ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – Wednesday March 11, 2015 SportS | page 22 Merger keeps hoops coMpetitive Basketball league is grooming talent High of 86 Low of 75 Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet. editorial | page 4 Banning paraquat: a huMane act for our aniMals Rights commission pans cancer registry Brent fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands human rights watchdog has questioned whether legisla- tion requiring mandatory reporting of cancer cases in the territory goes too far beyond what would be considered reasonably justifiable or necessary in a democratic society. A bill expected to come before the Legislative Assembly for a vote next month would force doctors to report cancer cases to a government-maintained registry, with the idea of creating a more complete data profile that could be used to improve the allocation of resources and focus on fighting the disease in Cayman. If physicians failed to report such cases, they could face criminal penalties, in- cluding fines. Currently there are about 250 names on Cayman’s voluntary cancer registry, but pa- tients must agree to report their case before their name is added. In a letter sent to Health Ministry Chief Officer Jennifer Ahearn last week, the rights commission noted that while the draft Cancer Registry Bill “apparently seeks to pursue a le- gitimate objective,” it was unclear to the com- mission how that objective would be achieved and whether the legislation seeking to achieve it was “proportionate” in its methods. For instance, the bill states that every re- port made to the cancer registry should con- tain: the full name and business address of the patient and their doctor, including any aliases used; their date of birth; gender; ethnicity; a mailing address; occupation; nationality; and length of residence in the Cayman Islands. Citing the constitutionally guaranteed right to private and family life within the Cayman Islands, Human Rights Commission Chairman James Austin-Smith has questioned how much of the information required on the cancer reports is necessary “in the interests of public health.” “The commission requests the Cayman Islands government provide the public with Government backs paraquat ban Brent fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Islands Cabinet ministers con- firmed this week that the government would move to ban the importation of the chem- ical herbicide paraquat following sus- tained community pressure to do so over the past few years. Finance Minister Marco Archer said the issue had been decided in the Progressives government caucus meeting about two weeks ago, but that details of the ban had not been worked out. Assuming approval was granted by Cabinet members, the ban could likely be handled via a regulatory change to a list of prohibited chemicals maintained by the Cayman Islands university board chair resiGns charles duncan cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com The chairwoman of the board of the University College of the Cayman Islands, Sheree Ebanks, resigned last week, citing concerns over conflicts of interest in her primary job as head of the Cayman accountants association. Ms. Ebanks came under fire recently when she called UCCI’s business administration as- sociate’s degree “essentially meaningless.” She New airport design more than doubles size charles duncan cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com Airport officials unveiled the new design for Owen Roberts International Airport this week. The airport will more than double in size and in the amount of passengers it can comfortably handle. Airport representatives and architects working on the new $55-million airport say the new building will be constructed in four phases, allowing the airport to stay in con- tinuous operation throughout the project. The new building will have more than 200,000 square feet and triple the space for public areas in the terminals, a new air-con- ditioned indoor waiting area for arrivals, and more space for retail and food vendors. Steve Harrill, an architect with U.S.- based design firm RS&H, said this week that the design is 30 percent complete. “There are a lot of details that aren’t worked out, but a lot of the big picture items are,” he said. He expects to begin construction late this summer on the first phase of the project. If things stay on schedule, the com- pleted airport could be ready in the first half of 2018. Mr. Harrill said the building, which cur- rently has capacity for 1 million annual travelers, will be able to host 2.7 million an- nual passengers comfortably, which would be large enough to meet demand for 20- year estimates on how many passengers could pass through Owen Roberts. This architect’s rendering shows an aerial view of the planned new airport building at Owen Roberts International Airport. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 »2 WEDNESDAY MARCH 11, 2015 • CAYMAN COMPASS REGIONAL www.tonymosleylifeinsurance.com If the speed of your internet does not allow you to enjoy a night of binge-viewing, then why not switch to a real quality connection? Contact us about our Fibre Internet and TV options today! www. REGmovies.com SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any lm starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. © 21st Century Fox UNFINISHED BUSINESS (R) 1:20 | 3:35 | 7:15 | 9:30 CHAPPIE (R) 12:50 | 3:40 | 7:00 | 9:45 KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (R) 3:45 | 9:50 SEVENTH SON 3D (PG13) 1:10 | 7:10 LAZARUS EFFECT (PG13) 1:00 | 3:10 | 5:20 | 7:30 | 10:10 FOCUS (R) 1:30 | 4:10 | 7:20 | 10:00 SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS 3D (PG) 12:45 2D | 3:00 | 5:15 2D | 7:30 | 9:50 2D *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. - WEDNESDAY - French Olympians among 10 dead in Argentina air crash PARIS (AP) — Much of France was in mourning and looking for answers on Tuesday over the crash of two helicopters in a remote part of Argentina that killed 10 people, three of them French sports stars taking part in a glitzy new reality TV show. Olympic champion swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine, and pioneering sailor Florence Arthaud died in Monday’s crash. They had been among the contestants in the reality TV show “Dropped.” The helicopters appar- ently collided in the air near Villa Castelli, about 730 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, La Rioja regional Secretary of Security Cesar Angulo told TN television. All 10 people on board – eight French na- tionals and two Argentine pi- lots – were killed. Photographs and mobile- phone footage showed the burning wreckage of the he- licopters in dry scrubland of a sparsely populated area along the Andes moun- tain range that separates Argentina and Chile. The crash was believed to be one the deadliest inci- dents yet related to reality TV shows, a sub-genre of which involves taking celebrities and others to far-flung places to face challenges against the natural elements, both phys- ical and mental. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France’s foreign ministry is in con- tact with authorities in Argentina to determine what caused the crash. President Francois Hollande expressed “immense sadness” about the deaths. The Paris prosecutor’s of- fice opened an investiga- tion for possible involuntary manslaughter, which is to be conducted by a research unit of the French air trans- port police, a French police official said. The deaths were likely to place new attention on risks involved with such shows. Two years ago, TF1 – France’s leading private-sector net- work, which aired the pro- gram – canceled the season of the “Survivor”-like show “Koh Lanta” after a 25-year- old participant died of a heart attack on the first day of filming in Cambodia. Show producer Adventure Line Productions was behind both programs. In a state- ment, the company said its staffers were “devastated” and “share the deep pain of the families and loved ones.” Nonce Paolini, CEO of TF1, said: “We don’t know the circumstances but what I can tell you is that, obviously, such a program was made to bring happiness to all, and I think that both the tech- nicians and the champions were happy to do this show.” “A tragic accident has un- fortunately created a terrible shock for all of us.” Angulo, the security sec- retary, said one of the heli- copters belonged to La Rioja province and the other to neighboring Santiago del Estero province. “The helicopter from La Rioja was a Eurocopter with a capacity to hold six people. It appears to have brushed against the other helicopter from Santiago del Estero shortly after takeoff,” the statement from the provin- cial government said. The crew had arrived Sunday in Villa Castelli, where it had previously filmed a version of “Dropped” for Switzerland and Denmark, said Mayor Andres Navarrete. The remaining victims were identified as Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles, as well as pi- lots Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate. The production company declined immediate comment about their roles in the show. French Secretary of State for Sport Thierry Braillard said on the BFM TV channel that “French sport has lost three stars this morning.” Vastine, 28, won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and lost in the quarterfinals four years later in London amid a sporting controversy that led him to break down in tears. He had reportedly vowed to win gold at the 2016 games in Rio. Muffat, 25, won gold in the 400-meter freestyle in London, plus a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle and a bronze in the 4 by 200- meter freestyle relay. She had since retired from swimming to focus on her personal life. The wreckage of one of two helicopters that apparently collided in midair, near Villa Castelli, in Argentina’s La Rioja province, on Tuesday. - PHOTO: AP Mr. VastineMs. MuffatMs. Arthaud3 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Wednesday March 11, 2015 178510_PRINT2-Ad-HP-ChipandPin.pPage 1 3/3/15 9:51:21 AM Public Health Dept. investigates suspected case of meningitis Jewel levy jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Public Health De- partment says it is main- taining a “heightened state of awareness and vigilance” regarding a suspected case of meningitis. Health officials say they are still awaiting laboratory test results in the case and are working with health au- thorities from overseas to determine whether a public health response is warranted. The department issued a statement on Tuesday, which follows the death last month of a young man suspected of having the disease. Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Samuel Williams said other than that one sus- pected case, no other cases of suspected meningitis have been reported to the Public Health Department. “Taking into account the information available, the Public Health Department continues to be vigilant, but we don’t believe that the population is facing an in- creased risk of developing any infectious disease related with the ‘suspected case of meningitis,’” Dr. Williams told the Cayman Compass. He said that individuals, especially children, should ensure that their scheduled vaccinations are up to date. They can do this by con- tacting the Public Health De- partment at the Cayman Is- lands Hospital for further information on vaccinations. Dr. Williams would not comment on the individual case that led to the issuing of the public health statement, due to patient confidentiality. According to Tuesday’s statement, “Preliminary lab- oratory investigations re- garding a suspected case of meningitis are still pending, but the Public Health Depart- ment is maintaining a height- ened state of awareness and vigilance.” Noting that meningitis can result from bacterial or viral infections, physical in- jury, disease or drugs, Dr. Williams said his depart- ment is awaiting the out- come of “extensive laboratory analysis” from overseas on the local case. Meningitis Meningitis is an in- flammation of the tissue that covers the brain and the spinal cord. Viral meningitis is the most common type. It is often less severe than bac- terial meningitis, and most people usually get better on their own without treatment, the public health office said. However, infants younger than one month old and people with weakened im- mune systems are more likely to have severe illness with viral meningitis. Although viral meningitis is rarely fatal, bacterial men- ingitis can be life-threatening. As the symptoms of both are nearly identical, Dr. Williams explained that conclusive tests are necessary to determine which variety of the disease a patient has, and to inform any plans by his department. While people with men- ingitis can potentially in- fect others, the likelihood of widespread transmission is extremely low as the bacteria cannot live for more than a few minutes outside the body, according to the Public Health Department. Two vaccines approved by the World Health Organ- ization to combat menin- gitis infection are available in the Cayman Islands – the Hib component of the com- bined DTaP IPV Hib vac- cine and the meningococcal vaccine MPSV4. Dr. Williams said that with 95 percent vaccination coverage in the Cayman Is- lands, any person-to-person transmission of the disease is “bound to be minimal.” Bail terms changed for Maritime Authority CEO Case returns to court May 5 CAROl wINKeR cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Joel Walton, chief exec- utive officer of the Cayman Islands Maritime Authority, was granted a change in bail conditions when he appeared in Summary Court on Tuesday for charges including assault and insulting the modesty of a woman. At his first appearance in court, on Feb. 26, bail was granted with a re- cognizance of $950 and the conditions that he re- side at a specified address and have no contact, ei- ther direct or indirect, with the complainant. On Tuesday, defense at- torney Charles Clifford asked that contact with the complainant be allowed, and that residence be re- sumed at Walton’s home. Walton faces three charges, all arising from an incident that occurred at Lawrence Boulevard on Feb. 24. The charges are assault causing actual bodily harm to a named female; uttering words that would intrude on her privacy with intent to insult her modesty; and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or be- havior with intent to cause her fear that immediate un- lawful violence would be used against her or another by any person. Mr. Clifford advised that attorney Graham Hampson was present and might be representing the complainant. After Mr. Hampson spoke with Senior Crown Counsel Nicole Petit, she advised Magistrate Valdis Foldats that the Crown had no ob- jection to the application. The magistrate removed the conditions of residence and non-contact. The magistrate set the next mention for May 5. The magistrate removed the conditions of residence and non-contact.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 office. 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 findtheirownway” Wednesday MarCh 11, 2015 • Cayman COmpass After years of malicious dog poisonings using paraquat as the toxic agent, the Cayman Islands gov- ernment is now moving to ban the importation of the controversial herbicide. As a poison, paraquat does what it’s supposed to do. It kills – effectively and efficiently. It is inexpensive, easily obtainable and incredibly lethal to everything from weeds to pets to people. Paraquat is also believed to be a contributing cause of Parkinson’s disease to those, mostly farmers, who use the herbicide over a prolonged period of time. Because of its risks of use – and misuse – many coun- tries have banned paraquat, including, in 2007, the countries of the European Union. Paraquat, however, is still legal and in widespread use around the world, including the United States. In America, a license is required to use paraquat, which involves education and training on its safe usage. In addition, as safeguards from poisoning, paraquat sold in the U.S. is dyed blue, given a strong odor and has an agent that induces vomiting if ingested. Those safeguards aren’t in place in the Cayman Islands, and paraquat has too often become the method of choice for those who find dogs annoying as a way of ending that annoyance. Even though in 2009 the Cayman Islands Department of Agriculture stopped importing and selling paraquat, the govern- ment put no restrictions on the importation or sale of the herbicide in the Cayman Islands to prohibit indi- viduals from bringing it into the territory. Since then, many more dogs have died from paraquat poisoning. Because of the way paraquat has been misused here, public pressure has been building to ban the toxic chemical. In 2012, more than 4,800 signatures were collected on a petition advocating a proposed ban, and a public demonstration, planned for Thursday outside the Government Administration Building, has now been canceled because of the government’s announcement that it will address the issue. A question, however, remains: What about all of the paraquat already in the Cayman Islands? If poisoning were the intention of purchase, a little bit goes a long way: A teaspoon or two of paraquat can cause death in a human, and even less is needed to kill a dog. If the government decides to “grandfa- ther” all of the current stocks on the island, people who bought it for the purpose of poisoning dogs might have enough on hand to continue their nefarious practice for many years. While government is wrestling with this reality, another related issue presents itself. The poisoning of dogs is, in part, a symptom of Cayman’s consider- able “stray dog problem,” marauding packs of canines (reminiscent of Third World countries) that no govern- ment has seen fit to address. If government continues to enforce only sporadi- cally its own Animals Law, and irresponsible dog owners continue to face no consequences for not “leashing” their pets, then those who have been dealing with troublesome dogs their own way – by using paraquat – could just choose another poison and continue their reprehensible behavior. Yes, government is to be applauded for finally addressing the importation of paraquat, however, it has much more to do in resolving the underlying issues of stray dogs, irresponsible pet owners and incredibly callous people who take it upon themselves to poison these animals. Banning paraquat: A humane act for our animals How to rate the new Congress RiCHaRd W. RaHn How would you measure congressional success? Even though the new Congress is only two months old, there has been much criticism of both the leadership and the members. The Republicans promised to reduce govern- ment spending, reform the tax code, and reduce the regu- latory burden. There are objective ways to measure whether they will have reduced govern- ment spending. Total govern- ment spending includes the amount state and local gov- ernments spend, some of it transfer payments from the federal government, money spent by the federal govern- ment on defense, interest, en- titlements, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and all other federal government programs. Despite most of the entitle- ments being labeled “man- datory spending,” in fact, Congress can alter these pro- grams and thus can deter- mine how much is spent on them. Interest payments on the debt are out of the di- rect control of Congress. The total amount of money that the government spends is not a particularly meaningful number. The more impor- tant number is government spending as percentage of gross domestic product. In order to measure whether Congress is indeed reducing spending, it is im- portant to establish the ap- propriate baseline... one in- cluding defense spending and one without it. The reason for separating it out is that de- fense is the primary function of the federal government, and the amount spent on de- fense should be what is neces- sary to protect the American people from external threats. The size and allocation of the defense budget is subject to endless debate. All other gov- ernment spending should be subject to the following con- straints: Is it constitutional? Do the benefits exceed the costs without restricting lib- erty? Finally, can the problem that the spending is sup- posed to cure be best done by the federal rather than some other level of government? By the end of the Reagan administration in 1988, non- defense spending had been re- duced to 11.9 percent of GDP. Remember, the Reagan ad- ministration had increased defense spending as part of its strategy to end the Cold War. As late as 1988, it was still running almost 6 percent of GDP (as contrasted with about 3.8 percent last year). By the end of the Clinton era in 2000, total federal govern- ment spending minus interest payments had dropped to 15.4 percent of GDP, more than 2 percent below Reagan, but all of the reduction in spending during the Clinton years had come out of defense spending. Both defense and nonde- fense spending rose during the George W. Bush era, but spending really took off at the beginning of the Obama presi- dency with the passage of the “stimulus” bill. The surge of government spending in 2009 resulted in four years of tril- lion-dollar-plus budget defi- cits (8-10 percent of GDP). The concern over the mas- sive deficits resulted in the heavily criticized “seques- tration.” But sequestration has worked by causing a real reduction in government spending as a share of GDP. The president now wants to do away with the sequestra- tion and increase spending again. During the next few months, the new Republican majority will be producing the new budget for the fiscal year that will start on Oct. 1. The Republicans have said they are going back to “reg- ular” order, which should re- sult in them sending 13 sep- arate spending bills to the president for his signature. The Republicans should hang tough and play hard- ball with the president, in- cluding letting parts of some government departments go without funding (which the mainstream press will por- tray as a partial govern- ment shutdown), or deficits and spending will begin to rise again as a share of GDP, which will further slow eco- nomic growth. Many taxpayer advo- cacy groups and economic think tanks, including the Cato Institute, frequently pro- vide the press and Congress with lists of counterproduc- tive, destructive and wasteful spending, so those in the new Congress will not lack for places to cut spending, pro- vided they are willing to stand up to the special spending in- terests (those who are focused on exploiting taxpayers for personal gain). It is well recog- nized that within the next few years, the increasing share of the budget going to entitlement spending will overwhelm the rest of the budget, so the next Congress and the new presi- dent will no longer be able to kick the can down the road. The evidence continues to grow that once total gov- ernment spending (federal, state and local) in almost any country reaches 25 per- cent or so of GDP (the U.S. government spends well over one third of GDP), economic growth begins to slow, and at some point the economic death spiral begins (note Greece). We will know by the end of next year’s budget cycle whether the Republicans are serious about reducing real government spending or, like their political oppo- nents, are content with letting the United States continue to drift further toward economic stagnation or worse. Richard W. Rahn is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth is on the Editorial Board of Cayman Financial Review. © Copyright 2015 The Washington Times. RichaRd W. Rahn The Republicans should hang tough and play hardball with the president, including letting parts of some government departments go without funding. 5 LOCAL&REGIONAL Cayman Compass • Wednesday March 11, 2015 Global Complex Issues. Resolved. TM HAVANA (AP) — The New York Cosmos will face off against Cuba’s national team in June, an official said Tuesday, making it the first professional U.S. soccer club to play on the island in 37 years. The match comes after Washington and Havana an- nounced Dec. 17 that they would negotiate the res- toration of diplomatic re- lations that were sev- ered shortly after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. “The shift of last Dec. 17 is a great step, very beneficial for our soccer,” said Cuban Soccer Association vice presi- dent Antonio Garces. He said the Cosmos are expected to play in Havana on June 2. It’s the first such visit by a club team since the now-defunct Chicago Sting came here in 1978, though the U.S. national team played a World Cup qualifier in Havana in 2008. Cosmos officials are ex- pected to visit beforehand to discuss the match. “The United States plays excellent soccer, so for us it will be great preparation for the knock-out phase of 2018 World Cup qualification,” Garces said. Cuba is to play a series on June 8 and 16 against the winner of a series between Curaçao and Montserrat. The Cosmos compete in the second-tier North American Soccer League. The team’s roster includes Raul Gonzalez, a longtime star with Spain’s national team and club powerhouse Real Madrid. Sports exchanges between Cuba and the United States increased in recent years, in- cluding several visits by U.S. college baseball players. Baseball is the most pop- ular sport in Cuba, but soccer has made strides in recent years, with many young people sporting jerseys of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Cosmos to play Cuba GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A prison vehicle was attacked Tuesday with grenades as it carried a gang member to a hospital in the historic center of Guatemala’s capital. One woman was killed and 22 people wounded. President Otto Perez Molina said the attackers’ target was prisoner Marlon Ochoa Mejia, a member of the Mara 18 gang. Ochoa, who was not injured, was being transported for the Hospital San Juan de Dios for routine medical care when the at- tackers tossed grenades and fired large-caliber weapons. Ochoa Mejia has been in prison on several charges, in- cluding murder. Those wounded included five prison employees, said prison system spokesman Rudy Esquivel. Two of the wounded were in critical con- dition, hospital officials said. “It is irresponsible, it’s a violent act because they could not even see the pris- oner and they passed only to do it and they threw three grenades,” said Perez Molina. The president said the at- tackers made no apparent ef- fort to distinguish between their target and bystanders, and characterized it as score settling between gangs. Police called after altercation on school grounds Police detained two 15-year-old male students at John Gray High School on Monday morning after an altercation with a group of other males on the school grounds, according to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service. The pair, whom the RCIPS did not name, were arrested at 11:40 a.m. by uniformed officers. They were taken to the George Town Police Station, where they were bailed to return at a later date. The students were ar- rested on suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct, police said in a statement released on Tuesday. No serious injuries were reported and no weapons were involved, police said. Two students arrested after John Gray fight Grenade attack in Guatemala capital kills 1, wounds 22 The New York Cosmos celebrate the announcement that they would be playing against South China in the Lunar New Year AET Cup at Hong Kong Stadium last month. Truck smashes into wall in Bodden Town A man was pried from a truck by Cayman Islands Fire Service crews who used the “jaws of life” early Tuesday after a one-car crash in the Lower Valley area of Bodden Town. According to police, the vehicle crashed near the intersection of Shamrock Road and Will T. Drive just before 4 a.m. Tuesday. The driver of the Chevrolet Colorado truck lost control of the vehicle and rammed a concrete wall, trapping him inside the cab. After fire officers re- moved the man from the truck, he was transported to the Cayman Islands Hospital. His injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 Wednesday March 11, 2015 • Cayman Compass Chamber Pension: IT’S ABOUT RESULTS PENSION IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST MANAGING MONEY. ension: IT’S ABOUT IT’S ABOUT RESURESURESULTSTSTSLTSL PENSION IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST MANAGING MONEY.Y.Y • Quality diversied, balanced, investment portfolio • Run solely to benet members • Keeping you up to date • Solutions for every life stage • Local knowledge & international expertise • Help when you need it • Expert advice • Low fees Chamber Pension Plan Hotline 345-745-7630 P.O. Box 609 • Grand Cayman KY1-1107 • Cayman Islands admin@pensions.ky • www.chamberpension.ky • /ChamberPensionPlan Visit our website for our latest investment returns Strong returns mean more peace of mind. the justification for every re- port to contain informa- tion such as the name, alias or any other names of the person to whom the report speaks, their date of birth (at most the year of birth or age of the patient would seem sufficient) and their full ad- dress, including mailing ad- dress,” Mr. Austin-Smith writes. “The commission questions whether it is not possible to anonymize pa- tients … and still achieve the objective sought?” In addition, the rights com- mission argues there must be a “credible link” between the purpose for which the informa- tion is being collected and the specific information that is re- quired to be given without the patient’s consent. “The govern- ment cannot just mandate the collection of this data for no good reason,” Mr. Austin-Smith writes. “The draft bill currently identifies no such link.” Also underpinning the com- mission’s concerns regarding confidentiality of cancer pa- tient information is that the bill delegates that data protec- tion duty to a registrar. “No guidance is given to that individual to determine how best to do this,” the com- mission’s letter states. “What arrangements are proposed for ensuring the confidenti- ality of reports required from medics? Reports can be made by written document – this is unnecessary and requires un- secure medical information to be transferred physically to the registry – an obvious security risk. “How will such records be stored and/or destroyed? What arrangements are pro- posed for ensuring the se- curity of medics’ computers and that of the registry? How will they be encrypted?” The answers to all such questions, according to the commission, are likely to mean additional costs to gov- ernment if a secure cancer registry is to be maintained. The funding of the registry, according to the proposed leg- islation, is via “such funds as may from time to time be ap- propriated for the purpose … by the Legislative Assembly…” “This is … wholly inade- quate,” the commission letter states. “Funds must be guar- anteed from a ring-fenced source. To do otherwise puts the security of individuals’ confidential medical data, obtained without their per- mission, at the whim of the Legislative Assembly and leaves the LA in a position where it can simply decide not to fund the continuing expenses of maintaining confidentiality.” Premier Alden McLaughlin has previously addressed con- fidentiality concerns about the upcoming legislation. “I understand that con- fidentiality is a major issue for some. I want to assure the public that the data col- lected is kept strictly con- fidential. Under no circum- stances will the information ever be shared with outside parties,” Mr. McLaughlin said in February. The premier said the data would help establish whether Cayman has higher rates of particular types of cancer and if there are con- tributory environmental fac- tors. The bill also calls for a cancer registry board to be established, including rep- resentatives from the Health Services Authority and the Cayman Islands Cancer Society, a private sector med- ical representative, and a member of the public from outside the sector. subsequently issued a state- ment to clarify her comments. She said she told Education Minister Tara Rivers about her plans to resign in November, but the minister asked her to stay on until a financial re- view of UCCI had been com- pleted. She did not share her decision with the univer- sity president or the board until March 5. “It’s a great organiza- tion and I’m really going to miss it,” Ms. Ebanks told the Cayman Compass. But, she explained, she has a board of her own to report to and there were concerns about conflicts of interest when part of her job is pushing for educational opportuni- ties for the accounting in- dustry at both UCCI and the International College of the Cayman Islands. Ms. Ebanks served on the UCCI board for 18 months. She said she accepted the board position before the Cayman Islands Society of Professional Accountants hired her as its new CEO. The deputy chairman of the UCCI board, Linford Pierson, said he was not sur- prised that Ms. Ebanks re- signed citing concerns about potential conflicts of interest, but he said he was surprised that she did not notify the board earlier. Mr. Pierson said Ms. Ebanks told him and the president of the university the same day she told the board of governors. He said the university is in a period of transition. “Change is not always easy to accept,” he said, but the board will “assist in any way we can to bring about posi- tive change.” UCCI is in the process of reviewing its finances and looking to cut more than $500,000 from its budget. Ms. Ebanks said earlier that some courses were not finan- cially viable and should be cut along with the summer semester to save costs. The report recommends cutting about a quarter of the current full-time faculty through “natural attrition” as professors leave and are not replaced. At a press conference releasing the report last month, Ms. Ebanks said, “I come from the private sector, and if somebody came to me with an associate degree, I’m really not going to pay much attention. I’m looking for at least a bachelor’s. I’m really looking for a mas- ter’s. An associate degree in this day and age is pretty much meaningless.” No date has been set yet to appoint a new board member, but Mr. Pierson said he hopes “government will soon make an appointment” to the open seat. Minister Rivers, who has ultimate authority over UCCI and the board of governors, did not respond to requests for comment. Rights commission pans cancer registry CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 University board chair resigns CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Ms. EbanksThe islands’ most-trusted news source 7 Cayman Compass • Wednesday March 11, 2015 When designing an air- port or similar building, Mr. Harrill said, “It’s all about putting the right space in the right place.” Airports have public areas, a secure area for after the public goes through screening, and se- cure areas for baggage han- dling and other operations. Christina Ghets, the lead designer on the project with RS&H, said the design was meant to “reflect the distinct character of the Cayman Islands.” After studying Cayman’s cultural heritage and natural history, she said, they decided on a design based around the shape of a green sea turtle, what she called “a very elegant shape.” She said the design also preserves the promi- nent A-frames in the cur- rent building and adds two smaller A-frames to each side of the main terminal, representing Grand Cayman and the sister islands with the triangles facing out to the tarmac and towards the parking lot. Mr. Harrill said they have hired several local firms for the construction work. Funding for the rede- sign comes from a $13 fee paid by each passenger who passes through the airport, which the Cayman Islands Airports Authority collects from airlines. Consultants looking at the project earlier said that Cayman Airways owed more than $10 million in unpaid passenger fees, but earlier this year a CIAA representa- tive said the two organiza- tions had reached a deal to repay the debt. RS&H has been involved in designing numerous air- ports, including in New Orleans, Palm Springs, Lisbon and San Antonio. Department of Agriculture. However, Agriculture Minister Kurt Tibbetts has said the wider issue of a comprehensive chemical con- trol law for Cayman needs to be considered as well. Such legislation would include is- sues related to paraquat im- portation, he said. For now, petitioners seeking to ban the dan- gerous herbicide – which is almost always fatal if in- gested in sufficient quantity – urged government to move “sooner rather than later.” A demonstration outside the Government Administration Building had been planned for Thursday but was called off following the govern- ment’s announcement. “We do not believe that there is time and resources to put [a comprehensive chem- ical control law] together in a time frame that is accept- able to the danger that para- quat is posing to our people and their pets,” said Selena Tibbetts, a local attorney who created a Facebook page to advocate for the paraquat ban and who assisted with a 2012 petition supporting the proposed ban. That petition, containing more than 4,800 names of voters and non-voters in the Cayman Islands, was de- livered to then-Governor Duncan Taylor in May 2013, but it apparently wasn’t passed along to Minister Tibbetts until October 2013. The person credited with initiating the petition, Island Veterinary Services nurse Jennie Boyers, said she got fed up with the sheer number of pets, dogs in particular, dying from what was obvi- ously paraquat poisoning. Island Veterinary Services has recorded more than 200 cases of suspected poisoning from the chemical since the year 2000 in the Cayman Islands, and at least 50 of those cases have been confirmed through testing to be the result of paraquat poisoning. Ms. Boyers said a fellow veterinary nurse at the prac- tice watched both of her dogs die from paraquat poisoning after the animals ate chem- ical-laced meat that was left on the side of the road in West Bay while they were on walks with their owner. Depending on the amount of the chemical consumed, a dog can take weeks to die as the poison slowly restricts the animal’s breathing and destroys its organs. In most cases, the dogs have to be eu- thanized to prevent further suffering, Ms. Boyers said. On Sunday, the latest ca- nine victim of a suspected paraquat poisoning, Molly, a mixed-breed pet of a family that lives on Crewe Road, died after local vets believed she either ate paraquat or ate a chicken that had died from it. There is no known cure for paraquat poisoning. “The minute the dog walks in, we know it’s para- quat because of the way they’re breathing,” Ms. Boyers said. “Both of Jo Laws’s [the veterinary nurse] dogs were poisoned and they were on a leash. In other cases, it’s been thrown into a fenced-in yard. We have families, children come in and the [dying] dog is part of their family. It’s just heartbreaking.” Paraquat can also kill hu- mans, especially small chil- dren who might get their hands on the substance or even children who are licked by an animal that has in- gested a certain amount of it. Ms. Tibbetts believes it is only a matter of time before such a case occurs. “There are little land mines laying around on the ground,” she said, “and if you touch one, that’s it, game over.” Advocates for banning paraquat acknowledge that banning the substance likely won’t prevent people from attempting to poison an an- imal. However, for most of the other chemical sub- stances that might be used, including rat poison, there are antidotes or treatments. An importation ban also does not address issues re- garding paraquat that has already been lawfully pur- chased and which is cur- rently held on the islands. Cabinet members have made no statements re- garding what proposals, if any, would seek to address that situation. Government backs paraquat ban Molly is the latest victim of paraquat poisoning. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 New airport design more than doubles size This architect’s rendering shows the airside of the new airport. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Wednesday March 11, 2015 • Cayman Compass Human rights, media groups sue NSA The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are suing the National Security Agency and the Department of Justice, challenging the government’s Internet surveillance as overly broad. 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Police chiefs also defended their handling of the case, de- nying a lawmaker’s allegation that the failure to stop the teens was “a huge blow” to the credibility of the force. Mark Rowley, head of counterterrorism for the Metropolitan Police, told law- makers that “we have no evi- dence to support [the teens’] involvement in terrorism.” The journey of the three 15- and 16-year-olds last month shocked many in Britain, left their families bewildered and highlighted the difficulty of halting the radicalization of young Muslims. Relatives say police failed to inform them that a school friend of the teens had gone to Syria in December. They say if they had they known, they would have looked for any warning signals of radicalization. They also accused the police of not acting quickly enough once they reported the girls missing. “I feel so let down by the police, because we gave them everything,” said Sahima Begum, sister of one of the girls. “We gave them every piece of information.” The girls’ relatives and se- nior police officers appeared before Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee Tuesday as it tried to understand how three apparently smart teen- agers from east London de- veloped the desire, and the means, to travel to a region controlled by the blood- thirsty militant group. Sahima Begum said her sister Shamima “was into normal teenage things. She used to watch ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ and things like that.” But police say the girls were being radicalized, unbe- knownst to their parents. One followed many extremists on social media. Shamima Begum stole her older sister’s passport and used it to travel to Turkey, and Rowley said the trio bought their plane tickets with more than 1,000 pounds (US$1,500) in cash, obtained by stealing jewelry from one of the families. Committee chairman Keith Vaz suggested the failure to stop the girls from reaching Syria was “a huge blow to the credibility” of the Metropolitan Police. But Rowley said it was unreal- istic to expect police to spot and stop radicalization “if the parents can’t see changes in behavior ... if people in the community don’t spot it.” The families of Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase are angry that they were not informed that police had spoken to their daugh- ters shortly after their friend disappeared in December. Police interviewed the girls a second time in February and gave them letters to hand to their parents saying that po- lice had spoken to the girls about their missing friend. The letters were not passed on. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan- Howe said he was sorry for what the families were going through and sorry they had not received the letter, but said there “was nothing more we could have done to prevent” the three girls from leaving. Rowley said the flow of young Britons to Syria continued, with up to 700 known to have gone to join militant groups. “That’s a minimum,” he said. Britain’s police and in- telligence services have also been criticized for allowing Mohammed Emwazi, who has been identified as the Islamic State militant known as “Jihadi John,” to slip through their net and travel to Syria, even though he had been on their radar for years. But Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Tuesday that “the dedication, and in many cases the bril- liance, of our intelligence of- ficers” had kept Britain safe in the face of myriad threats, from state-sponsored aggres- sion to terrorist groups and lone-wolf attackers. He rejected allegations by the Muslim advocacy organiza- tion CAGE that heavy-handed attention from British spies helped radicalize Emwazi. “The responsibility for acts of terror rests with those who commit them. But a huge burden of responsibility also lies with those who act as apologists for them,” Hammond said. Police say the girls were being radicalized, unbeknownst to their parents. Mr. Rowley BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi soldiers and Shiite mili- tiamen captured a town Tuesday on the outskirts of the Islamic State-held city of Tikrit, sealing off Saddam Hussein’s home- town in preparation to con- front the extremists in one of their biggest strong- holds, officials said. Seizing Alam puts the offensive on course to at- tempt to liberate Tikrit in the coming days, the ulti- mate battle-readiness test for Iraqi forces now ad- vancing there without the support of U.S.-led air strikes. Their operation likely will set the stage for how Iraq attempts to re- take the more-densely pop- ulated cities of Mosul and Fallujah from the militants. Iraqi forces entered Alam early Tuesday morning, their armored convoys roaring past the empty, arid fields and oc- casional palm tree before gaining full control hours later, two Iraqi officials said. By nightfall, the mil- itary sealed off Tikrit on all sides, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists. Tikrit, the capital of Salahuddin province, lies about 80 miles north of Baghdad. Sniper fire and roadside bombs initially hampered the advance into Alam, said Ahmed al-Karim, the Salahuddin provincial council chief. Extremists also blew up the Alam bridge to slow the Iraqi force, military officials said. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister said Tuesday a letter from U.S. Republican lawmakers warning that any nuclear deal could be scrapped once President Barack Obama leaves office suggests the United States is “not trustworthy.” “This kind of communi- cation is unprecedented and undiplomatic,” Mohammed Javad Zarif was quoted as saying by a state-run TV website. “In fact it implies that the United States is not trustworthy,” he added. Zarif linked the letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last week, in which the Israeli leader argued against the emerging agree- ment. “A propaganda campaign has begun with Netanyahu’s speech before Congress and this is their second ploy,” Zarif said. “While there is still no agreement, a group is com- menting on its nature.” “It is unfortunate that a group is opposed to reaching an agreement. We insist that a possible deal should be one where our people’s rights are observed and we are certain that there are measures to achieve such a deal,” he said. The White House and Democrats in Congress also denounced the letter, ac- cusing the senators of trying to sabotage the negotiations. The United States, along with five world powers, hopes to negotiate a frame- work agreement this month and a final accord later this year which would curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Western nations have long suspected that Iran is covertly pursuing a nuclear weapons capability. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, and insists its program is entirely de- voted to civilian applications like power generation and cancer treatments. Iraq seizes town on outskirts of Islamic State-held Tikrit Iran says GOP letter suGGests us Is ‘nOt trustwOrthy’ Members of the Iraqi Shiite militant group Badr Brigades carry the coffin of Mohammed Fuad, who was killed in fighting in Tikrit, and a poster with his picture, during his funeral procession in Najaf. - PhOtO: aP9 WORLD&REGIONAL Cayman Compass • Wednesday March 11, 2015 State Department to release Clinton’s work emails UNITED NATIONS — As Hillary Rodham Clinton pre- pared to answer questions for the first time about her email practices, the State Department announced Tuesday afternoon that it plans to release her work-re- lated emails on a publicly ac- cessible Web site. Clinton is scrambling to extinguish the growing con- troversy over her unconven- tional use of a private email server as secretary of state ahead of the expected launch of her 2016 presidential cam- paign. She planned to con- vene her first news confer- ence in more than two years on Tuesday afternoon here at the United Nations. In Washington, State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said the department is undergoing a review of 55,000 pages of emails that Clinton has handed over, that could take several months. All of the emails that meet the stan- dards for public release will be available in a single batch on a website once the process is completed, Psaki said. Clinton has been under mounting pressure, in- cluding from Democratic al- lies, to personally address questions about her exclu- sive use of a private email server while secretary of state, a violation of Obama administration guidelines. Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said Clinton would hold a “brief press conference” here at the United Nations at about 3:30 p.m., following her speech at a Women’s Empowerment Principles event. At the U.N., where she was warmly welcomed as a “fu- ture president,” Clinton said that “the full participation of women and girls is the great unfinished business of the 21st century.” Marking the 20th an- niversary of her landmark ad- dress in Beijing at the World Conference on Women, she said progress had been made toward equality, but lamented that “We’re still not there yet.” Still, the email story over- shadowed Clinton’s long- planned remarks on women. Behind the scenes, Clinton’s aides and U.S. officials scram- bled to speed up the pro- cess and secure entry for re- porters, but the scene outside the hulking U.N. headquar- ters building was chaotic. Word of her planned ap- pearance quickly spread among reporters already gathered in New York for Clinton events pegged to International Women’s Day. But her office did not con- firm plans for the news con- ference until about 11:30 a.m. In the week since revela- tions of her use of a private email account, Clinton has ignored the issue at multiple public appearances while surrogates defended her in media interviews and ac- cused news outlets of un- fairly demonizing her. The dynamic changed over the weekend, however, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Democrat from California, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Clinton should “step up and come out” to personally answer questions about the email arrangement. Feinstein said Clinton’s “si- lence is going to hurt her.” President Obama also did not come to Clinton’s de- fense in an interview over the weekend, adding to pres- sure on Clinton to clear up questions about why she set up the outside system. The White House has distanced itself from the controversy, stating that Clinton did not follow administration guid- ance against using private or commercial email for govern- ment business. © 2015, The Washington Post Clinton is scrambling to extinguish the growing controversy over her unconventional use of a private email server as secretary of state ahead of the expected launch of her 2016 presidential campaign. Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers her remarks at the United Nations on Tuesday, during the annual Women’s Empowerment Principles event. - Photo: AP ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s election on March 28, already postponed once and fraught with tension, may determine investor and foreign leaders’ perceptions of whether democ- racy has taken hold in Africa. As the continent’s most populous country, its big- gest economy and top oil producer, Nigeria’s conduct during and after the vote is being closely monitored. The West African nation hasn’t had a peaceful transition of power between parties since independence from Britain in 1960, with the People’s Democratic Party in charge since a return to civilian rule in 1999. The PDP is facing its toughest contest yet after opposition parties merged in 2013 to unseat President Goodluck Jonathan. “This election will be a bellwether for the entire continent,” Linda Thomas- Greenfield, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, told reporters on Feb. 26. “The world is watching, the continent is watching, Nigeria’s neighbors are watching this election.” Electoral authorities postponed the election one week before it was sched- uled to take place on Feb. 14, following a request from Jonathan’s security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, who said the military was too stretched fighting an Islamist insur- gency in the northeast of the country to keep voters safe. Civil rights groups have warned of the threat of a con- stitutional crisis if the vote is postponed again or scrapped. The political uncertainty, coupled with a plunge in oil prices, caused the currency to drop 18 percent against the dollar in the past six months, the worst performer of 24 African nations tracked by Bloomberg. Muhammadu Buhari, a former military leader who aims to unseat Jonathan, said on Feb. 26 that the elec- tion has “great implications” beyond Nigeria’s borders and it will test the strength of the principle that voters can re- place governments without provoking violence. “Peaceful alternation of power through competi- tive elections have hap- pened in Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Mauritius in re- cent times,” Buhari said in a speech at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, in London. “The prospects of democratic consolidation in Africa will be further bright- ened when that eventually happens in Nigeria.” A survey of 2,400 adults in December showed sup- port is evenly split at 42 per- cent for the PDP and Buhari’s All Progressives Congress, according to Afrobarometer, a research group whose funders include the U.S. Agency for International Development. Tension has intensified as the military struggles to con- tain a six-year insurgency by Boko Haram militants. The group’s campaign to impose Islamic law on the country has spilled over into neigh- boring countries, including Chad and Cameroon, killed about 15,000 people since 2009, and forced at least a million Nigerians from their homes. © 2015, Bloomberg News FrAught NigeriA vote seeN As bellwether For AFricAN democrAcy For the first time in a de- cade, astronomers have found new dwarf galaxies – ones with just billions of stars or even less compared with the hun- dreds of billions in our own – orbiting the Milky Way. And they’ve found nine of them. That’s the most that have ever turned up at once. The findings were published Tuesday in the Astrophysical Journal. The new dwarfs are a bil- lion times dimmer than the Milky Way and a million times less massive, the re- searchers who discovered them report. They were found near the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud, which are the two biggest dwarf gal- axies orbiting the Milky Way. The closest of these nine newly found objects is less than 100,000 light years away, but the most distant is more than 1 million light years off. The objects were found using data recovered by the Dark Energy Survey, a five-year ef- fort to photograph a large portion of the southern sky in unprecedented detail sup- ported by over 120 scientists around the world. In fact, two separate research groups made the discovery indepen- dently using the data, and re- leased their reports jointly. Dark matter The team is actually only certain that three of the ob- jects are indeed dwarf gal- axies. The rest might be globular clusters, which are groups of stars not held to- gether by dark matter like galaxies are. Instead, glob- ular clusters of stars are kept in place by the gravity of a galaxy they orbit. But it’s the dark matter that astron- omers are most interested in. We can’t see dark matter, but scientists are pretty sure that it makes up more than a quarter of the universe’s mass. Dark matter is really just our term for the matter we know is there – the stuff that takes up space not held by better understood objects, such as stars and planets – but don’t yet understand the properties or behavior of. We can observe its gravita- tional pull, keeping galaxies together and separate from each other, but that’s about it. Unlike larger galaxies bursting with stars, dwarf galaxies have way more dark matter than normal matter. So for astronomers studying dark matter, they’re basically an all-you-can-eat buffet. ‘Completely unexpected’ “The discovery of so many satellites in such a small area of the sky was completely unexpected,” Sergey Koposov of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, the Cambridge study’s lead author, said in a statement. “I could not be- lieve my eyes.” “Dwarf satellites are the final frontier for testing our theories of dark matter,” Vasily Belokurov of the Institute of Astronomy, one of the study’s co-authors, added. “We need to find them to determine whether our cosmological picture makes sense. Finding such a large group of satellites near the Magellanic Clouds was sur- prising, though, as earlier surveys of the southern sky found very little, so we were not expecting to stumble on such treasure.” The closest object is so close to the Milky Way that it’s being torn apart by the larger galaxy’s pull. The most distant is still on the outer edges of our own galaxy, but it’s close to being pulled into the cosmic tug-of-war that will ultimately destroy it. © 2015, The Washington Post The new dwarfs are a billion times dimmer than the Milky Way and a million times less massive, the researchers who discovered them report. Nine new dwarf galaxies found chilling around the Milky Way Nigerian President Goodluck JonathanNext >