work-to-rule as of today.”

He explained that the work-to-rule meant the 5,000 affected employees would only “do what [they’re] hired to do” and a “go slow and an outright strike” would follow if a resolution is not found.

What bothers me mostly about the intimidating tactics Mr. Woods employed in attempting to “force” Atlantis to address the concerns he raised was his sheer brazenness in assuming that the BHCAWU has to be consulted every time hotel managers make decisions that they believe would enhance the smooth operation of their establishments. Such an assumption is not only utter nonsense, it’s downright stupid.

Obviously, Mr. Woods decided to flex his muscle at this early stage of his administration to indicate to dues-paying members that they did not make a mistake in May of this year when they elected him to succeed Nicole Martin as President of the BHCAWU, the richest and most powerful union in The Bahamas.

Another reason could very well be that he wanted to prove to the union members that he deserves the huge salary he is making as President of the BHCAWU. Some Past Presidents of the BHCAWU were known to have received in excess of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) in salary and benefits, as was the case with the late Pat Bain, who was President of the BHCAWU for six years before he died of cancer in November of 2006.

The BHCAWU became the richest union in The Bahamas because of a law passed by Parliament making it mandatory for hotels to deduct union dues from the salaries of union members in their employ if the BHCAWU made representations proving that more than 50 percent of workers at the hotels were union members.

When this draconian law was enacted, then BHCAWU President David Knowles and Secretary General Bobby Glinton both were House of Assembly members of governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), and the new law was considered to be a progressive step in the right direction to address the subterfuge that existed in most of the major hotels in dealing with Bahamian staff members.

After this law was enacted,  the BHCAWU amassed tremendous financial reserves under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Bastian, who was President of the BHCAWU for 18 years, before he was defeated by Pat Bain in the presidential race in the 2000 elections.

There is no question that Bain was one of the most effective Presidents in the history of the BHCAWU, but his legacy was besmirched by a flippant remark he made to a union member in Freeport in the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes – Francis and Jeanne – that slammed into Grand Bahama in 2004, resulting in approximately 1,300 employees of the severely damaged Royal Oasis Resort and Casino becoming unemployed. When an unemployed worker approached Bain for assistance from the union, he reportedly told him that while he was working, he should have saved some of his money for situations such as he was facing.

In the aftermath of Bain’s death, the Presidency of BHCAWU became one of the most sought-after positions by persons with experience in the hotel industry, primarily because of the enormous salary the president receives. I don’t know what salary former President Nicole Martin received during the nine years she was President before she was ousted in May of this year by current President Darrin Woods, but when the union was still financially sound during her early years as President, she reportedly was making well in excess of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) a year.

Clearly, if he is not now salaried at the same level, given the fact that the union’s membership has declined considerably in recent years, it seems as if Mr. Woods has his sights set of enjoying the benefits of a six-figure income in the not-too-distant future.

One of his first declarations shortly after he became President was his intention to seek recognition from the billion-dollar sprawling Baha Mar resort complex. In an interview with EYEWITNESS NEWS, Woods said increasing membership was a top priority and “the property we are going to be eyeing will be the new kids on the block (Baha Mar).”

“We are going to be branching out again to really bring more members in because that is an intricate part of what we do here,” he was quoted as saying. “The only way that we get our resources is from dues. So, we want to be able to offer members good benefits, so they will be attracted to the organization.”

Thanks to the excellent job the Ministry of Tourism is doing in promoting The Bahamas as one of the world’s leading tourist destinations, 2018 has been an exceptionally good year for tourism – the  “lifeblood” of the country’s economy – and it is not only dangerous, but grossly irresponsible for greedy union leaders to be putting their self-interest above the welfare of the country.

What Mr. Woods has got to keep in mind is that tourism – especially to Caribbean destinations like The Bahamas that all use beautiful beaches, sun, sand and clear blue waters as their promotional magnet to lure visitors to their shores – is a highly competitive industry, and if their stay in a luxury hotel in The Bahamas is made less enjoyable by groups of disgruntled employees complying with a union-directed “work-to-rule” order, the next time they want to visit a Caribbean island they will choose to go to Saint Lucia or Antigua and Barbuda.

Throughout my journalistic career, I have always been a strong supporter of trade unions; however, I abhor and detest using the threat of strike action as an intimidating weapon to resolve an issue. Moreover, in this particular instance, there is no issue. Why should management of Atlantis consult the BHCAWU on policy changes related to the implementation of a 12-point-system and a shift change for housekeepers, innocuous personnel matters they consider are necessary?

Surely, there has to be another way for Woods to convince his union members that he fully deserves the high salary he is making.

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

THE STALWART CONTRIBUTIONS OF GEORGE SMITH TO BAHAMIAN POLITICS

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 16, 2018 — I am now really beginning to fully appreciate the recent cavalcade of historic photos being posted on Facebook by Lionel F. Evans Sr. and Monte Pratt  As I noted previously, they represent a wonderful opportunity for the powers-that-be at the Ministry of Education to develop a history course on political developments in The Bahamas for inclusion in the curricula of our schools.

One of the pictures posted recently was of particular interest to me because it included an individual who over the years has not received the kind of appreciation he fully deserves for his involvement, dedication and commitment to the struggle for majority rule.

By Bahamian standards, George A. Smith is a white man and he easily could have been a prominent member of the United Bahamian Party (UBP) had he chosen to align himself with the Bay Street Boys, who only decided to establish themselves as a political party after the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) made such a strong showing in the 1956 general election by winning six seats.

George is extremely smart and he has a “good head for business.” It was in this capacity that he made tremendous contributions to the progressive struggle in the 1960s as a young member of the National  Committee for Positive Action (NCPA), the activist group within the PLP that essentially was the “power base” of then PLP leader Lynden Pindling.

When Arthur A. Foulkes and a group of other NCPA members established the Bahamian Times in the early 1960s after Foulkes lost his bid for a seat in the House of Assembly in the 1962 general election and resigned as News Editor of The Tribune, George subsequently joined the staff of Bahamian Times ostensibly as General Manager.

As Foulkes recalled in an article he wrote back in 2005, “I met George Smith when he was a young insurance agent back in the early 1960s. Mr. Smith’s complexion would have made it easy for him to find acceptance on the white side of the Bahamian racial divide at the time. But he chose to throw in his lot with the struggle for majority rule. He frequently stopped at the office of Bahamian Times on Wulff Road – which was a little hothouse of political ferment – to help with the newspaper and join in the debates.”

George and I became extremely close friends after I left The Tribune in 1965 and joined the staff of Bahamian Times, having received my early training in journalism, under the tutelage of Foulkes and the late Sir Etienne Dupuch, the Tribune’s Publisher and Editor. I had joined the staff of The Tribune as a trainee reporter in May of 1960.

Following the historic January 10, 1967 general elections, in which both the then governing UBP and the opposition PLP won 18 seats, the PLP was able to convince the lone Labour Party winner Randol Fawkes and Independent Alvin R. Braynen to support the PLP and formed The Bahamas’ first black-led majority-rule government.

One year later, however, members of the PLP were faced with making a crucial decision of holding a bye-election to fill the Shirlea seat left vacant following the death of Uriah McPhee, but it was decided instead to “go back to the people” in a general election on April 10, 1968. It turned out to be the right decision, with the PLP winning by a landslide, capturing 29 seats, while the UBP won just 7. Randol Fawkes was re-elected as a Labour candidate, as was Alvin R. Braynen as an Independent.

George Smith’s family roots are in Exuma, and naturally when he decided to embark on a political career, he chose to run as a PLP candidate for the Rolleville constituency in The Exumas and was among the winning candidates  in the 1968 general election.

I was very much involved in George’s campaign, and every Saturday after Bahamian Times had been published, we would head to Exuma. It was during this time that I fell in love with the islands that comprise The Exumas, which the tourist brochure describes as “an archipelago of 365 cays and islands, beginning just 35 miles southeast of Nassau.” That “love affair” continues even to this day. Although I have not visited The Exumas in more than two decades, I developed some lasting friendships during those campaign years.

My friendship with George Smith has remained “rock-solid” over the years as a result of the strong foundation on which it was established during our years as co-workers at Bahamian Times, even though we took “different sides,” so the speak, when there was a “political split” in the PLP in 1970. I was best man in George’s wedding at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral to the late Mavis McCartney Smith and I am godfather to their daughter Gina.

Likewise, George and Sir Arthur Foulkes also maintained a close friendship after Sir Arthur became one of the Dissident Eight that broke away from the PLP in 1970 because of disagreements with the leadership of Sir Lynden Pindling, whom George still strongly supported.

When I returned from London in November of 1969 after one year’s on-the-job advanced training in journalism at the London Evening Standard, my  mentor Sir Arthur had just been fired a couple months earlier as Minister of Tourism by Sir Lynden, so there was no question as to whom I would be “loyal” to, even though it was Sir Lynden who had arranged for me to go to London on the training course.

I was appointed Editor of Bahamian Times but my tenure in that position was not very long after I was fired by Sir Lynden for writing an editorial supporting the Dissident Eight. If my memory serves me right the Board of Directors of Bahamian Times, which at the time was poised to become a daily publication, were Sir Arthur, George Smith, Jimmy Shepherd, Bazel Nichols and I.G. Stubbs. I subsequently found out that both Sir Arthur and George were opposed to me being fired.

Of course, after the Dissident Eight made the split official and joined moderate remnants of the disbanded UBP to form the Free National Movement (FNM), I became a founding member of the FNM and Editor of its newspaper, The  Torch of Freedom.

So, when I saw the photo that I decided to publish with column of a young George Smith among the leadership of the PLP following the split, I realized that many Bahamians really are not fully aware for his stalwart commitment to the progressive cause. He is still very much active in politics today and deserves to be recognized as one of the most committed Bahamian politicians to a cause that he believes in.

 

 

COMMENTARY: BY OSWALD T. BROWN

THE REPUTATION OF CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW HAS BEEN SULLIED BY A POLITICAL BUFFOON

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 13, 2018 — Exactly why a well-respected online news publication like CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW has allowed an irresponsible gadfly like Youri Kemp, who is widely considered to be a political buffoon in The Bahamas, to sully the reputation of their excellent news medium defies believable explanation.

In responding to questions I raised about a commentary he wrote in Caribbean News Now of an alleged sting operation accusing high-ranking members of The Bahamas Immigration Department of accepting bribes, Kemp launched a personal attack on me that included scurrilous and scandalous lies. I am now in the process seeking legal redress via a lawsuit.

I forewarned Kemp about my pending legal action in a post yesterday, which some persons in the Facebook group BAHAMA VOICE seemed to think was for their amusement. Youri Kemp, however, decided to use my comments in that post to justify the reason for his personal attack on me, in which he made this statement: “When I need lessons on how to kill women for money, rip women off for their money and waste/steal Bahamian taxpayers money in a Bahamian consulate and kiss-ass for work, I would ask Ozzie Brown on who I should consult on those matters.”

I contacted the Editors of CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW, via a message on their Facebook page, to advise them about my pending lawsuit and the fact that I have included  them as co-defendants.

Their response was an Editorial published  November 12, under the headline, “Methinks he doth protest too much.”

It was a well-written editorial, but the writer and Youri Kemp seem to have something in common: either he or she has a limited attention span or is prone to making mistakes.

Here’s the relevant excerpt from the CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW editorial:

“During his 12 years in Washington, according to Brown, he and Russell were “both dedicated members of Mary Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church and we interacted with each other every Sunday at Mass”.”

However, here’s what I wrote in my commentary:

“I lived in Freeport, Grand Bahama, for 12 years prior to coming to Washington, D.C., to  become the Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager  at The Bahamas Embassy, and during those 12 years, Mr. Russell and I were both dedicated members of Mary Star of  the Sea Roman Catholic Church and we interacted  with each other every Sunday at Mass.”

Based on what their Editorial stated, readers are led to believe that Mary Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church is in Washington, D.C. and not Freeport, Grand Bahama, where it is located.

Be that  as it may, CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW is indeed an excellent online publication; therefore, after doing a little research, I was absolutely amazed that its Editors allowed Youri Kemp, their Associate Editor based in Nassau, to launch a vicious attack against Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley shortly after she became leader of one of the four founding members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1973.

In his commentary published in CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW on October 1, 2018,  under the heading, “MOTTLEY – MORE CLOWN THAN CON? A MIX OF BOTH, PERHAPS!,” Youri Kemp wrote:

“While Barbadians and Caribbean folks at large bask in the glow of a female leader taking the helm of one of our beautiful islands, making the honeymoon phase of the new Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration longer than it would normally be, we must now begin to get down to the serious issues that: 1. Barbadians have a life and a country that needs to be healed; 2. Facts need to be set aside from the fiction of the campaign slogans and promises; and 3. Barbadian problems before the elections still exist and need identifiable solutions that can be tracked moving forward.

“Thus far, newly minted prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, a woman on a very short list of women leaders ever to have graced parliament as an elected member, and on an even shorter list of women to be elected as leader of their respective countries, is in the realm of being both clown and con-artist all at the same time.”

What followed was an unbelievable misrepresentation of Mia Mottley’s distinguished career in Barbados politics.

“Let me start off by saying first off: Mottley is no neophyte to the political game in Barbados. Her father was a former member of parliament; in addition she has held cabinet positions in government before and has been a member of parliament for quite some time,” Kemp wrote.

He continued: “Washing the obvious fact that she is a female aside, nothing about her screams of anything other than a regular, every day, run-of-the-mill politician in the old masculine (old boy) mould — in behaviour, deportment, actions, characteristics and in speech. Do not let the physiological aspect of ‘being a woman’ and not having ‘man-bits’ fool you — it is as relevant as or important to the frame of her policy direction as is the colour of her hair.

“The first time Mottley audaciously clowned us is when she responded to claims that her administration had poached the Ross University away from her sister island of Dominica — citing the fact that the country had just not made a sound enough rebound after the devastating Hurricane Maria that destroyed the country in December, 2017. A move she alluded to on Facebook Live was done with the full understanding, knowledge and tacit approval of the prime minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit.

“Prime Minister Skerrit came out and denied ever having any such discussions with Mottley on the relocation of Ross University to Barbados, quite obviously. And anyone would wonder why Skerrit would agree to such a thing when Dominica needs all of the help and economic input it can get?

“Simply put: No one believed Mottley then, and no one believes her fantastic story now. Particularly anyone in the region with a brain-cell. You can pull that on Barbadians who have to live under a one-party rule parliament where you are the constitutionally established dictator, but no one else is obligated to appreciate those statements or movements.”

I suspect that the Ross University controversy is the reason why the Editors at CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW approved Youri Kemp’s assault on Mia Mottley for publication. There is no question that Barbados’ decision to approve the relocation of Ross University to Barbados after the extreme damages caused  to its campus in Dominica by Hurricane Maria did not “sit well” with CARICOM Eastern Caribbean members, but in my view that decision did not warrant the “hatchet job” Youri Kemp did on Mia Mottley, including this comment: “The first time Prime Minister Mottley conned us, however, was when she brought in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help stabilize the country after the disastrous economic collapse that was reportedly gripping Barbados under the former Democratic Labour Party (DLP).”

The rest of his commentary continues along this critical trend and  he ends it with this statement: “So is Prime Minister Mottley a clown or con? I’d say it is a mix of both, for now. I continue to watch!”

The question that I still find extremely difficult to provide an answer for is this: Why did the Editors of CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW approve that column for publication? Were they overly impressed by the “paper qualifications” cited in information accompanying the commentary?

Granted, this description of Youri Kemp that accompanies the commentary may indeed be accurate: “Youri Aramin Kemp, BA, MSc., CFM, AFA, ChE, is an Associate Editor of Caribbean News Now and the CEO of KEMP GLOBAL, a management consultancy firm based in The Bahamas.”

It is also true, however, that there are a lot of “overly educated” Jackasses in this world? Enough said.

 

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

LNG NOW RECOGNIZED AS A SAFE SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR THE BAHAMAS

WASHINGTON, D.C., November  10, 2018  — It has been almost two decades since environmental advocates assassinated the hopes and dreams of the vast majority of the population of Grand Bahama that the country’s second most populous island was on the verge of having a sustained period of unbridled economic growth as a result of a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project that had the full approval of the then government.

Responding to a strong lobbying campaign mounted by the late Edward St George, the dynamic and visionary chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), in 2001, the then Free National Movement (FNM) government – headed by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham — approved, in principle, the construction and operation of an LNG re-gasification facility in Grand Bahama.

Ingraham and the FNM lost the May 2, 2002 general election, but the new Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government, led by Prime Minister Perry Christie, also approved the proposed LNG project for Grand Bahama. It was envisaged that the natural gas would be pumped via a pipeline from a location in Freeport harbour to Florida, which at the time was facing a serious energy crisis.

However, the environmental group ReEarth, headed by Sam Duncombe, strongly opposed the proposal, claiming that it would be environmentally harmful to The Bahamas, even though Tractebel North America, the Texas-based company seeking approval to build the pipeline, produced reams of evidence that it would be environmentally safe.

Meanwhile, a second company, Virginia-based AES Corporation, also proposed to construct a $650 million LNG re-gasification terminal at Ocean Cay, a man-made island off Bimini, for the origination of an LNG pipeline to Dania Beach, Florida, but that proposal also faced opposition from ReEarth.

It apparently did not make difference that the then Minister responsible for the environment, Senator Dr. Marcus Bethel, reportedly had endorsed the LNG project based on the advice of consultants who had reported that the LNG terminal for Ocean Cay did not pose any threat for the people or the environment of The Bahamas.

Eventually, however, both Tractebel and AES abandoned their plans, citing among their reasons “questions surrounding the infrastructure for LNG facility development within The Bahamas” and “environmental constraints and requirements.”

Of course, after the proposed Tractebel and AES projects in The Bahamas were scuttled by environmentalists, both companies focused their attention on other parts of the world. For example, according to its website, “AES entered Panama 16 years ago and since then has made a total investment of more than $1.3 billion in the country.”

The fact that ReEarth and Sam Duncombe were able to derail these LNG projects speaks volumes for the tremendous power environmental advocates exercise in The Bahamas primarily because they have become experts at mounting campaigns to frighten Bahamians into believing that proposed major developments they do not support are harmful to the pristine environment of the islands that comprise The Bahamas archipelago.

It is interesting to note that back then, Attorney Fred Smith, who more recently was a close ally of Sam Duncombe’s in their “Save the Bays” environmental campaign, was one of the strong supporters of the Grand Bahama LNG project as a highly paid lawyer for the GBPA. This is not to imply that Mr. Smith, whose advocacy credentials also include human rights, makes decisions on what and who to support based on whether he benefits financially, but at the time he was indeed one of the top lawyers for the GBPA and he may have  been complying with the instructions of his clients, no matter how he personally felt about the issue.

Today, now that LNG is being heavily promoted as a solution to high electricity costs in The Bahamas, Edward St. George’s spirit must be “rattling his bones” in the mausoleum overlooking Taino Beach in his beloved Freeport where his body was interred after his death.

Just take one minute and consider what the current cost of electricity in The Bahamas would be today if the LNG projects proposed for Grand Bahama and Ocean Cay almost two decades ago had become a reality. Granted, the targeted markets for those projects were consumers in South Florida, but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the residual benefits from an LNG project based in Grand Bahama or Ocean Cay would have been extended throughout The Bahamas.

Now juxtapose that declaration in your mind with this lead paragraph from a recent article in The Tribune: “The country was said to be one step closer to lower energy bills and more stable electricity generation with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Bahamas Power and Light and Shell North America for an integrated LNG gas-to-power project.”

BPL Chairman Donovan Moxey was quoted as saying that the MOU “is the first step towards a desired long-term power generation pact between BPL and Shell and bringing strategic change to electricity generation and supply in New Providence.”

“The goals are to achieve cleaner power generation, lower cost fuel sources, and a reduction in the cost of electricity generation,” Mr. Moxey is quoted as saying.

Prior to his death in December of 2004, Edward St. George, whose visionary policies established a solid foundation for Freeport’s economic success during his years as Chairman of the GBPA, made no secret of the fact that he was highly disappointed that the LNG project failed to become a reality in Grand Bahama.

Obviously, we should all now  be thankful that with the passage of time and the fact that it is now used as a major source of energy in other countries, LNG has finally gotten the “green light” – hopefully with the approval of Sam Duncombe and other environmental advocates – to bring some relief to electricity consumers in New Providence, whose electricity bills are outrageously high.

 

 

THE VACCINATION CONTROVERSY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON, DC – November 4, 2018 – Lately I have been hearing that some parents are reluctant to get their children vaccinated, citing problems like autism as being part of the reason why they don’t want to do this. As the grandmother of a child with autism, and having been diagnosed along with my own son as having ADHD – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which is now considered to be on the lower end of the autism spectrum – I am fairly convinced that there is a genetic connection and that this has nothing to do with vaccinations.

In the 20^th century, polio, measles, smallpox, and whooping cough were feared diseases that were responsible for many deaths of children all over the world. These diseases have almost been eradicated worldwide with the introduction of vaccines. The polio vaccine was discovered by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1954. Testing would be considered very controversial today, as it was done on children who were considered to be mentally retarded. Subsequently, about one million children, now known as the polio vaccine pioneers, were given the new vaccine, and in April 1955 it was pronounced safe. While I am eternally grateful to these children, I’m certain I wouldn’t want my own children to be used as guinea pigs for any kind of medical research.

For those children who were afflicted with the disease, polio left them paralyzed, unable to even breathe for themselves, and destined to spend the rest of their often very short lives encased in an 800lb iron lung machine to force their lungs to keep working. To this day there are still about 39 people who use an iron lung. One of them is Martha Ann Lillard, now 70 years old, who has spent 65 years in an iron lung, at least half a day every day. Another is Paul Alexander, of Texas, who has to spend almost his entire day, every day of his life, in the machine. This is a link to an article about their lives, and the concerns and fears they have. It is worth a read to get an idea of the horrors of living with polio. https://gizmodo.com/the-last-of-the-iron-lungs-1819079169

So, why are some parents so against vaccinations for their children? Apparently there are a variety of reasons, most of them seemingly linked to conspiracy theories, and misinformation. One of the newest ones is that vaccinations are linked to autism, as previously mentioned. However, 30 years of research has come up with no connection at all. Then there is the theory that we are being lied to by the CDC (Centres for Disease Control) and that somehow they are tied to a sinister group of people who are trying to create a New World Order. This would mean that there was a huge global conspiracy afoot, involving all 195 countries on the planet, which really would be hard to pull off, considering that some countries are at war with each other, or have ideologies that don’t agree with others.

Research of over 5,000 people in 24 different countries has shown that the majority of people who are against vaccinations are also more likely to be conspiracy theorists, getting their information from unreliable sources on the internet who convince them that there is little research to support the safety of vaccines. In fact, research has shown that the rate of injury from vaccines is about one in a million. Although the groups of people who are now known as anti-vaxxers are really quite small, they are becoming very vocal, spreading their message around the internet. We live in a world that has all but eradicated diseases that our grandparents feared, and so we do not have any memory of the widespread panic and suffering that smallpox, whooping cough, diphtheria, measles and polio caused.

Martha Ann Lillard is a living testament to the horror of polio, and has expressed her fears that if people stop vaccinating their children it won’t be long before these terrible diseases come back. In the link above she talked about how in Syria polio vaccinations had been stopped about three or four years ago, and already there have been 17 confirmed cases of polio amongst children. The Minnesota Department of Health recently confirmed an outbreak of measles that affected 65 children. All but three of the children had not been vaccinated. It should be understood that vaccination may not totally prevent a person from contracting the disease, but it will have far less impact than if the person was not vaccinated.

In France, vaccination is compulsory; you can go to jail if you do not have your children vaccinated. There are a number of other reasons floated around for not doing it, and one of them is that you cannot sue for injury resulting from vaccinations. This is absolutely not true, but I noted in my research that in the UK and France, the courts are definitely not overwhelmed with lawsuits against companies producing vaccines.

Every year we flock to get our flu shots, knowing that the shot cannot protect us against every strain of flu, but that it will lessen the impact. Every year we hear of children and the elderly dying from the flu, who did not get the vaccine. Last year there were a few deaths involving very healthy young adults. The cost of vaccines compared to the cost of treating the diseases is very small. Losing your life is far too high a price to pay for not getting the protection.

As with anything that is going to have a major impact on our lives, we should make sure that we are well informed before making such an important decision about protecting the lives of our children. I would urge parents to sit down and talk to their medical practitioners and get all the information from them, rather than from obscure web sites that have no medical accreditation. Contrary to what some of those sites say, doctors are not in the pay of big pharma companies that make the vaccines. Compared to the top 20 money making medications, vaccines are not at all costly, but the cost of medical care for the diseases that they protect us from would be astronomical. We should also consider that as this planet goes through climate change, and gets warmer, viruses and bacteria may be spread more easily.

But some people think that is a conspiracy theory too, don’t they?

 

A CARIBBEAN SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR THE OAS

By SIR RONALD SANDERS

It’s time for a Caribbean Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States.

Over the last 70 years, since its formation, the OAS has had 10 Secretaries-General and one Acting Secretary-General.   None have come from the Caribbean even though Caribbean countries started being members of the Organisation from its inception in 1948 (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), or 1967 (Trinidad and Tobago), if we take account of English-Speaking Caribbean countries only.

Using 1967 as the start date for English-Speaking Caribbean countries, in 51 years no English-speaking Caribbean country has held the post of Secretary-General.

The holders of the post have come from: Colombia (twice): 1948–1954, Alberto Lleras Camargo; 1994–2004, César Gaviria; Chile (twice): 1954 –1955, Carlos Dávila (died in office) 2005–2015, José Miguel Insulza; Uruguay (twice): 1956–1968, José A. Mora; 2015 to the present, Luis Almagro; Ecuador: 1968–1975, Galo Plaza; Argentina: 1975–1984, Alejandro Orfila; Brazil: 1984–1994, João Clemente Baena Soares; Costa Rica: 15 September 2004 – 15 October 2004, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (resigned); USA: 15 October 2004 – 26 May 2005, Luigi R. Einaudi (acted as SG).

The Caribbean has been relegated to the Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) post for 33 years between 1980 and 2018, except for an intervening 5-year period, 2000-2005, when the U.S. held the post.

The other holders of the ASG post in the history of the Organisation have been: The U.S. three times: William Manger, 1948–1958, William Sanders 1958–1968, Luigi R. Einaudi 2000-2005; El Salvador once: Rafael Urquía, 1968–1975; and Guatemala once: Jorge Luis Zelaya Coronado, 1975-1980.

From the Caribbean the following persons and countries held the ASG post: Val T. McComie, Barbados, 1980–1990; Christopher R. Thomas, Trinidad and Tobago, 1990–2000; Albert Ramdin (Suriname) (2005– 2015), and Nestor Mendez (Belize) 2015 to present.  In the latter case, Belize is a member of both the CARICOM and Central American groups

I have recounted all these details to illustrate the point that with 14 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states in the now 34-member OAS (almost half the membership), after at least 51 years of membership of the Organization, the Caribbean merits a turn at holding the post of Secretary-General.

The Organisation is desperately in need of reform.  It has been struggling financially for many years and its condition is getting no better.  Governments are reluctant to increase their membership fees or to put more money into it because of its lack of performance in almost all the pillars of its structure.  These are: democracy, human rights, security, and development.

Recent negotiations revealed deep chasms between member-states, particularly over the allocation of resources.  In the end a Budget was agreed, but few were satisfied with the outcome.

The division emerged largely between CARICOM States, which wanted more allocations for development and security, and the four countries that pay the largest subscriptions – the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Canada – which argued for more resources for democracy and human rights.

Many other countries sat on the fence, either because they were genuinely torn between the priorities for funding, or because they did not want to be targeted as resisting any attempt to strengthen respect for human rights and the rule of law.

In these negotiations, there was little focus on how the Organisation could be improved to deliver benefits to the people of all its member-states.  The struggle was for the supremacy of the national positions, particularly those of the more powerful member states.

What did not happen in these intense, and sometimes rancorous negotiations, was any attempt by the Secretary-General or the General Secretariat to contribute to the process with a healing touch or a bridge-building solution.

The Charter of the OAS negotiated 70 years ago, at a different time in the history of the Americas – one in which the United States primarily, was bargaining with Latin American states, many of them ruled by dictators and military governments – represents what was then politically possible.  It is not fit for purpose in today’s world where circumstances have changed dramatically and where new challenges have arisen.

Today instant communication via the Internet; transmission of images through Facebook and Instagram; immediate information by Whatsapp and Linked-In have exploded the world of secrecy and of knowledge suppression.   Oppressive governments cannot hide their actions; and opposition groups cannot conceal efforts at undemocratic behaviour.

Events such as these require a responsive OAS, not one that is paralysed by bureaucracy.

Similarly, if the OAS is to be relevant to Caribbean countries, it must also become more alert and reactive to their development and security needs.  After all, the majority of Caribbean countries in the OAS have a far more impressive record of upholding democracy and human rights than many other member-states.  But, democracy and human rights are not sustainable in circumstances of under-development and vulnerability to security threats, including global warming and sea-level rise.  Each is necessary to the other.

Caravans of migrants heading for the borders of the rich do not arise only from political repression; mostly they are driven by economic deprivation, poverty and want – conditions from which the majority of Caribbean countries have raised-up themselves, with no wish to return.

For all these reasons, the Charter of the OAS urgently needs reform and its institutions require root and branch review and strengthening, particularly the relationship between the organs representing the member-governments and the Secretary-General.

The Caribbean has enough talented and experienced persons to help reform its Charter, strengthen its institutions, refashion its operations and make it fit for purpose and relevant to the people of all its member-states.

The region also has the capacity to provide a Secretary-General when Luis Almagro’s current term ends in 2020, and consideration should be given now to who the best candidate would be.

If CARICOM countries are divided over a candidate, others will take advantage of that division to insert their own candidate, as has happened with other organisations.  In the process, the Caribbean will continue to be relegated to second position.

The position offers the Caribbean the real opportunity to contribute to the improvement and enhancement of the OAS, and to lift the profile and influence of the region.

(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States and the OAS.  He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and at Massey College in the University of Toronto.  The views expressed are his own)

Responses and previous commentaries: www.sirronaldsanders.com.

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

VIDEO UNLOCKS A FLOODGATE OF MEMORIES

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 31, 2018 — My good friend Roosevelt “Roosie” Godet sent me a video of the memorial service for the late Bradley Roberts, who died on October 25 after a successful career as a politician and businessman spanning several decades, that opened up a floodgate of memories about the struggle for Majority Rule and an unpaid “debt.”

What many young  Bahamians do not know and some who are old enough to recall do not  “remember” is that Roosie Godet is one of the unsung heroes of the struggle for Majority Rule as a very active member of the National Committee for Positive Action (NCPA), an activist group in the PLP in the 1960s that was the “foundation” for then Opposition leader Lynden Pindling’s power base within the PLP. Other notable members of the NCPA were Arthur A. Foulkes, Warren Levarity, Jeffrey Thompson, George A. Smith, Eugene Newry, I.G. Stubbs, Bazel Nichols, Clement Maynard, George Sands, Dudley Gilbert, and Friday Butler.

Back then, Roosie was a very successful businessman as the owner of Godet’s Jewelry, located on the corner of Bay and George Streets. As one of the few black men with a successful business on Bay Street in the 1960s, Roosie Godet was also a very generous financial contributor to the party and to me personally to augment the “subsistence salary” I was paid while working with the PLP’s newspaper Bahamian Times in the mid-1960s

In fact, every time I see Roosie when I’m in Nassau, I thank him for the “financial lifeline” he often extended to me, and I shamelessly remind him of a “debt” I incurred in the early 1970s that I promised to repay and have not yet repaid. The last time I saw him several years ago, I jokingly reminded him that I had not forgotten that “debt” and he laughed and said he had “written that off” a long time ago. He insisted that he considered it to be a “gift” at the time, based on his first-hand knowledge of the operational struggles encountered by Bahamian Times in doing the excellent job it did promoting the PLP and the progressive cause.

To be sure, without the generous support of Percy Munnings, one of the major “numbers czars” in the country at the time, Bahamian Times would not have remained a viable publication. The first office of The Times was actually in a building on Wulff Road, near Mackey Street, that was owned by Percy Munnings, and he allowed those who established the newspaper – primarily members of the NCPA – to use it rent-free.

Bahamian Times was a bold publishing venture that became necessary after the PLP failed to win the 1962 general election, as had been highly anticipated, given the fact that women were voting for the first time. Its founding Editor was Arthur A. Foulkes, who became my journalistic mentor when I joined the staff of The Nassau Daily Tribune in May of 1960 as a “cub reporter.”

My respect and admiration for Mr. Foulkes, who was at then News Editor of The Tribune, increased tremendously as a result of the political decision he made in 1962 to be a candidate for the PLP in the Far East. I have written on more than one occasion about the pride that enveloped me when Uncle Arthur, as I still call him, and Arthur “Midge” Hanna became the PLP standard-bearers in the Far East, running against United Bahamian Party (UBP) candidates Geoffrey Johnstone and Pierre Dupuch.

Back then, with two party candidates running as a team, “districts” elected a senior and a junior representative, and under a devious policy called “plumper,” voters could give both of their votes to the same candidate. When the results of the Far East were tabulated, Arthur Hanna was elected as the senior representative with more than 100 plumper votes and Geoffrey Johnstone was elected as the junior representative. What made me angry as hell at the time was that Foulkes failed to be elected by far less than the 100 plumper votes received by Arthur Hanna for reasons that took me a long time to forgive those party colleagues who insisted that some supporters “plumper” Arthur Hanna because they wanted him to be the senior representative.

Of course, after he failed in his bid to be elected, Foulkes resigned from The Tribune, and along with other members of the NCPA started Bahamian Times. At the time, Arthur Foulkes was one of the highest paid members on The Tribune’s staff and he and his wife Naomi had seven young children, if my memory serves me right. Given this fact, I still consider that his decision to offer himself as a candidate in 1962 was a tremendous political sacrifice — after several others who were better situated financially declined to put their “good job on the line,” as one potential candidate supposedly insisted; hence, one of the reasons why I admire and respect Arthur Foulkes so much.

I would have joined Uncle Arthur at Bahamian Times in 1962, but he emphatically persuaded me not to leave The Tribune because Bahamian Times would not be able to afford to pay me the very good salary I was making at the time.  However, I spent a lot of my spare time at the office of Bahamian Times and contributed some news articles while still at The Tribune before officially joining its staff in 1965.

After we won the historic January 10, 1967 general election, the new Premier Lynden Pindling arranged for me to go to London on a one-year journalism training course at the London Evening Standard (1968 – 1969). When I returned to The Bahamas in November of 1969, however, Uncle Arthur had been fired as Minister of Tourism a couple months earlier, after an acrimonious  division developed within the leadership ranks of the PLP, just two short years after the euphoria of the January 10, 1967 election victory.

Although I became Editor of Bahamian Times on my return to The Bahamas, my tenure in that position was short-lived after I sided with the faction that later broke away from the PLP and became known as The Dissident Eight, which subsequently joined forces with moderate members of the former United Bahamian Party (UBP) to establish the Free National Movement (FNM) in 1972 following meetings held at the late Jimmy Shepherd’s Spring Hill Farms in Fox Hill.

Of course, I became the founding Editor of The Torch of Freedom, the FNM’s newspaper, but it soon became clear to the Dissident Eight that it was impossible to convince black Bahamians that some members of the UBP who had been their oppressors over the years during their struggle for majority rule now had their best interests at heart. As a result, 1972 was the beginning of the FNM’s two-decades-long struggle out of the dungeon of political obscurity, which they finally emerged from because of the dynamic leadership of Hubert Ingraham, another PLP dissident, who in the 1980s questioned the leadership of the PLP under Sir Lynden Pindling, in the same manner that the Dissident Eight did in the early 1970s.

Under Ingraham’s leadership, the FNM first became the Government of The Bahamas in August 1992, and Ingraham went on serve as Prime Minister for two consecutive terms before losing the May 2, 2002, general election to the PLP. He returned as Prime Minister from May 2007 to May 2012.

For virtually all of the FNM’s years in the political wilderness after 1972, I was essentially in self-imposed “political exile” in the United States. To explain why I previously lived in Washington, D.C., for more than 20 years before initially returning to The Bahamas in 1993, it is necessary to clarify why I have that long-overdue “debt” with Roosie Godet that was included in the “floodgate of memories” unlocked by that video Roosie sent me on the memorial service for Bradley Roberts.

In December of 1972, while my then wife-to-be Camille, who was visiting Nassau for the Christmas holidays from Washington, D.C., and I were headed to Paradise Island to see a Nancy Wilson show, I stopped by Roosie Godet’s jewelry store. He had already closed for the evening, but when he saw it was me, he opened the door and let me in.

Being the romantic individual that I have been told I was back in those days, I proposed to Camille by telling her to look at the rings on display and to choose one. Of course, I did not have anywhere near the amount of money the ring she picked cost, so I asked Roosie if I could pay him for it later. Camille and I were married in June of 1973 and I relocated to D.C. in 1974; however, we got divorced in 1978.

I still have not paid Roosie for that ring, and I must make concerted effort to do so the next time I visit Nassau.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE MEANING OF STEWARDSHIP

By  ELISABETH ANN BROWN

WASHINGTON, DC – October 22, 2018 — What do you understand the meaning of stewardship to be? Is it purely a concept that you attribute to belonging to a church or a religious faith? Or is it something that, regardless of our faith or lack thereof, we should all work towards in our daily lives? Do you think that it is something that is denoted by philanthropic works or are there other meanings? 

To me, stewardship means taking care of others and of things that are important to daily life. Whether or not you belong to a church, or even believe in God, we all have ways of showing that we care about the people around us and the world we live in. It is an ethic that we can apply to every aspect of our lives.

The word stewardship is derived from medieval times, when stewards were responsible for the household duties in castles, looking after the needs of the lords, ladies and the king. The term often appears in the history of England. Stewards were responsible for the smooth running of entire households. The term was eventually adopted by churches of different Christian denominations, and nowadays many people probably associate it with the financial obligations that come with running a church.

Sermons will also refer to stewardship in the sense that as true Christians we should be responsible for the world that God has created for us. As we can see today, with the rising temperatures around the globe we have what might seem to be a very daunting responsibility to try to do something to alleviate the effects of global warming, which currently threatens our very existence on this planet. Our planet depends on our stewardship of it.

Stewardship does not mean you have to put your hand in your pocket all the time to contribute to one cause or another. If you are able to do that, great – your contributions will be most valuable as well as commendable. But many of us are not in the position to help financially. Take a look around and see where in your community you might be able to help. Perhaps you have been blessed with the gift of a talent that you could use to improve the lot of someone who is in need. Or you might like gardening and have some time to spare to help improve a common area of your neighborhood, and make it a pleasant place for people to come and sit and share some time with friends.

One of the things that strikes me about our modern day living is how we have become so disconnected from one another. The digital age we live in has turned many of us into social media junkies, rarely taking time away from our handheld devices, smartphones, tablets, and so on. This disconnection affects how we relate to one another, and how we empathise with the needs of others on many levels. A quick text message saying “How r u?” has taken the place of a phone call or a visit to check on a friend or family member. We don’t even take the time to spell out the words.

Being mindful of good stewardship, it would be far more beneficial and appreciated if we took the time to call and find out if a friend or relative is free to meet for coffee somewhere or would like a visit to brighten their day. But it is far easier to absolve ourselves of the responsibility by saying “Well, I did text John today so he knows I’m thinking about him.” How impersonal. John might reply “I’m OK”, when he is really feeling rather lonely.

We put far too much store in material things for ourselves. It is easy to do this, as we are barraged on a daily basis by emails, ads on every web site we visit, store windows with tempting displays, and an array of posters and billboards everywhere we travel. We are being brainwashed into believing that we need to buy stuff. The fashion and beauty industries are especially good at this. One of the ways they try to influence us to buy more stuff is by offering to donate dollar amounts at the checkout whenever you run your credit or debit card. I wonder how many times people skip over that step in the process? Perhaps they feel guilty because they cannot really afford the extra few dollars and because the purchase they just made on their already overloaded credit card wasn’t really essential.

There are many ways we can become good stewards without having to be wealthy in our bank accounts. We can donate our time to a cause that we feel passionate about, or go on a sponsored walk or run, where our time and effort helps raise money from willing donors – perhaps to help fund research into cancer, or contribute to a homeless shelter. Do you enjoy interior decorating? That elderly lady down the street needs her front room painting with a nice fresh colour. How about giving some time to a local elementary school to help children who are struggling with reading and writing? Or at the old folks home – perhaps a game of chess or checkers with someone who doesn’t have many visitors to brighten his or her day. Even offering to walk the neighbor’s dog is a good act of stewardship.

Another aspect of stewardship is being responsible for the world we live in. We need to reduce our carbon footprint. It is so easy to jump in the car and drive the short distance to the corner store when it would be just as easy to walk. Plant a tree or two. Recycle all those plastic water bottles and cardboard boxes, and take your own bags to the grocery store instead of having your purchases packed in plastic bags. Some stores are charging a few cents for the plastic bags, but now there is a move to stop using them altogether. A lot of restaurants are doing away with plastic straws for drinks as well. These are small sacrifices to help our planet, and to be good stewards of our environment.

Technology has really moved us away from the old adage, “It takes a village to raise a child”. We live in communities but hardly know our neighbors, never mind their children. What would it take to get back to that way of life? Think about how much time you spend in front of a screen arguing to faceless strangers about the issues that confront the world today, instead of actually doing something about them.

Yesterday I spent the morning with a few thousand people who congregated near the Washington Monument for the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. Some turned up with their dogs, some turned up in outrageous costumes, pink tutus and funny pink hats. The objective was to raise as much awareness as possible, to raise money for research and support for those who are going through treatment or have survived the ordeal of having breast cancer. I met some amazing people who have gone through a great deal, yet they still have that sense of stewardship, in that they put their time and energy into helping others who are travelling on the same path.

One of those extraordinary people that I walked with yesterday was Sheri Denkensohn-Trott. At the age of 16 she had a diving accident, and lost the use of her arms and legs. Despite her disability, Sheri pursued a career in law, and along with her husband, who is also disabled, started a web site called Happy on Wheels (happyonwheels.com), to assist and advocate for the very special needs of disabled persons. Sheri also volunteers with the Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund, a support group that I am also a volunteer with, and as an eight-year breast cancer survivor herself she is a very powerful and vocal advocate for the needs of disabled cancer victims. Sheri is living proof that no matter what life throws at you, if you throw yourself into life, you can achieve just about anything. She is also a shining example of what stewardship really means, and I am very honoured to call her friend.

Meeting people like Sheri has really helped me put my own life and stewardship responsibilities in perspective. I hope that you too will be so fortunate as to meet someone in your life who will inspire you as much.

 

THE COMING OECD BLACK LIST

By SIR RONALD SANDERS

WASHINGTON, DC, Friday,  October 19, 2018 — Reports are wrong in stating that eight Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are on a ‘black list’ recently released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over Citizenship by Investment (CBI) and Resident by Investment (RBI) schemes that they operate.

The OECD has not ‘black listed’ these countries – at least not yet.

But the stage has been set for punitive action, unless there is a proactive and unified response by all these countries.

Essentially what the OECD said in its latest resistance to any form of tax competition is: CBI/RBI schemes can be misused to evade tax legitimately due to their countries of tax residence by the beneficiaries of these schemes.

In the statement, issued on 17 October, the OECD makes no distinction between CBI and RBI schemes, contrary to announcements from one Caribbean minister that suggest a differentiation. In other words, the eight CARICOM countries are all in this together, along with twelve other jurisdictions that have been named specifically.

The eight CARICOM countries (in alphabetic order) are: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts-Nevis, and St Lucia. They join only two member-states of the European Union (EU) – Malta and Cyprus – even though at least nine other EU countries operate a form of CBI/RBI schemes. Among the nine EU countries are Britain, Ireland, Italy and Portugal.

No explanation is given for the omission of these 9 EU states from the concerns over CBI/RBI programmes, and none is given for not including the EB-5 programme of the United States or the Quebec Immigrant Investor Programme in Canada.

These omissions apart, at least the EU admits that all of its member-states “have various incentives in place to attract foreign investment from non-EU nationals” and that “most of them have CBI or RBI schemes (so-called ‘golden passports’ and ‘golden visas’), characterised by the provision of access to residency in exchange for specified investments”.

All of that seemed to be well and good, until two of the smallest jurisdictions in the EU (Cyprus and Malta) and other small nations, such as the eight CARICOM states, joined in the schemes because of economic necessity.

Now, the EU and the OECD (in which the EU plays an influential role) have decided that CBI/RBI programmes pose risks for “corruption, money laundering and tax evasion”.

This bold claim is made even though the countries identified in the OECD October 17 statement have in place strong anti-money laundering regimes, Tax Information Exchange Agreements and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties, and are implementing both the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the OECD’s Common Reporting Standards (CRS). FACTA and the CRS require jurisdictions to exchange automatically financial information of foreign persons and companies to other countries in which they are liable for tax.

The new OECD claim is that “identity cards and other documentation obtained through CBI/RBI schemes can potentially be misused abuse (sic) to misrepresent an individual’s jurisdiction(s) of tax residence and to endanger the proper operation of the CRS due diligence procedures”.

Of course, this claim can be settled easily by a requirement for all jurisdictions, everywhere in the world, to necessitate that account holders or controlling persons declare any residence rights they have in each jurisdiction in which they have it. In this way, submissions would be made to all the jurisdictions of residence of account holders and controlling persons, thus stopping any misrepresentation.

But, that is not the only new claim now being made by the OECD.

The Organisation also asserts that “high-risk” CBI/RBI programmes are those which “give a tax payer access to a low personal income tax rate of less than 10% on offshore financial assets and do not require significant physical presence of at least 90 days in the jurisdiction offering the CBI/RBI scheme”. This latter situation, which the OECD clearly wants terminated, would materially affect CBI/RBI programmes in CARICOM jurisdictions. It effectively dictates what tax rates should be and the conditions, which in their sovereign right, the CBI/RBI jurisdictions have set.

Given all this, if the CARICOM jurisdictions are to save their CBI/RBI programmes from decimation, they should form an alliance with the other 12 named jurisdictions to fashion a joint response before the OECD moves to its next step which, undoubtedly, will be a black list that calls for sanctions against them.

None of their interests will be served by any jurisdiction that chooses to enter an individual agreement with the OECD, setting a precedent which all the others will be obliged to follow.

Once any jurisdiction readily accepts the OECD dictates, unified action is disrupted, and all jurisdictions will be forced to acquiesce. This disruption of unified action has been the pattern of past responses to the OECD’s so-called ‘rules’. The consequence has been the steady destruction of the financial services sector and an attendant loss of revenues and jobs to the countries

The affected jurisdictions should take the OECD at its word that its concern is the misuse of CBI/RBI programmes by beneficiaries to hide their assets and escape reporting under the Common Reporting Standard. As explained earlier in this commentary, that issue could be easily satisfied, and CARICOM countries could collectively offer to do so.

What is more problematic because it invades the sovereign rights of states is the branding of CBI/RBI jurisdictions as “high risk” because they might have a low tax rate and no requirement for physical presence. Indeed, it is eminently arguable that these two claims do not obviate the obligations of the CRS and FACTA to report on the financial assets of account holders or controlling persons.

However, if these are conditions that the OECD implements, the CBI/RBI programmes in all but powerful countries will be decimated with disastrous effects on their economies.

That is why common cause to confer urgently with the OECD should be a priority of CARICOM countries. The decline of the economies of eight of them will impact the neighbourhood in which the other seven exist. All are involved, and all can be consumed.

Sir Ronald Sanders is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS.  He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto.

 

 

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

WASHINGTON, DC, October 14, 2018 – Have you ever stopped to consider the effects of noise on your health? Do you have your sleep interrupted constantly by loud music emanating from a neighborhood party? Do you fall asleep with the TV on? When you wake up do you feel rested, or like you are literally dragging your butt to the kitchen to get endless cups of coffee to try to chase the fog out of your brain?

Living in a city is noisy; there is no getting away from that. We walk down the street and there is the sound of traffic, interspersed far too often with car horns blaring, loud exhausts on large trucks, noisy motor bikes, and street vendors calling out to passersby. Some shops have their doors open, and loud music floods the street – as if there wasn’t enough noise already.

My refuge when I lived in Nassau was to take a drive to the western end of the island with my dogs, and go for a walk on a remote beach. The sounds of the gently lapping waves and light breeze rustling the fronds of palm trees were very soothing, and the feel of the sun on my face warming and therapeutic.

But when I got home, there was often no getting away from noise. Dogs barking as they roamed the streets in packs, a stereo blaring from a passing car, and all too frequently a noisy neighborhood party with that awful thumping bass that made the windows rattle on homes that were unlucky enough to be within earshot. Despite there being noise laws on the books, complaints usually went unheeded. Even the police seemed unable to achieve anything more than getting the sound turned down temporarily. I frequently suffered through the night from midnight until 5am, and would get maybe two or three hours of interrupted sleep, wake up with a throbbing headache and react like a fire breathing dragon if anyone dared to speak to me.

I moved to an apartment in the Seabreeze area for the last six months that I was in Nassau, and this was a vast improvement, as the area was away from the main roads and the town centre. There were still one or two dogs barking, but the nights were quieter, and there were far fewer noisy parties. I always woke up around 5am, though – there was a guy who owned a moped and it had a particularly whining and aggravatingly loud engine. It always seemed like it took him about ten minutes to pass our apartment building, as the road was very long and straight. You could hear him coming forever before he actually went past, buzzing like a very large, angry insect.

In 2016, I moved to Washington, DC to be with my husband. The windows of our apartment are large and double glazed. It struck me when I walked into the apartment for the first time how very quiet it was. There is a busy street outside, and one of the most popular theaters in DC, the Arena Stage, is directly across from us. We live on the third floor, overlooking the theater entrance, and yet no matter how busy it gets we never hear a sound. Very occasionally, depending on wind direction, we might hear the distant roar of a jet engine as planes take off and land at Reagan National Airport, across the Potomac river. And if there is a thunderstorm, unless it is right overhead we might not hear it at all.

It took me a few months to get used to the quiet. Ossie would leave for work before 9am, and I would pour myself a cup of coffee, settle in his La-Z-boy chair, turn down the TV, and log on to Facebook to catch up with friends back in The Bahamas. I could feel myself gradually unwinding, but after 35 years of dealing with so much noise almost every day, that unwinding feeling stayed with me for a very long time. I decided to do a little research on the effects of noise on our health, and found some surprising things.

Sound is an important part of our lives. We need to be able to hear sounds that may mean danger, or sounds of music that soothe us, to hear our children crying, or the kettle boiling. But at a point sound becomes noise, and noise can affect us in a very negative way. We don’t realise when we are asleep that the human ear is still filtering noises and that our bodies are responding to the sounds, even though we may seem to be peacefully unaware.

Sound causes hormonal responses, mostly through stress hormones which are released by the adrenal glands, two small glands that sit on top of the kidneys. Someone who sleeps with the TV on is unaware of how sounds in a movie such as gun shots, a telephone ringing, or a woman screaming are really invading their sleep. They may not realise that the sluggish feeling they have all day, their inability to be creative, or to concentrate on an important task, or even to drive a vehicle safely, is the result of a very disturbed night’s sleep where their adrenal responses have been causing their body to react in acute stress mode – a constant fight or flight response.

Being in a constant state of stress causes a great deal of wear and tear on the body, eventually resulting in high blood pressure and heart rate. These things can lead to more serious cardiovascular conditions. Prolonged acute stress can result in anxiety, depression, and other serious disorders. Studies done on people sleeping showed that brain waves spiked in jagged patterns when they were exposed to noise, even though they did not wake up or respond to the noise with any movement.

Noise pollution is a very real problem in our lives, and the sooner we recognise this and do something about it the better. Washington, DC has noise ordinances – it is against the law to make noise between the hours of 10pm-7am. And believe me this is strictly enforced.

We recently had a new apartment complex constructed next to ours. Both buildings are at least nine storeys high, so pile driving had to be done for the foundations of the new building. It only took place after 8am and was usually ceased before 4pm. Although it was extremely loud if you were outside, it didn’t affect us much indoors. However, if the construction crews started work before 7am, even just five minutes early, residents in the area were very quick to complain and make sure that this infraction did not happen again.

In Nassau, when I had occasion to complain to someone about their loud music the response was often that they had a right to listen to their music as loud as they wanted. I think people get far to carried away with their “rights”, and perhaps we need to return to a time when we thought about other people’s rights before we did anything that might infringe upon them. You may feel you have the right to listen to your music at an earsplitting volume, but I have the right not to hear it, especially in my own home. Be considerate of one another, turn the volume down, and maybe try finding a place where it is really quiet, and listen to the sound of something different – the sound of silence.

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

MINISTRY OF TOURISM SHOULD DO MORE TO PROMOTE BAHAMIAN ENTERTAINMENT

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 11, 2018 — The recent deaths of two legendary Bahamian icons of the entertainment industry once again have focused attention on the lack of appreciation by Bahamians generally for the many outstanding entertainers that The Bahamas has produced over the years, several of whom would have been international superstars had they not settled throughout their careers on making a “relatively good salary” performing in The Bahamas.

When Ronnie Butler died on November 19, 2017, at the age of 80, bringing to an end more than five decades as one of The Bahamas’ top entertainers, interred with his human remains were a warehouse of missed opportunities to be one of the giants of the entertainment industry internationally if, in his prime, he had made the decision to venture beyond boundaries of The Bahamas and expose his immense talent to a wider audience.

The same is true of Ezra Hepburn, the multi-talented Bahamian superstar, who died earlier this year on June 18. During his early years as an entertainer, Ezra was primarily known a wonderful guitarist, but after establishing his own group, “Ezra and the Polka Dots,” as the lead singer and guitarist, his raspy voice over the years catapulted him to stardom among the galaxy of local entertainers. His “Stop the World and Let Me Off”, which he recorded late in his career, is still one of my all-time favourite Bahamian songs.

I have always found it difficult to understand why there have been so many exceptionally talented Bahamian entertainers over the years – some who are no longer with us, like Ronnie and Ezra, and others who are still performing —  who were and are so content to confine their talent to The Bahamas.

I previously lived in Freeport for 12 years before moving back to Washington, D.C., in May of 2013 as the Press Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at The Bahamas Embassy, and on my visits to Nassau back then, I always stayed at SuperClubs Breezes. It is still where I choose to stay when I visit Nassau, and the main reason is not the all-inclusive amenities of an open bar and the all-you-can-eat food concept, but rather because it features nightly one of the best entertainers in The Bahamas as the star of a magnificent show.

David “Funky D” Ferguson was a banker before the lure of a better income encouraged him to become a full-time entertainer, and for more than 20 years he has been the star of the show at SuperClubs Breezes. He is a versatile, multi-talented singer who has a number of recordings of original Bahamian songs, but during his show his talent really explodes when he performs popular ballads by internationally known stars better than they do – although my personal opinion in this regard may be influenced by a tinge of bias fostered by my Bahamian pride.

One unfortunate aspect of his long-term contract with SuperClubs Breezes is that Bahamians generally no longer get to see Funky D perform unless at a special event away from SuperClubs Breezes, whose entertainment packages are provided primarily for their all-inclusive guests. His contract with SuperClubs Breezes no doubt has also prevented him from “testing the waters” of the entertainment industry internationally.

Among  other outstanding Bahamian performers that I am convinced would have become international stars had they had more exposure abroad are Mavin Henfield and Jay Mitchell, both of whom have fantastic voices as well as spectacular stage presence. There, of course, are a number of others whose talent has never been fully exposed to the world.

Of course, several Bahamian groups did indeed expose their talent to  the world-at-large, most notably “The Beginning of the End,” which made  a big splash on the international scene in the early 1970s with their monstrous hit, “Funky Nassau”; Johnny Kemp, whose “Just Got Paid” was a big hit internationally in the 1980s; and more recently, Baha Men, with their big hit, “Who Let The Dogs Out.”

But for the most part, Bahamian entertainers have not been as successful internationally as entertainers from our sister islands like Jamaica and Trinidad. Again, a major reason for this is that entertainers from these islands tend to invest more time and effort into obtaining international exposure.

When I previously lived in Washington, D.C., for 21 years before returning to The Bahamas initially in 1993, every year Byron Lee and the Dragonaires out of Jamaica and The Mighty Sparrow out of Trinidad performed in D.C. during their annual North America tour. They generally attracted sold-out crowds because of the large number of Caribbean natives, Bahamians included, in the diaspora.

I don’t recall a Bahamian group ever touring North America, or for that matter performing in Washington, D.C., except for an occasional visit by an individual entertainer or a group with a tourism promotion team, which raises a question as to why there is so little interest these days in including Bahamian entertainers in our current tourism promotion forays. This surely is a oversight that current Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar should make an effort to address post haste.

The government of Jamaica, for example, long ago proved that it considers its entertainers to be valuable assets not only to the promotion of tourism, but the nation generally. This was personally demonstrated by former Prime Minister Edward Seaga as far back as 1964 when he was Minister of  Social Welfare and Economic Development and sent Byron Lee and the Dragonaires to perform at the New York World’s Fair as a back-up group for “a showcase of Jamaican talent, including Jimmy Cliff, Prince Buster, and Millie Small,” according to information gleaned from the Internet.

The point that I am attempting to make is that the Ministry of Tourism should display more interest in promoting Bahamian entertainers and entertainment. An amount should be allotted annually in the Ministry’s budget for inclusion of a Bahamian entertainer or entertainers in tourism promotion campaigns around the world, which was a standard practice some years ago.

What’s more, Bahamians generally have got to demonstrate more support for our local entertainers, in the same manner that they do for foreign entertainers. Prior to Byron Lee’s death on November 4, 2008, every year he and his Dragonaires visited The Bahamas around Christmas time for concerts in both Freeport and Nassau and attracted standing-room-only audiences.

I often wondered back then why even an all-star show featuring Ronnie Butler and some of other top Bahamian performers had difficulty attracting a similar crowd. It’s long past time for Bahamians to stop believing that “foreign is better,” especially when the evidence is quite clear that this is far from being true as far as Bahamian entertainment is concerned.

 

 

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

RAPE CULTURE DEFINITELY IS NO MYTH

WASHINGTON, DC, Oct. 7, 2018 – I just watched a YouTube video by Steven Crowder. It was entitled “Rape Culture is a Myth: Change My Mind”. It nearly made my blood boil. He totally separated rape from sexual assault, as if there was absolutely NO connection between the two. To me, this completely invalidated his argument. He has completely missed the point of the term “rape culture.” Men so often don’t realise or believe that they have done anything wrong and have no idea how what they said or did made a woman feel bad.

The #metoo movement has become such a hot button issue in 2018. As a woman I am having a great deal of mixed emotions about this. I have read a number of articles that talk about the statistics and I am not sure that there really can be any accurate numbers. I am quite sure that I am not the only woman who has been sexually harassed during her lifetime and not reported it. I have experienced things throughout my life that I have kept quiet about because I felt that I would not be taken seriously, or would be blamed for what happened. I have on occasions reported things, only to be pretty much blown off by the men in uniforms who were supposed to be there to help and protect me.

My experiences began at the age of twelve. At the time I was living in Germany with my parents. There was an outdoor public swimming pool not far from home, and we went there often in the summer months. I was a fairly tall 12-year-old at 5ft 6in. I guess I could have been mistaken for a girl in her mid-teens. I was in the pool by myself, my parents were taking a break and sitting on the grass not too far away. I had just surfaced after going for an underwater swim and was trying to clear the water out of my eyes, when suddenly someone grabbed my butt. I turned defensively, trying to lash out, but the person had turned quickly and was swimming away. All I could see was his dark hair, and I could not identify my attacker. The pool was very busy and he quickly disappeared into a large group of people.

On this occasion I did tell my parents, and my father then went into the pool with me for a while. He is a very big man, no-one was coming near me as long as I stayed close to him. And of course, nothing happened and eventually we left to go home.

I soon learned that there are a lot of predators out there. By the time I was 15 I found that I could not walk down the street, especially past a construction site, without the workmen wolf whistling and cat calling, especially when I was in school uniform. At such a young age it is not just unnerving, but also confusing. Young girls are experiencing a lot of changes in their bodies at that age, and feel very inexperienced, confused and vulnerable.

Walking to the bus stop for school one foggy morning, in England, I took the shortcut across a playing field that was surrounded by houses. I always felt quite safe taking that route, and the mist wasn’t that thick — at least, not at first. It wasn’t until I got half way across the field that I realised the mist was closing in on me. I could no longer see the houses, but I knew I wasn’t too far from the main road on the other side, so I kept going. Suddenly, a man appeared a few feet away from me, wearing a dark raincoat. He opened the raincoat and too my shock, he was naked underneath it. The fog was thick and I didn’t know which way to run; my mind and body were frozen in that moment. I could not react. I couldn’t even scream. Just as suddenly as he appeared he turned and ran away, swallowed up in the soupy haze.

I didn’t know what to do. Which way should I go? What if I ran into him again? What if he was waiting for me? Just because I couldn’t see him, how did I know he wasn’t just a few paces away from me? After a few minutes nothing had happened, so I decided to try and make it to the main road. There was a police station near the bus stop, so I went there. I knew I would miss my bus and be late for school, but I also knew I needed to report the incident, and I was badly shaken. I really didn’t expect the reaction that I got at the station. The officer I spoke to couldn’t have been less concerned. No, I could not describe the man. No, I didn’t know which way he went.

The brief interview didn’t go well. I could only hope that they would at least put out a warning to people living in the area, but I never heard anything. I was late for school, and instead of being concerned, my teachers acted as though I was not telling the truth. I was attending an all girls school, with all women teachers. I found it very confusing. Shouldn’t they have been shocked and concerned? Nobody seemed to be, they were only annoyed with me for being late. So when I went home I decided that I would not say anything to my parents about it either. And I never walked across that field again. I took the long route along the streets to the bus stop.

This was just the beginning for me, and similar experiences have been recounted to me by just about every woman I have known throughout my life. Many woman will tell you that the harassment has practically been on a daily basis, not just isolated incidents. I could write about the more serious assaults that I have experienced, but that would take a toll on me emotionally. It is enough to say that I — like many, many more women — have learned to suppress my feelings, not to talk about them with anyone, and certainly not to seek help or report the incidents to the police or anyone else. I too have heard quite enough of the “what did you do to encourage the harassment/attack?” questions. Did I make him angry? How was I dressed? We all know the drill. And those of you who are women reading this also know the feelings of confusion, shame, fear, frustration and anger.

I know what it is like not to want to go out of the house and run an important errand because it meant having to go in an area, like downtown, and be catcalled and harassed from one end of the street to the next. Or to turn around and go back rather than walk into an area alone because one or more men were there, acting in a way that made me feel unsafe or suspicious. I often went for long walks and would take the dog with me (I had a series of big dogs with very protective attitudes) and eventually even carried a stun gun. My experiences, and those of other women, warranted me having that level of protection with me.

A lot of self-examination, introspection, and discussion needs to be done. If you are a man, ask yourself – what do you need to do to protect yourself from sexual harassment or attack? Most men can’t answer that question. The thought has never occurred to them, because it has never happened. Ask yourself how would you want other men to behave towards your daughter, wife, mother, sister, aunt. Ask yourself what you need to say to your sons, brothers, and male friends about respecting women. Understand that if a woman is dressed in a plain drab outfit, she is just as likely to be raped or assaulted as if she were dressed in a sexy outfit. Whereas a man can walk down the street ripped, shirtless, in tight fitting jeans, and no-one will bother him. Sexual assault begins with verbal attacks. For goodness sake stop saying the #metoo movement has made you afraid to approach or say anything to a woman. That is not the problem. The problem is in HOW you approach us. Give some serious, soul-searching thought to THAT – please. The #metoo movement is not an attack on men. It is asking men to stop diminishing and attacking women. And very importantly, it is asking men to LISTEN to us.

I AM a survivor, #METOO.

---

 

 

LAYOFFS ANOTHER BLOW TO GRAND BAHAMA

(NOTE: While doing research for an article I am planning to write on the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), I ran across this LETTER TO THE EDITOR I wrote on March 7, 2011. The subject matter eerily mirrors the current state-of-affairs in Grand Bahama, so I decided to share it.)

Dear Editor,

The Radisson Resort at Our Lucaya’s decision to layoff 202 employees could not have come at a worse time for the island of Grand Bahama, which has been struggling to extricate itself from economic quicksand since the damage caused by two devastating hurricanes in 2004 forced the Royal Oasis Resort and Casino, the hub of economic activity in the downtown area, to shut down.

With unemployment in Grand Bahama by some estimates exceeding 20 percent, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his FNM government acted quickly to try and cushion the blow for those who joined the ranks of the unemployed last Friday when they received their layoff notices from Our Lucaya, but the stop-gap measures announced by Minister of Labour and Social Development Dion Foulkes at a press conference on Friday can hardly be considered as evidence that the FNM government “recognizes the hardship being experienced by families here in Grand Bahama, especially the former employees of Our Lucaya,” as Foulkes claims. Clearly, the FNM government’s lack of attention to the hardships being experienced by residents of Freeport, the nation’s second most populous city, and Grand Bahama in general suggests otherwise.

What’s more, it is time to stop placing the blame on the word-wide recession as being the major reason for the economic plight of Grand Bahama. The truth of the matter is that the FNM Government, and particularly Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, simply lacked the vision to find innovative ways to address Grand Bahama’s economic problems, especially after it became quite apparent that tourism — the mainstay of The Bahamas’ economy — was practically on its deathbed in Grand Bahama and needed an infusion of fresh ideas to revive it.

Everyone involved in tourism accepts that the crux of the problem with regard to more tourists coming to Grand Bahama is the lack of one or more of the major airlines bringing passengers to the island on a daily basis.  Since we are aware of this fact, it stands to reason that more effort should have been made to correct this problem. If landing fees at Grand Bahama International Airport (GBPA) are too high, as some have suggested, rather than pick fights with the GBPA, the government should have used the negotiations process to focus more attention on this issue. I am sure officials of the GPBA are still as committed to the continued growth and development of Grand Bahama as they were when their efforts resulted in Freeport being dubbed “The Magic City.”

Meanwhile, if nothing concrete was accomplished and reviving tourism continued to be difficult, it would have made every sense in the world to revert to the original idea behind the creation of Freeport, and that was to establish an industrial enclave for which no duty on imported materials served as a magnet for companies wishing to invest in Freeport. This was what Edward St. George, the late chairman of the GBPA, did when he successfully negotiated for companies like the Freeport Container Port and the Grand Bahama Shipyard, among others, to infuse new life in Grand Bahama’s economy.

This was also the approach the new GBPA management team, headed by Chairman Hannes Babak, had embarked upon to nurse Freeport’s economy back to good health. But for some insane reason, for which Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has yet to provide an explanation, Babak’s work permit was not renewed at the end of 2009. The decision not to renew the Babak’s permit was made in a surprise announcement by Ingraham at a press conference in the VIP Lounge of the Lynden Pindling International Airport shortly before he left for Copenhagen, Denmark, in December of 2009 to participate in the United Nations Conference on Climate Change.

Ingraham gave no reason for his decision, which he apparently made without informing then Minister of Immigration Branville McCartney, who was responsible for dealing with matters of this nature. However, I refuse to believe that Babak’s work permit was not renewed because he had fired someone who was a friend of Ingraham’s, a claim that was fodder for the rumour mill at the time. I can’t possibly believe that the Prime Minister of The Bahamas would be so irresponsible.

What is unquestionably true, however, is that it was a stupid decision that derailed or aborted several major projects that Babak was working on to bring to Freeport. Babak is well known in European financial circles and along with GBPA President Ian Rolle, they seemed to be taking the GBPA in the right direction in the aftermath of the acrimonious public squabble between the two principal owners of the GBPA – Sir Jack Hayward and the estate of his late partner Edward St. George – that resulted in a court battle having to determine who owned what percentage of the GBPA.

Surely, it can be successfully argued that if Ingraham had not refused to renew Babak’s work permit and stubbornly declined to reconsider his decision, despite public statements of support for Babak from Sir Jack, Grand Bahama would not be in the poor economic health it is now in. To make matters worse, instead of acceding to Sir Jack’s wishes that Babak’s work permit be renewed, Ingraham decided to play hard ball with him because of his refusal to agree to the sale of the GBPA to the Chinese owners of the Container Port. An extremely wealthy British aristocrat with strong conservative views, Sir Jack’s opposition to the sale of the GBPA to the Chinese obviously is because of their communist ideology.

So as long as this stalemate between Ingraham and Sir Jack continues, the chances of Grand Bahama making strides towards economic recovery are dismal. Therefore, rather than announcing stop-gap measures to help ease the pain of the 202 employees layed off by Our Lucaya Resort last Friday, Labour and Social Development Minister Foulkes should be seeking the support of his cabinet colleagues to convince Ingraham to stop being so stubborn and realize that he made a mistake in not renewing the work permit of Hannes Babak. He should follow this up by sending an urgent message to Sir Jack to contact Babak and inform him that he will get a work permit to continue doing the good job he was doing at GBPA aimed at nursing the island’s economy back to good health.

Yours sincerely,

Oswald T. Brown
Freeport, Grand Bahama
March 7, 2011

 

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOSING THE ONES YOU LOVE

WASHINGTON, DC, September 30, 2018 – Most people at some time or another have experienced the grief and overwhelming sadness of losing a loved one. During my lifetime I have lost four close relatives, and my reactions differed with each circumstance.

I was 15 when my maternal grandfather died suddenly of coronary thrombosis. He was the only grandfather I had known, as my father had lost both his parents when he was still a very young child. Frederick Short, or Grandpa as I knew him, was a quiet but cheerful person. He and my grandmother, Agnes, lived in Torquay, Devon, and he drove a taxi. A smart black Humber. My parents and I lived abroad a lot, as my father was serving in the army, so I only got to see my grandparents on annual visits home. I remember Grandpa’s strong Devonshire accent and his love of gardening. He had a large vegetable garden at the back of their row house half way up the hill on South Street. He was always so disappointed that I didn’t like beets, as he took great pride in growing them.

When Grandpa turned 65 he retired, and he won a car in a raffle. We were all so happy for him and Grandma, they were comfortably set for their twilight years. Three months later we got the call. He had taken the car to its garage around the corner from their house, and had collapsed. My uncle John, the oldest of his four sons, was passing and saw the people gathering around him, and stopped to find his father had had a heart attack. I can only imagine how John must have felt, and how difficult it must have been to tell Grandma that she had just lost the love of her life. To me, my grandparents had always seemed to be the sweetest, kindest people, and it was devastating to lose Grandpa so suddenly.

A few years later, Grandma was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, primary biliary cirrhosis of the liver. She lost a lot of weight and was taking medication that made her feel quite sick a lot of the time. I was living just over 100 miles from Torquay, and once a month I would travel there for a weekend, and Grandma would put on a big show of fixing one of her wonderful Sunday roast dinners, but we all knew that she was not eating like that all the time. She came to stay with me for about two weeks, insisting on making the journey of several hours on a bus. I will never forget when I picked her up at the bus station how frail she was and how much pain she was in. She was barely able to get up and down the stairs in the house, but after a few days of eating well and resting she began to rally. She was much stronger when she returned home and I felt hopeful.

In June 1979, Grandma was admitted to hospital. Her personal doctor told me that there were much more serious complications and that the family should prepare themselves for the worst. I was 23 then, and had never experienced the feelings that come with anticipating the imminent death of a loved one. Although you know that it is inevitable, denial is strong. You don’t want your loved one to suffer, but you don’t want to let them go either. Her passing, although expected and thankfully very peaceful, was still a shock. She was only 69 years old. I know that she had spent the nine years since losing her husband so suddenly grieving for him, as well as being so very ill and in pain. I so wished that she could have had the retirement years with him that they both deserved, and that added to the pain of losing them both.

Last year, Uncle John passed away. He was a quiet, gentle person, kept very much to himself, loved soccer and had retired from his lifelong job as a mechanic. My best memories of him are from my childhood. Like sitting on the rooftop patio in the garden at my grandparents’ house brushing the tabby cat, Desdemona, that loved to sit with him because he was quiet. His passing was so sad, he seemed like such a lonely figure, although he lived with two of his brothers at Grandma’s house after they all retired. My much younger cousins probably knew him better than I did, as they lived nearby, while I was always overseas.

When my own children grew up and went to university in Scotland, my son Chris had a girlfriend, Emma. They met in the Isle of Man, where Chris and my daughter Claire were going to school. Emma was a native of the Isle of Man. She was such a beautiful, caring, creative and happy person. I was living in the Bahamas then, and in 2002 Chris and Claire brought Emma for a visit. We had a wonderful time, the highlights of their visit being a speed boat trip to the beautiful Exuma Cays and the crown jewel of The Bahamas, Harbour Island, where the beaches have pink sand. It was a lovely “getting to know you” visit for Emma, and I had high hopes for her and Chris.

When Chris graduated from Aberdeen, they moved to Manchester where Chris had a job lined up, and Emma, who had been to college to get her qualifications in child care, worked at a home for battered women, taking care of the needs of the children who lived at the home with their mothers. In 2008 they came back to Nassau to get married on the beach on the anniversary of their meeting each other seven years earlier, February 28^th. It was such a pretty, casual wedding, Emma’s close family had come too, and afterwards we had a buffet meal at the Market Place in the Atlantis resort. Although they laughingly assured me they wouldn’t be making me a grandmother too soon, by the end of the year I was not too surprised to get a call telling me that Emma was expecting a baby, due in June 2009. I was thrilled for them!

The birth of my first grandchild was something I did not want to miss. The logistics of getting to England from the Bahamas in time for the birth obviously could not be precise, so we decided to settle on my going over for a month a few days after Emma’s due date. Beautiful Lily Ann arrived on June 25^th, 2009, and I got my first cuddle on July 5^th. It was a wonderful visit, reuniting with Chris, Emma, and Claire, and a real tug at my heart to have to leave after spending a few weeks with them all.

Lily grew to become such a beautiful little girl. It was quite a blow to learn when she was about three years old that something wasn’t quite right, and that she was having some hearing tests done. It turned out that Lily’s hearing was fine, but further testing determined that she had autism. Chris and Emma really had their hands full now, as Lily was extremely active, climbing everything in sight and totally without fear! My heart jumped at the first pictures they sent of Lily climbing a rock wall, kitted out with a harness and head gear. She was thoroughly enjoying herself! Emma had her work cut out keeping Lily engaged and busy with many creative projects. Emma’s training in child care stood her in good stead for the task of raising this very active little girl. They made cup cakes and Christmas ornaments, went pony riding, rock wall climbing, and made frequent trips to zoos and the safari park at Longleat. Lily has grown up with a love of animals and doing creative things with her hands, and is a very bright little girl, due mostly to Emma’s devotion to her.

Then Emma began to feel unwell, and after a few visits to the doctor in early 2016 she was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma. It is a very rare cancer, with a very low survival rate. Emma had to have emergency surgery, followed by 6 months of chemo. A diagnosis like this is devastating to the patient, but having worked in a gastroenterology practice for 10 years with a wonderful doctor, I know from experience that the patients are usually stronger in the face of such adversity than their family members. And Emma was a strong person to begin with. She was determined that no matter what happened, she would make the most of the time she had, and make it her goal to beat this cancer, fighting it every step of the way.

At times like this, being surrounded by supportive family and friends gives the patient so much strength of purpose, and Emma took on the challenge bravely, her sparkling personality shining through in everything she did. Lily was the centre of her life, and beating this cancer was her focus. Despite the odds she was up against, every time I saw pictures on Facebook of the activities she was involved in, the fun she brought to the lives of Lily and her friends and family, I felt a surge of admiration and love and, most of all, hope.

So when the news came earlier this year that a few months earlier Emma had been told her cancer had returned and had spread, it was a terrible shock. Again, Emma handled this with dignity and strength. She shared her story in a blog and on Facebook, in the hope that it would inspire others who were going through similar challenges.

Although we all knew that it was just a matter of time, getting the call from Chris that Emma had been admitted to a hospice for palliative care was still devastating news. I know that all her family as well as myself will be eternally grateful to the Countess Mountbatten Hospice for the loving care and comfort they gave Emma in her last days. I hope they knew, in fact I am sure they did know, what a precious jewel they were entrusted with. While my grief cannot compare to that of her mother, sisters, and Chris, I can say that the weeks, days and hours leading up to the passing of someone you love in this way are the hardest I have ever had to deal with. Waves of grief and tears hit you without warning, anywhere, any time, anxiety literally grips your heart as if squeezing the life out of it. It was hard to focus on anything other than to pray that she was not suffering, that her passing would be peaceful and without pain. It is hard to come to terms with why this happens to good people.

Emma passed peacefully on September 12, 2018. She was only 37 years old. Her life was short, but she left a beautiful legacy; everyone who knew her will have the most wonderful memories of her and a life well lived. And the greatest gift of all, her daughter Lily.

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

GOVERNMENT’S PURCHASE OF THE GRAND LUCAYAN WAS A GREAT DECISION

WASHINGTON, D.C. — To fully understand why Prime Minister Hubert Minnis and the Free National Movement (FNM) Government’s purchase of the Grand Lucayan Resort in Freeport, Grand Bahama, was a significant and indispensable decision, it is first necessary to reflect on some of the reasons why a once booming city awash with prosperity is today an economic graveyard.

Some background information on the early years and the growth and development of Freeport is necessary to put the current moribund state of what was once known as “The Magic City” in perspective.

What we know today as Freeport was part of a pine forest when Sir Stafford Sands, then head of the Bahamas Development Board, arranged for American financier Wallace Groves, a client of his law firm, to purchase 50,000 acres of Crown Land in Grand Bahama for one pound sterling (the equivalent of $2.80) per acre, resulting in the signing of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement on August 5, 1955. Over the years, additional acreages were acquired by the Grand Bahama Port Authority as Freeport mushroomed into the second most populous city in The Bahamas.

Groves’s idea for his new land acquisition was to develop an industrial area. As noted in this excerpt from Wikipedia: “…House of Assembly member Stafford Sands served as Wallace Groves’s lawyer and helped pave the way for his business interests. In 1955, Groves secured the seminal Hawksbill Creek Agreement with the colonial government, ceding to him 211 square miles of Grand Bahama Island upon which to develop a free-trade industrial and resort zone. (Groves obtained supplemental agreements in 1960 and 1966.) The agreement freed the Grand Bahama Port Authority from paying taxes, tolls, and excises for 25 years (since extended to 2054), and exempted it from other Bahamian laws, notably immigration laws. By 1965, 416 companies operated under license to the main exempted company. The zone gradually became the most modern, well-run, and prosperous part of the colony, although it was described as only nominally Bahamian.”

After internal self-government was granted to The Bahamas in 1963, Wikipedia notes that Groves “further secured the right to operate gambling establishments at Freeport, using the services of Stafford Sands. At the same time, Sands and other high government officials received payments exceeding $1,000,000 from the Grand Bahamas Port Authority. The complex system of continuing payoffs to almost the entire Bahamian elite (known universally as the “Bay Street Boys”) was detailed by the Royal Commission of Inquiry of 1967…”

Freeport was really an exciting place to visit in the early 1960s. After the opening of the Monte Carlo Casino adjacent to the Lucayan Beach Hotel in 1964, Freeport was a boomtown with nightclubs jammed to capacity nightly and some restaurants remaining open all night. There are differing opinions as to what precipitated the end the “glory years.” There is a body of opinion, however, that a hard-hitting “bend-or-break” speech at the opening of the Bahamas Oil Refinery in Freeport in August of 1969 by Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling, in which he alluded to the open racism that existed in Freeport at the time, may have been the reason why some investors had second thoughts about their investment projects and some actually  left Grand Bahama.

Be that as it may, Freeport continued to flourish for the ensuing decades, thanks in no small measure to the genius of the late Edward St. George during his tenure as Chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA).

Mr. St. George, who died in December 2004, and Sir Jack Hayward — whose late father, Sir Charles Hayward, was an early co-investor with Groves in Freeport – purchased the outstanding shares held by Groves in the GBPA in 1979. Along with Sir Albert Miller, whom they hired as President of the GBPA, Freeport’s growth and development continued at a phenomenal pace.

A decision had been made earlier to focus on tourism simultaneously with Freeport’s industrial development goals to bolster the city’s economy. The availability of casino gambling, which at the time was not as widespread in the United States as it is today, proved to be a magnet for tourists who were habitual gamblers as well as fun-lovers who enjoyed the excitement generated by games of chance.

Flights by Laker Airways, a no frills low-cost airline founded by British entrepreneur Sir Freddie Laker, and a variety of chartered flights from destinations in the United States used to be filled to capacity with Grand Bahama-bound tourists coming to the island to gamble. Of course, they also enjoyed first-rate entertainment in venues where the casino was located as well as the various nightclubs around the island.

Aside from the fact that there has been a proliferation of casino gambling in the United States over the years, resulting in several failed attempts to successfully operate a casino in Freeport in recent years, Freeport’s lure as a tourist destination declined tremendously in the aftermath of two monster hurricanes, Francis and Jeanne, that devasted Grand Bahama in 2004, resulting in the closure of the Royal Oasis Resort and Casino.

Approximately 1,300 workers became unemployed because of the closure of the Royal Oasis Resort and Casino, and although the Grand Lucayan Resort – owned by Hutchison Whampoa, a Chinese conglomerate with huge investments in Freeport – remained open, my understanding is that it was only able to so because its operations were heavily subsidized by Hutchison Whampoa.

There are reports that Hutchison Whampoa planned to close the Grand Lucayan after plans by The Wynn Group, a Canadian company, to purchase it were abandoned.  Faced with the prospect of hundreds of Bahamians adding to the high level of unemployment in Grand Bahama, it would have been almost criminal if Government did not intervene and purchase the hotel. However, there seems to be a consensus among Bahamians with operational knowledge of hotels that Government should not be in the hotel business, so an aggressive campaign should be launched to find a buyer to operate it.

In the meantime, an all-out campaign should also be launched to find an operator for the now closed near-by casino, and restoring the excitement once generated at Port Lucaya Marketplace nightly should be a top priority. Of course, since the closure of the Royal Oasis, the downtown area of Freeport has been allowed to deteriorate considerably and a determined effort should be made to reverse this trend.

The bottom line, however, is the Government did the right thing in purchasing the Our Lucayan Resort and the focus should now be on encouraging more “stop over” visitors to fill its rooms and those of the other hotels in Grand Bahama.

 

 

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

CONVENIENCE VERSUS THE GOOD OLD DAYS

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 23, 2018 – While shopping for groceries the other day, I observed what other people were buying. Many of the carts had frozen dinners, pizzas, cake and pancake mixes, sodas, shop bought bakery items and so on. It struck me that we have become very reliant on convenience in so many aspects of modern life. Of course, women go out to work much more than they did 40 or 50 years ago, and not many want to come home to have to cook for the family on top of a long commute and an eight-hour working day.

The first time I encountered Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines was when I crossed the Atlantic and arrived in The Bahamas in 1982. Having two very small children at the time I decided to give them a try. I was hugely disappointed. To begin with, the amount of ingredients that needed to be added only really cut one step out of the cake baking process. But it was the end result that was the biggest let down. The texture was not the same as a made from scratch cake, and worst of all, the taste was so artificial. The can of frosting was sickly sweet as well.

I read the list of ingredients and method on a box of pancake mix. It required adding one egg, vegetable oil, and a cup of water to the mix. The basic difference is that to make pancakes from scratch all you have to do is measure a cup and a half of flour, three and a half teaspoons of baking powder, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of sugar, and then add the egg and a cup and a quarter of milk. It takes the same amount of time, the total ingredients are cheaper, and they don’t have all the chemical additives that are needed to extend the shelf life of the packet mix. So overall, the scratch recipe is healthier too.

I made up my mind years ago to cut out all those convenience foods, and so for quite some time I have baked cakes and bread from scratch. We don’t consume store bought bread or baked goods at all. My “convenience” meals consist of fresh ingredients cooked in sufficient quantities to last for two or three meals, so that I don’t have to cook every day. Less salt, no unpronounceable chemical flavourings or preservatives, just good wholesome food like my grandmother used to cook!

As we sat watching television, a commercial came on depicting a young man in his home surrounded by electronic devices. Everything in his home has been turned into a convenience device. He asks each of the devices to perform a variety of tasks – like make ice, play music, turn on the lights, order take out and so on. We have become that society of the future that we used to talk about only a couple of decades ago as being a thing of the distant future. We hardly need to step outside our homes any more, everything can be done by the tap of a finger on a screen. We can order just about anything from our laptops, tablets or phones without getting up off the sofa. Brick and mortar stores are gradually closing down, unable to generate the foot traffic needed to support their businesses, and mega distribution centres are opening up in strategic cities in order to be able to ship the goods we order online to us in 48 hours or less!

Autonomous cars are now being tested, and pretty soon we won’t even need to drive. Well, I don’t drive anyway, but that is by choice. Washington, D.C., has a very efficient public transportation system and I really love the ease of getting about by subway. It means I have to walk more, but that is preferable to having to pay very high parking fees and driving round and round the block trying to find a place to park. There really isn’t a need to own a car in the city.

Of course, there are some modern conveniences even I wouldn’t want to live without. I am really glad I don’t have to go down to a river and beat my clothes on a rock to wash them, and, although it took a bit of persuading to get me to use one, having a dishwasher does have advantages! So does a food processor – I hate crying over chopping onions. I would give anything not to have to chop an onion! I went through a phase of making my own clothes years ago, and an electric sewing machine certainly was a boon, but now the ease of shopping online or discount stores like TJMaxx has pretty much made the need for a sewing machine obsolete. There is a certain satisfaction in making things yourself, however – a great sense of achievement that you cannot have when you purchase something ready made.

I often wonder how people would manage if all of a sudden all the technology of the last 50 years were to cease functioning. We might be healthier, walk more, eat less junk food, spend more quality time with each other, instead of glued to a screen with headphones on, shutting out the world and people around us. We might talk to each other more, play checkers or monopoly instead of Minecraft, go out to the movies more instead of watching Netflix curled up on the sofa.

A couple of days ago I left home without my glasses. I had taken them off to apply sunscreen to my face, and my mind was busy making a list of the things I needed to do and planning my route downtown. I left the glasses on the dresser. I actually was so deep in thought that I walked almost two blocks before I realized that the world around me was somewhat blurrier than usual. At that point I decided not to back for them, although I could not read the screen on my phone at all, and my vision is blurry for both reading and distance. I could see, just not clearly. Speech to text allowed me to send a message to my husband letting him know it would be pointless trying to text me if he needed to get in touch! As I walked the six blocks to downtown, I noticed that at least half the people I encountered had ear buds in their ears, most of them talking animatedly – I have always thought it funny as they look like they are talking to themselves – or had their heads down, busily texting.

When I caught the subway train home after my shopping expedition I was one of the few who did not have a phone in their hand, playing games or scrolling through social media. If I had not forgotten my glasses you can be very sure I would have been playing spider solitaire to pass the very few minutes that it would take for my train to transport me five stations from Metro Centre to Waterfront. I was annoyed with myself for forgetting the glasses, but perhaps more so because I was itching to play that addictive game! We now live in an age where it seems that most of us just have to occupy every minute of the day with those compulsive little devices. Everyone seems to be locked away in their little digital space.

The modern conveniences have changed what we perceive as the quality of life. Now I understand what my parents and grandparents meant when they talked about the “good old days” – the days when people communicated more in person, rather than through a six inch screen or in 280 characters.

 

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!

Washington, DC Sept. 16, 2018 – It is mid-September. We haven’t even started to get excited about Halloween yet, but I am hearing talk of Christmas and some stores are already putting out Christmas decorations. Skip Halloween, skip Thanksgiving, go straight to Christmas.

When I heard this I started to reflect on what Christmas means to me. I am 63 years old now, and I have celebrated this joyful holiday in five different countries over my lifetime. I wasn’t brought up in a strictly religious home, and the meaning of Christmas centred around family getting together more than the birth of Jesus or the commercial aspects of the season.

I remember in primary school that it was an exciting time as we cut and pasted colourful paper chain decorations, snowflakes and angels. Hopeful youngsters raised their hands with enthusiasm hoping to be picked to play Mary, Joseph, or one of the three wise men, or an angel. I was very shy about doing school plays and would try to avoid being picked for a part that would make me too noticeable. The back row of the choir was stressful enough for me.

Despite the lack of religion at home I grew to have an appreciation for the real meaning of Christmas – the celebration of the life of Jesus, the coming together of people to show caring and love, and the importance of family. I lived abroad with my parents for almost my entire childhood, so those Christmases that we were able to spend at home in England, at my grandparents’ home in south Devon, were very precious. I was the only child in the family for many years so I did get a bit spoilt with gifts, but the things I remember the most were not the big toys. The first thing that always comes to mind when I think about Christmas at Grandma’s is the red velvet choker with a silver buckle that she gave me.

It was handmade, and it made me feel like a real grown-up lady, and very special. It was old fashioned, a reminder of a time when Christmas was not a commercial event with months of advertisements exhorting us to buy expensive gifts like jewellery or cars, or electronic games and devices. No, I associate the memory of that velvet choker with trips home from Germany to spend Christmas in Grandma’s kitchen, smelling the delicious aroma of mince pies baking, decorating the traditional heavy fruit cake, and the turkey roasting.

I have fond memories of sitting around the dining table with uncles and aunts, mum and dad, Grandma and Grandpa, sharing a wonderful meal of brussels sprouts, turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce; of trying to save enough room for the plum pudding and cream, and afterwards being given a small glass of peach wine – even though I was just a young child – and sipping it while watching the Queen’s Christmas message on the television.

Some of my childhood Christmases were spent in Germany. I remember when we lived in Minden, the very cold winters, lots of snow, and the town, which had cobbled streets and buildings that had heavy beams and overhanging upper floors decorated with thousands of colourful lights reflecting in the snow. There would be a huge pine Christmas tree in the town – a real one, not one of those fake ones. We always had a real pine tree in our house too. And perhaps the best memory of all – listening to the choirs singing Christmas carols. German and Austrian church choirs are some of the best I have ever heard. Christmas at home would not have been complete without the record player filling our house with the angelic voices of the Vienna Boys Choir singing Stille Nacht (Silent Night).

As a young mother one of my best memories of Christmas in England was 1981. My daughter Claire was 17 months old and I was a few months pregnant. We had a real pine tree which Claire helped to decorate. She was enchanted with it. We had snow too, and there was a very large window looking out onto the front garden and street. Claire would stand on her little chair and lean on the sill, staring in wide-eyed wonder at the big fluffy white snowflakes as they fell, covering the ground in a thick, pristine blanket that totally transformed her world into a winter wonderland. At that time we didn’t know that the next Christmas would be spent in a very different climate.

In 1982 we moved to The Bahamas. It was mid summer when we arrived, and Claire was two years old, her baby brother Christopher just two months. In a few short months Christmas fever was in full swing. It felt strange. In place of pine trees there were palm trees with garlands of lights wound around their curving trunks. The weather was warm and sunny, and it was really strange to see the shop windows with Christmas decorations, some of them depicting snowflakes! But the most memorable thing was the Junkanoo parade on Boxing Day.

It started at midnight and went on all through the night. A riot of colour, music, noise, gyrating dancers, and themes depicting significant events and people in the news that year. I am told that the parade is very similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The groups – some as large as 500 people, some as small as just a dozen or so – come onto the street with brass horns, trumpets and tubas, whistles blowing. The rhythm of the drums is so strong that it vibrates deep into your soul.

After a few years I got used to Christmas in the tropics, at least from the point of view of the weather being warm. But a little piece of me still missed the cold, snowy Christmases of my childhood. My own children spent their childhood in The Bahamas, so that was all they knew. They now live and work in England, and have become accustomed to the rigors of winter, and my husband and I have spent two Christmases in Washington DC. Surprisingly, the cold has not bothered me, but I have been just a little disappointed at the lack of snow.

But I don’t think I will ever get used to the way the commercial Christmas is creeping earlier and earlier in the calendar of events that populate the last quarter of the year. Or the advertisements for ever more luxury items for gifts. I am going to be very traditional about Christmas from now on, and make it a time for reflection, connection, and giving to those who are in need. My husband will always ask me what I want for Christmas, and it is always difficult to think of something that I really need. I think the most precious gift must be the gift that Jesus Christ gave us all, and that is the gift of love.

 

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A LITERACY EXPERIENCE

Washington DC – I have been following some of the discussion about the level of education in The Bahamas, in particular the constant barrage of complaints about the so-called “D” average. I say so-called, as I understand that to use that term is rather misleading, although it is evident from what I see on social media that there is a great deal to be done to bring the level of fluent literacy up to a better standard.

Having a little time on my hands I decided recently to volunteer in a literacy mentoring program in Washington DC. I didn’t realize just how deep the program went until I went for the first of what will be several training sessions.

The program is extremely well organized by AARP’s AmeriCorps/Experience Corps – which is very similar to the Peace Corps. AARP is the American Association of Retired Persons, and there are a number of programs that they run to help retired people get back into the work force, or find a niche where they can volunteer their time and feel that they are still making a substantial and useful contribution to society.

The literacy mentoring program is aimed at children who may be struggling to keep up or just need a little extra help to learn to read fluently. The program really serves two very important purposes. It enables the students to develop reading skills that will mean that they will do better in high school, be more likely to go on to tertiary education and get better jobs to elevate themselves socially. It also benefits senior citizens by improving cognition, physical and emotional health. Many seniors feel that once they have retired they are not useful and may become more and more isolated and lonely. Spending three hours a day, two or three days a week, with very young children has been proven to be of great benefit to the aging members of our communities.

I must say here that if you are going to do a job, you might as well do it well. I had to go through a vetting process to join the Experience Corps program. I had to obtain a police record, be fingerprinted, get a TB test, write an essay, and sit through an interview. A minimum of high school diploma is required. I feel quite privileged about being selected to work in this program. There are other requirements involved. Each volunteer is expected to log at least 300 hours during the school year, and to attend certain events such as one we will be doing next week when we will meet at the Smithsonian Castle and pack one million meals for seniors. Once the time quota has been met, each volunteer will receive a $1200 stipend to be used towards the education of any child or family member.

My training began in earnest as we sat in pairs or groups and learned how to greet our students (we had to role play at this point) and lead them in games that would help to improve their reading fluency, vocabulary, and understanding. I must say that AARP really knows how to encourage people to volunteer, as we were served a delicious breakfast with coffee and juice at 8:30am, and an even more delicious healthy lunch of salads and stuffed wraps at 1pm. Volunteers are also equipped with button down shirts with the Experience Corps logo, vests and bags stuffed with goodies like a water bottle, a small white board, and a binder full of instructional material. I think my favourite item has to be the children’s book I was given, entitled “If you give a cat a cupcake” by Laura Numeroff – a truly delightful story, beautifully illustrated – which will be one of the books I will be using for the preK students I will be assigned too.

It seems to me that this has to be a win-win situation for schools, students, parents and senior citizens. There is so much being said about how parents are not spending the time with their children doing homework, and that they are not attending PTA meetings and report card days. It was admirable that students were given tablets to use in school, but if literacy is a problem to begin with, an electronic device is only going to be of real benefit to those children who have an advantage in English language class. I am all in favour of students having devices – it is extremely important in this fast moving electronic age – but I am absolutely convinced that if children are not encouraged to read from real books at an early age, far too many of them will fail and fall into poverty.

Children who come from homes where parents are having to both work jobs where they are on shift schedules, making not much more than minimum wage, six days a week, are not getting the attention from their tired and stressed out parents that they need to start reading at an early age. Children who are being raised by a struggling single parent, or a grandparent, or live in a home where there is abuse, or a neighborhood where they cannot sleep because of loud music and noise all night long, are going to really have a hard time learning in school. I have spoken with teachers who tell me that it is really difficult to instill any knowledge into a child who comes to school tired, broken spirited, just too exhausted mentally, emotionally or physically to learn. I believe that a mentoring program such as the literacy program I am involved with would be a great way of turning these students’ lives around.

Teachers trying to work with these children are also tired and stressed and having a great deal of pressure put on them to produce better results. Seniors and retirees who feel that they have been “put out to pasture”, but still feel they have much to offer, would be a tremendous help. They would be there to help the students who are struggling the most, someone to encourage the students, and to spot when a particular child is in need of some extra help. The Experience Corps program in the US reaches 33,000 children a year who need this mentoring, as well as the senior citizens who volunteer to work with them. I am sure that it would not be long before schools would be turning out higher exam grades on a regular basis, and that this would be a program where money would have been well spent, without it having to cost a fortune.

 

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING ANDRE RODGERS BASEBALL STADIUM

WASHINGTON, D.C. — I am a sports fanatic and have been throughout my life. Baseball is my most favourite sport, although it did not become a participatory sport in The Bahamas until 1954 after Andre Rodgers became the first Bahamian to sign a professional baseball contract to play in the farm system of the then New York Giants and a group of sports-minded Bahamians met to establish the Bahamas Baseball Association (BBA).

Prior to the introduction of organized baseball in The Bahamas, cricket and soccer were extremely popular, and it was because of the outstanding skills he possessed as a cricket player that Andre was able to transfer his immense talent to baseball. It took Andre only three years to make it to the Majors and he made his debut at shortstop with the New York Giants on April 16, 1957, in the season opener against the Pittsburg Pirates. To put this in perspective, Andre played his first game in the Major League only 10 years after Jackie Robinson integrated Major League baseball when he debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

Aside from the national pride that this generated not only among baseball fans but Bahamians in general, what this meant to The Bahamas as a country could not be measured in dollars and cents. Every time André Rodgers stepped on the field in baseball stadiums across the United States and his name and where he was from was announced, that represented thousands and thousands of dollars of free publicity for The Bahamas. Given the fact that the late 1950s was when the strategy was shifted from marketing The Bahamas as a playground for the rich and famous to promoting it as a popular tourist destination, it can easily be concluded that André Rodgers was one of the country’s greatest assets at the time.

Just about every young Bahamian male who did not have “two left feet” developed an interest in playing baseball, resulting in the formation of the Bahamas Baseball Association in 1954, with the late E.S. Stanley Mitchell as President; the late Reno Brown as Secretary; and the late George “Posey” Gardiner as Treasurer. The first games were played at Clifford Park in November of 1954.

There is no disputing the fact that Andre’s success became the benchmark for gifted young players to emulate, and in the immediate years after his Major League debut, a number of talented Bahamian players were signed to professional contracts. Among those who also made it to the Major League were Tony Curry, Ed Armbrister, Wenty Ford and Wil Culmer, but with a little bit of luck – and in some cases, a better attitude – the number of Bahamians making it to the Major Leagues would be considerably higher.

Surely, had he not lost his life in a tragic car accident in January of 1961, while home for the Christmas holidays, Andre’s younger brother, Lionel, definitely would have made it to the Majors. In fact, the Rodgers Family produced a coterie of talented baseball players. In addition to Andre and Lionel, other talented brothers were Adrian, who was signed by the Giants as a pitcher, but was subsequently released; Roy, who was considered to be one of the best first-basemen in BBA during his prime; and Randy, who was an excellent shortstop during the many years he played in the BBA.

Other baseball greats from that era included the late Vince Ferguson, who died several years ago, and Edmundo (Ed) Moxey, who died recently. Both Vince and Ed made it to AAA, one step below the Majors, before giving up on their quest to become Major Leaguers. Ed was a great catcher and after retiring from professional baseball, he opened a popular restaurant and bar called “The Dugout” in the shopping plaza next door to the Nassau Guardian building. It was one of my favourite hangouts when I was Editor of the Guardian, so I was absolutely shocked when I found out that he had died.

Given my love for baseball and as a former President of the BBA during its very productive years in the 1960s, I was obviously very disappointed in remarks attributed to Minister of Works Desmond Bannister about the status of the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium that’s currently under construction.

I happen to know Desmond Bannister very well. We are both from Stanyard Creek, Andros, and his parents – Horatio and Joyce Bannister – both taught me at Stanyard Creek All-Age School. In addition to the scholarly attributes of his parents, the Desmond that I know inherited the strong humanistic traits exhibited by his parents throughout their lives.

This is why I concluded that the Desmond that I know was misquoted in the article I read in The Tribune claiming that he said that the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium is a waste of taxpayer money that will “never pay for itself.” According to the article, the Minister “told Tribune Business that the Government was aiming to cap construction costs at ‘about $30m’ rather than the $43.014m full scope of works to limit the Bahamian people’s financial exposure.”

What’s being overlooked here is that the stadium now being built is a replacement for a ballpark bearing Andre Rodgers’ name that was demolished in 2006 to build the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in honour of Bahamian track and field Olympic sprinter Tommy Robinson. An argument could be made that Minister Bannister has a greater affinity to track and field than he does baseball, given the fact that he was for many years a great President of the Bahamas Amateur Athletic Association (BAAA), but the Desmond Bannister that I know would not be so biased in favour of one sport at the expense of the other.

What’s more, the argument that the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium will “never pay for itself” does not take into consideration the fact that some Major League teams may consider using Nassau as their spring training base if the proper facilities to attract them were available. Actually, when I was President of the BBA in the mid-1960s, I invited the Baltimore Orioles to consider using Nassau as their spring training site and they sent their then Public Relations Director Bob Brown to Nassau to investigate whether it would be feasible for the Orioles to do so. However, our facilities at the time were not considered to be up to the standard of stadiums in South Florida that are spring training sites for a number of Major League teams.

This surely is something to keep in mind as we move forward with plans to construct a stadium in honour of Andre Rodgers, who in my view is the greatest sports hero in Bahamian history. Of course, there are track and field aficionados who will insist that this honour should be shared equally with Tommy Robinson.

GUEST COMMENTARY: THE MAKING OF HUSBANDS

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

MY FAITHFUL POTCAKE FRIENDS

WASHINGTON DC – Man’s best friend is the domestic dog. In the Caribbean islands and The Bahamas there is a large population of stray dogs, commonly known as potcakes. The name is derived from a dish known as peas and rice that leaves a crusty layer in the bottom of the pan called potcake, which is often scraped out and given to the dogs to eat.

The origin of the potcake dog goes way back in history. It is believed that during the time of the Arawak indians, who inhabited the islands before Christopher Columbus arrived, there were feral dogs living in the islands. Later, Europeans and Loyalists from the Carolinas brought terriers and possibly fighting dogs that mixed with the feral population.

As a result of their very mixed heritage, potcakes took on certain characteristics, such as large ears that tend to curl at the tips, short hair, very little undercoat, and wiry, muscular bodies. They range in size from about 25 to 70lbs. Potcakes are known for being very territorial and loyal when taken in as pets, and make good alert dogs. Many people keep them in their yards for security. Stray potcakes roam the islands in packs, often becoming a nuisance overturning garbage bins looking for food, fighting with each other – and on rare occasions – actually attacking humans. This has become more of a problem since the introduction of more aggressive breeds in the islands such as pitbulls.

During the time that I lived in The Bahamas I had four potcakes. My first one was Chase, a nice looking black dog with a slightly shaggy coat. He had been abandoned at the local Humane Society by his owners, who claimed that they had to chain him up all the time because he kept running off and chasing people. Hence his name.

After Chase there was another big, beautiful, fluffy coated potcake with tricoloured fur – this time a female. I got her as a puppy. From the word go she was very attached to me. One day I was listening to Elton John singing his famous song, Nikita, a song I absolutely love, and so that became her name. Niki for short.

She grew quite big for a potcake, easily about 80lbs. She was beautiful, with a long haired curled tail that she carried like plume, always waving as she trotted along beside me on long walks to the beach. Tourists were always stopping us to admire her, and she seemed to love the attention. However, she was also very protective and would never let a strange man get too close without a warning! She was fine with women, though. I trained Niki to sit and shake hands when commanded and after going through this little ritual with a stranger she would then accept that person and allow them to be around me.

I loved taking Niki to the beach. She would swim alongside me and loved the water. She was also very attached to my children, and when they came home from school in the UK for the holidays, Niki seemed to know that they would be coming, and instead of her customary greeting at my driver’s side of the car, she would come flying out of the house and run straight to the passenger side to greet Claire and Christopher, wildly excited to see them.

Niki was my constant companion for 12 years. When she crossed the rainbow bridge she peacefully went to sleep in my arms. I couldn’t bear to see her buried in the garden. At the time I was going through a very difficult emotional period of my life, and she had been my rock. I built a small garden around her grave, and planted a pink poui tree to give her shade.

It wasn’t long after Niki’s death that I saw a potcake mother in a bushy area outside the backyard. She had seven beautiful plump fluffy little puppies, and one in particular stood out – he was black with white paws and a white mark dividing the black fur on his face. He was so incredibly cute, but very frightened. I was really torn, still hurting from losing Niki, but as my son Chris said, Bailey came along at the right time to be my little “void filler”. His mother seemed to have a very sweet nature. It was almost as though she was asking for human help to take care of her and her puppies. I could only take one, but I was able to find friends to take a few of the remaining ones. After I took Bailey home she moved the last two puppies into our yard, as if to say please help the rest of us. I decided the best thing would be to take her and her pups to the Humane Society, and they gladly accepted them.

I am a photographer and liked to go into remote places to look for things in nature to photograph, especially hummingbirds. Bailey became my close companion and really enjoyed these outings. I would let him off his leash so he could explore freely, and this was his happiest time. He never seemed at ease being confined indoors. When he was about two years old I saw a drunkard walking in town carrying a little light brown potcake puppy, and was horrified to see that he was feeding it a Snickers bar. Chocolate can be deadly for dogs, and this puppy was obviously only a couple of months old. I asked the man to give me the puppy, and when I flashed a $20 bill he handed her over without a second thought. And this is how Brandy came into our lives.

Brandy grew fast. By the time she was eight months old she was almost as big as Bailey, and her ears were erect, unlike Bailey’s that tried to stay straight but flopped over from the middle. The vet believed that Brandy was a pitbull and German shepherd mix. By the time she was fully grown she was a really beautiful golden colour, short haired but long legged, with a tail that wagged like a whip. She loved people but didn’t take to other dogs too well, although she and Bailey were practically inseperable. They would chase each other up and down the yard, and all over the beaches. They would take off together as soon as their leashes were removed, and I loved to watch them enjoying their moments of freedom together.

When I left Nassau to move to Washington DC, I had to make the heart-rending decision to leave Brandy and Bailey behind. It wasn’t an easy decision at all, but I found them a home where they could be together.

It has been over two years now, and I still miss them. I try to make up for it by petting all the dogs in our building, and even taking one of them, a very handsome golden retriever named Tucker, for walks now and then. I know I made the best decision for my two beloved potcakes. Although potcakes do well when foreigners adopt them and take them abroad, I think Bailey and Brandy needed to be together in an environment where they would not be confined. They are both big dogs, and need lots of space to run around, leapfrogging as they play chase together.

And as I get older, I think if I ever get another pet it is going to have to be a cat!

By SIR RONALD SANDERS

COMMENTARY: THE CCJ – A COURT FOR THE PEOPLE

WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug. 30, 2018  — Throughout the 185-year history of the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council, it has never provided access for people of little means except for a few persons on death row who got free legal service from British lawyers.

This stands in stark contrast to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) where, in the three years following its inception in 2005, civil appeals outnumbered criminal appeals by almost seven to one. About 15 percent of the civil cases filed in the CCJ were from persons too poor to pay filing costs, which the court waived, giving poor people unprecedented access to appeals.

These cases have included: a property dispute between two poor tenants, a public housing agency’s contractual obligation to a signatory’s next of kin, the admissibility of a police officer’s testimony in a case of child molestation, and a civil servant’s dismissal through the statutory abolition of his appointment. There have been others.

Importantly, these cases came from only four countries that had signed-up to the CCJ as their final appellate court. They would have been much more numerous if all the people of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) had access to the CCJ.

As a court of final appeal in criminal and civil matters, the CCJ is truly a people’s court.

An authoritative study conducted by Andrew N. Maharajh and published by Cornell University analyses the costs involved in appealing to the Privy Council in contrast to the CCJ. The findings show overwhelmingly that the CCJ is much more accessible to the less well-off than is the Privy Council, reinforcing that the CCJ is as much a people’s court as it is a final arbiter for wealthy business persons and governments.

For instance, the study finds that “the cost of filing an appeal with the Privy Council is more than five times greater than filing an appeal with the CCJ. A comparison of other associated filing costs for both courts reveals a similar ratio”. Other big expenses are incurred to take a case to the Privy Council. Persons making an appeal have to buy plane tickets for themselves and their local lawyer and find and hire an English licensed solicitor to prepare the case file; in some cases, they must also retain expensive British barristers. Additionally, the cost of accommodation in London for the duration of the litigation has to be met. In any event, two sets of lawyers’ fees must be paid. According to the study, all of this produces a very expensive appeals process, estimated at an average minimum cost of US$65,000. Clearly, outside the reach of any but the wealthy.

By contrast, overall costs of appeals to the CCJ are considerably cheaper. There is no need for two separate sets of lawyers, a local law firm can appear before the CCJ; the cost of travel to Trinidad, the seat of the Court, is cheaper than to London; the CCJ is also a travelling court, therefore there might be no need for lawyers to travel. Most importantly, the CCJ allows lawyers to appear from their homes or offices via its video conferencing facilities. Additionally, the CCJ operates an e-filing system to receive and process all filings electronically, eliminating the cost for lawyers’ travel and accommodation and, thereby, the overall cost to the litigants.

If all CARICOM states took advantage the CCJ as a final court of appeal, not only would wealthy persons and governments have access to the court, but ordinary people, across the region, would enjoy considerably better access to justice than they do now. Social equality in the justice system would, at last, be served.

Significantly, all CARICOM taxpayers have already paid for access to the more affordable CCJ. Every CARICOM government has contributed from its tax revenues to the trust fund that independently finances the court. Therefore, currently, the people of eight CARICOM countries, particularly the less well-off, are being denied access to an affordable justice system for which they have paid – it is a people-asset from which the people are blocked.

Interestingly, as an example, over the last 28 years, 1990 to 2018, only 37 appeals have been made to the Privy Council from Antigua and Barbuda, one of the countries that are still tied to the British Privy Council. Of the 37 appeals, seven were criminal and 30 were civil. In the clear majority of civil cases, only big companies and the government were involved, precisely because only they can afford the costs involved in appeals to the Privy Council. Poor Antiguans and Barbudans, like their peers in other CARICOM countries, simply cannot afford the costs.

By the same token, less well-off persons, from the four CARICOM countries that are part of the CCJ appellate process, have utilized the court, which has facilitated the applications of the poorest even in civil cases.

What then of the quality of justice that the CCJ delivers? The judgements of the Court have been widely and internationally acclaimed. They are all available on the court’s website for public scrutiny. Each of the judges of the court is highly respected by their peers in the global judicial system. It should be recalled that the English-speaking Caribbean has been producing lawyers, expert in many fields, for over 100 years. Those lawyers have served in many capacities in the region and the world and have contributed enormously to international jurisprudence.

The judges of the British Privy Council also gave great service to the development of law in Commonwealth countries and beyond, for which they are commended. But, they do not possess the infallibility with which they are decorated by those in our region who cling to them. Their decisions have been repeatedly overruled by both the European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights.

The judges of the CCJ are, at the very least, the equals of the British Privy Council. And, as the facts bear out, the CCJ is the Caribbean people’s court as much for the poor as the rich.

Sir Ronald Sanders is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto. The views expressed are his own.

Responses to: www.sirronaldsanders.com

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SEX SCANDAL

WASHINGTON,D.C. — I was one of seven grandchildren who spent the formative years of our lives growing up at Stanyard Creek, Andros, with our grandparents, Benjamin and Mabel Elliott. My grandfather was the catechist at St. Rita’s Roman Catholic Church, where I was baptized and christened, and attending church every Sunday was mandatory. In fact, in addition to Sunday morning Mass and Evening Service, the grandchildren also went to Sunday School in the afternoon when the teachings of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ were nurtured by Bible study, prayer and other spiritual disciplines.

The various settlements of Andros were not easily accessible by roads back then, and we had a priest named Father Alto who used to make the rounds of the various settlements by sea in a sailboat called The Star. Because Andros is the largest of the Bahama Islands, Father Alto visited Stanyard Creek once every three weeks or so, and on those Sundays when he was not there, Papa was responsible for conducting church services, but because he was not an ordained priest he could not give Holy Communion.

My commitment to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church that were instilled in me as a boy have remained unwavering over the years, although there were periods during my teenage years and in my early twenties when I strayed away from the dictates of the Christian lessons I learned and the God-fearing principles that governed my life growing up with my grandparents in Andros.

This is why the current sex scandal that has engulfed the Church that has played such an important role in my Christian growth and development from I was an altar boy at St. Rita’s in Stanyard Creek — when the Mass was still said in Latin and we learned the verbal rituals of the proceedings by rote, in order to properly assist the priest — has been so hard for me to attribute to human frailty, although in essence pedophilia is a detestable manifestation of human imperfection.

Reports that both Pope Benedict XVI and his successor Pope Francis  are  among other top Catholic Church officials who “were aware of sexual misconduct allegations against a top American cardinal years before that prelate resigned this summer,” as reported in the Washington Post, left me in a virtual state of shock because I am one of those totally committed Roman Catholics who believe that questioning decisions made by the Holy See borders on being sacrilegious.

That accusation, according to The Post, was contained in “a letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was recalled from his D.C. post in 2016 amid allegations that he’d become embroiled in the conservative American fight against same-sex marriage,” and “was first reported by the National Catholic Register and LifeSite News, two conservative Catholic sites.”

In the current toxic political atmosphere in the United States, “conservative” has become somewhat synonymous with “racist”, but in this case I think opposition to “same-sex” marriage is what prompted Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to send “shockwaves through the Catholic world,” as described by The Post, which also claimed that Pope Francis  “and other church leaders are facing a bitterly polarized Catholic Church and some Francis critics, including Viganò, are calling for the pope to step down.”

Despite the very serious predicament that the Holy Father now finds himself in, to call for his resignation, in my view, is not the answer to the Church’s current pedophilia problems. I think that now is the time for the Roman Catholic Church to give serious consideration to the eradication of its celibacy policy for priests which, in my view, has established the Church as a “safe sanctuary” for pedophiles.

The current celibacy policy unfairly denies far too many young men who would be excellent priests the opportunity of making a commitment to serve the Roman Catholic Church and their God in this manner. To ask a heterosexual male to “permanently” suppress his natural desire to have sexual relations with a woman is equivalent to asking a habitual gambler to go to a casino and not gamble. It also sends a “welcome message” to homosexuals and pedophiles that they have a religious shelter in which to freely practice their deviant lifestyles.

I know several committed Roman Catholic men who have served as Deacons in the Church and some who  are still Deacons who would have been excellent priests, except for the fact that they fell in love with a woman they decided to marry. One of the most passionate sermons that I ever heard preached was by the current Minister of Education Jeff Lloyd when he was a Roman Catholic Deacon during one of my visits to Nassau some years ago when I attended Mass at my former parish Church Our Lady’s on Deveaux Street. He was married when he initially became a Deacon, but after his wife died he met another lovely lady that he decided to marry, but Church rules stipulated that if he did he could no longer be a Deacon.

In Freeport, where I lived for 12 years before moving back to Washington, D.C., in 2013, Deacon Nixon Lindor at my parish church in Freeport, Mary Star of the Sea, functions as if he is a full-fledged priest, but he also is happily married to a wonderful lady.

What makes this celibacy policy all the more troubling to me is that historically it only became a requirement for priests centuries after the Church was established. Based on information gleaned from the Internet the first written “mandate requiring priests to be chaste came in AD 304.”

“The practice of priestly celibacy began to spread in the Western Church in the early Middle Ages. In the early 11th century Pope Benedict VIII responded to the decline in priestly morality by issuing a rule prohibiting the children of priests from inheriting property. A few decades later Pope Gregory VII issued a decree against clerical marriages,” the Internet article noted.

It added, “The Church was a thousand years old before it definitively took a stand in favor of celibacy in the twelfth century at the Second Lateran Council held in 1139, when a rule was approved forbidding priests to marry. In 1563, the Council of Trent reaffirmed the tradition of celibacy.”

Surely, given the current sexual scandal, there will never be a better opportunity than now for the Holy See in Rome to abandon this archaic church doctrine.

REFLECTIONS BY ELISABETH ANN BROWN

MUSIC FOOD FOR THE SOUL

WASHINGTON D.C. – Music is a very big part of my life. I cannot imagine life without it. Just about everyone has a favourite genre, and hardly anyone is immune to rhythms that set our feet tapping, sometimes unconsciously. I have always been a big fan of music from the 50s and 60s, especially Motown. The songs were so good that I used to think that by the time the millennium rolled around, all the best music would have been written and people would run out of new ideas. I’m sorry to say that today I really think that has happened, but then I remember how my parents always used to say they couldn’t understand how anyone could listen to the hits of the 60s without going crazy. I guess I’m turning into my parents now!

When I was twelve (1967) my father made me a transistor radio in a Swan matchbox, complete with an earphone. He was in the army and we were stationed in Germany. I used to look forward to 8pm, when Radio Luxembourg would be broadcasting the latest Top 20 hits. The more romantic the songs the better I liked them. Among my favourite artistes were Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Martha Reeves, Stevie Wonder and Englebert Humperdinck. I was also a huge fan of Andy Williams and Johnny Mathis. Perhaps I liked them because they had classical training, and I had grown up in a household where there was no television and my parents liked to listen to classical music on the record player.

In Germany, opera is very popular, and I went to see several while we lived in Bielefeld. I developed an appreciation for the music and soon had a few favourites; Carmen, The Magic Flute, and La Boheme among them. At Christmas time the angelic tones of the Vienna Boys Choir would fill our home with seasonal joy, and to this day Christmas doesn’t feel right to me without listening to them singing Silent Night, Holy Night.

I am sure many of my readers would agree that at some time or another, music has been more than just entertainment; that it has had a deeper meaning. Perhaps a reminder of a loved one or the salve for a wounded heart after a bad break-up. Or perhaps the therapy needed after a very traumatic event.

I find that there are sounds that help me to relax when I am stressed or tired and others that will literally make me cringe. For me, the pitch and tone of music have to be very soothing – slow, moody, almost sensual. In the 1990s I began listening to Aaron Neville, a singer with a voice like a unique musical instrument. There is love in his songs and so much beauty that he sometimes moves me to tears. I have read stories of people who were going through really bad times who heard songs of his on a radio, and they say it changed their whole outlook on life. One person even said that he had been suicidal, but heard Aaron sing and it brought him back to his senses.

In the year 2000, August 3^rd to be exact, I experienced a traumatic incident. I won’t go into details but it is enough to say that it was terrifying. It took quite a while to fall asleep that night, and when I woke in the morning I clearly heard Aaron singing the most beautiful song. It was in my head, but was so very clear and real. The song, “Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue”, is a Catholic child’s prayer. I found it all the more poignant and meaningful when I read that Aaron Neville had put it to music the night before he checked himself into a rehab centre for drug addiction. The pain that he was going through with his addiction must have been overwhelming, and yet out of his deepest hurt came what seemed to me to be one of the most beautiful melodies I had ever heard.

It isn’t just melodic love songs and classical arias that move me, though. While I lived in The Bahamas, I grew to love the traditional music of Junkanoo, the festival that is celebrated every Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. There is so much history behind Junkanoo, and so much talent and dedication that go into the production of costumes, choreography of the dances and rehearsals of the music. The spectacle of the colourful parade, which begins at midnight and goes on until the morning hours, is enhanced by the deep rhythmic pounding of dozens of 55 gallon drums with goatskins stretched over them, the symphony of horns, the oompah of the tubas, piercing whistles and the clamour of hundreds of cowbells being shaken in unison producing the kalik-kalik sound that is so unique to Junkanoo. I have never experienced music so feral, sensual, compelling, and exciting all at once. If you are not moving to the rhythm of Junkanoo, you must be dead!

It has always amazed me that Junkanoo is not better known worldwide. Most of the Caribbean islands have their own unique style of music – Jamaica has Reggae (Bob Marley of course), Trinidad and Tobago is known for Soca and Calypso (the Mighty Sparrow comes to mind). The Bahamas is no exception. There is a wealth of talent in the tiny archipelago nation of less than 400,000 inhabitants. The Bahamas celebrates its Independence Day on July 10 and wherever there are Bahamians living abroad, the diplomatic missions will host events to show off the culture of the islands. Having seen this for myself in Washington DC, I can honestly say that The Bahamas embassy, small as it is, is one of the most popular venues on “Passport DC Day” in May, when most of the embassies open their doors to the public and showcase their cultures.

In 1994 the Smithsonian held a Folklife and Heritage Festival on the National Mall in Washington DC. According to a Smithsonian video, John “Chippie” Chipman, a celebrated Bahamian drummer, was featured in the Junkanoo parade which caused such a sensation on the Mall that the crowds jammed up the parade route. Actually, whenever Junkanoo groups perform overseas spectators are not just drawn to the rhythm, they also participate, dancing with unabashed abandon. It is a shame that Junkanoo is mainly showcased during the Christmas and New Year holiday season in The Bahamas. Although there is a month long Junkanoo in Summer festival in July each year, it seems to me that this very important part of the culture should be much more available to visitors looking for that unique experience all the year round.

As Junkanoo enthusiasts say, “It’s in ya belly”. Most certainly, when you experience Junkanoo music it vibrates in your whole body, right down into your soul. Junkanoo music indeed is Bahamian soul food!

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

THE BAHAMAS MUST “SAY NO” TO CARICOM DECISION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Barbados NationNews, one of that country’s leading newspapers, published a story on August 17, 2018, that requires a definite clarification by the Bahamas Government for citizens of The Bahamas.

Under the headline NO VISA RQUIRED FOR HAITIAN NATIONALS, the NationNews stated: “Nationals of the Republic of Haiti will no longer require a visa to be allowed entry into Barbados, or any other CARICOM country. This was determined at the CARICOM Heads of Government Summit which was held in Montego Bay, Jamaica on July 4 and 5, this year.”

The article went on to claim that also coming out of that summit “was a unanimous decision that Haitian nationals would be entitled to an automatic stay of six months upon their arrival in any CARICOM Member State.”

“It was noted, however, that in accordance with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the Caribbean Community Law, CARICOM nationals travelling to other member states must possess sufficient financial resources to adequately maintain themselves without becoming a charge on public funds,” the article stated.

Obviously, these decisions reached at the CARICOM Heads of Government summit in Jamaica have not been fully explained to the Bahamian people, given the fact that the very serious problem of illegal Haitian migration to The Bahamas that has existed for several decades, as thousands of impoverished Haitians risk their lives on unseaworthy sloops to get to The Bahamas in search of a better way of life continues unabated. In fact, it seems to have gotten worse, despite some highly commendable new policies that have been implemented, including sending Magistrates to the islands where they land to speed up their repatriation.

Now is the time for the Government to let The Bahamian people know exactly how these CARICOM decisions affect the manner in which Haitian nationals are allowed to enter The Bahamas legally. Of course, we have an Embassy in Haiti and obviously Haitian nationals planning to visit The Bahamas legally can apply for a visa to do so, but if a visa is no longer a necessity, does this mean that Haitians can now enter The Bahamas without a visa and are “entitled to an automatic stay of six months” upon their arrival?

If this is the case, then why are they being apprehended when they choose to pack like sardines in a can on wooden sloops without a visa to get to The Bahamas? Without question, the Minister with responsibility for immigration needs to explain the current state of affairs with regard to this issue. There is no question that the dictates of these decisions are not in the best interest of The Bahamas, even though the free movement of nationals of CARICOM-member countries has long been one of CARICOM’S major goals.

This excerpt gleaned from the Internet provides a good backdrop for the current situation: “The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), originally the Caribbean Community and Common Market, was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas which came into effect on 1 August 1973. The first four signatories were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.

“CARICOM superseded the 1965-1972 Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), which had been organized to provide a continued economic linkage between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation which lasted from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962.

“A Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), was signed by the CARICOM Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community on 5 July 2001 at their Twenty-Second Meeting of the Conference in Nassau the Bahamas.”

Currently, there are 15 CARICOM-member countries in the 34-member Organization of American States (OAS), which conceivably provides them with some degree of clout collectively in that organization. However, they are not always in agreement on how to vote on some issues, and each country’s representative generally votes according to what’s in the best interest of their country.

A most recent example of this was a resolution supported by the United States and Canada during a meeting of the OAS General Assembly on June 6, 2018, calling for the suspension of Venezuela from the OAS. That resolution failed to get the number of votes required for it to pass. Among the 19 countries voting in favour of it were The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica, while Dominica, Belize and St Vincent and the Grenadines were among those who voted against it.  All of the other CARICOM countries — Grenada, Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago – were among the 11 countries that abstained, surely because their Ambassadors were instructed by their governments to do so in the best interest of their respective countries.

The fact that The Bahamas voted in favour of the measure surely was because it was in The Bahamas’ best interest to not go on record as being opposed to a resolution vigorously supported by the United States. There are some Bahamians who may argue that as a sovereign nation, The Bahamas does not have to always agree with decisions made by the United States, and they would be right. But when it is made perfectly clear that the United States expects the support of The Bahamas on a matter as important as the resolution calling for the expulsion of Venezuela from the OAS — as was the case when Florida Senator Marco Rubio made a special trip to The Bahamas shortly before the vote in the OAS, and subsequently announced that it was one of the matters he discussed with Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis —  then it unquestionably was in the best interest of The Bahamas to vote in favour of the US-backed resolution.

Given The Bahamas’ geographic proximity to the United States and the fact that the lion’s share of the tourists who have established The Bahamas as one of the top tourist destinations in the world are from that country, with tourism being the strongest pillar of our economy, it was most certainly the right decision for the The Bahamas.

A similar approach must be used by The Bahamas in dealing with CARICOM’s “no visa requirements” for Haitian nationals travelling to other CARICOM countries. In addition to Barbados, those countries that seemingly are strongly supporting that initiative are mostly Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries whose geographic position in the Southern Caribbean clearly suggests that there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that a Haitian sloop with more than 100 illegal migrants on board will ever approach their shores.

So, in my opinion, CARICOM should be told in no uncertain terms that The Bahamas has no intention of complying with its “no visa necessary” Haitian immigration policy.

REFLECTIONS: By ELISABETH ANN BROWN

FASHIONS HAVE NOT SET A NEW PARADIGM FOR RESPECT

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Recently I was involved in a Facebook group discussion about whether or not the way women dress makes them responsible for the reactions they get from men. For most women this is a very touchy subject, especially since the advent of the “MeToo Movement.”

I am a child of the 50s. Times and fashions have changed so rapidly during the six decades of my life. Let’s go further back in history to a time when women were expected to wear corsets so tight they often fainted. Dresses with layers of petticoats that came to their ankles, high necklines and long sleeves were the order of the day, and showing ankles was considered very risqué. In those days women were also expected to behave in a demure way and take part in “lady-like” activities; sipping tea and walks in the park, and perhaps a game of tennis – although even on the tennis courts they had to wear very long and restrictive clothing.

After World War 1 things began to change quite radically. In the 1920s young women known as “Flappers” began to show their disdain for convention, wearing short, loose dresses that fell just below the knee, cutting their hair in short bobbed styles, smoking and listening to jazz. They could vote now, and women’s rights became a hot topic. Standards of dress began to radically change, pants and shorts came into vogue, especially after World War 2 when many women served their countries in the armed forces.

By the 1950s, the decade in which I was born, poodle skirts were the “in” thing. For the remainder of the 20th century fashion began to evolve rapidly. As I was growing up, knee-length skirts were quite acceptable and the mini skirt was introduced, causing shock waves around the world. Denim jeans became more and more form fitting, and by the time I was a teenager all I wanted to wear was bell bottom jeans and a t-shirt. Magazines such as Seventeen and Marie Claire were teaching us how to apply make up, encouraging us to totter around in high heels, dye our hair, paint our nails, and wear more daring bikinis and bathing suits on the beach.

Women were also becoming much more involved in physical activities, sports and recreational hobbies, and of course the designers had a field day creating the clothes that would suit these activities. Clothes were designed to allow us freedom of movement, with comfort and “breathable” fabrics. Gradually these designs became every-day wear. I still love my jeans, although now boot cut or straight leg are my favourite styles. I also love leggings. Today’s fashions are so comfortable and allow us to be very creative with our individual style.

The argument we were having yesterday was about whether or not women should dress to avoid encouraging men to make inappropriate advances towards us; in essence, saying that we are responsible for the response. Personally, I think this is nonsense. How can I be held responsible for how another person thinks? How is anything I choose to wear causing a man to feel that he has a right to approach me with lewd comments, to try to inappropriately touch me, or encouraging rape? Why do people think that a scantily dressed woman is more likely to be assaulted than a woman covered from head to toe? A 25-year study of Muslim countries from Morocco to Pakistan shows that these countries have sky-rocketing numbers of women being raped, and yet they are covered in long flowing robes, not leggings and tank tops.

Claims that rape and sexual assault cases have risen in Europe are attributed to changes in the laws, according this article https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-39056786. Some studies say the increase in the availability of pornography on the internet is responsible too. The fact is that for centuries women have been oppressed and targeted, and sexual assault is nothing new, nor is it the responsibility of any woman because of what she wears. I remember being told to cover up and “leave a little to the imagination”. Imagination may also be very stimulating to the male mind!

Men need to understand that women do not dress to please them. We dress to please ourselves. Some of us dress for comfort, others dress to feel confident, pretty, or to emulate a fashion or celebrity icon. Men are very sexual creatures, but so are women. We also feel attracted to random males who we encounter on a daily basis. A well-dressed man or a man who is shirtless and displaying a toned body is  just as much a turn-on for women, but we are conditioned to keep our thoughts to ourselves. We are not immune to the laws of sexual attraction, we just have more self-control.

I think that in societies that are very religious women come in for far more criticism for their dress and behaviour than men do. Pastors preach that women should be subservient and modest, yet they say very little about how men should behave. High numbers of single parent families also contribute to the lack of respect that is shown to women. Women who get pregnant out of wedlock are shamed by the churches, while the men are pretty much given a free pass. Boys being raised in homes without fathers and no male role models are not learning how to respect women. Music that degrades women and portrays men as dogs is prevalent amongst our youth. We have a constant daily onslaught on social media of women getting in fights, men beating women, and images of women dressing in clothes that really don’t fit or flatter their bodies. We are constantly seeing women being body shamed. We are too fat, too thin, to ugly, too sexy, too “provocative”.

Boys need to be taught how to respect everyone, no matter how they look or dress. Girls should have the freedom to choose how to dress, with guidance of how to make the very best of themselves. As one of my Facebook friends commented, “It’s very exhausting to be a woman The Bahamas.”

Come on fellas, stop blaming the women for your inability to take responsibility for your own thoughts and actions!

REFLECTIONS: By ELISABETH ANN BROWN

THE ARTISANS OF POMPEY SQUARE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — I wasn’t always an artist. In fact, I had no idea I had any real artistic ability. In school I enjoyed painting, but always felt my work was not that good. When I became a teenager my father bought me an old Canon AE1 Program 35mm camera in a second hand store, and when we went camping in the Rocky Mountains I thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures with it. I used a slide film, and over a couple of years I took hundreds of photos. But no one said to me that they were really any good so eventually I just put the camera away. 

It wasn’t until my children had grown up and gone away to school, and the doctor I was working for became very ill, that I took up a camera again. This time my boss saw some of my work and he liked it. “Mark my words,” he said one day, “You will do well with these pictures. I am never wrong, you should run with this.” So I took the pictures to a print shop and, still feeling a bit unsure of myself, I asked the owner of the store, Duncan, to have a look at them. Duncan asked me if I had ever thought of selling them, and to prove a point he had one of them printed on a 5ft canvas and hung it up in his store. 

Although that canvas print never sold, numerous copies of it did. I found out that there was a program organized by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism that helped to give artists and artisans exposure by setting them up on trestle tables on weekends along the main Bay Street in downtown Nassau. I joined the program in 2006. I started out selling notecards and gradually as things began to go well I branched out into framed prints. 

Most of the artisans I worked alongside were making straw bags, hats, table mats and Christmas ornaments. Straw work is a very traditional craft in The Bahamas. The straw is actually palm fronds cut from various types of palm tree, including sansevieria, palmetto and silver top. The palms are dried and the strips are plaited into various designs and colours, with patterns having quaint names such as pineapple and fish pot. The products have been popular with the tourists for many years, and in fact the craft goes back hundreds of years. Red Bays, Andros, is known particularly for the quality work of the straw weavers. 

Other artisans utilized the abundant and beautiful sea shells from the local beaches to make ornaments, hair clips and jewellery. One of my dearest friends in our group of talented women is Astrid Pinder who, under the business name of Fine Ocean Jewellery, produces some very beautiful and high-quality conch shell, whelk shell and sea glass pendants, bracelets, earrings and rings. Her sea glass is found on the beaches of Long Island, her husband Ellison’s native island in The Bahamas. Astrid has done a tremendous amount of research about sea glass, and the pieces that she makes are often of unusual colours. She told me that the rarer colours often date back 200-300 years and have come from the many shipwrecks scattered about the islands. 

Although the artisans in the Ministry of Tourism’s Authentically Bahamian program produce very high quality work, they have never been allowed to sell their products in the native straw market. The straw market was famous back in the days when the women working there were actually producing their own work, but with the advent of doing easy business with “made in China” the market rapidly became home to a lot of imported goods. If you take a Caribbean cruise you can see these items on every island in similar markets, the only difference being that they will have something on them labelling them with “Bahamas” or “Aruba” or “St. Lucia”. The true artisans of The Bahamas definitely have styles and a quality of work that is all their own, and far better than the imported goods. It is well worth looking for the local artisans to purchase something that will be a unique memory of your trip. 

We worked on Bay Street for several years, catering mostly to the cruise ship visitors who flock to the islands on weekends. Unfortunately, we had a lot of resistance from the store owners, none of whom actually sold any of our work. The majority of the stores were expensive jewellery emporiums, franchised all around the Caribbean. Eventually they won their battle to get us off the sidewalks, and an alternative was found for us at the far end of Bay Street in the newly constructed Pompey Square. The location was very attractive, but it afforded us no protection from the hot sun and tropical downpours in summer, or the cold winds whipping up off the harbour that we overlooked in winter, and tourist traffic through the square was minimal compared to the main high street. Any ideas we had to promote the market were usually discouraged as well. 

And if that wasn’t enough to make life difficult for us, the bottom seemed to drop out of the retail market as far as tourists were concerned. The economy could be blamed, and also the high crime rate in Nassau, although downtown was very secure. Also, while the vendors in the straw market were being charged $35 a month, we were being charged $30 a day, and were given 10 x10 foot tents. I think someone must have thought that quality work equalled high income, but this was most definitely not the case. Many of us often went home at the end of a 12-hour day in the baking sun barely having made that $30 back. I was lucky, I had art which was different, and it was popular, so for the most part I made enough to keep body and soul together. 

Despite all the difficulties, and the constant changing rules and threats by the Ministry of Tourism to shut us down – due to the large number of straw vendors in the market complaining about us, as well as those big store owners – we persevered. 

Then one day, Pamela Burnside – the founder of Creative Nassau, an affiliate of UNESCO – approached the Ministry and was able to secure the use of Pompey Square for a couple of extra days during the week for us. We still had to pay $30 a day, but at least now we were working more steadily. We were still under the tents and this often meant our days being cancelled due to inclement weather, but we had more opportunity to work, especially when there were several cruise ships in port. It was still tough though, and most of us were scrambling to get that $30 each day to be able to work. 

The program has evolved since I left in early 2016. Now you can find Astrid and her beautiful jewellery at the Art Walk in the Marina Village at the famous Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island on weekends, along with several other artisans. Creative Nassau is still putting on a market in Pompey Square on Wednesdays and Fridays as well. They also have a shop located on Village Road, Nassau, at Pam’s Doongalik Studios. The shop is called Craft Cottage and has a marvellous array of creative crafts ranging from straw work to painted glass, paintings, clothing made from Androsia fabic – a lovely batik produced in Andros – and of course lots of different styles of jewellery, and many other products all handmade by talented local artists. Be sure to check them out when you visit; I know you will be well pleased with your handmade original souvenirs and art!

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

IT IS TIME TO ESTABLISH SPELLING BEE CLUBS IN OUR SCHOOLS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bahamas Minister of Education Jeff Lloyd and his team of committed educators who are responsible for molding the minds of future generations of Bahamians are currently preparing for the opening of the new school year in September.  Now is the time for members of the Bahamas National Spelling Bee (BNSB) Committee employed by  the Ministry to start lobbying in earnest for the introduction of Spelling Bee Clubs in the country’s junior and senior high schools.

Ever since the BNSB started sending a spelling champion to compete in the highly prestigious annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in 1998, The Bahamas’ champion has failed to advance beyond the early rounds of the competition each year, a symptom that clearly suggests there is a need to change the manner in which our spellers are prepared for this highly competitive competition.

By contrast, except for the past several years, Jamaica’s champion was perennially among the finalists, and its 1998 champion, Jody-Anne Maxwell, made history when she became the first non-American to win the competition at the age of 12. This also was the year that The Bahamas participated in the Scripps Bee for the first time, but although Dominique Higgins of Jordan Prince William High School was very competitive in the early rounds, he was eliminated in the fourth round.

As the person responsible for introducing the Scripps National Spelling Bee to The Bahamas when I was Editor of the Nassau Guardian in 1998, with strong support from the then Minister of State for Education Dion Foulkes, I was very much involved in the preparations for the annual Bahamas National Spelling Bee during the early years.

Under the supervision of Dr. Olga Clarke of the Ministry of Education, dedicated members of the Bahamas National Spelling Bee Committee each year organized competitions at all levels of our school system, starting with in-school competitions throughout The Bahamas and subsequently regional competitions leading up to the national finals to select an overall champion to represent The Bahamas at the Scripps Bee.

In the early years of the National Spelling Bee, Grand Bahama produced a disproportionate number of our spelling champions due in no small measure to the leadership provided by Daphne Barr, who is still an education officer with the Ministry of Education, but in recent years apparently has not been as actively involved in organizing the Grand Bahama championships as in past years.

In preparation for the upcoming “Spelling Bee Season,” I would like to suggest that the National Spelling Bee Committee take steps to more actively involve Ms. Barr, based on her proven track record, in the organization of competitions in Grand Bahama.

Additionally, having lived in Grand Bahama for 12 years prior to moving to Washington, D.C. in 2013 as the Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at The Bahamas Embassy, when I was Editor of the Freeport News, I was extremely impressed by the teaching ability of Sheryl Wood, who for a number of years was Principal of the Beacon School for students with special needs.

A friend in Grand Bahama, who agrees that establishing Spelling Bee Clubs in our schools is a great idea, also has a high regard for Ms. Wood’s ability as an educator and strongly suggested that efforts should be made to get her involved not only with the Spelling Bee in Grand Bahama but nationally.

Ms. Wood, who has been an educator for more than 35 years, currently is Deputy Director of Anglican Education with the Anglican Central Education Authority. When I contacted her earlier this week in preparation for writing this column, it was almost as if she had been waiting for someone to reach out to her to do what she is undoubtedly well qualified to do.

Having been an adjunct professor at the College of the Bahamas and other tertiary institutions in the Northern Bahamas, she has “prepared special children as well as children in mainstream education for spelling bees.”

“I believe The Bahamas can produce a Scripps Spelling Bee champion if we are less proprietorial and work as a team to prepare our national winner,” Ms. Woods said. “In essence, we need an ‘It will take a village’ approach to assist our national winner to become an international winner.”

Of course, whether or not she is included on the National Spelling Bee Committee is a decision to be made by those in authority at the Ministry of Education. I don’t know how much Education Minister Jeff Lloyd gets involved in determining matters of this nature, but based on his visionary leadership several years ago of the YEAST program, which redirected the lives of a number of youth-at-risk to a pathway leading towards being law-abiding productive citizens, I am convinced that Minister Lloyd would surely  see the benefits of having a person like Ms. Wood on the Bahamas National Spelling Bee Committee. Hopefully, he will also embrace my idea of establishing Spelling Bee Clubs at the appropriate levels in our schools, whether as a part of the curricula or as an after-school activity.  

The bottom line is that we have got to find a way for our champion to get beyond the early rounds of the Scripps Bee and position himself or herself to reach the finals and possibly become the overall winner.

Last year’s Bahamas entry in the Scripps Bee, Johnathan Randall, the Eleuthera District champion, spelt both of his on-stage words correctly, but did not score sufficient points in the vocabulary and written test to move on and possibly make the finals.

This year The Bahamas National Spelling Bee Committee should also take advantage of a new invitational program called RSVBee that allows jurisdictions to send two champion spellers to the Scripps National Bee. The fact that the top three winners in the BNSB championship on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at Atlantis, Paradise Island, battled for quite a long time before a champion emerged, should motivate  The Bahamas committee to start planning now to get a corporate sponsor or sponsors for the second Bahamas entry in the Scripps Bee.

As a result of the RSVBee program, contestants in this year’s Spelling Bee increased substantially from the 291 the previous year to 519, including 241 who qualified through RSVBee. It is worth noting that this year’s overall winner was an RSVBee contestant.

BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA

NICOLE EVANS-HOLDER: HER LIFE’S JOURNEY BEGAN IN ANDROS

By OSWALD T. BROWN

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nicole Evans-Holder currently lives in London, England, where she owns Lady Guliver Travels, which is described as “a unique travel service company.” But Nicole’s journey in life began in Andros, “The Big Yard,” the largest of the group of islands stretching like a string-of-pearls from the southern coast of Florida to the eastern area of Cuba that comprise The Bahamas.

Nicole was born on a Palm Sunday Morning in 1970 in Nicholl’s Town, a beach-side settlement at the northern tip of Andros, which she says is “a place etched in my heart forever.”

She fondly remembers her early days at Nicholl’s Town All-Age School, where “my love for reading was birthed and fed by my mother’s profound love of reading.”

“It was during these formative years that I discovered the wide-world and traveled extensively through the books I read, vowing one day to see the world,” Nicole says.

She is the daughter of Barbara Sweeting (nee Evans) and Ulric Smith Sr., and was raised by her mother, a single but strong Andros woman.

Nicole left Andros at age 11 to attend St John’s College in Nassau, where she was raised by her godmother Angela McDonald, whose death earlier this year (2018) still evokes painful memories.

After graduating in 1986, Nicole “followed the trail to College of The Bahamas before moving on to Fort Lauderdale College.”

On her return to The Bahamas, Nicole started a successful 20-year career in banking, holding “numerous positions at the major banks in Nassau including Personal Lender, Mortgage Specialist, Branch Manager and most recently Senior Manager Sales & Service.”

In 2016, Nicole decided “it was time to see the world” and “launched her very own travel agency, Lady Guliver Travels,” using the skills employed in her successful banking career to develop her new business venture.

“I wanted to be an expert in all aspects of the travel industry and decided that the only way to do that was to travel,” Nicole says. “Stepping out on faith, I packed my bags and moved across the pond — to the UK.”

England has provided her with “an excellent base to explore this side of the planet since I had already covered most of the western world,” says Nicole, who now lives in London with her husband Toure and daughter Taj.

Nicole’s travels have taken her to several countries around Europe — Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland; Paris and Nice, France; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Barcelona, Spain; Geneva, Switzerland; Brussels, Belgium; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Prague, Czech Republic; Berlin, Germany; Venice, Rome and Florence, Italy;  and she is headed to the Canary Islands in a few weeks.

Nicole says her extensive travels “help to inform my clients for the best travel experience, which is my main goal.”

Speaking about Lady Guliver Travels, Nicole says, “As travel consultants, we seek to understand our clients and their lifestyles, interests and budget before we make recommendations for their trip. We can book anything the client needs and/or desires inclusive of air, hotel/rental properties, car service, train, tours, cruises, museum passes, wine tours, dinner reservations, theater tickets, personalized/private tours — you name it.”

She added, “We also provide travel guide services. We’ve had clients visiting here in London and we met them at their hotel and spent the day with them touring the city, as shopping guides, sourcing great restaurants, giving them an authentic London experience as a local. It was amazing!”

(NOTE: BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA was a regular feature introduced by Oswald T. Brown when he was Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at The Bahamas Embassy in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Brown is now President of THE BROWN AGENCY, a Public Relations and Marketing company in D.C., which publishes an online publication, BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, aimed at keeping Bahamians and nationals from other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries up-to-date with events in their countries. BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA will now be a regular feature in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE.)

SOWING SEEDS OF DIVISION PERPETUATES RACISM

By ELISABETH ANN BROWN

WASHINGTON, DC – I have had a very privileged life. I was born in the UK, I am white, and my father was an athlete and a member of the British armed forces, which afforded us quite a lot of opportunities. He was British Heavyweight Weightlifting Champion and represented Great Britain in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. Being in the army meant that we lived abroad a lot and we spent a total of almost seven years in Germany.

The army had many people from British Commonwealth countries around the world serving in its regiments, and my father also had friends in the sport of weightlifting who came from the Caribbean. So for me, exposure to people of different races was an every day experience, not something I thought of as different. I went to school with black and white children in the 1960s, during a time when American schools in the South were still segregated and apartheid was a part of daily life in South Africa.

In 1963 when I was eight years old we were living in the UK, and in the United States the civil rights movement was in full swing. We had no television in our house, so we got all our news from the radio, magazines and newspapers. I was just a little girl, and I had never been exposed to racial hatred so I found the news from America to be extremely puzzling and frightening. It was hard to understand how adults could be so horrible to people because they looked different. I was not really aware of the history of slavery in any great detail and I didn’t really learn about it until I was a bit older, about eleven or twelve.

During the time we lived in Germany, we visited the infamous Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, which had been turned into a very grim museum. I was still quite young when we went there, but the images that I saw were deeply imprinted on my mind. We still did not have television, and the only movies I was exposed to were mostly Disney’s famous cartoons with good moral messages such as Bambi, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and The Jungle Book.

I was raised in an atheist household, and although I attended religious knowledge classes in school, I was very confused about religion, especially when I read how over the centuries it fuelled so much hatred, controversy and many wars. How could people who claimed to be Christian enslave so many millions of Africans and justify their belief that black people were less than human using the Bible? How could they invade the lands of another people, slaughter them and herd them into reservations, deny them their rights and their own religious beliefs. More reasons for me to really question religion!

In 1982 I moved with my young family to The Bahamas. This was another eye-opening experience for me. For the first time in my life I was a minority. I found that living in a small island nation only 150 miles from the US coast, the attitudes towards race were very much influenced by what happens in the States, as well as the influence of colonial life and slavery in the past. Colonialism was something I had only heard of and read about. Now I was living among people who could remember what it was like to live under British rule.

Christianity plays a very big role, and while some reject it as the white slave master’s religion, others use it to justify beliefs that perpetuate hate, not the love that I think being truly spiritual should bring into our lives. I didn’t find a great deal of racist sentiment in The Bahamas, but it does exist. If anything, I thought it was the white minority that contributed the most to any anti-white feelings as they generally tended to avoid celebrating things like Independence, which should be an opportunity for the country to come together as a whole.

I had a recent conversation with a couple of young Bahamian friends on the topic of racism, from the point of view of whether or not people should marry outside their race. One was of the view that black people should be more pro black, to promote their own people, businesses, education and culture. He held the opinion that mixing the races was not helpful to this end. I disagreed, as I think that to keep on sowing the seeds of division will only perpetuate the ‘them and us’ situation. We need to be able to learn about and respect each other’s cultures, and to acknowledge the terrible things of the past and work together to ensure that these things never happen again. Racism has always been with us, but lately it seems to be making itself felt more openly.

I am reading a very fascinating book ‘Walking With the Wind’ by John Lewis, member of Congress for the 5^th District of Georgia, who marched beside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr during the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s, and participated in the Freedom Rides and the march across the Edmond Pettit bridge in Salem. The danger he put himself in, along with other brave men and women, the ideals he stood for, and the sacrifices he made must not be in vain. The concept of quiet, non-violent protest worked then, so can it work again in this new era of racial tension and mistrust that are escalating before our eyes?

I recently got hooked on watching a BBC series on Netflix called ‘Call the Midwife’. It has apparently been a huge hit all around the world. The episodes highlighted the poverty in the East End of London in the 1950s in a very real and compassionate way. As a child in that era I was not aware of how classism and racism were so prevalent in the country of my birth. The series is based on the real life memoirs of a midwife, Jennifer Worth, who worked with the Anglican nuns in an area of London known as Poplar, and brings out the compassion and love of the women she worked with. In this world that seems to be devolving into a cycle of hate and suspicion similar to the civil rights era in America, it really is a timely as well as enjoyable series. After the news has been assailing me all day, I find that immersing myself in stories of humanity, caring and love is like an oasis at the end of the day, putting a warm feeling in my heart and a smile on my face before I go to bed.

There is a growing fear among white people that they are rapidly becoming the minority. They cling to a bible that teaches love thy neighbor, but still they fear those neighbors who don’t look like them, speak a foreign language, worship in a different church, or love someone of the same sex. I wrote about my spiritual journey in another article, and while I still hold my beliefs, and the hope that people will become more understanding and tolerant, it certainly tries my patience and makes me continue to ask WHY?? I will however continue to live in hope for our world.

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

IF A BUYER CAN’T BE FOUND, THE GOVERNMENT MUST PURCHASE THE GRAND LUAYAN

WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is almost unanimous agreement among financial experts in The Bahamas  that the Free National Movement (FNM) Government should not purchase the Grand Lucayan Resort in Freeport in its efforts to revitalize Grand Bahama’s economy and in the process address the island’s chronic unemployment problem.

The latest highly regarded financial authority offering this advice to the Government is Colina Financial Advisors (CFAL) President Anthony Ferguson, who was a guest on Guardian Radio 96.9 talk show “Z Live: Off the Record,” hosted by Zhivargo Laing, on Thursday, August 2.

According to a report in the Nassau Guardian, Ferguson believes the hotel is a “tough, tough sell” and suggested some very practical reasons for his dire conclusion.

“You don’t have the [air]lift,” the Guardian quoted him as saying. “You don’t have the entertainment. You don’t have any number of things to actually even get the people there” should the Government decide to purchase the hotel.

The sad aspect about this very accurate analysis of the problems faced by the Government as it contemplates purchasing the Grand Lucayan Resort is that the Government is well aware of these facts, and so is every other potential buyer of the resort.

These problems, of course, did not develop overnight.  After The Monte Carlo, the first major casino opened in Freeport in 1964 in the Lucayan Beach Hotel, where the Grand Lucayan Resort is now located, Freeport gradually became a bustling tourism mecca. The Monte Carlo featured a variety of Las Vegas-style entertainment and there was a time during the early years of Freeport’s growth and development when there were five or six nightclubs that were jam-packed nightly with top-rated Bahamian entertainment and Marcellus, a popular restaurant downtown, remained open all night.

Back then, however, casino gambling was not as prevalent in the United States as it is today, and Freeport became a popular destination for high rollers on the East Coast of the United States who preferred a near-by gambling destination, rather than travelling across country to Las Vegas. Another attractive feature of the Monte Carlo casino, especially for whites from the southern United  States, was that all of the  croupiers were white, mostly from England, a factor which sort of embellished Freeport’s  reputation at the time as a racist town.

Indeed, old-timers in Grand Bahama used to insist that there was a time when black Bahamians could not stay overnight in Freeport, although the veracity of that claim remains unproven. But there is no disputing the fact that racism was rampant in Freeport during its early years, resulting in the late Sir Lynden Pindling’s famous “Bend or Break” speech on Jul 26, 1969, at the official opening ceremony for the new Bahamas Oil Refinery Company (BORCO).

There are those who insist that this speech was the “turning point” in Freeport’s allure for tourists. But the truth of the matter is that when Freeport’s founder Wallace Groves signed the Hawksbill Creek Agreement on August 4, 1955, to develop acreages of Crown Land into what is now Freeport, tourism was not even remotely a part of what he had in mind for Freeport. His initial plan called for the establishment of an industrial complex. In its early stages, Freeport did indeed make tremendous developmental strides in this area, but things were not moving as fast and as profitably as Groves had envisaged.

It is not by accident that Groves shifted the trajectory of Freeport’s development towards tourism. Groves’ lawyer at the time was Sir Stafford Sands, head of the Development Board, which was responsible for promoting tourism to The Bahamas. It was Sir Stafford who used his considerable influence among the Bay Street Boys to get the Executive Council to agree to grant what was called a Certificate of Exemption to introduce major casino gambling in The Bahamas, with the Monte Carlo Casino being the first one.

Clearly, those “glory years” when tourism was indeed a strong “second pillar” of Grand Bahama’s economy will not return – at least, if not fully, to some degree —  without a special effort by the Government to make it happen. Those were the years when the International Bazaar in downtown Freeport was alive with excitement, offering visitors the option of having a drink in a “Pub” in London, a “Bistro” in Paris or a “Biergarten” in Berlin, given the fact that replicas of such establishments from major cities around the world made the International Bazaar a popular attraction for visitors to Grand Bahama.

Those were the years when one was able to go nightclub hopping in Freeport and be entertained by very talented Bahamian entertainers like Sonny Johnson, Wendell Stuart, Jay Mitchell and Marvin Henfield – just to name a few of the outstanding Bahamian singers who with a little bit  of luck  were talented enough to  become international stars.

Therefore, in my opinion, if a buyer cannot be found — and found soon – for the Grand Lucayan Resort, the only option open to the Government is to purchase it and do whatever is required to get it open. It can start by making a commitment to re-establishing in our hotels Bahamian entertainment and making it mandatory for them to be featured in entertainment venues of establishments that cater to tourists.

It is also a fact that Freeport is no longer an attractive tourism destination because there is really nothing for tourists to do in Freeport. Currently, after visitors to the island have done all  the “nature tours,” what else is there for them to do? A strong effort must be made to re-establish the Port Lucaya Marketplace as an exciting place to visit and, of course, a company to manage and operate the casino must also be found.

NOTED SONS OF ANDROS
DR. LEON HIGGS HAS HAD A DISTINGUISHED CAREER IN EDUCATION

By OSWALD T. BROWN

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Under the theme “In Pursuit of the Bahamian Dream,” Pastors Mario and Erica Moxey of Bahamas Harvest Church in New Providence, Bahamas, used The Bahamas’ recent 45^th independence anniversary celebration to highlight the accomplishments of four Bahamians who came from humble beginnings and rose to the top of their professions as well as contributed greatly to the development of The Bahamas.

With July 10 being the actual date that The Bahamas was granted its independence by Great Britain, the four accomplished Bahamians – Dr. Leon L. Higgs, Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, Dr. Locksley Munroe and Pastor Myles Munroe — were each honoured on separate Sundays during the month of July.

Dr. Higgs, who has had a distinguished career as an educator and is now a published author, is the first distinguished native of The Bahamas’ largest island, also called “The Big Yard,”  to be featured in a series of articles that BAHAMAS CHRONICLE will published on NOTED SONS OF ANDROS.  As a proud Androsian myself, I have closely followed Dr. Higgs’ career and I am extremely proud of his accomplishments.

Dr. Higgs was honoured on Sunday, July 22, during the 11 a.m. service at the Western Campus of Bahamas Harvest Church, located at RND Plaza, John F. Kennedy Drive. According to its website, Bahamas Harvest Church also has an East Campus on Prince Charles Drive.

Born at Deep Creek, South Andros, on May 15, 1948, after completing his basic primary education, Leon Higgs moved to Nassau, where he attended the Nassau Technical Institute and worked for three years before leaving The Bahamas for the United States.

With his mind set on becoming an educator, his pursuit of the necessary qualifications to achieve his goal could be used as template for dedication and commitment to obtaining a good education.

Leon Higgs completed high school at the age of 21 before pursuing his tertiary education, subsequently receiving his bachelor’s degree in Business Education from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska; his master’s degree in Business Education from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois; and the Doctor of Philosophy in Administration of Higher Education, Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska.

In 1975, Dr. Higgs was among the founding members of the newly formed College (now University) of The Bahamas.  He served as a lecturer in the Business Division, where he eventually became the Chair.

In 1981, Dr. Higgs left the College of The Bahamas for the United States, where he served in the field of Higher Education for many years before returning to the College of The Bahamas in 1998 as its President and CEO.  Dr. Higgs, with the assistance of his faculty and staff, was responsible for laying the foundation for the modern University of The Bahamas.

While in the United States, Dr. Higgs served as an Assistant Professor of Business in the School of Business at Loma Linda University in Riverside, California.  He also served as the department Chair of Business and Information Systems at Oakwood College (Now Oakwood University) in Huntsville Alabama; Dean of Business and Office Administration at Riverside Community College in Riverside, California; and Executive Vice President at San Bernardino Valley College in San Bernardino, California.

Upon returning to The Bahamas in 1993, Dr. Higgs assumed the position of Assistant General Manager for Human resources at the Bahamas Water and Sewerage Corporation before moving to The Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) as the Director of Training.  After BTVI it was on to the College of The Bahamas and then the Ministry of Education and Training, from where he retired in 2013 as the Director of Higher Education and Lifelong Learning.

From 2013 to 2017, Dr. Higgs was a Consultant in the Ministry of Education, where he served as the Secretary General for The Bahamas National Commission for the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

In September 2017, Dr. Higgs published his autobiography, “Barefoot to Boardroom”, which is available at local booksellers in Nassau, and atleonhiggs.com, WestBow Press, Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles.

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

OVER-THE-HILL REVITALIZATION SHOULD NOT BE USED AS A POLITICAL FOOTBALL

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Wrapping up the debate on the Economic Empowerment Zones Bill, 2018, in the House of Assembly on Thursday, Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis made a profound statement that surely should not be dismissed by members of the Opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) as an assertion that will not resonate among impoverished areas of New Providence, particularly Over-the-Hill.

In responding to criticism from PLP members during their contribution earlier in the week to the debate on the bill, according to an article in the Nassau Guardian, the Prime Minister said he went home “Wednesday night wondering why so many of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) MPs were angry with the FNM.”

“When I went home last night, I was thinking about why some of the members opposite were so angry and disingenuous about the FNM’s record in empowering and lifting up the poor,” the Prime Minister was quoted as saying. “It is very disturbing. They were angry and disingenuous because of our superior record. They are angry because they are on the defense. Many people in the PLP who like to boast of their progressive credentials are paper progressives, people who talk the progressive talk and who do not walk the progressive walk.”

Then he made this attention-arresting declaration: “The PLP are very, very worried about our Over-the-Hill revitalization program. I think they are politically scared that residents of the Over-the-Hill will see the stark difference between the PLP neglect and the hope and opportunity being ushered in by the FNM.”

There is no question that even dyed-in-the-wool PLPs will agree that if noticeable gentrification occurs Over-the-Hill as a result of the FNM’s revitalization program before the next general election, in all likelihood the FNM will easily win a second consecutive term as the Government of The Bahamas. More than any other area of New Providence, and indeed the entire Bahamas – with the exception of Andros, which has voted overwhelming for the PLP since 1956 — Over-the-Hill has been the bulwark of the PLP’s political power from its establishment as the first political party in The Bahamas in 1953.

The fact that there has been virtually no sustained government-sponsored initiative to improve the standard of living of residents of Over-the-Hill by successive PLP and FNM governments since the historic January 10, 1967 general election that ushered in the first black-controlled government would make it all the more a monumental accomplishment by the FNM, led by Dr. Minnis, if it succeeds in drastically improving living conditions Over-the-Hill and making it once again a safe area for tourists to visit in search of exciting entertainment, as was the case prior to 1967.

I grew up Over-the-Hill through Paul Meeres Corner, now called Fleming Street, and when my family moved permanently from Stanyard Creek, Andros, in the early 1950s, Chez Paul Meeres, a very popular entertainment complex, was on the corner of Fleming Street and Market Street. Every night it was jam-packed with tourists, mainly because its owner, Paul Meeres, was an acclaimed dancer who became internationally famous throughout Europe in the 1940s.

Several years later, on the other side of the corner of Fleming Street and Market Street, Peanuts Taylor — the renowned Bahamian entertainer, who achieved his fame as a sensational bongo drummer – built The Drumbeat Club, which likewise was jam-packed nightly with tourists. What’s more, there were at least five or six other night clubs, including the world-famous Cat and Fiddle, that were either Over-the-Hill —  or on  the periphery of what was considered to the Over-the-Hill area — that were also very popular among tourists.

All this changed, of course, after the 1967 general election, and the jury is still out on the reason why Over-the-Hill is now one of the most dangerous areas in New Providence to visit as well as to live because of the high level of crime in the area. The political establishment – both the PLP and the FNM — share the blame for allowing crime to progressively get worse during their tenures as the Government of The Bahamas since 1967, and it is at a level now where drastic measures have to be taken to reverse that trend.

This being the case, in tandem with the collection of tax incentives and other benefits being offered by the Economic Empowerment Zones Bill, 2018, which was passed in the House on Thursday, seeking to gentrify the Over-the-Hill area, a battery of crime-fighting initiatives should also be introduced aimed at establishing Crime Free Zones Over-the-Hill. By whatever means necessary – even if it means temporarily curtailing certain liberties that are the cornerstones of democracy – rampant crime Over-the-Hill must be forcefully dealt with.

This was among the measures Jamaica took earlier this year when it imposed a State of Emergency in response to rising crime in the Montego Bay area, which is very popular among tourists, and last week Prime Minister Andrew Holness was able to announce that crime in that area has declined considerably.

What’s more, this should not be a political issue. Both sides of the political divide should want to see the Over-the-Hill revitalization initiative succeed. What’s at stake is far too important to use its success or failure as fodder for the next general election campaign. Those who have this in mind as their goal should put the welfare of the of the country before their personal ambitions and look for another political football to toss around during the campaign for the next general election.

REFLECTIONS
By ELISABETH ANN BROWN

MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY HAS  BEEN CHALLENGING

WASHINGTON, D.C. — I should begin this by saying that I was brought up in a non-religious household. Church was never a part of my life, other than the mandatory assembly in school before classes commenced for the day. Most of us knew the hymns and prayers by heart and recited them in rather droning tones automatically, without giving a lot of thought to the words or tunes.

I think that church in England began to dwindle after the flower power free-love movement took hold in the 1960s. Personally I have struggled with religion and faith just about all my life. There has always been something in the back of my mind telling me that there had to be something that created the universe, something more than just a big bang. But there was also the thought that without any tangible evidence of this, it was really hard to grasp something I could not see as being real.

I spent much of my life in different countries. I saw a lot of beautiful places and natural wonders, and many things that made me feel that there must be a creator. And then on the news we would hear of a natural disaster somewhere in the world, or an outbreak of a terrible disease, or the sad story of a child who had died of cancer. These things were enough to make me feel that there was no god up in the sky who truly loved as he loved is only son. That could not be. When I became a parent myself, that feeling grew stronger. A parent only wants to protect their children from harm, from pain, from sickness or from a broken heart. How could a father stand by and watch his son being tortured, knowing he had the power to prevent it? It made no sense to me.

When I lived in Germany with my parents, we visited many really beautiful churches and cathedrals. This was because of the historical significance, not from any religious angle. Some of my favourite Christmas music is sung by the Vienna Boys Choir, because it reminds me of a trip we took to Vienna when I was about seven years old. Christmas would not be the same without those angelic voices, so sweet and pure.

But still, there was the nagging doubt. As an adult I moved to The Bahamas in 1982 where I became exposed to a different type of religious fervor. A church on every street corner, street preachers with blaring megaphones, and people quoting Bible verses in almost every conversation. At times I would feel a little embarrassed to admit that I did not go to church. After a while, I accepted a few invitations but found that I had very little patience for the three-to-four-hour services and preachers shouting, whipping their congregations into a frenzy, and people ‘getting in the spirit’ all around me.

I remember one or two telling me the devil himself was preventing me from hearing the truth! I tried every denomination — from Baptist to Seventh Day Adventist, Church of God to Catholic. But everywhere I went I felt out of place and that people were trying to force me to believe as they believed. Each denomination had a reason why all the others were wrong and only theirs could be right. It was all too confusing.

In 2014 when I met my husband, one of the first things we did was discuss our religious beliefs. He is a devout Roman Catholic, having been brought up in the church on the island of Andros in The Bahamas, with his grandfather serving as a Deacon. I was very impressed with his absolute faith in God, while at the same time he accepted that I was still on my spiritual journey. He said he would never expect me to adopt the Catholic faith just to please him. I am grateful for that. After several months, I decided to explore his faith in more depth and began to attend the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) classes in Nassau. They were very patient with me, and I found the services to be relaxing and often came out church with a feeling of renewal.

In 2016 I moved to Washington, D,C., where Ossie and I got married in the DC Superior Court and I joined the RCIA classes at his regular church, St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church at 15^th and V Streets, N.W. However, the atmosphere there was very different to the laid-back Bahamians. I thought I probably just needed to adjust a little, but one day after class I was approached by one of the teachers and told that I needed to see the priest about an appointment to discuss baptism and what needed to be done before I could be baptised in the church.

Ossie and I were both previously divorced, but unlike him I had never been baptised. Based on what I learned in Nassau the process sounded pretty straightforward. But now the church in DC was asking me to submit to a tribunal that would need to investigate my private life before my marriage to Ossie. I found this to be very upsetting and extremely intrusive. My previous marriage had been a very unhappy one that I had spent a good deal of time trying to put behind me. Now the church wanted to delve into my personal pain and distress and making it a condition for me to become a member of its congregation. I thought a lot about this and decided that it really was not something I was prepared to do.

However, the more I thought about whether or not there is a god, the more I came to feel that it is human nature to want to find a source of spiritual enlightenment and comfort, and I felt that I had been looking in the wrong place for this. I began to feel that the spirit of god is something that lives in us all;  we just have to find our own individual way of accepting it. To me, this doesn’t mean cherry-picking verses in the bible to justify everything, but simply to show kindness and love to the world around us.

With that in mind, one day as I was standing on the checkout line in our nearby Safeway, I found myself in conversation with a very animated black woman. It was a very pleasant conversation, which ended up with me donating to her my Safeway monopoly game cards and in turn she offered me a ride home. We live only about 400 yards from Safeway, but I had as usual bought more than I could easily carry so I gladly accepted the offer.

Thelma Jones, my new friend, and I exchanged phone numbers and she came upstairs to meet Ossie in our apartment. Upon learning that we were in the business of journalism and photography, Thelma asked if I would like to cover some events for her. Now I must add that she is very good at conscripting people to do things!! Before I realised it, I had agreed to cover the opening of the Thurgood Marshall Gallery at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, which is just across the street from where we live, as well as a play depicting the life of Harriet Tubman. On top of that, Thelma, who is the founder of the Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund, also invited me to a monthly meeting of the cancer support group.

I wasn’t sure what I was letting myself in for, but cutting a long story short – I am now a volunteer as the official photographer for the support group, as well as writing articles about the meetings. I am very glad to be doing this volunteer work, as I have met some truly amazing, kind and very brave women. I began to attend regular services at St. Augustine’s Episcopalian church, where I also met Mrs. Cissy Marshall, widow of the late Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. I found the congregation to be a very warm, friendly group that feels more like a family than any church I have ever been too.

It is a small church, led by Reverend Martha Clark, a very cheerful, kind and gentle woman. I sat with her one afternoon and told her of my experiences and how disappointed I had been with the Catholic church. She assured me that no matter what my beliefs or what had happened in the past, I was welcome in her church and that she would baptize me whenever I felt I was ready. I feel so much peace in this church and I think I have found the place that will help me to grow spiritually and at my own pace. It feels so very good.

OSWALD BROWN WRITES

SIR ROLAND SYMONETTE WAS NOT A RACIST

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bahamians who can remember my participation in the struggle for Majority Rule in the 1960s will recall that I was an avowed Black Power Advocate. I was not a disciple of the most renowned civil rights leader of that time Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his turn-the-other-cheek non-violent exhortation, but rather, I was a committed follower of Malcolm X, who advocated that racism had to be eradicated by “any means necessary.”

My nickname during my involvement in the struggle for Majority Rule was H. Rap Brown, which some people like my good friend Gladstone “Moon” McPhee, the legendary basketball coach who remembers my involvement in anti-racism activities back then, still calls me whenever we come in contact with each other. H. Rap Brown was one of the most radical “soldiers” in the war against racism in the United States in the 1960s as a top “lieutenant” of Stokely Carmichael, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

My outspoken views against racism back then were incubated and developed into a passionate personal crusade during my years as a young reporter at the Nassau Daily Tribune when I was subjected to vile and abhorrent overt racism on some assignments that I covered. This is far from being an isolated example, but it was such a humiliating experience that it has left a life-long scar on my psyche and is indelibly imprinted in my mind.

I started at The Tribune in May of 1960 as a sports reporter, but gradually began covering general assignments – including occasionally covering the House of Assembly, which at the time was Nicki Kelly’s primary beat as The Tribune’s senior reporter and top political writer.

I can’t recall the exact year, but it was in the early 1960s when I was assigned to cover a banquet at the Nassau Yacht Club, at which the top sailors were being presented with their trophies. I arrived at the club around the same time as a white female reporter for Nassau Guardian from England. She was promptly escorted to a seat to have dinner, while I had to stand in a corner and wait until dinner was over to take my pictures and take notes of remarks that were made.

This sort of treatment was “par for the course” at similar assignments that I went on, and combined with other overt racist policies at the time – such as black Bahamians not being allowed into the Savoy Theatre on Bay Street as late as 1962 – sparked a cauldron of internal hatred for the perpetrators of such racist behavior.

I consider myself to have been extremely fortunate to have had Arthur A. Foulkes as my journalistic mentor during this stage of my life. I met Mr. Foulkes for the first time when I joined the staff of The Tribune in 1960 and he was the paper’s News Editor, essentially the person in charge of the newsroom. He took me “under his wings,” as the saying goes, and not only took a special interest in my development as a journalist, but also offered me some “fatherly advice” at those times when it seemed that I was spiraling towards allowing my commitment to the Black Power Movement to make me culpable to criminal behavior. Today, I am convinced if it were not for Sir Arthur Foulkes, especially during the years in the mid-1960s when I worked with him at Bahamian Times, I would have ended up at Fox Hill Prison and my life would have been totally ruined.

I started writing this column to respond to the claims being made by some Bahamians that the late Sir Roland Symonette, the first Premier of The Bahamas, was a racist and does not deserve to be designated a NATIONAL HERO.

Having been over exposed to the most vile and degrading examples of racism along the spectrum of evil behavior by the Bay Street Boys and later their reincarnation as members of the United Bahamian Party (UBP), I was and still am convinced that Roland Theodore Symonette was not a racist. Indeed, not all white Bahamians, who exercised considerable power in the country politically prior to the historic victory of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) on January 10, 1967, were racist. Anyone who suggests that Sir George Roberts was a racist would be telling a lie. The same is true about the late Sir Geoffrey Johnstone, based on my experiences and interaction with him, and although he did not dabble in politics, the late Sir Durward Knowles was virtually colour blind during his interaction with Bahamians in general.

What many Bahamians tend to forget or are too young to have an intelligent opinion when discussing the legacy of Sir Roland is that The Bahamas until the 1960s – when some changes started to occur – was as racist as the most racist parts of the Southern United States as a result of the policies put in place by the late Sir Stafford Sands, Chairman of the Development Board, a forerunner of the current Ministry of Tourism. It was Sir Stafford’s firm belief that white southern tourists would not want to adjust their way of life on visits to The Bahamas and as a result black Bahamians were not allowed in our tourist-oriented hotels except as staff members.

Of course, Sir Roland’s earlier life during his youthful years as a rum-runner, when he established the foundation for his eventual massive wealth, could in some respects be used as a reason why he should not be designated a national hero. But in later years, during his involvement in politics as one of the Bay Street Boys and later a member of the UBP, he assisted many black Bahamians in establishing a better way of life for themselves and their families.

Several church leaders Over-the-Hill who now do their preaching in huge edifices owe thanks to Sir Roland for those buildings. What’s more, there are any successful Bahamians in various professions who have benefited from the character-building activities they participated in as members of Simpson Penn’s Boys Brigade, which received generous donations from Sir Roland. The same is true about the young Bahamians who were lucky enough to be chosen for Prince Hepburn’s annual summer camp at Whale Cay, to which Sir Roland also generously donated.

So those who have reached the conclusion that Sir Roland Symonette was a racist are wrong—dead wrong.

REFLECTIONS: By Elisabeth Ann Brown

FIGHTERS IN THE FRONT LINE OF THE WAR AGAINST CANCER

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A chance meeting in the local grocery store led to me becoming a volunteer with a cancer support group. As I was shopping, I came across a lady who was searching for something and she asked me if I knew where she could find it. Of course, I helped her locate the item.

When I went to the check out, she was in the line ahead of me, and we chatted as she packed her purchases while mine were being rung up. She asked me if I used the monopoly game cards, a promotional thing the store does, and I said no but she was welcome to mine. She said she used the prizes and coupons for various charitable ventures that she was involved in, so I was more than happy to give them to her.

As she waited for my things to be rung up, I realized that I had bought more than I could carry! I was walking home and although it was only a few hundred yards, she offered me a ride home. To cut a long story short, my new friend, Thelma D. Jones, is a community activist and breast cancer survivor who formed a support group for breast cancer patients eight years ago, and is involved in many other community organisations in the Southwest neighbourhood of Washington, DC. Thelma is a great promoter, organizer and persuader!! Before I knew it I had agreed to attend one of the monthly support group meetings of the Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund, and volunteered my time and skills as a photographer and writer to help with publicity.

I have now attended three consecutive monthly meetings and met some amazing, courageous and dedicated women. At each meeting I have learned so much more about the difficulties that face patients who suffer from chronic and life-threatening disease. We who are whole and healthy take so much for granted. We don’t have to think about the difficulties that face a woman who is confined to a wheelchair, for instance, and who needs a pap smear or mammogram. The equipment used for these very essential examinations are designed with the able-bodied in mind. For instance, the mammogram is performed while the patient is standing.

How many of us have not experienced or even considered the difficulties facing patients who are minorities such as LGBTQI, disabled, immigrant minorities, or black? I learned that minority patients often feel discriminated against, and that providers lack sensitivity to their needs. I worked in the medical field for a number of years in a private doctor’s office in The Bahamas, and the thought of treating a patient differently based on any physical, ethnic or cultural differences never crossed my mind. However, it is common enough in the United States to warrant studies being done on how to assist minority patients and their providers to have a better understanding. Washington DC in particular has a very diverse community with people from all over the world living here. There is also a very large LGBT community, and there is a great need for education about the medical and health needs of transgender people.

One of the advantages of being in Washington DC is that there are some very prestigious universities in the area and the diverse population, which makes it a very good environment for the studies mentioned above. Speakers at the Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund support group meetings have been drawn from the George Washington University Hospital and Howard University Hospital.

They have included Dr. Lori L. Wilson MD, FACS  (Associate Professor of Surgery; Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology; Program Director, General Surgery Residency, Department of Surgery at Howard University College of Medicine and Howard University Hospital); Ify Nwabukwu, President and Founder, African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association; Rev. Dr. Beryl Evangeline Dennis, Wesley Theological Seminary; and Mandi Pratt-Chapman, MA, Associate Director Patient-Centred Initiatives and Health Equity, George Washington Cancer Center. They have been conducting studies on patient navigation (easing the patient’s journey from diagnosis through treatment, surgery, chemotherapy, family and relationship issues), LGBTQI issues, the needs of caregivers (spiritual, emotional and physical needs) and the resources and events that are taking place to raise funds and awareness for cancer research by the American Cancer Society.

The Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund is just one group in the Washington DC area, yet I have seen in three short months that a tremendous amount of work is being done to promote awareness and provide spiritual as well as physical comfort for those affected by this disease. Thelma herself is a go-getter, a breast cancer survivor, and has received awards and accolades from many prominent organisations and publications. Most recently she was appointed as Honorary Bat Girl by the MLB team Washington Nationals that is  “pitching” its support this year to the Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund (pun intended!).

I moved to Washington DC in 2016 when I married Oswald Brown, the founding Editor-in-Chief of BAHAMAS CHRONICLE. My husband is from Andros, the largest island in the chain of islands that comprise The Bahamas, and I lived in Nassau on the island of New Providence for 35 years. As previously mentioned I worked in a medical practice there, and encountered an alarmingly increasing number of cancer patients during the period 1992-2002.I learned that The Bahamas has one of the highest rates of breast cancerWashington in the world.

Upon learning this the Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund and Corrine Bombowsky, Community Development Manager of the Northeast Region of the American Cancer Society, have expressed an interest in connecting with cancer support groups in The Bahamas. This would provide a wonderful opportunity to share studies, information and activities that could benefit everyone. Many cancer patients in The Bahamas travel to the United States for treatment and Washington DC is within easy reach. It is my hope that support groups in The Bahamas will be interested in reaching out and connecting with Thelma D. Jones’ group to forge this relationship.

Apart from the ongoing monthly meetings, there is a major fund-raising event planned in Washington DC on October 20, 2018. The event, a sponsored walk organized by the American Cancer Society, is being planned in conjunction with Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, Undaunted Determination (Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund group) and Avon Cosmetics (a recent partner of the American Cancer Society), and will take place at a beautiful venue —  a walking circuit of about 2.3 miles around the scenic Tidal Basin that includes the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, FDR Memorial and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Teams comprise breast cancer survivors and their families and friends, and the numbers registered for this year’s event have more than doubled over last year’s attendance. The goal is to raise $245,000 for cancer research.

In the short time that I have been involved with the support group, I have been very impressed with the community spirit, the fellowship and closeness of the women and their willingness to reach out to anyone who would like to be a part of it. Cancer affects everyone in different ways. I think the majority of us know someone who has it, whether it is a family member, close friend or work colleague. When more of us become involved with organisations like Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund, more awareness is promoted and more funds can be raised to help research and eventually find a cure for this devastating disease. Thanks to organisations such as the American Cancer Society, cancer is no longer a death sentence in many cases, and patients and families are able to face the challenges knowing that there are places and people they can turn to instead of facing often overwhelming helplessness.

To my daughter-in-law Emma Webb in the UK – Keep defying the odds, live and love your amazing wonderful life, you are an inspiration to us all. Love you.

(Also published in thehummingbirdpapers.com with photos)

REFLECTIONS
By ELISABETH ANN BROWN

A SOCIAL MONSTER HAS BEEN CREATED

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Growing up in the 60s we didn’t have computers in every hand or social media in our faces all day, and life was very quiet by comparison. In my case we didn’t even have a rotary telephone or black and white TV in our home. We did eventually catch up with the 20th century when I was 16 and we had just moved to Alberta, Canada, with my father’s regiment, where he was part of the permanent staff on a tank training base.

We had a push button phone with a four-digit number and a colour TV with one whole channel! Entertainment for me as a child was very diverse and often hands-on. I read a lot of books – my favourites were Black Beauty and The Water Babies – and listened to the radio in the evenings. Our favourite little ‘soap opera’ was a BBC production called ‘The Archers’. My parents took me on woodland walks, visits to castles and museums, the opera, and while at home I amused myself teaching myself French or playing at being a nurse.

When I got a little older, around 11 years of age, I took up roller skating, bicycle riding and ice skating while we were stationed in Germany. I remember my father making me a little transistor radio in a Swan matchbox; it had an earphone! This was in the late 1960s, and I used it to listen to Radio Luxembourg to catch the latest hit songs in the pop music world. I guess you could say it was my first ‘Walkman’! In Canada we went camping in the Rockies at every opportunity, and visited a lot of museums and natural history exhibits.

My children grew up pretty much the same way. I encouraged reading and educational but fun toys, and as much as possible visits to places of historical interest. We were in The Bahamas and there was not much available there, so we spent time on the beaches snorkeling to find colourful little reef fish. On our trips to Canada to visit my parents, we made sure to visit the mountains and interactive museums. So it took my generation and theirs a little while to adjust to the advent of cell phones, personal computers and video games.

At times I feel that technology has raced passed me, and I struggle to keep up with it. I have a cell phone, but I don’t feel the need to have the very latest one every time a new model comes out; my two year old one will do just fine. I hate having to go through all the saving of personal information and setting up that you have to do every time you upgrade a phone! I have a Kindle – there is such an advantage to being able to store books without them getting dusty and taking up so much shelf space. And I have a laptop, and because I need one I have a fancy digital camera. I enjoy researching for information and blogging, so I am quite ‘modern’ at nearly 63 years of age.

But when it comes to social media I feel overwhelmed. Sure, I know how to use it, but really, why do I need to have an Instagram account as well as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber and a load of others? Then there are the groups on Facebook. Some people seem to join every group available. No wonder some of us spend all day on social media.

So what do we really get out of all this ‘socializing’? After joining a few groups that were relevant to where I lived — even though I am not there anymore, I still maintain a connection with friends abroad through one or two of them — I began to look at the kind of conversations people were having. Politics of course seems to be the hottest topic. Understandable, a lot is going on in the world today, and we should try to keep up with things not only that are relevant to where we live, but in the world around us as we no longer live in isolation. The internet has connected us all around the globe. We know about the latest incident in just about any country in the world minutes after it has happened. And oh boy, we have opinions about it too!!

As I wade through the 150 comments that are posted seemingly within seconds of the breaking news, I am astonished by the lack of knowledge of the topic and the number of links that will be posted to back up that lack of knowledge. I soon learned that many of these links come from unreliable sources, but oh my goodness, you cannot tell the people posting them that they have posted fake news and are likely to be getting phished as a result of it!

And then I see a comment by someone that I patently disagree with. I say so, I think in as polite a way as I can, and suggest they check out an alternative source that is more reliable. Why did I do that? Look out, sling shots, bows and arrows, and heavy mortar are suddenly directed at me. My opinion is attacked based on my race (obvious from my profile picture since I actually use a real one of me), my gender, my assumed political and religious beliefs, where I currently live, who I am married to, and so on and so on. I am thinking, wow – I only made a comment for discussion, why all the hostility?

I don’t know any of these people, some of them don’t even have real names, they are hiding behind fake profiles. But still, the attacks have a bit of a sting, and I am left feeling somewhat hurt and a bit deflated. So I decide to leave the conversation and scroll through the group to see what else is being said. To my dismay, it is much of the same – everyone seems to be on the warpath with everyone they encounter. Celebrities and public figures are getting their lives picked apart like carrion. Nobody can seemingly say anything nice to anyone. Nobody it seems is using Facebook or the limitless information of the internet for anything positive. A social monster has been created.

Meeting people face to face can never be replaced by Facebook, Twitter, or any other app. Humans are social creatures and we need to be able to connect in physical groups. It seems that we have taken the whole social media thing to a level that is becoming very destructive and interfering with natural social behaviours. Sure, it is useful to be able to send a message or call someone and get an almost immediate response, especially if you are looking for an address to meet up with them; but nothing, absolutely nothing, can replace human contact — that connection that you make eye-to-eye that tells you if the person you are sitting across from is someone who is interesting, someone you would like to get to know better or want to hold an actual conversation with!

It seems to me that as people interact more anonymously on social media, they are losing that ability to connect on a really human level. Compassion has been exchanged for apathy and anger, and language has been greatly altered. We no longer communicate in full sentences. We use abbreviations like LOL and BRB, and some that only the very young seem to understand! Which is probably just as well! The need to learn spelling, grammar and punctuation has gone out of the window. We really are not getting smarter, it seems to me. The younger generations are being dumbed down. They are very adept at learning how to use all the newest electronic devices, but are they using them for real learning, for constructive activities, or meaningful communication?

Or am I just getting old and jaded? Sigh…………oh well, thanks for listening,  ttyl………..

REFLECTIONS is a new column being introduced by BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, an online news publication published by THE BROWN AGENCY. Elisabeth Ann Brown is Vice President and Creative Director of THE BROWN AGENCY.

OSWALD BROWN WRITES:
THOSE NEW TAXES ON NUMBERS HOUSES

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As someone who has been playing numbers regularly from the late 1950s, when Percy Munnings and Talbot “Stokes” Thompson were the two major “illegal” numbers operators in New Providence, I was a strong supporter of the legalization of the numbers game in The Bahamas because I  was convinced that it was virtually impossible for the Government to shut them down.

When the former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government finally “gave in” to the well-organized campaigns by pro-legalization proponents, no one envisaged that this new industry would so rapidly  become the behemoth it currently is. The jury is still out on the reasons why numbers houses have become so popular since legislation sanctioning them was passed in the House of Assembly in 2014, but in my view, unquestionably, the principal reason is that gambling is an infectious disease among a huge segment of the Bahamian population.

This surely is one of the reasons why the late Sir Stafford Sands and the former United Bahamian Party (UBP) government passed legislation banning Bahamians from gambling in casinos when casino gambling was introduced in our hotels. The real reason for this action by the UBP, of course, was racist to the core. The UBP vehemently did not want black Bahamians to routinely be able to shoot dice or play blackjack side-by-side with white patrons in our casinos because they believed this would not be good for the country’s tourism industry.

So, they propagated the theory that black Bahamians were not responsible enough to manage their income and would gamble away their entire paycheques, thus  Bahamian families would suffer. It is somewhat ironic that casino-style gambling in a big way is now a reality among  “natives” in the web shop casinos,  but it is still officially illegal for them to gamble in the big casinos in our hotels. In the meantime, owners of web shop casinos have amassed considerable wealth in a relatively short period of time and are now enjoying nouveau riche lifestyles.

I am among those who share the point of view that it was a huge mistake that former Prime Minister Perry Christie’s administration did not see the wisdom in putting in place stricter regulations to control the kind of proliferation that has taken place in the numbers industry that has transformed some devoted churchgoers into gambling addicts, including many genuinely religious, God-fearing women who once considered gambling to be a sin. Without proper regulations, mini-casinos now proliferate the landscape of New Providence and some of these regular churchgoers spend a good deal of time on a daily basis gambling away their Sunday-morning tithes. What is even more troubling to me is that numbers operations on some of our Family Islands have had an extremely deleterious impact on residents of these communities.

Having expressed this troubling observation, I think the current Government has embarked on a foolhardy venture if it thinks it can “stuff the genie back into the bottle” by imposing heavy taxes on the existing operations. The way businesses of this nature work is that these new taxes will be passed on to the consumers in one way or the other, and more likely that not result in smaller payouts, especially to winners of the daily PICK-3 and PICK-4 games.

There is also the possibility that some of the smaller operations may decide to revert to doing business “underground” as illegal operations and pay no taxes at all. One of  the major numbers czars in the country — Craig Flowers, CEO  of the FML Group of Companies — seemed  to allude to this likelihood during an interview on “ON POINT,” a talk show on LOVE-97 radio station in Nassau on June 4.

Flowers described the government’s proposed increase in taxes for gaming house operators is a “death warrant” for the industry, according to an article in the Nassau Guardian, and admitted that while FML has “deep pockets”, it will be “almost impossible” for his company to continue operating if taxes are increased.

The same, of course, may not be true for FML’s leading competitor, ISLAND LUCK, whose principal owners seem to have “deeper pockets” than Flowers. They have skillfully diversified their business holdings and now own a growing Media Group, including ILTV Studios that produces a very professional EYEWITNESS NEWS and has two popular, gritty talk show hosts in Ortland H. Bodie Jr. and Rodney Moncur.

Only time will tell what impact the “sliding scale” of tax rates on numbers houses proposed recently by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest will have on the numbers houses, but I happen to know  Deputy Prime Minister Turnquest very well. He is a Past-President of the Rotary Club of Lucaya, in which I was a member when I was Editor of the Freeport News and I lived in Grand Bahama. He is a well-trained chartered accountant, who is very prudent on financial matters, so I suspect that he was able to convince his Cabinet colleagues to support his new taxes proposal with sound financial arguments.

What’s more, in the political firmament of the FNM leadership galaxy, DPM Turnquest is a brightly shining star, and we shall just have to wait and see what will be the outcome of his proposed taxes on web shop operations.

OSWALD BROWN WRITES
THIS NEGLECT IS BEYOND BEING A NATIONAL DISGRACE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As I noted in a previous column, I again think it is a national disgrace that  the major daily newspapers in The Bahamas seem to be so totally fixated on crime and political malfeasance that major news of extreme importance involving The Bahamas is not reported. Unquestionably, this is the case with regard to a story published in the Jamaica Observer n Sunday, May 27, revealing that the Royal Bahamas Defence Force will be hosting the largest military training exercise of its kind June 14 – 21.

According  to The Observer, Tradewinds 2018 is an annual regional military training exercise that this year “will focus on countering transnational organised crime in the region.” Declaring that the main objective of the military event is to foster training for security forces that is tailored for the region by the region, The Observer article added: “The annual exercise is sponsored by the United States Southern Command. This year’s Tradewinds will consist of 22 partner nations from the Caribbean region, the wider Americas and Western Europe. Additionally, the exercise will consist of over 400 troops from various Caribbean nations that are expected to put their military training to test.”

As I previously announced, one of the main objectives of BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, the online news publication recently launched by THE BROWN AGENCY, is to keep Bahamians and natives from other CARICOM countries in the  world-wide  Diaspora up-to-date on news from their respective countries, so we daily research the online editions of the various newpapers in CARICOM-member countries to compile the reports from around the region that we publish in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE.

I was totally shocked when I read the story in the Sunday edition of the Jamaica Observer about the immensely  important “military training exercise” being coordinated by The Bahamas and realized that I had not seen any report on this major news story in either the Nassau Guardian or The Tribune, the two preeminent national newspapers published in Nassau.

How is it possible that news of such importance involving The Bahamas apparently was missed by both national publications?

A similar egregious dereliction of responsibility by the two most foundational pillars of The Fourth Estate in The Bahamas occurred just a couple weeks ago when both newspapers – as well as the poorly managed government news agency, Bahamas Information Services (BIS) – failed to provide proper coverage for the two-day meeting of Foreign Ministers of CARICOM-member countries hosted by The Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs May 7-8.

As I mentioned in a previous column on that  shameful non-performance by The Tribune and The Guardian, it was “a total disgrace that the two major dailies in this country both decided to ignore the fact that the 15 Foreign Ministers of CARICOM were meeting in Nassau.” What made that lack of coverage “of this important meeting even more disgraceful is the fact that I did not see a substantive PRESS RELEASE on the meeting prepared by Bahamas Information Services (BIS), which is supposed to be the government’s news agency.”

The same is true about the apparent “blackout” of news coverage by major news agencies in The Bahamas for the upcoming military training exercise in The Bahamas.

As a career journalist for more than 56 years, I have been Editor of both the Nassau Guardian and the Freeport News, at different times, and I received my early training in journalism in the early 1960s during my five years on the staff of The Tribune, under the tutelage of two of the most renowned journalists in the history of The Bahamas: Arthur A. Foulkes, the then News Editor, and Sir Etienne Dupuch, The Tribune’s late Publisher and Editor.

So my chagrin in seeing how those responsible for deciding what daily is considered to be the “most important” news events is heightened by the fact that crime, scandals and political wrongdoings – the “stock and trade” of the Tabloid newspaper genre – get precedence over news items that “responsible” decision-makers in most newsrooms would be quick to recognize as really important news.

Since the launch of THE BROWN AGENCY’s online news publication BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, I am enjoying  the excitement of deciding what news stories are important and what are  not. Of course, we do not publish crime news – at least with regard to the daily carnage  that the media in The Bahamas takes delight in publishing, and in the process negatively impacting tourism, our major economic lifeline – because we do not consider crime to be  news.

We must be doing something right because we have  already attracted a very good following not only among our targeted clientele in the Diaspora, but also in The Bahamas and several other CARICOM-member countries. But as we state in our promotional pieces, advertising is the lifeblood of news media and we certainly would like to encourage advertisers to take advantage of our very reasonable advertising rates, details of which can be obtained by contacting us at otbrown242@gmail.com.

FIRE AND FURY – THE ERUPTION OF KILAUEA

By ELISABETH ANN BROWN

WASHINGTON DC — On May 3^rd, 2018 the volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, known as Kilauea began to erupt, causing more than twenty fissures to snake out across the surrounding land, spewing smoke, ash and lava into the surrounding neighbourhoods. The air is being polluted with toxic sulfur dioxide which can choke and suffocate anyone inhaling it. The sound of fire and heaving rocks is like hammers on metal. People have been evacuated and have no idea when or if they will be able to return home. There are signs that Kilauea is imminently going to have a major eruption, which would result in rocks being hurled like ballistic missiles, smoke and ash spewing thousands of feet in the air, endangering air traffic. On Tuesday the United States Geological Survey raised the threat level for an eruption to Red Alert, which means it could happen at any moment, without warning.

Kilauea has been erupting on and off since 1983, and the last major eruption was in 2014, lasting several months. The biggest danger is a phreatic eruption which happens when underground water is heated by magma, lava and hot rocks, causing the water to boil and then blow the lava and rocks out of the cone. A sign that this is becoming imminent is that the lava lake in the Kilauea’s crater is beginning to drop.

Hawaiians are taking this all in stride – they are used to the activities of the volcano, and attribute them to the

Goddess of Fire, Pele. According to Lilikala Kame’eleihinia, Professor at Kamakakuokalani Centre for Hawaiian Studies, it is believed that Pele is the daughter of the Goddess Haumea, mother of the earth. Pele is a divine akua, a sacred spirit of the earthly element. In Hawaiian tradition it is believed that there are over 400,000 element gods, and Pele, according to the beliefs, is “dancing and giving birth to new land”. Hawaiians believe that the land belongs to her, that they are only borrowing it, and that from time to time Pele needs to cleanse it to remind them that it must be treated with respect.

Kilauea is located on the southeast side of the Big Island of Hawaii, and rises 4,190ft. It is often thought to be a part of Mauna Loa, the larger volcano, but geologists say that Kilauea has it’s own crater. The May 3, 2018 eruption began with a magnitude 5.0 earthquake and residents experienced literally thousands of smaller quakes over the next few days. Kilauea is the most active volcano in the world.

OSWALD BROWN WRITES
NEW ONLINE NEWS PUBLICATION LAUNCHED

THE BROWN AGENCY today is officially launching an online news publication, BAHAMAS CHRONICLE. Although we hope to develop a strong following in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean, our major focus will be on keeping Bahamians and natives from other CARICOM countries in the Diaspora up-to-date on news from their respective countries.

I became acutely aware of the need for an online publication like BAHAMAS CHRONICLE during my interaction with Bahamians living abroad  when I was  Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at The Bahamas Embassy in Washington, D.C. for four-plus years before my contract was terminated following the change of Government in The Bahamas in May of 2017.

During my tenure with the Embassy, I introduced a regular feature entitled BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA, which we initially planned to publish on our website on a monthly basis,  highlighting the achievements of noted Bahamians living abroad. It was my desire to continue doing something similar after I left the Embassy that hatched the idea in my mind to establish an online news publication.

As many of you are no doubt aware, numerous Bahamians have migrated to the United States over the years and there are sizable native-Bahamian populations in metropolitan areas of Florida, New York, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, where THE BROWN AGENCY is based. Given the advancements made in Internet technology, reaching the vast majority of the Bahamians in the world-wide Diaspora through this medium clearly should be easily accomplished. We hope to keep as many of them as possible informed of events occurring “back home.”

However, rather than just target Bahamians in the Diaspora, we decided that the BAHAMAS CHRONICLE should also publish news highlights from other countries in the Caribbean with a shared British colonial history. During my tenure at  the Embassy, I  routinely covered the Organization of American States (OAS) and got to know most of  the diplomats from these countries and realized that Jamaica’s national motto, “Out of Many One People,” certainly applies to all the CARICOM-member countries that were once colonies of Great Britain.

In fact, if the West Indies Federation plan concocted by the British in 1958 to grant independence collectively to Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and some of its Leeward and Windward Islands  had succeeded, Jamaica’s motto would indeed be very meaningful to far more people. But that plan collapsed because of the individual nationalistic leadership ambitions at the time of powerful politicians in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.

Eventually, Jamaica became an independent nation on August 6, 1962, Trinidad and Tobago followed on August 31, 1962, and Barbados became independent on November 30, 1966. Along with Guyana, which gained its independence from Great Britain on May 26, 1966, these four former British colonies were the founding members of CARICOM on August 1, 1973

Of course, The Bahamas was still politically controlled by a white-minority government until the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won the historic January 10, 1967 general election and the first predominant black government came to power.  The Bahamas  eventually gained its independence from Great Britain on July 10, 1973 and became a member of CARICOM on July 4, 1983.

It stands to reason that the 15 full members of CARICOM, based on regional and political priorities, do not always unanimously agree on all issues addressed by the 35 independent states of the Americas that comprise the OAS. However, hopefully for the most part Jamaica’s “Out of Many One People” motto will  be the guiding light for BAHAMAS  CHRONICLE in reporting on matters of importance to natives in the Diaspora from all of these countries.

As a matter of policy, we will not publish CRIME news because we do not consider CRIME to be news. Likewise, political news will be vetted and filtered to eliminated scandals, rumours and  information disguised as news that tend to be the standard practice among the daily print  media in The Bahamas.

We should note, however, that we will not be competing with the established news publications in The Bahamas and CARICOM countries. In fact, most or our news informing our readers in the Diaspora of  matters occurring in their countries will be compiled from newspapers in those countries.  We will, of course, have original commentaries and some feature articles on topics we think may be of interest to our readers.

I would like to publicly thank my very talented wife Elisabeth Ann Brown, Vice President and Creative Director of THE BROWN AGENCY, for the yeoman job she did in getting this project off the ground. Our start-up budget did not allow us to utilize the services of a professional web designer, so Elisabeth used her considerable creative skills to produce this website for BAHAMAS CHRONICLE. Click on bahamaschronicle.com to see the results of her efforts.

Since advertisements are the lifeblood of any news medium, we hope that potential advertisers would take advantage of our very reasonable advertising rates, which we  shall be happy to provide you with if you contact us at this email address: otbrown242@gmail.com.

OSWALD BROWN WRITES – THE GOVERNMENT’S WHITE PAPER PROPOSAL

WASHINGTON, D.C. — No matter which side of the political divide you are on, if honesty is one of the guiding principles in your daily life, you must agree that the White Paper introduced in the House of Assembly on Wednesday by Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis conceptually has the potential to really transform the Over-the-Hill community in New Providence from a high crime den of poverty and squalor into an area where tourists, the lifeblood of the country’s economy, will feel safe to visit and to patronize businesses “South of the Arch.”

The centerpiece of the Prime Minister’s plan is “the designation of the Over-the-Hill community as an empowerment zone” for five years, during which a number of tax incentives “will apply to residential properties – both owned and rented – commercial and industrial undertakings, with an aggregate turnover of $5 million or under, and all enterprises whose primary income is not derived from the business of gaming or the sale of alcohol,” according to an article in the Nassau Guardian on Thursday, April 26, 2018.

Before this initiative is launched, however, there are some issues that need to be clarified, first and foremost of which is whether the parameters for the specific area that will benefit from this incentive have been established. Surely, this must have been the first problem facing the Government. As far as most Bahamians are concerned, Over-the-Hill is the extended area south of Gregory’s Arch; however, while there is general agreement as to what constitutes its northern border, there are really no clearly defined east, west and south borders for Over-the-Hill.

Should the eastern border be East Street or Collins Avenue? Should the Western border be Nassau Street? Should the Southern border be Wulff Road or Robinson Road? What about Kemp Road, St. James Road and sections of Chippingham and Fox Hill, all of which have similar serious crime and poverty problems as the area traditionally known as Over-the-Hill?

More likely than not, the Government has a plan in place that will include all of these areas in its tax-incentive initiative, and if it does not, it certainly should. But I would like to suggest that as far as encouraging tourists to visit and shop Over-the-Hill, the Government should initially focus on establishing a safe, crime-free zone in the area south of the Arch bordered by Nassau Street on the West, Wulff Road and Poinciana Drive on the South, and Collins Avenue on the East.

A strong police presence in this area 24 hours a day surely would send a strong message to potential criminals and Menaces to Society and discourage them from plying their trade in the “no-crime zone,” and the boundaries should be extended as safety in the area improves.

Of course, the idea of a crime-free area Over-the-Hill is not a new one. Shortly after the Progressive Liberal Party won the historic 1967 general election, Edmund Moxey, the PLP representative for Coconut Grove, established Jumbey Village, a visionary idea he had to create a cultural enclave featuring Bahamian entertainment, an arts and craft area for artisans to display and sell their products, and various other indigenous Bahamian cultural expressions.

The idea was to encourage visitors to the country to travel beyond Bay Street to a safe and crime-free area Over-the-Hill as part of their vacation experience. Mr. Moxey argued that the success of Jumbey Village would encourage businesses in the surrounding areas to spruce up their buildings and clean-up their surroundings with the hope of attracting tourists. By the same token, it was felt that home-owners would likewise make similar improvements to their property.

The property where Jumbey Village was located apparently was considered too valuable and it was shut down by the then Progressive Liberal Party government to build the current National Insurance Building. Many political observers at the time felt that the Government made a terrible mistake and had missed a golden opportunity to spread the infectious benefits of such an important initiative like Jumbey Village throughout Over-the-Hill.

Hopefully, the current Government is still open to ideas on how the obviously well-intentioned initiative it has proposed in its White Paper can be tweaked to provide the necessary assistance to all the persons and businesses it is intended to help.