The front page of the 9 Aug. 1974 edition of The Caymanian Compass contained a story of a dramatic rescue of three men fishing in the North Sound. Their boat sank around 1:30pm, leaving them hanging onto their gas tank, the only thing that remained afloat. The vessel went down about two miles off Booby Point and the men were found about one mile off the George Town Barcadere. They had tied a water bottle to their boat to mark its location but were unable to find it when they returned the next morning, and also lost their large catch of fish and conch.
Two ‘fast-acting policemen’ also made the front page. A businessman had been attacked by 10-12 men who then stole his van. The officers were driving him to the hospital when they “noticed some lights on the MRCU dyke” and went to investigate, which resulted in the van “heading straight for them on a dyke which was wide enough for only one car”. The officer driving the car “never gave ground, forcing the van into the ditch”. The policemen arrested the three man and took the injured victim to the hospital, where he received four stitches in his head.
The editorial was about how people in Cayman view the police, asking is the “Policeman or the Policewoman regarded as ‘Public Enemy Number One’ or as the friend of the people”? It concluded that since the police force here is “predominantly Caymanian [it] should engender a stronger bond of goodwill between the Force and the public who together will be able to maintain Cayman’s almost ‘crime-free’ reputation”.
A photo on page 11 showed two boys watching garbage being cleared from the dump, which at the time was situated on Smith Road. Once all the rubbish was removed, dumping would no longer be allowed at that site, and instead the landfill off North Sound Road would be used.
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