ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – Wednesday april 1, 2015 High of 85 Low of 72 Seas: Moderate to rough with wave heights of 4 to 6 feet. Small craft should exercise caution over the open seas. Ap ri l 2 015 • www .c A y journ A l.c om 1 50 THIS ISSUE: Special report THE GREEN REPORT >>PAGE 13 cyberSecurity HACK ATTACKS How to protect your organization >>PAGE 2 taXatioN 50 SHADES OF DETERRENCE Gray areas for offshore tax evaders >>PAGE 4 laW MAGNA CARTA INFLUENCE Still relevant, 800 years on >>PAGE 11 PAGE B13 SPECIA L REPORT April 2015 Journal Special Report New Chinese mega-resort in Bahamas points way to future ■■ FraNk beNtayou The tourism industry of an island nation near Cuba and only a short flight from the United States is about to make worldwide news with the opening of a $3.5 billion seaside gambling resort that will become the largest such de- velopment in and around the Caribbean. And by the way, the travel and hotel executives and financiers readying their announcement, chilling bottles of celebra-tory Champagne and preparing to count proceeds from hundreds, even thousands of new paying visitors don’t have any- thing to do with the Cayman Islands. They are, in fact, investors in and em- ployees of Baha Mar, a 1,000-acre super- resort on New Providence island in the Bahamas, a warm, sunny stroll from the Commonwealth’s biggest city, Nassau. The build-out has been somewhat slow going, and, as with many projects in the Caribbean, developers say, the grand opening has been moved back over and over, and deadlines have been reset time and again. But then, the scope of this par- ticular development is vast. Within the coming months, after the construction dust settles and the roar of earth movers fades, the sprawling site will include: ❯ Some 3,000 feet of manicured beach ❯ A convention, arts and entertain- ment center comprising 200,000 square feet of flexible space, along with a 30,000-square-foot gallery exhibiting the largest collection of Bahamian art in the island chain ❯ The 100,000-square-foot Baha Mar Casino, described as the largest gaming center in the Caribbean ❯ An attached 1,000-room luxury hotel, the Baha Mar, replete with ocean views and spas, and corridors PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 10 » Camana Bay and Dart Realty: ■■ alaN MarkoFF June of this year will mark 20 years since Ken Dart bought the old Coral Caymanian hotel on Seven Mile Beach and the 238 acres of land it included. A year earlier, Dart had purchased the adjacent West Indian Club hotel as his personal residence, but he had other plans for the Coral Caymanian and its lands, which are now part of the master-planned, mixed-use development, Camana Bay. “There were a lot of acquisitions made in that ‘95/’96/’97 time frame,” said Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd. CEO Mark VanDevelde, “but the beginning of that was the Coral Cay- manian property, which is really the catalyst for all of Ca- mana Bay... and I think it’s fair to say that was the beginning of our commercial development activities on the island.”Over the past 20 years, those commercial activities on Grand Cayman have been extensive, including spending about US$1 billion in building more than 600,000 square The Camana Bay site, pre-construction in 2005 Camana Bay under construction in 2007 Camana Bay, December 2013 20 years on PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 9 » THE CAymAn ISLAnDS journAL Camana Bay and Dart Realty: 20 years on Editorial | pagE 4 at the hospital: no shortage of medical sponges Medical malpractice suits hard to win Landmark case will determine right to sue James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Anyone injured or killed as a result of a mistake by an employee of the Cayman Islands Health Services Authority faces a very difficult challenge if they seek compensation through the courts, lawyers warned. A landmark case scheduled for July will seek to challenge a clause in the Health Services Authority Law which has been used to deny patients or their families a way to seek legal redress in medical malpractice cases. The case could have implications for the family of Kate Clayton, a British dive industry worker who died as a result of a failed tra- cheotomy procedure at the Cayman Islands Hospital, according to a U.K. coroner’s ruling. Even with a death certificate that directly attributes blame to a doctor’s error, under a current legal interpretation of Section 12 of the Health Services Authority Law, staff are protected against legal action unless a pa- tient can prove “bad faith” – which essentially means the injury was caused deliberately. “Proving bad faith is extremely diffi- cult and it is an incredibly high threshold to cross, especially in the context of a personal injury action,” said James Kennedy, a partner at Samson and McGrath Attorneys-at-Law, which is bringing the legal challenge. Mr. Kennedy said the issue is an extremely important one for the islands. He said in many cases patients have no choice but to use the Health Services Authority and they need the option to seek recourse through the courts if they suffer serious injuries and financial hard- ship because of a medical error. “We are not aware of any other jurisdiction that precludes claims in this way. Certainly, the most developed jurisdictions, including the U.K. and the U.S., allow claims for negli- gence,” he said. He said the firm has come up against the “Section 12” defense raised by the Health Services Authority in claims brought by cli- ents seeking damages for medical negligence. Samson and McGrath are currently repre- senting Noreen Thompson, a woman whose child was born with serious injuries. A writ filed against the Health Services Authority in 2013 claimed the negligence of ImmIgratIon may actIvate ‘mass mIgratIon’ response Brent fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com With more than 100 Cuban migrants either being housed in or currently passing through Cayman Islands waters, the Cayman Islands Immigration Department is standing by to ac- tivate its “mass migration” plan.“ These numbers are a heavy strain on our resources,” said Ministry of Home Affairs Deputy Chief Officer Wesley Howell. The current policy, drafted in 2013 by the Mass Migration Management Committee, looks at government’s contingency plans among various agencies, including health ser- vices, social services, immigration and po- lice in the event that Cayman has a mass influx of migrants. The policy covers such areas as risk as- sessment, various agency roles during a mass migration response, interception of mi- grants and human rights issues involved in those interceptions. The full text of the policy has not been made public at present due to security concerns. An earlier migration plan was put to the test in the mid-1990s when thousands of Cuban migrants who landed ended up living temporarily in “tent cities.” The number of Cubans arriving so far this year indicates nothing similar happening this year. However, Cuban migrants have been ar- riving in makeshift watercraft in much larger numbers since the start of 2014, according to the ministry. In 2014, 143 Cubans landed illegally in the Little Cayman gets second ‘first’ electric car Brent fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com The first electric car that will be al- lowed on the roads of Cayman’s smallest island was delivered last week to resident Raoul Paz. Its delivery came a decade after another electric vehicle arrived on Little Cayman – a four-seater car without doors that was never allowed to drive off its owner’s pri- vate property because it did not meet road specifications at the time. Cayman Automotive owner John Felder, who delivered the new Wheego electric ve- hicle to Mr. Paz last week, said he plans to get the older electric vehicle in working order again. It was purchased by Sonny Rhian of Mississippi for his vacation home on Little Cayman. In 2005, shortly after the $12,000 elec- tric vehicle was delivered to Little Cayman, Mr. Rhian told the Cayman Compass that he had been informed he could not legally operate it. “I am really disappointed because we are not able to use the vehicle off our prop- erty,” Mr. Rhian said at the time. “It seemed like the ideal vehicle for Little Cayman be- cause it cannot go faster than the speed limit. I would use it to drive to the store and for picnics and snorkeling trips, things like that.” After receiving the no-go from govern- ment, the vehicle was parked at the Rhian family’s home and never taken out again. Mr. Rhian died a few years later, and the unused electric car sat in the garage for Ten years later, Walter Rhian and John Felder pose with Little Cayman’s first electric car. The vehicle couldn’t be driven on the roads due to licensing restrictions that existed in 2005. – photo: DavID Wolfe PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL Wednesday april 1, 2015 • Cayman Compass 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. © Warner Bros. Pictures © 21st Century Fox THE GUNMAN (R) 12:40 I 3:25 I 6:45 I 9:30 RUN ALL NIGHT (R) 1:15 | 3:50 | 7:10 | 10:00 INSURGENT 3D (PG13) 1:00 | 4:20 2D | 7:00 | 9:55 2D HOME 3D (PG) 12:30 I 3:00 2D I 9:45 CINDERELLA (PG) 12:45 | 3:30 | 6:50 | 9:40 BLACK OR WHITE (PG13) 1:10 | 4:00 *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. WEDNESDAY Immigration official appears in court Charges adjourned until April 14 CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Immigration Department’s director of boards and work per- mits appeared in Summary Court on Tuesday as owner and operator of two busi- nesses charged with immi- gration offenses. Kimberley Davis, trading as Launch Pad Enrichment Center, is charged with making a false statement on a work permit application. Details are that in seeking approval to employ a named person, she submitted a work permit application on June 24, 2013, in which she falsely represented that all health insurance premiums for all employees were paid up to date, knowing the informa- tion to be false or believing it not to be true. A second file names only the company as defendant Drink Fresh Juice Ltd. The first charge against the company is making a false statement. Details are that the company, upon sub- mission of a work permit ap- plication, falsely represented that it had set up a pension plan for employees in ac- cordance with the National Pension Plan, knowing the in- formation to be false or be- lieving it not to be true. The second charge is that the company unlawfully em- ployed a named person as a kitchen helper between Oct. 23 and Nov. 19, 2014 without the requisite approval of the Department of Immigration. Attorney Richard Barton spoke for the defendant, but advised Magistrate Valdis Foldats that he was not on record as defense counsel. Crown Counsel Candia James said the files con- tained quite a large amount of papers that needed to be copied before they could be served on the defendant. On hearing that the pa- pers would be ready within two weeks, the magistrate set April 14 for the next mention date. False engine fire indication prompted emergency landing CAL explains incident on Saturday JAmEs WhIttAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The emergency landing involving Cayman Airways’ Twin Otter flight from Little Cayman on Saturday afternoon was caused by a “false engine fire indi- cation,” the airline said in a statement. Emergency services were put on standby at the Owen Roberts International Airport as the Cayman Airways Express flight 4722 indicated it was coming in to land on one engine. The plane landed safely just after midday. In a statement ex- plaining the incident, the airline said, “Although there was no visible evi- dence of a fire, the crew followed standard oper- ating procedures which included discharging the engine fire suppression system to the applicable engine and shutting the engine down. “The Captain also re- quested that emergency crews be on standby at the airport for landing which is a standard procedure for this type of situation.” The statement con- tinued, “The aircraft landed at the airport at approxi- mately 12:13 p.m. without incident, and was cleared by the Cayman Islands Fire Service before being re- leased to the gate. “The Cayman Airways maintenance team then confirmed that the indi- cation was false, identi- fied the cause of the false indication, and repaired the aircraft.” The aircraft was back in service within an hour, ac- cording to the airline Cayman Airways President and CEO Fabian Whorms said the airline has a steadfast commitment to the safety of its passengers, crew and aircraft. The incident was the fourth emergency landing at Owen Roberts International Airport this year. ministers hold national day of prayer The Cayman Ministers Association hosted a national day of prayer on Tuesday. People gathered at the grounds of the Glass House, the former government administration building, on Elgin Avenue in George Town around noon to sing hymns and join in prayers. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY Bill BANNiNg SMOkiNg iN cAR wiTH kidS MOvES fORwARd TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Smoking in a car with chil- dren would be illegal under a bill moving through the Florida Senate. The legislation approved by the Health Policy Committee Tuesday would make it il- legal for anyone in a car with a child under 13 present to smoke tobacco products. It would be considered a non-moving violation of traffic laws with a $30 fine, but fees and court costs would boost that to over $100 in most counties. State officials say seven other states and Puerto Rico have similar laws. Bill co-sponsor Sen. Don Gaetz said even though some might say the bill amounts to government intrusion into people’s lives, he favors it because the children don’t have a choice about whether to be in a car and suffer the possible smoking-related health effects. The aircraft was back in service within an hour, according to Cayman Airways. Scuba diver dies off East End JAmEs WhIttAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com An American tourist died after a scuba diving accident off East End on Tuesday. The 62-year-old diver from Alabama was a passenger on board the Cayman Aggressor live-aboard dive boat. Other divers from the Aggressor returned to the boat and raised the alarm that the man had gone missing during a dive Tuesday morning. His body was discovered nearby, floating face down in the water, by crew from Ocean Frontiers dive shop who joined the search after the Aggressor’s crew raised the alarm on the radio. Staff from Ocean Frontiers recovered the man’s body just before 11 a.m. The death is the eighth in Cayman’s wa- ters this year. The man was understood to be traveling alone. Staff from the Aggressor were trying to get in touch with his family in the U.S. Tuesday afternoon and said they were unable to comment on the incident. Steve Broadbelt of Ocean Frontiers said one of its dive boats was returning from a morning trip when they re- ceived a call to assist the search. He said the captain had spotted the diver’s body floating in the water, off shore from the blow holes. He said it was clear that the man was dead. They alerted the Aggressor and the police and brought the body to the dock at the dive shop in East End. The cause of death was not immediately ob- vious, he said. Police confirmed that a visitor had died in a diving accident off Lover’s Wall and said the death was under investigation. Seven people have died and a eighth is missing and presumed drowned in local waters since the start of 2015, one of the deadliest years so far over the past decade. BAHAMAS POlicE ARREST US SUSPEcT, SEizE MARijUANA NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Authorities in the Bahamas say an American man has been arrested with a large cache of marijuana on his sailboat. A Tuesday statement from the Royal Bahamas Police Force says the 52-year-old American sus- pect was arrested along with a local man in South Bimini. The Bimini islands are the closest point in the Bahamas archipelago to the United States. Bahamian officers made the two arrests with the assistance of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The identities of the suspects were not immedi- ately disclosed. Agents had a search warrant for the American’s 38-foot sailboat. They allegedly found 436 pounds of marijuana stashed on his boat.The islands’ most-trusted news source 3 Cayman Compass • Wednesday april 1, 2015 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” Noting the difficulties her agency has faced as some $70 million in unpaid bills have accrued over the years, Health Services Authority CEO Lizette Yearwood said, “There’s still a culture in the public that a number of persons feel that healthcare is free.” Well ... Isn’t it, though? Over the past two years, non-paying patients will have racked up $24 million in debts owed to the Cayman Islands public hospital system, which approximates to 12 percent of the HSA’s total revenue of $201 million during that period — or, looking at it another way, 40 percent of the $58 million in revenue the HSA derives from third parties; i.e., not Cabinet or other government entities. Obviously, for many people in Cayman, healthcare is free. (At least, it’s free for them. It’s the rest of us who end up paying for it.) Developing over decades, our country’s culture of medical deadbeat-ism is now embedded in all levels of the system, from the tourists who skip off on the next cruise ship out of town, to born-and-bred Caymanians who feel it’s their right not to pay — all the way to the top of Cayman’s healthcare organizations. Indeed, “intentional nonpayment” seems to extend to the Cayman Islands National Insurance Company, which has been sued several times in the past year by several U.S. hospitals for failing to pay bills for overseas treatments. At this point, the question of “Why aren’t people paying their hospital bills?” has progressed to “Why should any single person pay his hospital bill, if nobody else is, either?” Judging by the statements of Ms. Yearwood and former Health Minister Osbourne Bodden, things aren’t boding well for the HSA and its attempts to dig itself free from the rapidly accumulating heap of unpaid receivables. In front of the government’s Public Accounts Committee last week, HSA CEO Yearwood said her agency is being “more consistent in enforcing our payment policy,” par- ticularly in regard to elective surgeries. Ms. Yearword’s assertion is, of course, astounding — not because of any change in the consistency of policy enforcement, but because apparently the HSA has allowed itself to be stiffed on tabs even for “elective” pro- cedures that, as opposed to “emergency” procedures, are typically scheduled well in advance (and may not even be medically necessary), and accordingly should allow for smooth negotiations with patients over payments. Last year, former Health Minister Bodden said that some $10 million in payments owed to the HSA over the past several years consisted of individual bills of less than $1,000 each. “If these patients would even pay these small bills, it would make a substantial contribution [toward resolving the debt],” he said — sounding more like a host of Cayman’s annual NCVO telethon pleading for charitable donations than a government official striking a no-nonsense stance on collecting money that is due. Whenever a creditor resorts to appealing to his debtors’ inner sense of justice, the outcome of the struggle has already been determined. In the words of economist John Maynard Keynes, “If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. But if you owe a million, it has.” The HSA’s $70 million in unpaid debts has outgrown the domain of individual responsibility and — along with the hundreds of millions of dollars in government’s various other unfunded liabilities — has become a collec- tive problem that must be addressed by the country as a whole. At the hospital: No shortage of medical sponges Wednesday apriL 1, 2015 • Cayman COmpass From CAymANCompAss.Com The ‘occurrence’ at the airport “On the ‘occurrence’ at Owen Roberts: Just roll the tape,” March 31 I feel that it’s time for gov- ernment to stop covering up, and start acting more pro- fessional. Because these kind of things are nothing to play with. I wonder what would happen if we had five more planes working out of Cayman. Ron Clair Ebanks My opinion on this is changing as the saga unfolds, because the fact that the departing United aircraft was repositioned off the runway to allow the Cayman Airways flight to land rather than just throttling up to complete the take off, rather suggests that this is a far from routine incident. David Williams After reading the shared assumptions above, I see that the United aircraft was seven minutes behind scheduled take off and Cayman Airways was ahead of scheduled landing. Truly someone some- where was not paying enough attention, whether it was on the ground or up in the air. I look at it as being very serious, when it comes to controlling the incoming or outgoing of aircraft, and truly would not be satisfied to hear anyone say “it’s just human error.” People don’t want to hear that. Twyla Vargas “Air traffic controllers address landing incident,” March 30 I’d suggest that if the flight crew of the Cayman Airways flight from Chicago was unable to see that there was still an aircraft on the runway as they approached to land, then they need to have their eyes checked. Would they simply have landed on top of the de- parting aircraft if they had not been instructed to abort? And, at what point are they able to make a decision to abort/go-around, on their own without waiting on the air traffic controller to advise them to do so? The Cayman Airways aircraft should never have got so close to landing as it should have been clear to the pilots from long before it was in the vicinity of the hospital that there was still an aircraft on the runway. Robert smith I saw another abort landing this Saturday with a U.S. Airways plane and Continental. Seems that these occurrences are happening quite frequently now. Hugh Jackson More sensationalism over a non-event. The article reads as though a collision was im- pending and all passengers are lucky to be alive. This doesn’t appear to be the case at all but the Compass has to jus- tify its over-the-top reporting so far and save face when, had they just done a little more in- vestigating to begin with, they could have found out the facts, ran a small report of the inci- dent and moved on. Now for the last three days all anyone is going to see when reading our local news source is that flying into Cayman is a poten- tially life-threatening venture. It doesn’t seem like this incident proves anything other than maybe Cayman needs to get some radar. That however is a whole different story and issue that no one has even brought up. Christoph Walser This is hardly a non- event, rather a potentially serious safety incident. That is self-evident if the authori- ties deem it necessary to an- alyze the voice recordings of all those involved. Roger Davies “An ‘occurrence’ that never should have occurred,” March 27 As a former air traffic con- troller and retired airline pilot, I beg to differ with your ap- parent consternation. An air- craft on final approach with another aircraft taking the ac- tive runway for departure is a daily, if not hourly, state of af- fairs at most airports. I would say just be happy that your controllers and crew were professional, on the ball, and that they all made the correct decisions. As far as aircrew are concerned, this non-event was part of normal daily routine, perhaps re- quiring a written report to the operations manager, but not much more than that. James Lynch As a former airline pilot, please allow me to point out that the “assumptions” set- ting out “the elements of human error in three pos- sible ways” could not have been more off the mark and more misleading. Go-arounds because an aircraft is on your landing runway are relatively common events; pilots and controllers are trained for them and they occur every day as a matter of fact. I am sure every Cayman Airways pilot has had to do these more than once; pilots are trained for this and it is not difficult to do. While I have not “investigated” this case, I am positive that the Cayman Airways pilot had the aircraft on the ground in sight for miles before he began his go-around and he used his good judgment at the right time when it be- came apparent to him that the aircraft on the ground would not be able to leave the runway before he was able to land safely. This was not an event that should have been reported, and the Compass should have done the right thing: to have checked with someone who has intimate knowledge of such things; such checks it appears did not happen. Kel Thompson Nowadays you can’t go the bathroom without a video or recording stating that you did. There can be no doubt here that a recording is readily available as to whether air traffic/ground control or the pilot had a brain fart. Check the tapes and solve the mystery. Len KingThe islands’ most-trusted news source 5 Cayman Compass • Wednesday april 1, 2015 Tell us how RBC helped you achieve your goals for a chance to win a weekend getaway! Log on to rbc.com/caribbean Investing in YOU have a lot on your plate YOU have staff to inspire and targets to meet YOU are a big player and you don’t play games RBC makes your business, our business! “I’m really impressed with RBC’s solutions for business not to mention their regional experience and global reach. Even with their long list of successful clients, I feel like I am their priority.” Patricia – RBC Client It’s All About You6 LOCAL NEWS Wednesday april 1, 2015 • Cayman Compass Smart boards taking education to the future JameS Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The days of chalk and blackboards are long gone in the Cayman Islands as edu- cation officials embrace in- creased use of technology in the classroom. A bid went out this month for 69 new inter- active whiteboards, mul- timedia devices similar to large iPads that can be used for lesson presentations. The contract, when com- pleted, will mean nearly 80 percent of primary school classrooms will have inter- active whiteboards. Mark Ray, Information and Communications Technology integration spe- cialist for the Department of Education Services, said teachers have been receiving training on how to use the whiteboards, which are still considered fairly new tech- nology in education. He said the touchscreen boards, which come with software and resources to help plan lessons, are an im- portant new tool for teachers. He said the latest contract would make them available in most regular classrooms, not just in IT labs. “The technology isn’t in place to force teachers to use it for every lesson,” Mr. Ray said. “It complements what is already there and gives them another option for delivering information and instruction. “We have found it helps teachers give en- gaging, engrossing les- sons and allows students to work collaboratively.” Steve Durksen, ICT man- ager for the Ministry of Education, said the addi- tional smart boards would help integrate technology across the curriculum. He said, “Interactive white- boards, through their soft- ware, which allows for the fast creation of interactive activities using templates, provide the opportunity for teachers to show, and have their students demonstrate, aspects of their learning. “The software brings an additional element into the teaching and learning dy- namic, and that is allowing students to create content for use by other students. This is not only another strategy to demonstrate learning, but a good way to teach students not to just be consumers of informa- tion, but creators of content as well.” He said they could be used, for example, for story- telling or demonstrating the impact of different variables on a graph. “Interactive white- boards have become more commonplace in the modern classroom and are, in fact, requested more often by educators who wish to produce and utilize engaging content with their students,” he added. He said they are particularly useful in the core areas of literacy, numeracy and sci- ence, where educators have developed content and soft- ware to aid lessons. “In addition to adding collaboratively and in- teractively to lessons, the ministry has purchased software that will allow col- laboration between classes and schools using interac- tive whiteboards as a video conferencing tool,” he added. Kera Smith, a teacher at George Town Primary School, said the boards have been used at the school for the last two years. She said they are useful for keeping children engaged and inter- ested in lessons. Kera Smith, a teacher at George Town Primary School, uses the interactive whiteboard in her classroom. - PHOTO: JAMES WHITTAKER Nighttime visitors to Camana Bay this week will notice the Town Centre lit up in blue to mark World Autism Awareness Day. Members of the Special Needs Foundation of Cayman will be in Camana Bay on Thursday to raise aware- ness of the disorder. They are asking businesses to par- ticipate in a “wear blue” day to raise money for autism awareness that day and to donate $5. To mark the day, Camana Bay is joining landmarks throughout the world in turning blue, the signature color of autism, from Monday to Sunday. Among the sites that will light up on Thursday are Niagra Falls and the Empire State Building in New York, and London’s Trafalgar Square. Autism is a term that de- scribes a group of complex developmental brain dis- orders – autism spectrum disorders – caused by a combination of genes and en- vironmental influences. Visitors are invited to stop by the Special Needs Foundation’s booth on the Paseo in Camana Bay from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. FEElIng bluE FOR AuTISM AWAREnESS7 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Wednesday april 1, 2015 178433_PRINT-Buttrfld-UndrGrdSchPage 1 3/24/15 10:28:32 AM CUC expands renewable energy program Tad SToner tstoner@pinnaclemedialtd.com Caribbean Utilities Company has announced an increase from 3 megawatts to 4 megawatts in the amount of renewable energy it will accept onto the national grid from Consumer-Owned Renewable Energy installations (known as CORE), sparking fears the move will damage the solar energy industry. In a complex arrangement, both CUC and its Electricity Regulatory Authority overseer said on Tuesday the utility would reduce the price it pays to individuals to supply re- newable-generated power to the grid, but will extend the duration of each agreement from 20 years to 25 years. The arrangement will take effect on Wednesday, April 1. CUC will pay new residen- tial customers 32 cents per kilowatt hour, 20 percent less than the previous 38.5 cents. New commercial customers will receive only 28 cents per kWh, 30 percent less than the previous 37.5 cents. “That is substantial,” said James Whittaker, chairman of the Cayman Renewable Energy Association. He called it a step backwards for renew- able energy and Cayman’s ef- forts to decrease dependence on diesel-generated power. The 1MW increase in re- newable power the utility and the Electricity Regulatory Authority will accept, he says, is meaningless. “Don’t let that fool you. It means that where you once faced paying back your solar system in seven years, you will now have to wait 10 years. The ERA did not take into account the broad social and eco- nomic environment. It’s short- sighted,” he said. The agreement, said the regulatory body’s managing director, Charles Farrington, comes as the cost of gener- ating equipment and diesel fuel diminishes, and the au- thority tries to balance public interest, pricing and efficiency. “It’s time and value,” he said, speaking broadly of the complex calculations. “It de- pends on how much you want to incentivize. Do you feel you need a 25 percent return or might 10 percent or 15 percent be okay?” For that greater re- turn, he said, you pay a pre- mium, and for consumers to pay, for example 32 cents for 1kWh of solar-generated power as opposed to 28 cents for a 1kWh of diesel-generated power ... “well, you would need a pretty good reason.” Mr. Whittaker dis- puted the math, but even using Electricity Regulatory Authority numbers, he calcu- lates the consumer subsidy for solar power at less than $1 per person per month. “And last year we created nearly $10 million in economic activity in Cayman,” he said. In recent meetings with the regulator, Mr. Whittaker said, the Cayman Renewable Energy Association sought a 10-year program for renewable energy, culminating in 10MW of renewable power, setting a benchmark for development. The Electricity Regulatory Authority declined, he said. “The authority is dis- couraging rooftop arrays,” he said. “They want to have fields of panels out in, for ex- ample, East End, or like the International Electric Power bid for Bodden Town,” a refer- ence to the Pittsburgh-based solar company that signed a 5MW power purchase agree- ment with CUC at Christmas. Mr. Farrington pointed out that the grid’s limit for renewables had been set at 15MW. International Electric Power’s bid was already for 5MW, with another 4MW now mandated. The initial request for proposals that drew the Pittsburg company’s bid had also sought another 8MW, some relying on wind power. Meanwhile, CUC said the intention had always been to expand CORE from its orig- inal 2MW to 4MW. Just two months ago, the utility and the Electricity Regulatory Authority approved an interim expansion to 3MW. “The initial intention was to expand the program to 4MW to allow additional par- ticipation in the program,” a CUC spokeswoman said. The upper limits on the CORE program, however, were still being studied, she said, accounting for both safety and costs: “The level of inter- mittent power such as rooftop solar power, utility-scale inter- mittent power, variations in the type of intermittent power (wind versus solar), location of the power on the grid [and] existing power-generation sources must all be taken into consideration in establishing the capacity limits to ensure that the grid remains reliable and safe. “The economic cost of each intermittent and non-inter- mittent generation source, the cost to own and operate the grid and the cost of non-in- termittent [diesel-generated] power-generation capacity must also be considered in establishing CORE capacity limits and rates to ensure the competitive and fair allocation of costs for all electrical cus- tomers,” CUC said. Mr. Farrington said the CORE program had proven a success, observing that individual and commer- cial generators of renewable power had “blown through the 2MW limit – and use is accelerating greatly.” CUC said the program’s success was “based on the rapid residential and commer- cial customer participation within the CORE program. “Currently, there has been approximately 2.5MW of CORE applications within the 4MW limit in capacity,” the spokeswoman said. Mr. Whittaker argued the CUC and the Electricity Regulatory Authority limits were artificial and likely to drive future consumers en- tirely off the grid, jeopardizing the utility’s foundations and financial future. “With rapidly developing storage and battery tech- nology,” he said, “CUC’s and the ERA’s fears are all going to come true, bringing all those long-term viability issues.” Caribbean Utilities Company will increase the amount of renewable energy it will accept onto the national grid. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAYThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 WEDNESDAY APRIL 1, 2015 • CAYMAN COMPASS We Buy Gold!We Buy Gold! Cash For Gold Silver, Coins and Broken Jewelry Cash Paid on the Spot! Call 927-8565 Cash For Gold • Shedden Road Dr. Neeraj Prasad Cardiologist Will be visiting Grand Harbour Medical Center April 13th - April 17th Please call 949-4309 or 623-4309 for appointments. LIFE EXTENSION GYM WAKE UP AND LIVE! Lose weight the easy way. Vibration Plates & saUna! Send to dberryoffshore@gmail.com www.lifeextensioncayman.com its staff was responsible for a series of birth defects suf- fered by the child. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for July to determine whether Section 12 of the Health Services Authority Law provides the authority and its staff with a blanket indemnity against such lawsuits. The relevant section of the law states, “Neither the authority, not any director or employee of the Authority, nor any Committee member, shall be liable in damages for anything done or omitted in the discharge of their respec- tive functions or duties un- less it is shown that the act or omission was in bad faith.” Mr. Kennedy said, “We are before the Grand Court for a hearing to determine the cor- rect interpretation of the sec- tion of the law which, it is as- serted by the HSA, protects them and their employees from claims for medical neg- ligence, except for cases of bad faith. “This is an important issue for the jurisdiction as it affects all users of the HSA, including all government em- ployees, pregnant women and the indigenous popula- tion who have no choice but to use the HSA. “If the court agrees with the HSA’s interpretation of the law, all users must do so without the protection of being able to hold those treating them to account for any negligent treatment.” He said the right of a cit- izen to claim for medical neg- ligence is also a human rights issue and that the interpre- tation of Section 12 is one that may end up before the court on the issue of its com- patibility with the Cayman Islands Bill of Rights. A previous lawsuit against the Health Services Authority by a patient claiming medical negligence was thrown out by a judge after the authority success- fully argued that Section 12 exempts its employees from liability in damages for their actions unless bad faith can be proven. Cayman Islands and another 368 passed by the islands on their way to Central America. Those figures dwarf anything the Cayman Islands had seen since 2005-2006. So far this year, the number of Cuban arrivals are on pace to surpass those to- tals, with 48 landing through March 26 and another 86 boaters passing through. As of press time Tuesday, the fate of 59 Cuban boaters moored off Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac waiting for calmer seas before continuing on their journey was unknown. According to the ministry, the largest group was re- ported at Colliers Beach on Monday, when 31 men and seven women from Cuba were awaiting a sea change, while another man aboard chose to disembark and be taken into custody. Another Cuban group of nine men and four women were docked near the old Divi Tiara resort on the south side of Cayman Brac. A third group of eight Cuban migrants floated into George Town harbor on Sunday and anchored off the harbor, where they remained Tuesday afternoon. Cayman Islands law en- forcement officials said it seemed a number of the Cuban travelers believed the American government was about to change the legal policy it has used since the mid-1990s to determine whether landed migrants could remain in the U.S. The policy, developed under former President Bill Clinton’s administration, al- lows migrants who reach land to remain in the U.S. through various processes, while those at sea must be repatriated. Cayman is typically a stopover point for migrants seeking to reach Honduras and travel through Central America and Mexico into the southern border of the United States, often winding up in Arizona, New Mexico or Texas. The Cubans who arrive in Cayman are generally con- sidered “economic migrants,” but they may apply for polit- ical asylum in Cayman. Immigration may activate ‘mass migration’ response the better part of 10 years until last Thursday when Mr. Rhian’s son Walter took it out for Mr. Felder to see. The car will need some work, it appears. “The batteries are gone, they’re dead,” Mr. Felder said. “We’ll also have to get the windshield replaced. It has become discolored and that will never pass inspection.” Luckily, the dealership that sold Mr. Rhian the ve- hicle still has all the parts. “If the family agrees, I’m going to get them to bring it to Grand Cayman and let my technician work on it. I can even get a license for it [on Grand Cayman],” Mr. Felder said. The tiny car cannot go above 25 miles per hour and would be classified as a “neighborhood electric ve- hicle” under the 2011 ver- sion of the Cayman Islands Traffic Law and Road Code. Normally, that would mean it could not be driven on local thoroughfares, but as the maximum speed limit on Little Cayman is 25 mph, it can be driven there. “There’s no better place than Little Cayman for an electric car ... It’s flat, no hills, no great distance to travel,” Mr. Felder said, pointing out that gas prices on the 200-resident island still hover around US$7 per gallon. “Every one of the people that I spoke to [last week] wanted to buy an elec- tric car,” he said. Little Cayman does not have any charging stations, but Mr. Felder said that be- cause Mr. Paz’s vehicle is powered by lithium ion bat- teries, it can be plugged into outlets at his home. There are a number of electric car charging sta- tions in operation on Grand Cayman, including at East End’s Reef Resort, Governors Square, the Crighton Building, the Budget Rent- A-Car property and Camana Bay. A new charging station at Kaibo Beach Bar in North Side is expected to come on- line soon. The next step, according to Mr. Felder, who owns the charging stations, is to set up electric car charging stations at each Foster’s Food Fair su- permarket on Grand Cayman. “I hope by the end of second quarter [June], we will have some of the charge sta- tions completed in Foster’s,” Mr. Felder said. Little Cayman gets second ‘first’ electric car “There’s no be tter place than Little Cayman for an electric car ... It’s flat, no hills, no great distance to travel.” JOHN FELDER, president, Cayman Automotive CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Tourists at George Town harbor pose for photos Tuesday as a dilapidated boat carrying Cuban migrants floats in the background. The eight men on board the boat have been there since Sunday. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Medical malpractice suits hard to win Iran nuke talks drag past deadline LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers will pass the negotiators’ self-im- posed Tuesday night dead- line to produce the outline of an agreement and will be ex- tended by at least a day, the United States said. State Department spokes- woman Marie Harf said enough progress had been made to warrant an exten- sion, although there still were “several difficult issues” to bridge. Secretary of State John Kerry who had planned to leave the talks on Tuesday will remain until Wednesday, she said. Diplomats said China’s foreign minister had left the talks to return to Beijing and would be represented by his deputy. U.S. officials said they were prepared to continue to negotiate into Wednesday if it could lead to a frame- work accord. An Iranian ne- gotiator, meanwhile, said his team could stay “as long as necessary” to clear the remaining hurdles. In Washington, White House press secretary Josh Earnest suggested that talks meant to produce an outline that would allow the sides to continue negotiations until the June 30 final deadline had not bridged all gaps. But he said that the sides were working to produce a text with few specifics, accompa- nied by documents outlining areas where further talks were needed. “If it’s necessary – and, when I say if it’s necessary I mean if it’s midnight and a deal has not been reached but the conversations con- tinue to be productive – we’ll be prepared to continue the talks into tomorrow,” he told reporters. “If we are making progress toward the finish line, than we should keep going.” Officials said earlier Tuesday they hoped to wrap up the talks by the deadline with a joint general state- ment agreeing to start a new phase of negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program. That statement would be accom- panied by more detailed doc- uments that would include technical information on un- derstandings of steps re- quired on all sides to resolve outstanding concerns. Those documents would allow the sides to claim that the new phase of talks is not simply a continuation of ne- gotiations that have already been twice extended since an interim agreement between Iran and the so-called P5+1 nations – the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China – was con- cluded in November 2013. President Barack Obama and other leaders have said they are not interested in a third extension. Staff of the Health Services Authority, which runs the Cayman Islands Hospital, are protected from malpractice legal action under the law. - PHOTO: CHRIS COURT9 WORLD&REGIONAL Cayman Compass • Wednesday april 1, 2015 French eye cockpit entry, psychological screening rules PARIS (AP) — French avi- ation investigators said Tuesday they will examine “systemic weaknesses” like cockpit entry rules and psy- chological screening pro- cedures that could have led to the Germanwings plane crash – issues that could affect the worldwide aviation industry. Lufthansa, meanwhile, said its insurers had set aside $300 million to deal with possible costs from the March 24 crash. The announcement by the French aviation agency BEA signaled the latest re- think about airline proce- dures in the wake of the Germanwings crash, which jolted an aviation industry al- ready reeling after one pas- senger plane disappeared into an ocean and another was shot out of the sky over war-torn eastern Ukraine. Authorities say Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who in the past had been treated for sui- cidal tendencies, locked his captain out of the cockpit be- fore deliberately crashing the Airbus 320 into a mountain in the French Alps. All the 150 people aboard Flight 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf were killed that day. BEA said it aims to pro- vide a “detailed analysis” of the Germanwings cockpit voice recorder and any other flight data – but it also plans to widen its search to ex- amine issues that could be problematic for all airlines. “[We will study] systemic weaknesses [that] might pos- sibly have led to this aviation disaster,” BEA said in its first statement since prosecutors detailed the co-pilot’s sus- pected role in the crash. The agency is studying both psychological screening procedures and rules applied to entering and leaving the cockpit, as well as cockpit door locking systems. BEA’s investigation runs parallel to a criminal probe being led by prosecutors. Both are investigating what happened with the flight. The end goal of the crim- inal investigation is to hold someone responsible. The end goal of the BEA investigation is to make recommendations to aviation authorities to pre- vent similar accidents from happening again. If the French agency dis- covers wider aviation prob- lems, that could spark in- dustry regulators and airline companies worldwide to make changes. Several air- lines and the European avi- ation regulator have already changed procedures after the Germanwings crash, an- nouncing last week that they now recommend having two people in the cockpit at all times. In Frankfurt, Lufthansa spokeswoman Kerstin Lau said $300 million is the amount currently reserved by insurers to deal with “all costs arising in connection with the case.” Lufthansa – Germanwings’ parent company – offered im- mediate aid last week of up to 50,000 euros (US$54,250) per passenger to relatives of the victims. Those payments are separate from eventual compensation payments. Airlines are required under a treaty governing deaths and injuries aboard international flights to com- pensate relatives of victims for proven damages of up to a limit currently set at about $157,000 – regardless of what caused the crash. However, higher compen- sation is possible if a carrier is held liable. German prosecutors say Lubitz, 27, received psycho- therapy before obtaining his pilot’s license and that med- ical records from that time referred to “suicidal tenden- cies.” They have given no dates for his treatment, but said visits to doctors since then showed no record of any suicidal tendencies or ag- gression against others. They also have found torn- up sick notes from doctors, including one that would have kept Lubitz off work on the day of the crash. Lufthansa has declined to say whether it knew anything about Lubitz’s health prob- lems. But it says the young pilot had passed all required medical checks since starting work for its subsidiary in September 2013. The airline on Tuesday canceled plans to celebrate its 60th anniversary on April 15 “out of respect for the vic- tims of the crash.” At the crash site in the French Alps, investigators said Tuesday they hope to have found DNA samples for everyone killed on the flight in the next 24 hours. Lt. Col. Jean-Marc Menichini, speaking in the nearby town of Le Vernet, said the search was still on for the plane’s second black box – its data recorder. French President Francois Hollande, speaking to re- porters during a previously planned trip to Germany, said: “By the end of the week at the latest, it will be pos- sible to identify all the vic- tims thanks to the DNA sam- ples taken.” Hollande said German and French ministers also discussed the need to im- prove checks of air passen- gers within Europe’s visa- free Schengen zone, and to “ensure that we can also strengthen our safety rules for piloting planes.” Construction workers on Monday cut a road to the steep, mountainous crash site to speed up recovery ef- forts, since previously emer- gency workers had to rely on helicopters. “We can accelerate the work. It will be much easier not to have to de- pend on the weather,” said Lt. Col. Philippe Sansa of the rescue service. German investigators from a special team tasked with identifying the vic- tims and determining their cause of death are ex- pected to travel to the crash site on Wednesday. NOTICE TO THE MEMBERS OF CAYMAN NATIONAL PENSION FUND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Notice is hereby given of the Annual General Meeting of Members of the Cayman National Pension Fund to be held Tuesday 14th April, 2015, in the Cayman National Building, 4th Floor Board Room, Elgin Avenue, George Town, Grand Cayman at 4pm. The Agenda is set out below: - AGENDA 1. Review the Minutes of the last Members Meeting held on the 6th March, 2014 and any matters arising. 2. Receive Audited Financial Statements for the period ended 30th September 2014. 3. Report from Investment Committee. 4. Elect a Trustee. 5. Any other competent business. Passengers and visitors have been leaving candles and flowers at the airport in Duesseldorf, German, to commemorate the victims of the Germanwings plane crash. - PHOTO: APNext >