ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – Monday June 1, 2015 High of 86 Low of 75 Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet. ABCDE NATIONAL WEEKLY Worst Week Dennis Hastert 3 Politics Rubio goes by the book 7 Lifestyle Beating wedding stress 17 Q&A Lessons from John Nash 23 THE WEEK OF SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2015. IN COLLABORATION WITH THE wASHIngTon poST A father’s initiative Editorial | pagE 4 When ‘no coMMent’ is the Wrong coMMent CayMan’s Jeffrey Webb and Canover Watson Same-street mansions in Loganville, Georgia Brent Fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Two top-level Cayman Islands football of- ficials who face separate criminal investi- gations related to bribery and corruption charges bought houses on the same street in Loganville, Georgia, within the past five years, the Cayman Compass has learned. One of the homes is a three-story man- sion valued at US$931,000 located at 2116 Adel Drive in the small town east of Atlanta. A swimming pool was built on the property with the proceeds of bribes funneled through sev- eral international bank accounts, front compa- nies and intermediaries, U.S. federal prosecu- tors have alleged. The 9,851-square-foot home, which is listed as having six bedrooms and eight bath- rooms, is owned by Cayman Islands resident Jeffrey Webb and his wife, Atlanta-area phy- sician Kendra Gamble-Webb, according to Rockdale County, Georgia, tax records. It is one of several properties Webb owns in the state of Georgia that are now potentially sub- ject to asset forfeiture proceedings, according to federal court indictments issued last week. Just three houses down from the Webb home, at 2128 Adel Drive, is a US$550,000 two-story, 7,694-square-foot home on 3 acres owned by suspended FIFA audit committee member and Cayman Islands businessman Canover Watson. Watson, who is not charged in connec- tion with the FIFA bribery scandal that led to the indictment against Webb and others last week, is facing a criminal trial in Cayman in November related to allegations that he used his former position as a member of Judge blasts seC on Caledonian Case Michael Klein mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com A U.S. District Court judge has described the $76 million freezing order against Caledonian Bank, which directly resulted in a run on the bank and its ultimate bankruptcy, as “incredible government overreach.” Judge William H. Pauley III, who signed the temporary injunction against Caledonian, questioned U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers at a pre-trial hearing in the Southern District of New York on May 21. He asked whether the SEC had been aware when it made the application that the bank had net equity of only $25 million, and that any amount exceeding that would represent depositor funds. SEC attorney Richard Simpson said the rotary’s Camelot auction they’re known worldwide as ‘the three Waiters,’ a trio of talented opera singers who blend in seamlessly with the hospitality staff – until they start performing. on friday night they delighted the hundreds who attended the rotary Club of Grand Cayman’s annual ‘Camelot auction’ at the ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman. the theme of this year’s event was ‘the Magic of the Musicals,’ and Cayman’s glitterati arrived in black-tie, evening dresses, or, for the more adventuresome, ‘broadway attire.’ More photos and coverage in the Compass later this week. - Photo: Maggie JaCkson PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » this house, at 2128 adel drive, belongs to Canover Watson. - Photos by kevin d. liles/kevindliles.CoM for the CayMan CoMPass this house, at 2116 adel drive, Loganville, Georgia, belongs to Jeffrey Webb.2 LOCAL&REGIONAL Monday June 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. y x *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. - MONDAY - $8.00 SAN ANDREAS 3D (PG13) 12:45 I 3:20 2D I 7:00 I 9:50 2D PITCH PERFECT 2 (PG13) 1:10 I 4:10 I 7:15 I 9:50 TOMORROWLAND (PG) 1:00 I 3:55 I 6:50 I 9:45 POLTERGEIST 3D (PG13) 12:30 I 2:50 2D I 5:10 I 7:30 2D I 10:00 AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (PG13) 12:25 I 3:30 I 6:35 I 9:40 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (R) 1:20 I 4:20 I 7:10 I 9:50 www.tonymosleylifeinsurance.com Cultural Foundation announces grant recipients Jewel levy jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com Swanky Kitchen Band, Poinciana Festival, Nayil Arana and Karlie Lovinggood are all recipients of the Cayman National Cultural Foundation’s first round of grants for the arts this year. The foundation awards grants to individuals who are resident in the Cayman Islands and have been resident for the preceding 12 months, and for arts groups operating in the Cayman Islands. Grants for in- dividuals range from $250 to $1,000. Grants to arts groups range from $500 to $3,000. Nayil Arana, 15, who has been playing violin for 10 years and the piano for eight years, plays regularly at Savannah United Church, Cayman Music School and with the Cayman Island Folk Singers. Nayil’s grant will en- able him to attend the Luzerne Music Center’s Senior Session in New York this summer, an opportunity to improve his solo performances, chamber group performances and work with an orchestra, the Cultural Foundation said in a press release. The Poinciana Festival is a new three-day event cele- brating film, music and art to showcase creative work in the Cayman Islands. Festival di- rectors Badir Awe and Ronnie James Hughes have connec- tions in the art and film scenes in Cayman. “Poinciana is grateful and inspired to receive support from an organization that has played such a central role in the nurturing of the Cayman arts scene,” said Mr. Awe said “We hope to create a valu- able ongoing partnership with CNCF to supplement their work with ours as we assist in our common mission of de- veloping the blossoming arts scene in the Cayman Islands.” Karlie Lovinggood is a young Caymanian who is in- volved in both theater and film. She will use her grant to attend the London Film Academy’s Screenwriting Foundation program in June to learn skills that will help further her career in writing for film and television. Swanky Kitchen Band re- ceived another grant to pro- duce a live album with an ex- panded 10-person band. This third album aims to capture the dynamic live music expe- rience which has endeared the Swanky Kitchen Band to local audiences by reviving tradi- tional Caymanian songs as well as adding new songs to their catalogue. The album is also meant to help the band get bookings at international music festivals. Swanky Band leader Samuel Rose said, ”Swanky Kitchen Band feels honored to have received a grant from the CNCF for what will be our third music album.” Mr. Rose said the band remains committed to their mission of pre- serving Caymanian heritage through music and will con- tinue to present traditional Caymanian songs. However, this time the project will fea- ture more original music. The grant will help offset the costs associated with a re- cording project of this mag- nitude, Mr. Rose said, and all recording and mixing will be done in the Cayman Islands. CNCF is accepting applications for the September round of grants. Deadline for submissions is July 15. Grant guidelines and an application form are available at the Cayman National Cultural Foundation office. Contact 949-5477 or email volunteercncf@candw.ky. ReGioNal NewS RouNDup Virgin Islands governor gives up state- funded residence The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands says he has renounced his state- funded residence on the is- land of St. Thomas out of economic concerns. Ken Mapp made the an- nouncement in a statement Saturday following public criticism of government ex- penditures. The government paid $12,500 a month to rent the villa where Mapp has been residing. Mapp said he will live in his private home on St. Croix for now. A local law requires that the governor live in the is- land’s capital of Charlotte Amalie, in St. Thomas. Mapp said he will address the issue when he returns from an official trip abroad. Guyana ex-president allowed to travel despite charges A judge in Guyana is al- lowing former president Bharrat Jagdeo to travel outside the South American country even though he faces charges of inciting ra- cial hatred. Attorney Mursalene Bacchus told The Associated Press Saturday that a judge overturned an earlier ruling barring Jagdeo from trav- eling. The former presi- dent was charged Monday for comments he allegedly made ahead of the May 11 general elections. He is accused of saying that Afro-Guyanese opposi- tion activists were “beating drums” while urging citi- zens to throw out “coolie” members of the People’s Progressive Party domi- nated by people of Indian descent like him. If found guilty, Jagdeo could serve up to two years in prison and pay a $500 fine. Puerto Rico starts debate on budget amid economic crisis Legislators in Puerto Rico have started to de- bate a proposed $9.8 billion budget amid growing con- cerns about the U.S. territo- ry’s economic crisis. The island’s House of Representatives began holding its first public hear- ings on Saturday to discuss a budget that calls for $674 million in cuts. Officials with Puerto Rico’s Treasury Department and the Government Development Bank are the first to testify. The hearings are ex- pected to last at least two weeks, with officials from dozens of departments scheduled to testify. Puerto Rico is in a nearly decade-long eco- nomic slump and faces $72 billion in public debt. The hearings began just hours after the governor signed a law raising the sales tax to 11.5 percent and created a new 4 percent tax on pro- fessional services to help generate revenue. © 2015, associated press CoRReCTioN A caption on page 8 of Friday’s Compass misidentified the people in the photo. The cor- rect caption for the photo, right, is: Red Cross shelter manager Marsha Thompson, left, with Aon Baxter and Latrese Haylock, during the hur- ricane preparedness exercise this week at the Red Cross office. The Cayman Compass strives for accuracy and is committed to correcting errors that appear in the newspaper. Those interested in contacting the paper for that purpose can email the editor at newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com. Residents of Mexican neighboRhood Miss caRtel’s pRotection OCOTLAN, Mexico — At the makeshift shrine for the Warriors of the Five, the young men are listed by their gang handles: Chicken. Nacho. Whitey. In the photos, some have elab- orate tattoos, others bran- dish guns. Eleven of the men killed by police this month in one of the deadliest clashes of Mexico’s drug war came from the blocks of Infonavit 5, a poor bar- and-brothel neighborhood in this farming town in Jalisco state. The relatives and neighbors who stop to pay tribute don’t dis- pute that at least some of them may have worked for the New Generation drug cartel. But that label means little here. They don’t see them as gangsters but as child- hood friends who guarded homes, watched parked cars, kept drunks from disrespecting the women. It’s the police, they say, who will take things from the corner store without paying, shake you down on your walk home, make your 12-year-old daughter un- button her shirt. “People don’t go out on the street because they’re afraid of the government,” said Graciela Piñeda, whose son was the second of her boys to be killed by author- ities in the past three years. “These boys never disre- spected anyone. They took care of us.” Authorities hailed the operation as a victory. They denied that any of the men were executed and said all tested positive for bal- listic residue. But human rights officials have begun to investigate the case after questions emerged about the lopsided death toll and whether the bodies showed signs of torture. © 2015, The washington post Nayil arana, 15, receives his grant from Virginia Foster of CNCF.3 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Monday June 1, 2015 DART DEVELOPMENT PLAN PRESENTATION You are invited to attend a public presentation on the Dart group of companies and its upcoming real estate development plans. Regal Cinemas, Camana Bay THURSDAY 4 JUNE 2015 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm Seating is limited; please arrive early to ensure availability. Sessions are open to the public; however, photography and videography will not be permitted. Austin Harris let go from Rooster James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Rooster Radio has “parted ways” with longtime morning talk show host Austin Harris a little over a week after he admitted a drunken assault on a woman. Station boss and Hurley’s Entertainment Managing Director Randy Merren said in a press release Friday af- ternoon that the decision was meant to take the “Crosstalk” show in a “new direction.” He made no mention of Mr. Harris’s court case. Woody Da Costa, a can- didate for the Progressives in the last election, will take over the show on an interim basis. Mr. Harris escaped a criminal conviction despite pleading guilty to common assault and damage to prop- erty when he appeared in court on May 21. He told the court he was “severely in- toxicated” at the time and could not remember anything about the incident. He had previously en- tered not guilty pleas to charges of common assault and damage to property but reversed his position on the morning of a planned trial in Summary Court. Witnesses said Mr. Harris grabbed the woman by the throat and was pulled away by television weatherman Kevin Watler during the in- cident at a leaving-the-is- land party for the victim in March 2014. He was initially sus- pended, following his ar- rest, from his position at Rooster Radio but was later reinstated. A statement from the sta- tion on Friday confirmed that he has been replaced as host of the morning show, but made no mention of the incident. “I thank Austin for his years of service, but it is time to take Cayman Crosstalk in a new direction,” Mr. Merren said in the statement. “Cayman Crosstalk has always been at the inter- section of political and business conversations in the Cayman Islands. “We have been ex- ploring our options on how to broaden the show’s audi- ence and influence. We want Crosstalk to grow and become even more relevant in the coming months and years,” He said Mr. DaCosta has credentials in hospitality, project management, property, international business and law and served on the boards of the International College of the Cayman Islands and the Cayman Islands Youth Development Consortium. “Woody’s diverse back- ground in business, politics and public affairs makes him well suited to lead the dis- cussion about the Cayman Islands’ future. “He has an excellent un- derstanding of the many di- verse points of view that comprise our unique home. He added, “We shall miss Austin, but we are pleased to have someone of Woody’s ex- perience take the microphone. His combination of private sector and public service ex- perience will be a valuable asset to Cayman’s most im- portant radio program.”Mr. Harris Nearly $19,000 raised locally for Nepal Noting that the Red Cross had designated May as Nepal Earthquakes Appeal month, Cayman Islands Red Cross Director Jondo Obi said the orga- nization collected nearly $19,000 to date. A recent boost came from the public service, including civil servants, staff of statutory authori- ties and government com- panies, as well as Members of the Legislative Assembly, who donated $4,690 to help Nepal recover from two re- cent major earthquakes, ac- cording to a government press release. Ms. Obi said the earth- quakes left some 8,600 dead, 22,000 injured and 3.5 mil- lion in need of food assis- tance. An estimated three- quarters of a million homes were damaged or destroyed. In addition to public ser- vants, other significant do- nations have come from Icoa Restaurant, Cayman Prep and High School, and PKF. The Red Cross also do- nated 50 percent of raffle ticket sales from its an- nual fundraising gala to the Nepal appeal, Ms. Obi said. She added that there are still opportunities to sup- port the cause. On June 6, chefs from The Ritz- Carlton Grand Cayman, the Westin Grand Cayman, the Cayman Culinary Society and other local restau- rants will host “Cayman 4 Nepal.” Attendees will be able to enjoy food stations, and wine or beer with a ticket purchase. For more information, contact the Red Cross at email: deputy@ redcross.org.ky or call 323-2874. Donations can also be made directly to Butterfield Bank, ‘Red Cross Nepal Earthquake’ account. Contact Butterfield for the account number. Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, center, presents a donation check to Cayman Islands Red Cross Director Jondo Obi. Also attending are Nepalese natives, Government Administration Building security Guard Durga Limbu and Puspa Rumba, a hair stylist at Eclipze salon in Camana Bay.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” WASHINGTON – Commencement season brings a respite from the sinister childishness ram- pant on campuses. Attacks on freedom of speech come from the professoriate, that herd of independent minds, and from the ever-thickening layer of university administrators who keep busy constricting freedom in order to fine-tune campus atmospherics. The attacks are childish because they infantilize stu- dents who flinch from the intellectual free-for-all of adult society. When Brown University’s tranquility of conformity was threatened by a woman speaker skeptical about the “rape culture” on campuses, students planned a “safe space” for those who would be traumatized by ex- posure to skepticism. Judith Shulevitz, writing in The New York Times, reported that the space had “cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pil- lows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies.” The attack on free ex- pression is sinister because it asserts that such freedom is not merely unwise but, in a sense, meaningless. Free speech is more comprehen- sively and aggressively em- battled now than ever before in American history, largely because of two 19th-century ideas. One is that history – actually, History, a proper noun – has a mind of its own. The other is that most people do not really have minds of their own. Progressives frequently disparage this or that person or idea as “on the wrong side of history.” They re- gard history as an autono- mous force with its own laws of unfolding development: Progress is wherever his- tory goes. This belief entails disparagement of human agency – or at least that of most people, who do not un- derstand history’s implacable logic and hence do not get on history’s “right side.” Such people are crippled by “false consciousness.” Fortunately, a saving clerisy, a vanguard composed of the under- standing few, know where history is going and how to help it get there. One way to help is by molding the minds of young people. The molders believe that the sociology of knowl- edge demonstrates that most people do not make up their minds, “society” does this. But progressive minds can be furnished for them by controlling the promptings from the social environment. This can be done by making campuses into hermetically sealed laboratories. In “The Promise of American Life” (1909), pro- gressivism’s canonical text, Herbert Croly said, “The av- erage American individual is morally and intellectually inadequate to a serious and consistent conception of his responsibilities as a demo- crat.” National life should be “a school,” with the gov- ernment as the stern but caring principal: “The exi- gencies of such schooling frequently demand se- vere coercive measures, but what schooling does not?” “Unregenerate citizens” can be saved “many costly per- versions, in case the of- ficial school-masters are wise, and the pupils nei- ther truant nor insubordi- nate.” For a survey of to- day’s campus coercions, read Kirsten Power’s “The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech.” In “Kindly Inquisitors” (1993), Jonathan Rauch showed how attacks on the free market in speech un- dermine three pillars of American liberty. They sub- vert democracy, the culture of persuasion by which we decide who shall wield le- gitimate power. (Progressives advocate government regu- lation of the quantity, con- tent and timing of political campaign speech.) The at- tacks undermine capitalism – markets registering the freely expressed choices by which we allocate wealth. And the attacks undermine science, which is how we de- cide what is true. (Note pro- gressives’ insistence that the science about this or that is “settled.”) For decades, much aca- demic ingenuity has been devoted to jurispruden- tial theorizing to evade the First Amendment’s majestic simplicity about “no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” We are urged to “bal- ance” this freedom against competing, and putatively superior, considerations such as individual serenity, institutional tranquility or social improvement. On campuses, the right of free speech has been sup- planted by an entitlement to what Greg Lukianoff of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education calls a right to freedom from speech deemed uncon- genial. This entitlement is buttressed by “trigger warnings” against spoken “micro-aggressions” that lac- erate the delicate sensibili- ties of individuals who are encouraged to be exquisitely, paralyzingly sensitive. In a booklet for the “Encounter Broadside” se- ries, Lukianoff says “sensi- tivity-based censorship” on campus reflects a broader and global phenomena. It is the demand for coer- cive measures to do for our mental lives what phar- macology has done for our bodies – the banishment or mitigation of many dis- comforts. In the social mi- lieu fostered by today’s en- titlement state, expectations quickly generate entitle- ments. Students are taught to expect intellectual com- fort, including the reinforce- ment of their beliefs, or at least those that conform to progressive orthodoxies im- bibed and enforced on cam- puses. Until September, however, the culture of freedom will be safe from its cultured despisers. George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com. © 2015, Washington Post Writers Group Monday June 1, 2015 • Cayman COmpass “The Cayman Islands: A sunny place for shady people.” For decades, that’s been the world’s unofficial motto for our country, ever since we emerged from the Carib- bean Sea as an international hub for financial services. For nearly as long, we have been attempting to shed that title, by being among the first to sign international agree- ments on compliance and transparency, by honing our judicial system to ensure that even the most complex disputes can be determined equitably within a predictable legal framework, and by spending millions of dollars each year to project an image of Cayman as a dependable business partner in the global economy. All that we have painstakingly built now faces great peril, in the form of the still-combusting FIFA scandal, at the center of which is our own Jeffrey Webb, the now-former head of football in the region who has been charged in U.S. federal court on 15 counts, including rack- eteering, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering and money laundering conspiracy. The essence of the allegations is that Mr. Webb (and his attaché Costas Takkas, himself a longtime Cayman resident and former general secretary for Cayman football), along with more than a dozen other FIFA offi- cials, sports marketing executives and businessmen, participated in a corruption and racketeering scheme to ensure that certain companies received commercial and media rights to international football tournaments, including the World Cup, in exchange for more than US$150 million in bribes, with millions of dollars finding their way into Cayman-domiciled financial entities. The calculus is not complicated: Earth’s most popular sport. Inconceivable amounts of money. Corruption at the highest levels. All involving the Caribbean’s notorious “Treasure Islands.” This makes for a sensational media narrative that will only strengthen with time. Page One of Sunday’s New York Times included this headline: “How the Cayman Islands Became a FIFA Power.” This reputational stain, we fear, will only spread. Consider Mr. Webb’s nearest associates. Canover Watson, who has been charged locally with fraud and money laundering in relation to a Cayman police probe into the Health Services Authority’s CarePay system, is the former treasurer of CONCACAF. Mr. Watson’s Admiral Administration shares the same roof (90 Fort Street, in George Town) as Mr. Webb’s local CONCACAF office. Further, as is revealed in the Compass today, Mr. Webb and Mr. Watson are residential neighbors as well with nearly next-door mansions on Adel Drive in the small town of Loganville, Georgia. Also, consider that Cayman’s health and sports minister at the time the CarePay deal was struck in late 2010, former MLA Mark Scotland, joined the Cayman Islands Football Association, working for Mr. Webb, just last year. Mr. Scotland’s wife Cindy, of course, has been the head of Cayman’s financial regulator, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, since 2002. Mr. Scotland was in Switzerland with the CONCACAF delegation at the time of Mr. Webb’s arrest. Given the gravity of the allegations against Mr. Webb, his intimacy with our country’s political elite, and the magnitude of the global media storm that is still gath- ering strength, our leaders in both business and govern- ment should be stepping forward to declare with one stentorian voice that Cayman will not tolerate corruption and financial shenanigans on our shores. Their response to date: Near silence. The author of the New York Times article, Jeré Longman (and his photog- rapher) on Friday stopped by (unannounced) the office of the publisher of the Compass. They had just come from the Legislative Assembly where our elected members had convened for Finance Committee. No one would talk to them. “What is going on in this country?” Mr. Longman asked. Good question. We’d like to know, too. When ‘no comment’ is the wrong comment A summer break from campus muzzling GEORGE F. WILL5 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Monday June 1, 2015 ENTER online at caymancompass.com/competitions TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY. Must be 18 or older to enter. Deadline: noon Thursday June 11, 2015 Enter to WIN 2 FREE Entries to the Flowers Sea Swim. 2015 Pick your swim! June 15, 2015 Flowers International 5k & 10k Swims June 13, 2015 Flowers One Mile Sea Swim No conviction for Catron in ICT offense Sandra Catron admitted using ICT network to annoy man with whom she had a relationship CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A sentence ruling in the Grand Court case of Sandra Catron ended on Thursday with no conviction recorded against her for using an in- formation and communica- tions technology network to annoy a man with whom she had had a relationship. Catron pleaded guilty in January. Justice Charles Quin subsequently re- quested a social inquiry report and victim impact statement. In his ruling, the judge said he had consid- ered these and a reference letter that referred to the defendant’s honesty, profes- sionalism and dedication to helping others. After hearing further submissions from the Crown and defense, the judge said he would order that Catron be of good behavior gen- erally and in particular to the complainant. The pre- cise wording of the Minute of Order was not available at press time. The matter first came to court in September 2012, when the defendant said she wanted a jury trial. At that time the charge was using an information and commu- nications technology net- work to annoy or harass a named individual between May 27 and July 23, 2012. The matter was sent to Grand Court, where she pleaded not guilty, and a trial date was set. After the charge was amended to delete to word “harass,” Catron pleaded guilty to using an ICT net- work to annoy. It was then that defense attorney Nick Hoffman submitted a basis for the plea and the judge or- dered pre-sentence reports. On Thursday, Mr. Hoffman said the social in- quiry report represented an independent view of the facts of the case and the de- fendant’s response to what she had done. The report concluded with the sugges- tion that the court might wish to consider not re- cording a conviction. “We are dealing with an isolated incident be- tween two adults of mature age,” Mr. Hoffman pointed out. He accepted that the victim had been affected by what happened. According to a summary of facts, Catron and the male victim met in early April 2012, and began seeing each other. The relationship be- came intimate. Toward the end of May, he sought to end the relationship and she used the network to annoy him. Mr. Hoffman agreed it was “a relationship that dis- integrated rather spectac- ularly.” But, he argued, it would be disproportionate to relieve the defendant of a potential legal career be- cause of it. Crown counsel Nicole Petit said she would usu- ally agree with social in- quiry reports, but she could not ignore the victim impact statement, which detailed a sustained period of ha- rassing attacks. Justice Quin pointed out that the Crown had agreed to the word “harass” being deleted from the charge. Ms. Petit said Catron’s actions had affected the victim’s job as well as his personal life because she had sought to attack him through a number of mes- sages and communications that reached his employer. The judge said he had read the eight-page state- ment from the victim. He noted that Catron had been charged with knowingly using an ICT network to annoy; she had admitted it, pleaded guilty and ex- pressed remorse. Ms. Petit argued that this was not a case of a simple momentary loss of control – it was a sustained attack. The Crown was seeking compen- sation, she said, because the matter had cost the victim in real financial terms as well as time. He still had not suc- ceeded in removing all of the derogatory and humiliating posts about him. The Crown was also seeking some sort of order not to use any ICT network to mention the complainant’s name. Justice Quin noted the five actions listed as of- fenses in a particular sec- tion of the ICT law – defraud, threaten, abuse, annoy or ha- rass. In his view, annoy was the least serious. He referred to the sum- mary of facts of the way the relationship developed. He said the defendant thought there was much more to the relationship, while the com- plainant thought it was casual. The judge said the defen- dant was a woman scorned who overreacted. There was no question she was wrong and the victim was troubled by her actions. “I do not take lightly the embarrassment and irritation that he has felt,” he remarked. He pointed out that the social inquiry report in- cluded an assessment as to risk of reoffending and with all the factors measured, the risk was very low. The dis- tinct lack of criminogenic factors suggested a probation order was not necessary. To record a conviction would bring a final and sudden end to her career; he did not think her behavior warranted that punishment, the judge said. She had been humiliated, he added. The judge said he would order that she be of good be- havior generally and in par- ticular to the complainant, but he declined to record a conviction. Citing the section of the Criminal Procedure Code that gives such power, he also found that it was not expe- dient to inflict any further punishment and, accordingly, he cautioned the defendant to “make sure it never hap- pens again.” The judge said the defendant was a woman scorned who overreacted. Marine Park expansion plan revived JAmEs WhIttAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A proposal to dramati- cally expand no-fishing zones in Cayman’s waters has been revived as the National Conservation Council seeks to introduce a new system of marine parks. Environment officials say more restrictions are needed to protect marine wildlife and habitats from the threats posed by overfishing and coastal development. The proposal on the table would increase “no-take” zones, where all fishing is banned, to nearly half of the “marine shelf”. Currently just over ten percent of the ma- rine shelf, the coastal wa- ters enclosed by the reef around the Cayman Islands, is completely protected from fishing. The recommendations, approved unanimously by the National Conservation Council on Tuesday, will go through another round of public consultation later this year. Once that process, re- quired by the National Conservation Law, is com- plete it would be down to Cabinet to legally des- ignate the new marine park boundaries. Similar proposals were discussed previously but the initiative was sidelined until the new law could be intro- duced and implemented. In a presentation to the council, Director of the Department of Environment Gina Ebanks Petrie said the DoE was now ready to rec- ommend the implementa- tion of an expanded ma- rine protection regime. She said Cayman had been a world conservation leader when it first introduced marine parks in the 1980s, but had now fallen behind international standards. She said the park boundaries no longer of- fered sufficient protec- tion to the islands’ valuable marine ecosystem. The new system, if ap- proved, would extend the boundaries of marine parks from the current outer limit at a depth of 80 ft to a depth of 150 ft. It would also sim- plify the regulations, which currently contain a mix of restrictions on different types of fishing, to make marine parks strictly “no- take” zones. “We believe the areas pro- posed are feasible to protect and manage. It will actually be easier because there are not as many different zones. When you see somebody in a marine reserve and they are fishing they are breaking the law. She said reefs across the Caribbean, including around Cayman, had declined in coral cover and abundance of marine life over the past three decades. She added, “We have already had some consultation, but what we are seeking to do is to take the proposals back to the public for some final input and bring them back for approval by Cabinet.” She said some of the con- cerns raised in district meet- ings during the previous pe- riod of consultation had been taken on board and “fishing concessions” had been in- cluded in the new plan. Aggregation sites The proposal also in- cludes additional regulations for critically important sites where several species, most notably grouper, are known to aggregate to mate. Council member Davey Ebanks took issue with the restrictions at the ag- gregation sites, which ex- tend no-fishing zones out to a depth of 600 feet around these areas, saying they were over the top and would pre- vent any kind of fishing in those areas. He said he was in “total agreement” with 99 per cent of the proposals but said the proposals on aggregation sites were unworkable and unreasonable. Tim Austin, deputy director of the DoE, acknowledged that aspect may have to be tweaked de- pending on public feedback, saying it was not the inten- tion of the legislation to pre- vent trawling for pelagic spe- cies at those sites.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 Monday June 1, 2015 • Cayman Compass the Cayman Islands Health Services Authority Board to enrich himself through the award of two public hos- pital contracts. The two contracts, one for the installation of the hospi- tal’s CarePay patient swipe- card system in 2010 and the other for the creation of a computerized pharmaceu- tical tracking system in 2011, were awarded while Watson was chairman of the Health Services Authority Board. It is alleged by Crown prosecu- tors in Cayman that Watson had a financial interest in the local branch of the company to which the contracts were awarded, an interest that he did not disclose. U.S. indictment The more wide-ranging U.S. federal indictment against nine current and former FIFA officials filed in the Eastern District of New York alleges that Webb so- licited bribes totaling more than US$4 million in ex- change for approving deals for the marketing and media rights to FIFA matches in the CONCACAF (Central and North American and Caribbean) region to select sports marketing firms. Webb is also accused of receiving at least some of the US$40 million in bribes paid to six FIFA officials in exchange for the rights to the Copa America and Centenario 2016 football tournament. To date, the Cayman Islands and U.S. federal in- vestigations against Watson and Webb, respectively, have not been linked. Details from U.S. court records U.S. federal court re- cords allege that Costas Takkas, Webb’s attaché at CONCACAF who is also charged in the FIFA cor- ruption probe, told a third party in 2012 that Webb wanted a US$3 mil- lion bribe in exchange for awarding commer- cial rights to certain 2018 and 2022 World Cup qual- ifying matches to a sports marketing company called Traffic USA. It is further alleged that the bribe was split between two companies, Traffic USA and what is referred to as “Sports Marketing Company C”, so that each would pay US$1.5 million to Webb. It is fur- ther alleged that Traffic USA’s payment was trans- mitted to Takkas through a Miami bank to an HSBC bank in Buffalo, New York, and eventually trans- ferred to an HSBC bank in Hong Kong. The indictment alleges that two wire transfers to- taling US$1 million were sent from Hong Kong to a correspondent account in New York City for credit to an account in the name of Kosson Ventures – a com- pany controlled by Takkas – at Fidelity Bank in the Cayman Islands. The court records state that the re- maining US$500,000 from Traffic USA was paid into another account controlled by Takkas at Fidelity Bank in the Cayman Islands. “Takkas subsequently transferred the funds to an account in the name of a swimming pool builder at United Community Bank in Blairsville, Georgia,” the criminal complaint reads. “[This was] for the benefit of the defendant Jeffrey Webb, who was having a pool built at his residence in Loganville, Georgia. “Takkas transferred an- other portion of the funds directly from his Kosson Ventures account at Fidelity Bank in the Cayman Islands to SunTrust Bank in Georgia for Webb’s benefit in connection with Webb’s purchase of other real es- tate in Stone Mountain, Georgia,” court records state. Federal prosecutors state that Takkas’s partici- pation in the funds transfer was “more intermediary” in nature and was “designed to conceal the fact that Jeffrey Webb was the beneficiary of the payment.” Alleged money laundering Watson’s trial, set for November in the Cayman Islands Grand Court, will focus in part on money laun- dering allegations related to separate cash amounts, totaling US$30,000 and US$25,000, that his former personal assistant is ac- cused of handling on behalf of her boss. The charges allege that in June and July 2012, the as- sistant, Miriam Rodriguez, possessed “criminal prop- erty” that represented, ei- ther directly or indirectly, the benefits of criminal con- duct totaling US$55,000. The allegation is that Mrs. Rodriguez, while working at local financial services com- pany Admiral Administration, received cash in envelopes from “persons involved in AIS” and “forwarded it on to a third party without dis- closing the same.” The third party referred to, but not named, in the court records was not connected with Admiral Administration. Watson previously served as managing director at Admiral. Cayman’s Jeffrey Webb and Canover Watson same-street mansions in Loganville, Georgia CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Celebrities make splash with California drought awareness LOS ANGELES (AP) — From drought-shaming to eco- boasting, willing or not, celebrities are playing a role in raising aware- ness about California’s debilitating drought. Stars whose homes boast lush, green lawns at a time when residents have been asked to cut back on water may be drought-shamed on social media. Meanwhile, Eco-conscious entertainers hoping to take the lead on water conservation talk proudly of their drought- friendly gardens. “We’re all in this together,” said actress Wendie Malick, who relies on well water at her home in the Santa Monica Mountains. “Unfortunately, it had to come to this crisis mo- ment to get us all on board.” Celebrity enclave Beverly Hills, where many lawns re- main bright green, recently approved new water restric- tions and penalties for vio- lating them. Enforcement is set to begin this month. Tony, beachside Malibu has long had water restric- tions in place, according to the city’s environmental programs specialist, Casey Zweig. While she says the city would never engage in drought-shaming, it does offer a website where resi- dents can anonymously re- port their water-wasting neighbors. Zweig said her team visits the offending properties personally. “Once you reach people with this information, they tend to really want to do the right thing and figure out what the best solution is,” she said. “People who live in Malibu love the natural as- pect. They want to coexist in a lot of ways with these beautiful natural surround- ings that they’re paying top dollar to live in.” Offenders in the city, though, have multiple chances to make things right before facing fines, Zweig said. Barbra Streisand, a past drought-shaming target, said she and husband James Brolin have let most of the lawns go brown at their Malibu compound. The couple is also working with a water-reuse company to in- stall a graywater system and rainwater cisterns, she said, “should California be lucky enough to get some rain.” Cher, another Malibu resi- dent, has also let her grass go brown and has talked about the water shortage on Twitter. In a post last month, she complained California used fresh water for fracking. “WE’RE IN A CATASTROPHIC DROUGHT, WATER MEANS LIFE??” she wrote. “WE CANT DRINK OIL.” Kelly Osbourne drought- shamed herself on Instagram by sharing her guilt over taking a bath and saying she planned to re-use the water. And some celebs are taking to television with public service announce- ments about drought con- servation, including Conan O’Brien and Lady Gaga. Malick, who serves on the board of the Environmental Media Association, said “making green cool” is part of the organization’s mission statement. “If people emulate those that they’re fans of... why not show them some behavior that is great for the planet?” she said. Being eco-conscious “is the way to be trendy in Hollywood,” EMA president Debbie Levin said, adding that studios are also keen on the ef- fort and some have replaced lawns with artificial turf. Industry-watcher Michael Levine said it’s impor- tant that celebrities make the same cutbacks as other Californians because “people care about a sense of fair- ness.” “They think, ‘I’m not going to sacrifice if Brad Pitt doesn’t sacrifice,’” Levine said. Both Levine and celeb- rity blogger Perez Hilton think concern about the drought hasn’t reached a tip- ping point yet in Hollywood, where it’s often socially obligatory to be on board with conscientious trends. “It’s an issue that doesn’t trigger an emotional response in a lot of people,” Hilton said. “Or maybe they’re afraid to speak out because they might be branded hypocrites.” Still, he says only the most publicly eco-aware stars could be damaged by drought-shaming. “For someone like Kim Kardashian,” he said, “people would probably expect her to be watering her lawn and breaking the rules.” Barbra Streisand, a past drought- shaming target, said she and husband James Brolin have let most of the lawns go brown at their Malibu compound. the gate to Jeffrey Webb’s house in Loganville, Georgia. - Photo by Kevin D. LiLes/KevinDLiLes.com for the cayman comPass a home with a large pool in the Hollywood Hills area of Los angeles is an example of one that might be ‘called out’ by those concerned about the drought. - Photo: aPThe islands’ most-trusted news source 7 Cayman Compass • Monday June 1, 2015 SSEEMMIINNAARR && WWOORRKKSSHHOPP TTIITTLLEESS COST (CI$) TIME DATE Intermediate EXCEL 2007/2010 $250 9 - 4 June 9 CBP Project Management (A 3-Day Seminar) $950 9 - 4 June 22 - 24 CBP Business Communication (A 2-Day Seminar) $450 9 - 4 June 29 - 30 Intermediate QuickBooks PRO $250 9 - 4 July 2 Save 10% when you Register 2 or more Participants for the same seminar title!! Contact us for details. INVEST IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CALL US TODAY @ 943-‐4678 OFFICE TEL FAX E-MAIL WEBSITE Unit 201 Alissta Towers 943-‐IMPT (4678) 943-‐4679 Info_impt@candw.ky www.impttraining.com Innovative Management & Professional Training BUSINESS & COMPUTER SKILLS Training Seminars & Workshops June & July 2015 SEC learned about the bank’s finances a couple of days after the application had been granted, but it did not bring that to the court’s attention nor did it seek a reduction of the frozen assets. “We were negotiating with Caledonian and I believe they requested a reduction in the freeze amount. We took that to a very high level within the commission and decided that we were not going to agree to that,” Mr. Simpson said. The judge asked the SEC lawyer how the commission could think that it was “enti- tled” to freeze money that be- longs to the bank’s depositors and was told that the issue was not discussed. “The bank collapsed be- cause of your actions, didn’t it?’ Judge Pauley asked. “Yes, your Honor,” Mr. Simpson responded. “It’s stunning. It’s incred- ible government overreach,” the judge concluded. A spokesperson for Caledonian’s former manage- ment said: “We are pleased to see that some of the truth is starting to be revealed. Unfortunately, it does not look like justice will ever truly be served in this case. Our business has been de- stroyed and the careers and lives of the people that made Caledonian great have been forever changed. In time, it will be shown that the allega- tions against Caledonian are without merit.” The judge also appor- tioned blame to Caledonian’s lawyers, asking why they had agreed to the asset freeze if it exceeded their clients’ net equity. Margaret Dale, an attorney for Caledonian, responded: “Your Honor, we were in a bad place on Friday afternoon the 6th of February. The court had entered a restraining order that actually restrained all of Caledonian Bank’s assets in the United States. When we got knowledge of that order late in the afternoon on the 6th, we contacted the SEC to begin to negotiate a reduction, fearing exactly what trans- pired, which was [that] there would be a run on the bank.” On the following Sunday, Caledonian negotiated a re- duction of the asset freeze to $76 million, which repre- sented double the amount that was passed through Caledonian’s omnibus account for trades in four securities. The SEC alleges that Caledonian Bank and Caledonian Securities and three offshore brokers in Belize and Panama sold un- registered, restricted shares to the public and that those shares were part of a sham stock offering and penny stock pump-and dump-fraud. Asked again by the court how the lawyer could “con- ceivably agree to an asset freeze of $76 million when you knew that your clients’ net eq- uity was $25 million,” Ms. Dale responded: “We weren’t necessarily in the driver’s seat on that negotiation. We were constrained by time.” The lawyer acknowledged that the legal team was aware that “every dollar above 25 million belonged to someone else, [the] depositors” but it had hoped the matter could be resolved within a few days without a run on the bank. “It’s stunning. It’s re- ally stunning,” Judge Pauley said. “You bear as much re- sponsibility for what hap- pened as the SEC did in this foolhardy exercise.” The district judge signed the temporary injunction against Caledonian after what appeared to be a ca- sual hearing on Feb. 6. In an initial meeting that was brief because the judge had to at- tend another court hearing, he asked for a “Readers Digest tease” and brief summary. Neither the financial situ- ation of Caledonian Bank nor the adequacy of the size of the temporary injunction was dis- cussed in the initial meeting or in the subsequent hearing. Caledonian depositors tried to withdraw US$68 mil- lion in the week after the SEC accused the bank and its broker affiliate Caledonian Securities of violating U.S. se- curities law. At the time, the consolidated financial state- ments for Caledonian Bank showed total assets of US$618 million, total liabilities of US$593 million and a share- holders’ equity of $25 million. Judge blasts SEC on Caledonian case CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Solo flight in Solar plane SetS off on longeSt leg BEIJING (AP) — A Swiss pilot of a solar plane on Sunday embarked on the longest leg of the first at- tempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel. André Borschberg took off from Nanjing, China, at 2:39 a.m. Sunday in the Solar Impulse 2 for a flight across the Pacific Ocean expected to last six days and five nights, or at least 130 hours. The journey started in March in Abu Dhabi, and the solar plane has stopped in Oman, India, Myanmar and China. The 5,079-mile flight from Nanjing to Hawaii is the seventh of 12 flights and the longest and most dangerous. Borschberg and an- other Swiss pilot, Bertrand Piccard, have been taking turns flying the single-seater Swiss plane during a five- month journey to promote renewable energy use. “This is the moment of truth,” Borschberg, 62, said before takeoff. He said that if suc- cessful, the flight to Hawaii will demonstrate the cred- ibility of the vision he and Piccard embraced 16 years ago “to change our mindset regarding the enormous po- tential of clean technologies and renewable energies.” After Hawaii, the plan is for Piccard to pilot the air- craft on to Phoenix, Arizona. NEW YORK (AP) — A piece of mechanical equipment being lifted by a crane at a Manhattan office building broke free Sunday morning and fell about 28 stories to the sidewalk below, causing minor injuries to 10 people, officials said. Two of the injured were construction workers, while the others were pedestrians and occupants of passing cars, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. All were struck by falling debris. Police said the call came in around 10:45 a.m. Officers who responded to the high- rise building in Midtown East found that the crane’s payload had broken free as it was heading to the top of the building. It fell to the sidewalk, shearing the side of the building along the way. The building is wider at the base and narrows at the higher floors. De Blasio, speaking to re- porters on Madison Avenue a block from the accident, called it “obviously, a very se- rious incident.” “Thank God, this incident occurred at an hour of the day on a weekend when there were not too many people around,” he said. Buildings Department Commissioner Rick Chandler said it was typical for work to be done on weekends when equipment such as a massive crane is being used, and all the permits for the work involving the crane were “in place.” He also said there have been no complaints about the crane. “We think this device, in this preliminary stage, is in good state and we’ll follow up with that,” Chandler said. Authorities said a full in- vestigation is underway. Streets were closed in the surrounding area, and of- ficials hoped to have them open again by Monday morn- ing’s rush hour. Ten injured in crane mishap in New York City The damaged facade of 261 Madison Ave. after a piece of mechanical equipment being lifted by a crane broke free and fell about 28 stories to the sidewalk. - photo: ap Caledonian House on Dr. Roy’s Drive, George Town. - photo: taneoS raMSaY The Solar Impulse 2 takes off from Nanjing Lukou International Airport in Nanjing, China, on Sunday. - photo: apThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Monday June 1, 2015 • Cayman Compass German foreign minister to visit Gaza Germany’s foreign minister says he will visit the Gaza Strip – a rare trip to the Hamas-ruled territory by a Western leader. Silk Road founder gets life for creating online drug site NEW YORK (AP) — A San Francisco man who created the underground drug-selling website Silk Road was sen- tenced Friday to life in prison by a judge who cited six deaths from drugs bought on his site and five people he tried to have killed. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest told 31-year-old Ross Ulbricht he was a criminal even though he doesn’t fit the typical pro- file – he has two collegiate degrees – and she brushed aside his efforts to charac- terize the business as merely a big mistake. “It was a carefully planned life’s work. It was your opus,” she said. “You are no better a person than any other drug dealer.” Ulbricht’s 2013 arrest shut down what prosecu- tors described as an unprece- dented one-stop online shop- ping mall where the supply of drugs was virtually lim- itless, enabling nearly 4,000 drug dealers to expand their markets from the sidewalk to cyberspace, selling drugs on a never-before-seen scale to more than 100,000 buyers in markets stretching from Argentina to Australia, from the United States to Ukraine. The government said in court papers that Ulbricht left a blueprint that others have followed by establishing new “dark markets” in sophis- ticated spaces of the Internet that are hard to trace, where an even broader range of il- licit goods are sold than were available on Silk Road. Forrest said the sen- tence could show copycats there are “very serious con- sequences.” She also or- dered $183 million forfeiture. Prosecutors had not asked for a life sentence, saying only they wanted substan- tially more than the 20-year mandatory minimum. Ulbricht was convicted in February of operating the site for nearly three years from 2011 until 2013. Prosecutors say he col- lected $18 million in bit- coins through commissions on a website containing thousands of listings under categories like “Cannabis,” ‘’Psychedelics” and “Stimulants.” They said he brokered more than 1 million drug deals worth over $183 million while he operated on the site under the alias Dread Pirate Roberts – a reference to the swashbuckling char- acter in “The Princess Bride.” The judge said Ulbricht’s efforts to arrange the mur- ders of five people he deemed as threats to his business was proof that Silk Road had not become the “world without restrictions, of ul- timate freedom” that he claimed he sought. Ulbricht also is charged in Baltimore federal court in an attempted murder-for-hire scheme. “You were captain of the ship, Dread Pirate Roberts,” Forrest said. “It was a world with laws you created. … It was a place with a lot of rules. If you broke the rules, you’d have all kinds of things done to you.” Prosecutors cited at least five deaths traced to over- doses from drugs bought on Silk Road, and two parents who lost sons spoke in court. Before the sentence was an- nounced, a sniffling and apolo- getic Ulbricht told Forrest he’s a changed man who is not greedy or vain by nature. “I’ve essentially ruined my life and broken the hearts of every member of my family and my closest friends,” he said. “I’m not a self-centered sociopathic person that was trying to express some inner badness. I do love freedom. It’s been devastating to lose it.” His lawyer, Joshua Dratel, said he was “disap- pointed tremendously” by the sentence. Outside court, Ulbricht’s mother, Lyn, called the war on drugs a failure and said two of the victims in the case died during the four months that authorities investi- gated but did not shut down the website. His hands folded before him, Ulbricht was stoic as the sentence was announced. As he left the courtroom, he carried with him photo- graphs of those who died as a result of drugs purchased on Silk Road. US vice president’s son dies at 46 of brain cancer DOVER, Del. (AP) — He was the privileged son of a long- time U.S. senator and two- term vice president, yet Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III was no stranger to personal adversity. When he was only 3, just weeks after his father, Joe Biden, had been elected to the Senate, the younger Biden was seriously injured in a 1972 car crash that killed his mother and infant sister. His father was sworn into office at his hospital bedside. As a young college stu- dent, not long after his father’s 1987 presidential campaign imploded among allegations of plagiarism, he was back in the hospital, holding vigil with other family members as Joe Biden underwent surgery for a life-threatening aneurysm. And after launching his own successful political ca- reer, Beau Biden was dogged by health problems. In 2010, he suffered a mild stroke at the age of 41. On Saturday, Beau Biden died of brain cancer, less than two years after he was diag- nosed. He was 46. Although twice elected at- torney general, the younger Biden never realized the dream of many Delaware po- litical observers that he would follow in his father’s footsteps as a U.S. senator, and perhaps even become governor. Biden did, in fact, plan to run for governor in 2016. He made the announcement in an April 2014 email to sup- porters in which he also noted he would not seek re-election as Delaware attorney general. The announcement caught Delaware’s political estab- lishment off guard, and also renewed questions about Biden’s health. In the ensuing months, he kept a low public profile and declined news media requests for interviews. “I think he would have run. I think he would have won,” said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a fellow Democrat. Markell said he last spoke to Biden in February, when he invited him to a meeting of Democratic governors in Washington, D.C. “He was serious” about running for governor, added New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon, a longtime friend and political ally of Joe Biden who described Beau Biden as the most popular politician in Delaware. “He thought he was going to win this battle.” Gordon said he last spoke to Beau several weeks ago, when Biden participated in a conference call on crime is- sues in Wilmington. “He was a rock star,” Gordon said. “He had a great image, great character.” After leaving office ear- lier this year, Biden joined a Delaware law firm run by Stuart Grant, a prominent Democratic campaign donor and plaintiffs lawyer special- izing in corporate litigation. The law firm announced late last month that Biden was expanding his work on be- half of whistle-blower clients, but Biden was not available for comment. Biden, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, earned a law degree from Syracuse University in 1994. He served as a law clerk for a federal judge in New Hampshire be- fore working for the U.S. Department of Justice from 1995 until 2002, including five years as a federal prose- cutor in Philadelphia. In 2001, he volunteered for an interim assignment helping to train judges and prosecutors in postwar Kosovo. With his father, then Delaware’s senior U.S. sen- ator, at his side in 2006, Biden launched his campaign for attorney general. He prom- ised to reorganize the state Department of Justice to better combat identity theft, Internet stalking by pedo- philes, street crime and abuse of the elderly. Backed by his father’s po- litical machine, Biden won with 52.6 percent of the vote. “He’s supped at this table since he’s been 3 years old,” a beaming Joe Biden said after the victory. Beau Biden was a toddler when his father was first elected to the Senate. “I’m just proud of him,” the elder Biden added. “I think he will make the state proud.” As attorney general, Biden established a child predator unit, joined other attorneys general in taking on mort- gage lenders over foreclosure abuses, proposed tougher bail restrictions for criminal defen- dants, and defended the death penalty, putting him at odds with some fellow Democrats. But a spate of shoot- ings in Biden’s hometown of Wilmington went largely un- abated during his tenure, and his office stumbled in some high-profile murder prosecutions, including two cases in which murder charges were dropped. Biden coasted to re-elec- tion as attorney general in 2010 after Republicans de- clined to field a candidate against him. In addition to his work as a lawyer and attorney general, Biden was a major in an Army National Guard unit that de- ployed to Iraq in 2008. He was married and the fa- ther of two children. Markell ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in Delaware in honor of Biden. Funeral arrangements are pending. In 2009, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited his son, U.S. Army Capt. Beau Biden, at Camp Victory on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq. - Photo: AP A courtroom sketch from February shows Ross William Ulbricht as the deputy recites the word ‘guilty’ multiple times during Ulbricht’s trial in New York. - Photo; AP more thAn 4,000 migrAnts resCUeD ROME (AP) — More than 4,000 migrants have been rescued off Libya’s coast in 22 separate operations in one day, with rescuers finding 17 people dead aboard a rubber dinghy, the Italian Coast Guard said Saturday. The rescues, from 13 wooden fishing boats and nine motorized rubber dinghies, took place Friday. In all, 4,243 res- cued migrants were being brought to southern Italian harbors, including in Sicily. Smugglers are reaping millions by overcrowding unseaworthy boats with migrants on Libya’s Mediterranean coast to set out for Italian shores. The migrants are fleeing war, persecution or pov- erty in Africa, the Mideast and elsewhere. Cargo ships and Irish and German navy vessels helped Italian military craft in Friday’s rescues. Italy has demanded its European partners help more with the migrants who arrive by sea.9 WORLD&REGIONAL Cayman Compass • Monday June 1, 2015 M em or ies of yo u on your 3rd Birth day in H ea ve n Edna Mae Johnson So many happy memories come back today, of your celebrations before you went away. Those wonderful occasions never changed throughout the years, but now your smile is missing and replaced with your love and kindness. You may not be here with us, but the day means just as much and we can feel your presence the same way as when you were here. We’ll celebrate your birthday in heaven the way we always do, for the precious time and love between us, we all love you From your loving Husband Daniel Johnson, Children: Chris and Kevin, and your sisters, Grandchildren and all of your friends. We will love you always Russian lawmaker asks for EU blacklist to be made public MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov needs to explain why 89 European politicians have been banned from en- tering Russia and confirm their names, an opposition lawmaker said Sunday in a formal inquiry. Dmitry Gudkov, the sole member of Russia’s par- liament who opposes the Kremlin, also told Lavrov that while he understood such a step might have been nec- essary, it should have been taken transparently and in consultation with parliament. Russia has shared the list with European Union offi- cials, but has refused to re- lease it. A leaked list pub- lished by the Finnish public broadcasting company Yle includes politicians from 17 EU countries, but no explanation for the bans. The 28-nation EU on Saturday criticized the Russian bans as “totally ar- bitrary and unjustified, es- pecially in the absence of any further clarification and transparency.” Two German parlia- ment members who were turned back after flying into Moscow are on the list and were among several re- fusals that led the EU to ask Russia about it. Also on the published list are several high-ranking officials from Britain, including the head of the MI5 security service, the chief of its defense staff and former deputy prime min- ister Nick Clegg. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said only that the blacklist was in response to EU economic sanctions and travel bans imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine. Gudkov’s request drew a harsh reaction from Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “Was he this active when EU countries put together their blacklists? And did he write such critical, or per- haps objective, letters to the leadership of EU coun- tries with the request to stop compiling stop lists against Russian citizens?” Zakharova said on Govorit Moskva radio. “Probably he did this, but unfortunately for some reason no one knows about it.” She did not say whether the Russian list would be made public. More than half the poli- ticians on the published list are from Poland, Sweden and the three Baltic countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. Politicians from Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain also are on it. Kerry breaks leg in bike crash; ends overseas trip GENEVA (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg in a bi- cycle crash Sunday, appar- ently after hitting a curb, and scrapped the rest of a four-nation trip that included an international conference on combating the Islamic State group. Kerry was in stable condi- tion and in good spirits as he prepared to return to Boston for further treatment with the doctor who previously op- erated on his hip, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said. He said X-rays at a Swiss hospital confirmed that Kerry fractured his right femur. “The secretary is stable and never lost consciousness, his injury is not life-threat- ening and he is expected to make a full recovery,” Kirby said in a statement. Kerry, 71, was taken by helicopter to Geneva’s main medical center, HUG, after apparently hitting a curb with his bike near Scionzier, France, about 40 kilometers southeast of the Swiss border. Paramedics and a physi- cian were on the scene with his motorcade at the time and provided him immediate attention. They quickly de- cided to order the 10-minute- long helicopter transport. The Dauphine Libere, a local newspaper, said Kerry fell near the beginning of his ride to the famed moun- tain pass called the Col de la Colombiere, which has been a route for the Tour de France more than a dozen times. Right around the time of his fall, a Twitter feed about local driving condi- tions warned of the danger due to gravel along the pass. According to the news- paper, some Haute Savoie officials were with Kerry at the time, including the head of the region. Kerry’s cycling rides have become a regular occurrence on his trips. He often takes his bike with him on the plane and was riding that bi- cycle Sunday. During discussions in late March and early April between world powers and Iran, he took several bike trips during breaks. Those talks were in Lausanne, Switzerland, and led to a framework agreement. Kerry had been in Geneva for six hours of meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday as the sides now work to seal a comprehensive accord by June 30. Kerry regrets not being able to make the rest of his scheduled stops, Kirby said. The top U.S. diplomat had planned to travel later Sunday to Madrid for meet- ings with Spain’s king and prime minister, before spending two days in Paris for an international gathering to combat IS. He will participate in the Paris conference remotely, Kirby said. Kerry’s decision to seek treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital was made be- cause the fracture is near the site of his prior hip surgery, Kirby said. Italy holds regIonal vote; test of renzI’s hold on party ROME (AP) — Italians voted for several governor- ships and many municipal posts Sunday in what was being seen as a partial test of Premier Matteo Renzi’s grip on his oft-squabbling Democratic Party. Seven of Italy’s 20 regions were voting for governor- ships and hundreds of towns were holding local elections Sunday. In Sicily, the voting for local posts will last two days, ending Monday. In Italy, regions determine when they hold an election. Significant results weren’t expected before Monday morning. By law, no opinion polls were made public in the last two weeks. Balloting in northwestern Liguria, considered a strong- hold of the left, could indi- cate how deep the resentment of Renzi’s party leadership runs. Among the several gov- ernorship candidates in that region, whose capital is the blue-collar city of Genoa, two are from the left. One is a Democrat backed by Renzi; the other is from an alterna- tive leftist-coalition that could attract disgruntled Democrats. Two German parliament members who were turned back after flying into Moscow are on the list and were among several refusals that led the EU to ask Russia about it. 12 hurt in Japan quake TOKYO (AP) — Twelve people suffered minor in- juries and businesses re- turned to normal Sunday after a powerful earth- quake near remote Japanese islands shook most of the country the previous night, but it was well beneath the earth’s surface and did not trigger a tsunami. The magnitude-7.8 quake struck off the Ogasawara islands Saturday night at a depth of 421 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was followed by a magnitude-6.4 quake Sunday morning off Japan’s Izu islands, which are north of the Ogasawaras. The latest quake struck at a depth of 8 miles with the epi- center 390 miles south- east of Tokyo. It was not strong enough to gen- erate a tsunami warning or close enough to the is- lands to cause any sig- nificant damage or inju- ries, said John Bellini, a USGS geophysicist in Golden, Colorado. He said it is considered a sepa- rate seismic event and not an aftershock from Saturday’s quake. Saturday night’s tem- blor was powerful enough to rattle most of Japan, from the southern islands of Okinawa to Hokkaido in the north. It caused buildings to sway in Tokyo – about 620 miles north of the Ogasawara islands – and temporarily disrupted some train ser- vices in the city. About 400 houses in Saitama prefecture, just north of the capital, were without power, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Co. At Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills shopping and busi- ness complex, eleva- tors stopped soon after the magnitude-7.8 earth- quake struck, forcing hundreds of visitors to climb down the stairs. Among them were about 200 people who came to see the Star Wars exhibit on the 52nd floor. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said that 12 people were in- jured, primarily with burns, cuts, bruises and from falls. At an inn on the Ogasawara island of Hahajima, furniture shook violently, although nothing fell or broke, inn- keeper Michiko Orita told NHK. “It was so fright- ening. The entire house shook and a Buddhist altar violently swayed like I have never experi- enced before,” she said, adding that all her guests were safe. In March 2011, a mag- nitude-9.0 earthquake rocked northeastern Japan, triggering a tsu- nami that killed more than 18,500 people and ravaged much of the northern Pacific coast. The depth of that quake was just 15 miles) ac- cording to the meteoro- logical agency. The latest quake struck at a depth of 8 miles with the epicenter 390 miles southeast of Tokyo.Next >