The front-page photo of the 13 Feb. 1974 Cayman Compass tells the story of a rescue at sea. The smiling crew of the stricken MV Valkyrie is shown sitting on board the MV Druid with its crew. The Valkyrie, which experienced engine trouble and started taking on water about 25 miles east of Cayman, is in the background being towed to Cayman by the Druid. Both shrimp boats had travelled from French Guiana.
Also on the front page was the story of Dayal Whittaker, who was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of retired nurse, Phyllis Parker, 68, and sentenced to life in prison with hard labour. The verdict came in the retrial of the crime after the first jury couldn’t reach a decision on a charge of murder in the original trial in December. The second panel took a bit more than two hours on 9 Feb. to convict Whittaker, whose counsel pleaded with the judge for mercy and noted they would be appealing.
A very timely article on page 2 was about the upcoming Agricultural Show, set for 27 Feb. 1974 at the John Cumber School in West Bay, which “promises to be the most popular show ever”. Among the members of the organising committee was then Compass owner and publisher Brian Uzzell. Main events planned for the show included the Baby Show, the Miss Farm Queen competition, a tug-of-war and a bicycle obstacle course.
Rotaract, which was started on 2 Feb. 1973 with 25 members, celebrated its first anniversary with a dinner at the Masonic Lodge. The service club was looking for new members, putting out a call to young people between the ages of 18 and 28. The article noted that Rotaract’s objective is to help build the standard of the community to assist the underprivileged.
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