Flashback A quick update of stories and events we’re following ... The Week Ahead Important events on the week’s news calendar ... ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015 SPORTS | PAGE 16 JONES IS STILL UFC KING ‘Bones’ triumphs in grudge fight High of 86 Low of 76 Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 ELIMINATING ‘SPEED BUMPS’ IN CAYMAN GOVERNANCE FOUR LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU BETTER: SEVEN MILE BEACH, WATERFRONT, WALKERS ROAD, TOWN CENTRE PLAZA YUMBO® HOT HAM & CHEESE Fuel prices continue slow decline at the pump At least one station drops price below $5 BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Holiday season fuel prices on Grand Cayman continued to fall at a steady, if not spectac- ular pace, with at least one retail station dipping below the $5 per gallon mark for the first time in more than a year. The per gallon price reduc- tion in Cayman remained slow compared to retail prices in the United States, where average prices for regular, unleaded gas- oline dropped to US$2.23 per gallon on Jan. 2, down from US$2.62 on Dec. 11 – a fall of 39 cents per gallon in less than a month. Prices per gallon of reg- ular, unleaded self-serve gas- oline on Grand Cayman went from an average of CI$5.59 in late October to CI$5.11 by Dec. 24, according to figures pro- vided by the Cayman Islands Petroleum Inspectorate. The 48 cents per gallon drop was over two months. Before Oct. 24, retail prices at Grand Cayman gas sta- tions had not changed in months, according to the inspectorate’s figures. On Jan. 2, the lowest re- ported price per gallon of reg- ular unleaded fuel – $4.84 – was recorded at Jose’s Rubis sta- tion. According to figures com- piled by the petroleum inspec- torate, at least two other stations – Walkers Road Esso and Mike’s Seven Mile Esso – were selling $5 NEW YEAR OFF TO DEADLY START Homicide, drowning and road fatality over the weekend ALAN MARKOFF amarkoff@pinnaclemedialtd.com The new year got off to a deadly start with three fatalities as a result of separate unnatural causes over the weekend. Just before midnight Friday, a man died in a fiery, one-car ac- cident on Cayman Brac. According to police, the man lost control of the Honda Logo he was driving at the intersec- tion of Ashton Reid Drive and Songbird Drive and ran into a wooden fence post. The vehicle caught fire, ac- cording to police, and once the fire department extinguished the blaze, they found a man behind the wheel. As of press time, police had not identified the driver. Police officers from Grand Cayman were on the Brac to help with the investigation. Hours later, the Cayman Family welcomes triplets born on New Year’s Day JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman welcomes not one, but three baby girls for the New Year – Alexa, Jenna and Emma Thompson arrived at 12:24 a.m. to parents Mark and Sheena Thompson on Jan. 1 at South Miami Hospital. Celebrating the new ad- ditions to the family, Mr. Thompson spoke with the Cayman Compass by phone on Jan. 2. “Mom and babies are doing OK. The babies are fine and ... mom is recuper- ating well,” he said. Mrs. Thompson gave birth after 32 weeks of preg- nancy. Alexa, the first born, weighs 3 pounds, 12 ounces; Jenna weighs 3 pounds, 7 ounces; and Emma, 3 pounds 2 ounces. The babies are fra- ternal triplets. The couple also has a 9-year-old son, Jayden, who was hoping for a brother but PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » Parents Sheena and Mark Thompson with their triplets, who were born on Jan. 1. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » CUC seeks solar-energy approval Caribbean Utilities Company has sent to the Electricity Regulatory Authority a draft agreement with solar-energy provider International Electric Power. The authority will review the document before making a de- cision on approval. The agreement will detail the amount of power the Pittsburgh-based company will generate, a schedule of op- erations and the price CUC will pay for the power. It is also likely to detail the costs of the CUC-IEP interconnection at the Bodden Town generation site. Fuel taxes shrink As of Jan. 1, government’s 75 cents per gallon duty on diesel fuel fell by one-third, to 50 cents per gallon. Finance Minister Marco Archer earlier expected the reduction to cost government $4 million. The price break is also expected to lower consumer bills by 4.3 percent. The reduction is not likely to ap- pear until March 1, while “new oil” displaces the more-expensive “old oil.” A $300 monthly power bill would fall by nearly $13. Two more chikungunya cases Public health officials say two more pa- tients tested positive for the chikungunya virus, bringing to 15 the local total. One person is from George Town, the other is from Cayman Brac; one reported travel to Cuba; the other may have contracted the virus lo- cally. Both were infected in early December, meaning any danger of contagion has passed. Rotary documentary mini-festival The Rotary Club sponsors four documen- tary screenings on conflict resolution, with an opportunity to meet the producers at Abacus restaurant in Camana Bay on Jan. 8. The films – about the IRA in Northern Ireland, apart- heid in South Africa, the Sicilian mafia and the Berlin Wall – kick off in pairs, starting at 4:30 p.m.; the second two start at 7:30. Audiences can meet the filmmakers in the in- terim. Admission is $25 and includes a glass of wine. National Gallery exhibits WWI art Also on Jan. 8, the National Gallery will screen “British Art at War: Paul Nash – The Ghosts of War.” The film will examine Mr. Nash’s artwork. A discussion will follow the 5:30 p.m. screening. Admission is free. Refreshments will be provided.2 LOCAL&REGIONAL MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015 • CAYMAN COMPASS CAMANA BAY 55 Market Street Jasmine Court 645-FILM (3456) Man charged with abducting former girlfriend Case transmitted to Grand Court CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Sven Brett Connor, 33, was remanded in custody on Friday after appearing in Summary Court on charges of abduction, assault causing actual bodily harm and using an ICT network to annoy and harass. Crown counsel Greg Walcolm said the com- plainant in all matters was a woman with whom Connor had been in a relationship. The offenses allegedly oc- curred after she indicated she no longer wished to be involved with him. The most recent incident occurred on Dec. 24, when Connor reportedly took her from her home by means of physical and verbal force, drove her to another location and hit her several times. Mr. Walcolm said the other assault charge related to an incident in October, when Connor was said to have seen the woman talking to a friend outside a night club. Defense attorney James Stenning told Chief Magistrate Nova Hall that Connor denied all charges and was encouraging police to get CCTV footage from two locations because it would assist them with their investigations. Mr. Stenning and Mr. Walcolm agreed that ab- duction is a charge that can be dealt with only in the Grand Court; they also agreed that the other charges could be sent along be- cause they were related and not in the “Summary Court only” category. The magistrate sent the charges to the higher court and directed that Connor ap- pear there on Jan. 16. She de- nied Mr. Stenning’s applica- tion for bail. Crown counsel Greg Walcolm said the complainant in all matters was a woman with whom Connor had been in a relationship. REFUGE WORKS TO SAVE KEY LARGO WOODRAT FROM FERAL CATS KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — Workers at a Key Largo wildlife refuge say feral cats have become a se- rious threat to the sur- vival of an indigenous woodrat species. Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge is working to ensure the survival of the Key Largo woodrat, The Miami Herald reported Sunday. Motion-censored cam- eras have been placed around woodrat nests to monitor predators, refuge workers are tracking the nests and have captured and relocated some cats. Efforts by the refuge helped upgrade the American Crocodile from endangered to threatened species status in 2007 and the refuge has worked to maintain other animal species crucial to the re- gion’s biodiversity. Jeremy Dixon, the refuge man- ager, and Ralph DeGayner, a longtime volunteer, are among those looking out for the woodrats. The woodrat’s greatest threat used to be from en- croaching development, now it is the feral cats, the men told the newspaper. But some area residents say they are worried about the trapping of the un- owned cats. Resident Wayne Blevins said during a recent meeting to educate people about the woodrats that he is not happy about what is happening to the cats. He said he has been feeding cat colonies in Key Largo for more than a decade. REGIONAL BRIEFS Bahamas enforces new consumption tax The government of the Bahamas is imple- menting a new value- added tax on most goods and services. The 7.5 percent tax applies only to busi- nesses whose profits ex- ceed $100,000 a year. The new tax replaces the hotel accommodation tax and certain customs duties and excise taxes. The government said in a statement Friday that more than 5,000 businesses have regis- tered to start applying the tax. Businesses have until Feb. 28 to become fully compliant. The tax went into ef- fect Jan. 1. Florida street blocks to convert to water slide on Feb. 14 City officials in West Palm Beach, Florida, are planning to temporarily convert some downtown blocks into what’s billed as the world’s longest water slide. The 1,000-foot slide is planned to run down Clematis Street on Valentine’s Day. The slide is distin- guished much more by its length, and out-of- place urban setting, than by its height. The Palm Beach Post reports its drop will be just over 20 feet. The slide made its debut appearance in Salt Lake City last summer. Senator says ‘very difficult’ to see US ambassador to Cuba One of the leading Democratic critics of President Barack Obama’s change in Cuba policy says it will be very difficult to con- firm an ambassador to the communist country. Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey is a Cuban- American who’s the soon-to-be ex-chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He tells CNN’s “State of the Union” that Congress can do little to prevent the Obama administration from shifting the existing interests section in Cuba into an embassy. But he says Congress can refuse to confirm an ambassador and that’s it’s difficult to see a nominee winning Senate approval. Menendez says he wasn’t told about the administration’s ne- gotiations with Cuba, and that will make him more skeptical when administration officials testify to Congress. Guyana to issue new passports The South American country of Guyana is issuing new passports with improved safety features after seizing fraudulent ones in re- cent months. Security Minister Clement Rohee said Saturday that the gov- ernment has signed a deal with Canadian Bank Note Company, Ltd., which already pro- duces currencies, pass- ports, lottery tickets and other documents for several Caribbean nations. Rohee did not say how much the deal was worth. He said current pass- ports will be phased out and that new ones will be issued in upcoming months. Family says Mexican journalist seized by armed men Armed men seized a Mexican journalist and activist from his home in the eastern state of Veracruz, the man’s family said Saturday. Jorge Sanchez Ordonez said he saw his father Moises Sanchez Cerezo being taken away by men in civilian clothing who arrived in three vehicles on Friday. Sanchez Cerezo is the owner of a small-cir- culation weekly news- paper called Union de Barrial in the munici- pality of Medellin. The son said he has re- ported on violence in the city and had re- ceived threats. He also recently helped form a citizens’ “self-defense committee” meant to defend neigh- borhoods against crime. The state attorney general’s office de- clined to give informa- tion about the case, but Gov. Javier Duarte told reporters that “all lines of investigation” were being considered. “Our priority is to be able to locate him to return him to his family,” the governor said. He re- ferred to Sanchez Cerezo as “a taxi driver and neighborhood activist.” The Mexican branch of the free-speech group Article 19 is- sued an alert on the disappearance. Veracruz has suf- fered from years of drug gang violence. Ten jour- nalists have been killed in the state since 2010. Mexico vigilante founder, 26 others held for deadly clash A judge in the western state of Michoacan has begun homicide proceedings against the founder of a vigilante group and 26 of his followers who were involved in a deadly clash with a rival force in December. Hipolito Mora founded a vigilante force to fight drug traffickers in Michoacan which later become part of an official rural police force that received guns, uni- forms and pay from the government. On Dec. 16, Mora’s group had a shootout with a rival rural police force led by Luis Antonio Torres, better known as “Simon the American,” that left 11 people dead in the re- mote mountain town of La Ruana, Michoacan. After the shootout, authorities said Mexican military and federal po- lice would assume secu- rity responsibilities in several municipalities, replacing the rural po- lice. In late December, both Mora and Torres, along with 35 of their followers, turned them- selves in to authorities. On Saturday, judge Maria Consuelo Lopez Ramirez said there was sufficient evidence against Mora and his fol- lowers of their involve- ment in 10 homicides during the shootout to merit the launch of pro- ceedings. Mora’s son was killed in the clash, the only death not attributed to his group. © 2015, Associated Press Eastern US braces for Arctic blast, subzero temps The eastern parts of the U.S. and the Midwest on Sunday braced for Arctic temperatures that were ex- pected to arrive during the next few days. A mix of precipita- tion on Saturday that in- cluded snow, ice and rain affected a swath from the Oklahoma panhandle – where several inches of snow were in the forecast – to southern New England, where up to a quarter-inch of ice is possible in the eastern Berkshires. Freezing rain and ice factored into numerous accidents in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio and threatened an outdoor hockey game in Toledo. And parts of the southern U.S. saw heavy rain and thunderstorms, leading the National Weather Service to issue tornado watches and warnings in Mississippi and Louisiana and a flash flood watch for portions of Arkansas. The weather service re- ported at least two con- firmed tornadoes in Mississippi. Greg Flynn of Mississippi’s Emergency Management Agency said homes were dam- aged in several counties, power lines were downed and there were reports of flooding. “Thankfully, in all of this, there are no injuries reported anywhere,” Flynn said. Meanwhile, blowing and drifting snow was a problem in the northeast Colorado plains, while a blizzard warning was is- sued for northern North Dakota and Minnesota. Winds between 30 mph and 40 mph blew snow that fell overnight in the Red River Valley, weather service meteorologist Tom Grafenauer said. That area will be the first to feel the effects of a strong cold front, he said, with temperatures reaching 20-below and wind chills approaching minus 50 by Sunday morning. By Tuesday, parts of the Midwest will see below- zero temperatures, while lows will reach single- digits along the East Coast. The chilly weather is even expected to move as far south as New Orleans.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015 FIBA – 15th Annual AML Compliance Conference Miami Cayman Alternative Investment Summit Grand Cayman Fidelity Cayman Economic Outlook Conference Grand Cayman RICS Cayman Islands Property & Construction Conference Grand Cayman First Quarter 2015 Deadline: Friday, January 9 Call 949-5111 or email sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com “ The only magazine that promotes the Cayman Islands’ financial services industry at a local and international level. ” This issue will focus on Q1 - 2015 Conference Distribution Regulatory Competition Tax ClimateDe-offshorization Public consultation rejects beneficial ownership registry MICHAEL KLEIN mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands gov- ernment announced it will not implement a central reg- ister of beneficial ownership information, but will con- tinue its current method of providing this type of infor- mation to law enforcement, tax and regulatory authori- ties. At the same time, govern- ment proposes to enact new legislation that will improve access to the information and speed up the process. The decision to maintain the existing regime is in part based on the responses gov- ernment received to a public consultation on the mainte- nance of legal and beneficial ownership information which ended on Feb. 28, 2014. The consultation, which was conducted by the Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce, showed that 81 percent of the respondents, including local and international com- panies, individuals, and non- governmental organizations, rejected the idea of cen- tral or a public central reg- ister of beneficial ownership information. In an attempt to high- light the true owners of shell companies and other enti- ties, the U.K. has taken steps to consolidate beneficial ownership information in a central register, and Prime Minister David Cameron has called on the U.K.’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories to do the same in their jurisdictions. However, Minister of Financial Services and Commerce Wayne Panton said Cayman has been ad- hering to global standards for more than a decade by providing this information to law enforcement, tax and regulatory authorities from data collected, verified and maintained by licensed and regulated corporate service providers. “Both of these methods are acceptable under the FATF Recommendations [governing anti-money laundering],” Minister Panton said. However, government said it will speed up the infor- mation exchange process by aiming to enact legislation that will require corporate service providers to produce beneficial ownership infor- mation to tax, regulatory and law enforcement authorities “within a target turnaround time of 24 hours in circum- stances where such informa- tion is required.” In addition, corporate ser- vice providers will be re- quired to file legal owner- ship information of exempted companies annually with the General Registry and to des- ignate a natural person lo- cally who will be accountable to Cayman authorities for the availability and monitoring of ownership information. Government further aims to enact legislation that will allow government authori- ties to wind up entities that do not comply with beneficial ownership requirements. Government’s report on the results of the consulta- tion notes that although they are global in nature, the FATF Recommendations on com- bating anti money laundering and terrorism financing allow jurisdictional flexibility in terms of how the intended outcomes are achieved. Respondents to the con- sultation said the current system provides more ben- efits than a self-reporting system, as corporate service providers undertake due dil- igence and refresh beneficial ownership information fol- lowing a risk-based analysis. The consultation raised prac- tical issues of a centralized register for mutual funds for which beneficial ownership changes constantly. In addition, a public reg- istry would create not only a financial burden, but also introduce privacy and se- curity risks, the consulta- tion report said. Cayman’s existing re- gime for corporate services providers adheres to the G20’s High-Level Principles on Beneficial Ownership Transparency, which was is- sued in November last year. Government concluded in the report that “until such time as there is global agree- ment on appropriate exemp- tions and safeguards, and this becomes the internation- ally practiced standard, the Cayman Islands will continue to follow its [corporate ser- vice provider] regime.” At the same time, govern- ment announced it will im- plement the abolishment of the bearer share regime in the Cayman Islands in 2015. In accordance with FATF Recommendation 24, bearer shares, which never register or track ownership of the shareholder, have been immo- bilized in Cayman since April 2001 and used only on a very limited basis. Nevertheless, respondents to the consulta- tion said that bearer shares and bearer share warrants can be abused. LABOUR AND PENSIONS OFFICIAL RETIRES After 24 years with the Cayman Islands Department of Labour and Pensions, Robert Whittaker retired on Dec. 31, 2014. Mr. Whittaker’s last post was as assistant director of the Department of Labour and Pensions, where he was the longest serving employee. He served in the assistant direc- tor’s position and as the senior labour officer since 2000. Mario Ebanks, director of Labour and Pensions, compli- mented Mr. Whittaker’s work over the years. “I can’t say enough about Mr. Whittaker’s work ethic and leadership. His commitment, dedica- tion and sincere interest in helping people are commend- able. He will be missed.” Mr. Whittaker began working in the Labour and Pensions department in 1991 as a labour inspector. He later became a senior labour officer. The department is respon- sible for enforcing labor reg- ulations, investigating com- plaints such as unpaid wages or unsafe working conditions, and administering and regu- lating pension plans. Mr. Panton RECYCLE LIVE CHRISTMAS TREES Natural Christmas trees, with all ornaments and dec- orations removed, can be re- cycled at six sites around Grand Cayman. The Department of Environmental Health turns the trees into mulch and keeps them out of the landfill. The mulch will be available for free at the George Town Cricket Field on Jan. 24. People will need to bring their own containers and shovels to pick up the mulch. The deadline to drop off trees at most sites is Jan. 21, but late-comers can drop off trees at the George Town Landfill until Jan. 23. For information on the sites, call 949-9793.The islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass offi ce. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will fi nd their own way” In the increasingly high-velocity environment of global commerce, it is no longer the large who eat the small; it is the fast who eat the slow. As for those who are neither large nor fast, well... let’s just say that the Cayman Islands – with a popula- tion of 55,000 and land mass of 100 square miles – cannot lag in the slow lane. Which is why we have some reservations about a recent announcement from Cayman’s govern- ment in relation to U.K. and European-driven initia- tives to create public, centralized databases con- taining benefi cial ownership information for locally registered companies. First, this Editorial Board supports the position taken on this issue by Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton and Premier Alden McLaughlin – namely, that Cayman will continue to adhere to international standards on accountability and trans- parency, but will defi nitely not be pushed into imple- menting potentially onerous (and expensive) new regulations ahead of our competitors, particularly the large G20 nations. The government’s latest declarative underlines, and refi nes, that position, stating that lawmakers plan to approve new legislation to speed up the current process for responding to information requests and to require corporate service providers to provide annual ownership information to the General Registry. On their face, those moves seem practical and, according to government, were aided by feedback provided by respondents to a government survey of companies, individuals and groups. It is prudent, and commonplace, for any organization, in the public or private sector, to listen to the opinions of practitioners in a given fi eld or to bring in outside “experts,” such as academicians, because of their informed perspective. However, in this instance, – and this is where our eyebrows start to ascend – the government’s report dated Dec. 30, 2014, was based on a “public consultation” period that ended last February, 10 months earlier. This 10-page document (not including appendices) either took an inordinate amount of time to write or was delayed considerably before its release. Given the international arena in which cross-border fi nance takes place, and the aggressiveness exhibited by the U.K. and EU regulators on this issue in the past year, it is concerning that Cayman’s intended response is being based on responses collected so long ago. What took so long? More generally in Cayman, too often the fruits of so-called “public consultation” are unnecessary delay or “political cover” for legislators, who routinely “consult the public” on the most mundane of matters. Our current favorite is the super-slow-motion approach to adjusting speed limits on some of Grand Cayman’s streets (particularly West Bay Road, which due to several pedestrian deaths has been the subject of such discussions for years). In this case, public con- sultation began in November 2013, and the proposals were sent to Cabinet in February 2014. Nothing has been heard of them since. Speed (on addressing fi nancial matters or on our roadways), we emphasize, is not “of the essence.” Increasingly, it IS the essence. Eliminating ‘speed bumps’ in Cayman governance MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015 • CAYMAN COMPASS Obama’s Cuba deal: Nylons for nothing WASHINGTON – There’s an old Cold War joke — pre- pantyhose — that to de- feat communism we should empty our B-52 bombers of nuclear weapons and instead drop nylons over the Soviet Union. Flood the Russians with the soft consumer cul- ture of capitalism, seduce them with Western contact and commerce, love bomb them into freedom. We did win the Cold War, but differently. We contained, constrained, squeezed and eventually exhausted the Soviets into giving up. The dis- sidents inside subsequently told us how much they were sustained by our support for them and our implacable pressure on their oppressors. The logic behind President Obama’s Cuba normalization, assuming there is one, is the nylon strategy. We tried 50 years of containment and that didn’t bring democracy. So let’s try inundating them with American goods, visitors, cul- ture, contact, commerce. It’s not a crazy argument. But it does have its weak- nesses. Normalization has not advanced democracy in China or Vietnam. Indeed, it hasn’t done so in Cuba. Except for the U.S., Cuba has had normal relations with the rest of the world for de- cades. Tourists, trade, invest- ment from Canada, France, Britain, Spain, everywhere. An avalanche of nylons — and not an inch of movement in Cuba toward freedom. In fact, one could argue that this infl ux of Western money has helped preserve the dictatorship, as just about all the fi nancial transactions go through the government, which takes for itself before any trickle-down crumbs are allowed to reach the regime- indentured masses. My view is that police- state control of every as- pect of Cuban life is so thor- oughly perfected that outside infl uences, whether confron- tational or cooperative, only minimally affect the coun- try’s domestic trajectory. So why not just lift the em- bargo? After all, the unassail- able strategic rationale for iso- lating Cuba — in the Soviets’ mortal global struggle with us, Cuba enlisted as a highly committed enemy beach- head 90 miles from American shores — evaporated with the collapse of the Soviet empire. A small island with no signifi - cant independent military ca- pacities, Cuba became geopo- litically irrelevant. That’s been partially re- versed in the last few years as Vladimir Putin has repo- sitioned Russia as America’s leading geopolitical adversary and the Castros signed up for that coalition too. Cuba has reportedly agreed to reopen the Soviet-era Lourdes espi- onage facility, a massive lis- tening post for intercepting communications. Havana and Moscow have also discussed the use of Cuban airfi elds for Russia’s nuclear-capable long- range bombers. This in addition to Cuba’s usual hemispheric mischief, such as training and equip- ping the security and repres- sion apparatus in Venezuela. No mortal threat, I grant you. And not enough to jus- tify forever cutting off Cuba. But it does raise the ques- tion: With the U.S. embargo al- ready in place and the Castros hungry to have it lifted, why give them trade, investment, hard currency, prestige and worldwide legitimacy — for nothing in return? Obama brought back nothing on democratization, a staggering betrayal of Cuba’s human rights crusaders. No free speech. No free assembly. No independent political par- ties. No hint of free elections. Not even the kind of 1975 Helsinki Final Act that we got from the Soviets as part of de- tente, granting structure and review to human rights prom- ises. These provided us with signifi cant leverage in sup- porting the dissident move- ments in Eastern Europe that eventually brought down communist rule. If Obama insisted on giving away the store, why not at least do it item by item? We relax part of the embargo in return for, say, Internet ac- cess. And tie further normal- ization to serial relaxations of police-state repression. Oh, what hypocrisy, say the Obama acolytes. Did we not normalize relations with China and get no human rights quid pro quo? True. But that was never a prospect. The entire pur- pose was geopolitical and the payoff was monumental: We walked away with the most signifi cant anti-Soviet strategic realignment of the entire Cold War, formally breaking up the communist bloc and gaining China’s neu- trality, and occasional sup- port, in our half-century struggle to dismantle the Soviet empire. From Cuba, Obama didn’t even get a token gesture. Not even a fi g leaf such as, say, withdrawal of secret police support in Venezuela. Or ex- tradition of American crimi- nals now fugitive in Cuba, in- cluding a notorious cop killer. Did we even ask? Obama seems to believe that the one-way deal was win-win. A famous victory — the Cuba issue is now behind us. A breakthrough. Indeed it is. You know how to achieve a break- through in tough negotia- tions? Give everything away. Try it. You’ll have a deal by noon. Every time. Charles Krauthammer’s email address is letters@charleskrauthammer.com. © 2015, Washington Post Writers Group If Obama insisted on giving away the store, why not at least do it item by item? We relax part of the embargo in return for, say, Internet access. And tie further normalization to serial relaxations of police-state repression. Charles KrauthammerKrauthammer5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015 RED DRESS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015 M ARRIOTT BALLROOM TICKETS CI$150 per person or CI$1,350 per table of 10 CONTACT info@caymanheartfund.com or 345.916.6324 WELCOME DRINKS & HORS D’OEUVRES AT 6.30PM • SEMI-FORMAL LIVE AUCTION • PRIZE FOR BEST 60s STYLE • DANCING BEATLES + EAGLES = BEAGLE M ANIA! PRESENTED BY Sea ‘N’ B Field of dreams gets reality check CIFA hopeful of progress on soccer center of excellence JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com When world soccer chief Sepp Blatter visited the Cayman Islands in 2009 for the groundbreaking cere- mony of a new center of ex- cellence, Cayman Islands football officials outlined lofty goals for a state-of-the- art facility. “I want it to be the pre- mier location of the whole re- gion and attract players from across the world,” Jeff Webb, then president of the Cayman Islands Football Association, told reporters at the event to open new administrative of- fices and announce plans for the development of three football pitches, dormitories and a gymnasium. Five years later, and in spite of a reported $1.8 mil- lion in spending, mostly through grants from world football’s governing body FIFA, the dream has yet to materialize. The 18-acre plot, donated to the association by govern- ment, is largely wetlands and has been plagued by drainage problems. Though the land was free, turning it into a usable football facility is proving a difficult and costly process. The one field that has been developed is not fit for football of any kind. CIFA says all that is about to change. The organization has secured another $500,000 from FIFA’s GOAL project to lay artificial turf. President Bruce Blake said last month that the dream of a world-class center of excel- lence remains alive. He said FIFA selected Dutch firm Edel Grass to lay the turf, while Island Paving was recruited to assist with construction, including raising the level of the field. Much of the money that has been spent at the site so far has been used for fill in an effort to turn low-lying wet- lands into developable land. “The majority of the work so far has been fill,” said Mr. Blake. He added that much more work would be required over a number of years to de- velop the site, some of which is swamp, into dormitories and soccer pitches. Efforts to develop a natural turf pitch at the site proved futile, with salt- water killing the grass, leaving a patchy brown surface. “We couldn’t get the grass to grow,” Mr. Blake acknowledged. Mark Scotland, CIFA’s youth development director, said the cost of maintaining the surface as a grass pitch in those conditions is pro- hibitive, and the decision was taken to make a new bid to FIFA for an Astroturf pitch. That funding was ap- proved in March, and CIFA officials believe the pitch could be in place by May. “The next phase of the project involves raising the base to get it clear of the water table and installing the Astroturf,” Mr. Scotland said. He acknowledged there have been setbacks, but said the difficulties are down to the quality of the land and the realities of operating as a nonprofit organization in the Cayman Islands. He said despite the site’s apparent lack of suitability for football and the amount of work required to make it usable, it is still the best and cheapest option to develop the center of excellence. Mr. Blake added that the plans have been adapted and now ultimately include two floodlit Astroturf pitches, dor- mitories and two beach soccer pitches. “Once we realized the situation with the swamp, we had to adjust the plans ac- cordingly,” he said. The cur- rent funding is just for one pitch, and the other pieces of the puzzle may take several years to fall into place. “That’s the reality of being a nonprofit organization,” said Mr. Scotland. He said CIFA would continue to apply for funding through FIFA’s GOAL project, with the long- term aim of having a facility that can be used by Cayman’s national teams as well as vis- iting squads. Mr. Blake said the pitches would also help address a general shortage of playing fields in Cayman. He said the facility would help Cayman football move forward. “This is for all of our na- tional teams to have one lo- cation and also our national team staff, where we can de- velop our national teams. And I think it’s only when we can get a project like this off the ground where we will see a long-term improvement in our national teams,” he said. BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com After more than a year since being excluded from performing HIV tests for work permit applicants, local medical clinics have resumed the tests, apparently with the silent consent of the govern- ment and the regulatory body of medical practitioners. However, there has been no official announcement ei- ther from the Immigration Department or from the Cayman Islands Health Practice Commission about the shift in policy. Neither entity has responded to numerous re- quests for clarification on the issue. Cayman Islands Medical and Dental Society president Dr. Wilbert Veit sent an email to the chief immigration of- ficer on Oct. 20, seeking clarifi- cation on behalf of the council regarding who can conduct the work permit HIV tests. “There is no statement on the immigration web site referencing and refuting the prior policy of restric- tion to seven labs,” Dr. Veit’s email said. “A number of our member doctors have re- ported significant negative impact to the income of their practices due to the confu- sion resulting from the gov- ernment’s continued silence on this issue.” The email continued: “The [Cayman] Compass has been continuing to ask for state- ments from [the medical and dental society], but we have so far deferred, still preferring this to be resolved internally through your department.” Immigration has never re- sponded, and the chief immi- gration officer, Linda Evans, to whom the email was sent, was placed on leave as of Dec. 1 over various administrative issues under investigation in the department. Acting Chief Immigration Officer Bruce Smith has not responded to requests for comment about the issue. In November 2013, it was announced that blood test results required for the approval of work permits can be obtained from only seven medical labs – six in Grand Cayman and one in Cayman Brac. The seven labs were on the Health Practice Commission’s approved list of registered healthcare lab providers. They were the labs at Cayman Islands Hospital, Faith Hospital, Chrissie Tomlinson Memorial Hospital, Medlab, Cayman Health, Phoenix Laboratory and TrinCay Medical. The reason for the change appeared to be that some health clinics were using test kits for HIV/AIDS testing, rather than submitting the blood for a full lab analysis, according to then-Health Practice Commission deputy chairman Marc Lockhart. Dr. Lockhart said that wasn’t the case with all clinics, and that the commis- sion’s decision was no reflec- tion on the professionalism of the health clinics. Rather, he said, the commission was keen to observe a professional standard in administering the tests to work permit holders. “There are certain labs that have not been licensed to provide certain types of tests on the island,” Dr. Lockhart said. “In terms of keeping the quality…it is best to keep that standard with the es- tablished labs on the islands. We’re not saying that you can’t [have a kit test]. We’re just saying, if it’s going to be accepted for a legitimate pur- pose from a governmental standpoint…then it needs to be done in a recognized, reg- istered facility.” In the shift of govern- ment that occurred in 2013, the members of the Health Practice Commission were re- placed, placing Dr. Ruthlyn Pomares in charge of the com- mission. Dr. Pomares has not commented on the issue either. “The prior directive on the immigration web site…remain[s] in the public’s mind since no public announcement regarding the change in policy has been made,” Dr. Veit’s letter indicated. WORK PERMIT FLAP OVER HIV TESTS UNRESOLVED Much of the 18-acre site is wetlands, making it difficult to develop. – PHOTOS: JAMES WHITTAKER A plaque marks the 2009 groundbreaking ceremony at the work-in- progress CIFA center of excellence.6 LOCAL NEWS Check out these photos and others by visiting caymancompass.com/photogalleries or on facebook.com/caycompass (and don’t forget to tag yourself and your friends!) MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015 • CAYMAN COMPASS The New Year’s Day Garden Party, a century-old tradition put on by the congregation of Webster Memorial United Church, is an occasion for Bodden Town residents and visitors to get together with friends and family, participate in a variety of activities and sample local food. The children and women dance around a Maypole, and everyone enjoys the seaside at- mosphere among the trees. - PHOTOS: JEWEL LEVY The Maypole is a popular traditional dance enjoyed by residents at New Year’s garden parties. Donna Grech-Baxendale, left, and Ceta Fuentes show they still have what it takes to hula hoop. Ermine Berry kept the food coming. The children enjoyed wagon rides. Attendees enjoy each other’s company after sampling dishes like egg custard and yam cake from the sweets table. Seafood was in abundance on the menu. A menu of homemade cakes and buns drew visitors to the sweets table. Dancers enjoy the music played by Lammie and Swanky Band. Niya and Narrissa Mothen get painted designs from Ashli Welcome. Local sorrel, seville oranges, books and knicknacks were on the sale table.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015 GATEWAY OF INDIA New Opening Hours TUE THRU SUN 5:00PM TO 10:00PM FRIDAY ALL YOU CAN EAT LUNCH BUFFET $12.95 11:30 TO 2:30 MONDAY CLOSED 946-2815 Dr. Donald E. Machen DMD MSD MD Board Certified Orthodontist Professor of Orthodontics Located at Pasadora Family Dental Centre Pasadora Place Smith Road, GT. He will be in office from Friday January 9th to Saturday the 10th, 2015 www.pasadorafamilydental.ky Call 943 2222 to book an appointment. Warm Holiday Wishes and Happy New Year Dr. Neeraj Prasad Cardiologist Will be visiting Grand Harbour Medical Center January 12th 2015 to January 16th 2015 Please call 949-4309 or 623-4309 for appointments. a gallon gas on Christmas Eve. Most other stations, Rubis or Esso-Sol, were hovering around the $5.09 to $5.14 per gallon mark. While lauding the steady price reductions at the pump since Halloween, chief petroleum inspector Duke Munroe said he was a bit disappointed in the overall retail pricing on Grand Cayman. “We expected prices to break the $5 threshold be- fore the end of 2014,” Mr. Munroe said. He said fuel inspec- tors would be making the rounds at local stations again Friday to “gauge what is happening” across the territory, and said he hoped to report back to the public by Monday at the latest. “The [price] slide con- tinues on the global scale for crude oil, hence refined petroleum product prices. However, the caveat is that the spread is not constant,” Mr. Munroe said. “With reference to Brent (North Sea/Europe) price benchmark, the price differential between highs and lows per barrel of crude prices were on average US$6.50 per month in the second and third quarters of 2014. In the last quarter of 2014 however, it doubled; the price spread was on av- erage $13 per month. The actual (net) reduction over this period is US$57 per barrel, just about 50% of the highest price recorded for 2014. “Of much more rele- vance to us, the average refined prices for gasoline and diesel were falling at an estimated 8 cents per U.S. gallon per month in the second and third quar- ters of 2014. However, that quintupled in the last quarter to approximately 40 cents per U.S. gallon (per month).” Mr. Munroe said he ex- pected some further decline in local fuel prices, despite whether the international pricing trends continued or even if they remained at current price levels. “I think the oil compa- nies have acknowledged this by explaining the lag effect on their pricing strategy,” Mr. Munroe said. In other words, Cayman stations still have some catching up to do, based on average fuel prices re- corded by the American Automobile Association. The U.S. national av- erage for a gallon of reg- ular, unleaded gas sold at retail stations peaked sometime in June at US$3.67. Since then, the na- tional average retail price has steadily dipped, with a reduction of US$1.43 in about six months. Cayman’s fuel prices, which stayed at a peak be- tween June and October, only began to drop in late October. Since then, average prices have dropped by 48 cents a gallon. Mr. Munroe said the Cayman Islands public should consider - in ad- dition to the typical lag in retail price reductions because of the way fuel is supplied here – that Cayman stations sell gas in imperial gallons, 20 per- cent larger than the stan- dard U.S. gallon. Also, gas- oline weighs more heavily in fuel price averages, which has driven down average price figures in the U.S. a bit more than in Cayman, he said. was just as happy with the girls. Dad said it did not matter to him: “I welcomed anything that came.” The Thompsons’ desire was to give birth to the trip- lets in Cayman, however, they traveled to Miami out of pre- caution on the recommenda- tions of Sheena’s physician, Dr. El Madany. “He thought at this stage...it was a high-risk pregnancy, so we decided to go to Miami. Dr. El Madany is great. The babies were not delivered in Cayman, but all the praise and thanks go to him because he is the reason Sheena got this far along,” Mr. Thompson said. According to Mr. Thompson, they knew before- hand that triplets were girls. “Sheena and Jayden picked out the names and I was happy with their choices,” Mr. Thompson said. The babies will be stay in the hospital for three weeks until they are deemed full-term babies at 35 weeks before they are released. Mr. Thompson said they will return back to Cayman, where family and friends are waiting to see the babies. Mr. Thompson is an entre- preneur, and Mrs. Thompson is with RBC Wealth Management, at Royal Bank of Canada. Islands’ first homicide of 2015 occurred in West Bay. Just before 3 a.m. Saturday, 22-year-old Victor Oliver Yates was shot in a restau- rant on Watercourse Road. Police and emergency med- ical services found Mr. Yates, a West Bay resident, on the floor at Super C’s Restaurant. Emergency personnel took Mr. Yates to the Cayman Islands Hospital, where he died from his injuries. The Boatswains Bay area of West Bay where Mr. Yates was shot has been a trouble spot over the years. A 40-year- old man was shot in the same area in January 2009, and a 56-year-old man was shot in the immediate vicinity in July 2013. In August 2014, police responded to a report of gun- fire in the area and found a number of spent shell casings and bullet holes in a house and a plywood sign. Another death occurred at sea on Saturday. A little after 5 p.m., police received a re- port of an 18-foot vessel in distress near Sand Quay, a small island in South Sound. A short time later, four people were spotted in the water. According to police, mem- bers of the public rendered assistance and brought the four individuals ashore, one of whom was unconscious. A doctor at the scene rendered CPR to the male but was un- able to revive him. It was later confirmed that the four people were Cuban migrants on their way to Honduras when their vessel encountered rough seas. They attempted to seek safe harbor at Sand Quay, but their vessel was overturned by a strong wave. The three surviving migrants were transferred to the custody of the Immigration Department. The circumstances sur- rounding the water-related death of the Cuban migrant is under investigation by the Marine Department of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service. Police ask anyone with information on the road fatality to call the Cayman Brac Police Station at 948-0331, and anyone with information on the shooting to call the West Bay Police Station at 949-3999. Members of the public with information about either incident can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 800-8477. Fuel prices continue slow decline at the pump CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “We expected prices to break the $5 threshold before the end of 2014.” DUKE MUNROE, chief petroleum inspector CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 New year off to deadly start CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Family welcomes triplets born on New Year’s Day NASA explores inflatable spacecraft technology NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Devising a way to one day land astro- nauts on Mars is a complex problem and NASA scientists think something as simple as a child’s toy design may help solve the problem. Safely landing a large spacecraft on the Red planet is just one of many engineering challenges the agency faces as it eyes an ambitious goal of sending humans into deep space later this century. At NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, engineers have been working to develop an inflatable heat shield that looks a lot like a super-sized version of a stacking ring of doughnuts that infants play with. The engineers believe a light- weight, inflatable heat shield could be deployed to slow the craft to enter a Martian atmosphere much thinner than Earth’s. Such an inflatable heat shield could help a space- craft reach the high-altitude southern plains of Mars and other areas that would oth- erwise be inaccessible under existing technology. The ex- perts note that rockets alone can’t be used to land a large craft on Mars as can be done on the atmosphereless moon. Parachutes also won’t work for a large spacecraft needed to send humans to Mars, they add. Hence the inflatable rings. The rings would be filled with nitrogen and cov- ered with a thermal blanket. Once deployed for landing, the rings would sit atop the spacecraft, somewhat resem- bling a giant mushroom. “We try to not use pro- pulsion if we don’t have to,” said Neil Cheatwood, the se- nior engineer at Langley for advanced entry, descent and landing systems. “We make use of that atmosphere as much as we can, because it means we don’t have to carry all that fuel with us.” NASA’s leaders acknowl- edge that getting humans safely to and from Mars as early as the 2030s will poses extreme challenges. The agency’s scientists ac- knowledge they also must design new in-space pro- pulsion systems, advanced spacesuits, long-term living habitats aboard spacecraft – even communication systems for deep space. Work is proceeding, some- times fitfully. The inflatable structure of a Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, background, made up of high- tech fabric rings, similar to those seen in the foreground, at NASA Langley research center in Hampton, Virginia. - PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015 • CAYMAN COMPASS Palestinians likely to face sanctions Israeli leaders on Sunday threatened to take tougher action against the Palestinians over their decision to join the International Criminal Court, a day after freezing the transfer of more than $100 million in tax funds. The Family of the late Lawrence ( Larry) Stuart Johnston Migrant flow into US from Caribbean spikes in past year MIAMI (AP) — Just starting a five-year sentence for ille- gally re-entering the United States, George Lewis stared at the officers staring back at him at Miami’s federal de- tention center and consid- ered whether he’d risk get- ting on another smuggler’s boat – a chance that soaring numbers of Caribbean is- landers are taking – once he’s deported again. U.S. authorities deported Lewis following a four-year sentence for a felony drug conviction in May 2013 to the Bahamas, where he was born but lived only briefly. His Haitian mother brought him to Miami as an infant, and though he always considered the U.S. home, he never be- came a legal resident. Just five months after he was deported, he got on a Bahamian smuggler’s boat with over a dozen other people trying to sneak into Florida. It capsized and four Haitian women drowned. He and the others were rescued. So would he dare make another attempt? “Yeah,” Lewis, 39, said with a sigh. But, he added, “I would put on a life vest next time.” A recent spike in Cubans attempting to reach the United States by sea has gen- erated headlines. But the numbers of Haitians and other Caribbean islanders making similar journeys are up even more. And while fed- eral law grants legal resi- dency to Cubans reaching U.S. soil, anyone else can be detained and deported. That law, the so-called wet foot-dry foot policy, and Coast Guard operations re- lated to migrants remain un- changed even as Cuban and U.S. leaders say they are re- storing diplomatic relations after more than 50 years. “The Coast Guard strongly discourages attempts to il- legally enter the country by taking to the sea. These trips are extremely dangerous. Individuals located at sea may be returned to Cuba,” said Lt. Cmdr. Gabe Somma, spokesman for the Coast Guard’s 7th District in Miami. According to the Coast Guard, in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, U.S. au- thorities captured, inter- cepted or chased away at least 5,585 Haitians, 3,940 Cubans and hundreds from the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean coun- tries attempting to sneak into the country. That’s at least 3,000 more migrants intercepted than in the previous fiscal year. It’s also the highest number of Haitian migrants docu- mented in five years and the highest number of Cubans recorded in six. It’s un- known how many made it to U.S. shores without get- ting caught, or how many died trying. More than 1,920 migrants – most of them Cuban or Haitian – have been inter- cepted so far in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Coast Guard worries that number will only increase as news spreads about re- cent changes to the U.S. im- migration system, including fast-tracking visas for some Haitians already approved to join family here and an executive order signed by President Barack Obama that would make millions already illegally in the U.S. eligible for work permits and protection from deportation. “Any perceived changes to U.S. immigration policy can cause a spike in immigration because it gives a glimmer of hope,” even to people not el- igible under those changes, said Capt. Mark Fedor, chief of response for the Coast Guard’s 7th District. It’s unclear why the num- bers are jumping. Poverty and political repression have long caused Caribbean is- landers to attempt the journey, and the outlook re- mains dismal for many. Coast Guard and U.S. immigration officials think another calm summer without many trop- ical storms and a recovering U.S. economy might have en- couraged more to take to the sea. They also say the in- creased captures may reflect better law enforcement. Smuggling operations in the region range from indi- vidual opportunists looking to use their vessels for extra money to sophisticated net- works that may add drug shipments to their human cargo, said Carmen Pino, an official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami. Smugglers also lure people, especially in rela- tively new routes that send Haitians into the neigh- boring Dominican Republic to board boats bound for Puerto Rico. Lewis said he easily talked his way onto a smuggler’s boat with about a dozen Haitians and Jamaicans hoping to make it to Florida under the cover of darkness. He just struck up a conver- sation with some locals at a sports bar in Bimini, a small cluster of Bahamian islands 57 miles off Miami, where Lewis figured he could find a boat home. “It was like getting a number from a girl. I just needed the right line,” Lewis said in an interview in November. The failed trip cost $4,000. After his rescue, U.S. au- thorities initially accused him of being a smuggler, partly because he was the only person on board with a phone, which he used to call 911 when the boat started taking on water. He scoffed at the allegation. He remem- bered that on the boat he was talking to a teenage Haitian girl and thinking about his mother’s boat trip from Haiti to the Bahamas as a young girl, a crossing he never thought he would emulate. “I said, ‘Run behind me when we hit land.’” He said. “ I said, ‘Follow me, I’ll get you there.’” Now Lewis finds him- self back in the U.S. but not at home and facing an- other forced return to the Bahamas, a homeland he doesn’t know and where the government considers Haitians who have migrated illegally and their children an unwanted burden. Lewis knows he’d try to reach the U.S. again. “It’s not worth losing your life, but what life do you have when you have a whole country against you? I’m completely alienated from a country where I’m supposed to be from,” Lewis said. © 2015, The Washington Post While federal law grants legal residency to Cubans reaching U.S. soil, anyone else can be detained and deported. A group of migrants standing on their overturned boat off the coast of Port St. Lucie, Florida, in February 2014. - PHOTO: AP REFUGEES EXPAND CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN REMOTE TEXAS CITIES AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — A new Thai and sushi restau- rant sits on a busy corner, not far from the vast prairie that once epitomized the early cattle ranching days of Texas. Only five years ago, owner Saw Lawla left his home country of Myanmar and reset- tled in Los Angeles through a federal refugee program. Vexed by big-city life, Lawla was lured to the Panhandle in 2011 by cheaper living, employment at a meat processing plant and a growing population of other Myanmar refugees. “For our people, here is the best place,” said the 40-year- old, who recently opened Bagan Restaurant after pooling funds with four other refugees. “They can find a future here.” Despite its reputation for anti-immigrant politicians, Texas has led the nation in ref- ugee resettlements for the last four years and continues to at- tract others who move here on their own, due in large part to a strong economy. Most are settled in large cities, but im- migrant populations are also thriving in more remote areas like Amarillo, where subtle aspects of far-away cultures have taken root. “We’ve just adapted,” Moore County Judge Rowdy Rhoades said. His county, just north of Amarillo, will soon have a third mosque to serve the population of Somalis and people from Myanmar who work at a nearby meat processing plant. “They’re just here to provide for their family, like anyone.”9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015 First black elected US senator dies Republican Edward Brooke was 95 BOSTON (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Edward W. Brooke, a lib- eral Republican who became the first black in U.S. his- tory to win popular election to the Senate, died Saturday. He was 95. Brooke died of natural causes at his Coral Gables, Florida, home, said Ralph Neas, Brooke’s former chief counsel. Brooke was sur- rounded by his family. Brooke was elected to the Senate in 1966, becoming the first black to sit in that branch from any state since Reconstruction and one of nine blacks who have ever served there – including Barack Obama. After Obama’s presiden- tial election in 2008, Brooke told The Associated Press he was “thankful to God” that he had lived to witness the his- toric accomplishment. But it was the president who remembered Brooke with praise Saturday. “Senator Brooke led an extraordinary life of public service,” Obama said in a statement. “As the first African-American elected as a state’s Attorney General and first African-American U.S. Senator elected after re- construction, Ed Brooke stood at the forefront of the battle for civil rights and eco- nomic fairness.” A Republican in a largely Democratic state, Brooke was one of Massachusetts’ most popular political figures during most of his 12 years in the Senate. Brooke earned his rep- utation as a Senate liberal partly by becoming the first Republican senator to pub- licly urge President Richard Nixon to resign. He helped lead the forces in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment and was a defender of school busing to achieve racial in- tegration, a bitterly divisive issue in Boston. He also lent his name to the Brooke amendment to the federal housing act, passed in 1969, which limited to 25 percent the amount of in- come a family must pay for rent in public housing. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Saturday described Brooke as “a model of courage and honesty in office.” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the state’s first black governor, said: “I have lost a friend and mentor.” Secretary of State John Kerry, a former U.S. senator from Massachusetts, said Brooke showed “remarkable political courage.” Late in his second term, Brooke divorced his wife of 31 years, Remigia, in a stormy proceeding that at- tracted national attention. Repercussions from the case spurred an investiga- tion into his personal fi- nances by the Senate Ethics Committee and a probe by the state welfare depart- ment and ultimately cost him the 1978 election. He was defeated by Democrat Rep. Paul E. Tsongas. Tsongas’s widow, U.S. Rep. Nikki Tsongas, said Saturday that Brooke’s career was “as courageous as it was historic.” In a Boston Globe inter- view in 2000, Brooke recalled the pain of losing his bid for a third term. “It was just a divorce case. It was never about my work in the Senate. There was never a charge that I committed a crime, or even nearly committed a crime,” Brooke said. In 2008, pioneering news- woman Barbara Walters said she had an affair with the then-married Brooke in the 1970s, but it ended be- fore he lost the 1978 elec- tion. She called him “exciting” and “brilliant.” Brooke received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a White House ceremony in 2004. Five years later, Brooke received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award Congress has to honor civilians. He cited then the issues facing Congress – healthcare, the economy and the wars over- seas – and called on law- makers to put their partisan differences aside. “We’ve got to get together,” Brooke said, turning his eyes to Senate GOP Leader McConnell. “We have no al- ternative. There’s nothing left. It’s time for politics to be put aside on the back burner.” As Brooke sought the Senate seat in 1966, pro- files in the national media reminded readers that he had won office handily in a state where blacks made up just 2 percent of the popu- lation – the state that had also given the nation its only Roman Catholic president, John F. Kennedy. He beat Democrat Endicott Peabody, a former governor who also sup- ported civil rights, by a 3-to-2 margin despite predic- tions of a “white backlash” against him. Commenting on Brooke’s election and other develop- ments that day, Martin Luther King Jr. said that “despite ap- peals to bigotry of an inten- sity and vulgarity never be- fore witnessed in the North, millions of white voters re- mained unshaken in their commitment to decency.” “Senator Brooke led an extraordinary life of public service.” PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA After crash, 7-year-old walks through woods to safety KUTTAWA, Ky. (AP) — When the small plane crashed into the woods, 7-year-old Sailor Gutzler called out to her family. No one responded. She thought they might be knocked out, or possibly dead. Either way, police said, she knew she needed to get help. So, bleeding and alone, Sailor, dressed in a short- sleeve shirt, shorts and one sock, walked about a mile in near-freezing tempera- tures through thick briar patches and woods before she found Larry Wilkins’ home. She knocked on the door, and he answered to find a thin, black- haired girl, whimpering and trembling. “She literally fell out of the sky into a dark hole and didn’t have anybody but her own will to live and get help for her family,” Kentucky Police Lt. Brent White said. “Absolutely amazing.” Wilkins said the girl had a “bloody nose, bloody arms, bloody legs, one sock, no shoes, crying.” “She told me that her mom and dad were dead, and she had been in a plane crash, and the plane was up- side down,” Wilkins said. Federal Aviation Administration officials ar- rived at the crash scene Saturday to try to deter- mine why the small Piper PA-34 crashed on Friday eve- ning, killing four people, in- cluding the girl’s parents, Marty Gutzler, 48, and his wife, Kimberly Gutzler, 46, authorities said. Also killed were Sailor’s sister Piper Gutzler, 9; and cousin Sierra Wilder, 14. All were from Nashville, Illinois. The plane reported en- gine trouble and lost con- tact with air traffic control- lers around 5:55 p.m. CST, authorities said. Controllers tried to direct the pilot to an airport 5 to 7 miles from the crash scene. About 40 minutes later, 911 dispatchers received a call from Wilkins. Wilkins said he brought the girl inside, got a wash- cloth and “washed her little face off and her legs.” “Brave little girl, out- standing little girl,” he said. “I feel real bad for her.” The girl had a broken wrist, but was coherent and calm when interviewed by authorities, White said. White and Wilkins both described the terrain she walked through as heavily wooded with thick brush. White said the girl traversed two embankments, a hill and a creek bed. Wilkins said the temperatures were below 40 degrees when the girl showed up at his door. The girl was treated at a hospital and released to a relative, police said. In Nashville, a man stepped outside the family’s white, split-level home on Saturday and politely waved off a reporter. “Not now,” he said, his head lowered, before he stepped back inside. Neighbors said Marty and Kim Gutzler had life- long roots in the largely rural southern Illinois town about 50 miles east of St. Louis. Marty ran the furniture store that his father started, and the couple was well- known and well-liked, said neighbor Carla Povolish. With two basketball hoops in the driveway, the Gutzlers’ home was the center of neighborhood fun on a block full of children. “All the kids in the neigh- borhood are just so upset about this,” she said. Povolish said the two sis- ters – Sailor and Piper – were together constantly. “That’s what’s going to be so devastating for the little one,” she said. The FAA said late Friday that the plane had taken off from Tallahassee Regional Airport, Florida, and was bound for Mount Vernon, Illinois. Sailor told police the family had been to Key West, Florida. Attorney Kent Plotner, who was serving as family spokesman, said the Gutzler family was devastated. “We ask that you respect our privacy at this difficult time. Please pray for us, espe- cially for Sailor Gutzler,” the family said in a statement. “Absolutely amazing.” BRENT WHITE, Kentucky police lieutenant Former Massachusetts Sen. Edward William Brooke, in 2009. - PHOTO: AP NYC mayor eulogizes officer; cops outside turn backs NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of police turned their backs Sunday as Mayor Bill de Blasio eulogized an officer shot dead with his partner, repeating a stinging display of scorn for the mayor despite entreaties to put anger aside. The show of disrespect came outside the funeral home where Officer Wenjian Liu was remembered as an incarnation of the American dream: a man who had em- igrated from China at age 12 and devoted himself to helping others in his ad- opted country. The gesture among officers watching the mayor’s speech on a screen added to tensions between the mayor and rank-and-file police even as he sought to quiet them. “As we start a new year, a year we’re entering with hearts that are doubly heavy” from the loss of Officer Liu and his partner, Officer Rafael Ramos, “let us move forward by strengthening the bonds that unite us and let us work together to attain peace,” de Blasio said. Liu, 32, had served as a policeman for seven years and was married just two months when he was killed with his partner, Officer Rafael Ramos, on Dec. 20. Liu’s longtime aspiration to become a police officer deepened after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, his fa- ther, Wei Tang Liu, said through tears. And as he finished his daily work, the only child would call to say: “I’m coming home today. You can stop worrying now,” the fa- ther recalled during a ser- vice that blended police tra- dition with references to Buddha’s teachings. Dignitaries including FBI Director James Comey and members of Congress joined police officers from around the country in a throng of over 10,000 mourners. “When one of us loses our lives, we have to come to- gether,” said Officer Lucas Grant of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office in Augusta, Georgia. After hundreds offi- cers turned their backs to a screen where de Blasio’s remarks played during Ramos’s funeral last week, Police Commissioner William Bratton sent a memo urging respect, declaring “a hero’s funeral is about grieving, not grievance.”Next >