Cruise ship demo called off
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from December 1993.
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Speaking for the members of the committee, Mr. Robert Hunter said the committee "Would like the public to be aware that at present we will not be holding the demonstration we had planned in George Town." The Committee had originally scheduled the demonstration for Thursday, 16 December 1993.
"This decision was made by us due to the fact that the Hon. Mr. Thomas Jefferson and the other Executive Council members have already taken swift action and dealt with some of the issues tabled," continued Mr. Hunter. ExCo recently denied entry to several large tour buses the Committee had protested against and passed legislation restricting further imports to a maximum of nine passengers.
"These decision on government's part will, in fact, have a very positive Cont'd on page 2 from page 1 impact on the future of many Caymanian lives," he said. "We feel very confident that this government is for our people," he said.
He also noted that a recent letter from Mr. Jefferson to the Committee stated 'My colleagues and I are here to protect all citizens of the Cayman Islands and will do all in our power to ensure fair and equal opportunity for our people.'
"We look forward to a New Year filled with great opportunities and positive response from our government," added Mr. Hunter.
He said the Committee has been "very pleased" with the recent progress made by government to solve some of the problems in the cruise ship industry. "Progress has been shown." He also observed that while not everyone is happy with the new Port Authority regulations governing taxi operations, those issues will be addressed at upcoming meetings with government.
Mr. Ron Ebanks, a watersports operator and committee member, said the charter boats and watersports operators on the committee have the same point of view on halting any demonstration plans for the time being.
"We're going to work with government because some progress has been made," he said, but did not rule out any demonstration in the future if planned talks fail to solve problems. A public demonstration is "still an option" for the future.
He added the Committee still wants government to make public its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the importation of a certain type of vessel with underwater viewing ability used to take cruise ship tourists to Stingray City. "We would still like that to be public information," said Mr. Ebanks.
