Sport | page 17 Island Games teams announced Cayman to send nine teams to Jersey Slight to moderate with wave heights of 2 to 4 feet. High of 90 Low of 78 editorial | page 4 cauGht In the mIddle of the cuba conundrum ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – thursday June 25, 2015 HomeOptions Shop around and pay less for more insurance! $250 gift certificate can be used to purchase BritCay motor insurance Home Insurance with BritCay offers convenient, interest-free monthly payments, flexible cover, fast claims, competitive premiums and deductibles. Ask for a quote. BRITISH CAYMANIAN INSURANCE CO. LTD. BritCay House, 236 Eastern Avenue, George Town, P.O. Box 74, KY1-1102 Tel. 949-8699 www.britcay.ky A member of Colonial Group International: insurance, health, pensions, life Call 949-8699 www.britcay.ky $250* CERTIFICATE WITH BUILDINGS INSURANCE *applies to new buildings policies magistrate lambasts lawyers on defective charges before court On what planet did alleged offenses occur, he wonders carol WInKer cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Both Crown counsel and defense attorneys were put on notice when Magistrate Valdis Foldats declared on Tuesday that too much court time was being spent correcting charges. “Too often the court [meaning the pre- siding magistrate] is doing the job of counsel, pointing out defects in charges,” he said. There were at least four defendants whose charges had wrong or missing infor- mation, he noted. The four were among 43 names listed for mention that day. Errors included the wrong revision of the law being cited, the wrong section of the law, and the wrong particulars of the charge. Most common was that the jurisdiction was missing from the statement of the charge. “In what county did this alleged offense take place?” the magistrate asked. When the same information was missing in a second and third file, he elaborated – “What country? On what planet? I hope it’s the same universe.” He asked the prosecutor to take his con- cerns back to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He also pointed out that defense attor- neys need to make sure charges are correct when their clients plead guilty or not guilty to charges. The consequences could be impor- tant, he emphasized. The magistrate referred to one file in which a charge was named as attempted theft, but the section cited pertained to going equipped for stealing [or vice versa]. “The penalties are vastly different,” he observed. The maximum for going equipped is three years; for at- tempted theft the maximum could be seven or Corporate property transfer duty never implemented brent fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com While Cayman Islands homeowners and businesses have been paying a 7.5 percent duty rate on property transfers since late 2012, a corresponding tax increase for corporate share transfers in Cayman was never put into effect. Finance Minister Marco Archer revealed the oversight in Legislative Assembly last week as lawmakers voted to approve changes to the Land Holding Companies Share Transfer Tax Law (2007 Revision). The 2007 law applies to the “equity capital” (shares, stocks etc.) held by a corporation that has land holdings within the territory. Under the law – which operated in the same way as the former Stamp Duty Law – corporations holding land within higher value tourism areas had to pay 7.5 percent share transfer taxes. However, everywhere else, the duties on transfers were charged at a 4 per- cent rate for Caymanians and 6 percent for non-Caymanians. “With respect to the transfer of shares within a company that owns land, The Land Holding Companies Share Transfer Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2013, was approved by Cabinet in February 2013, but was not passed in the Legislative Assembly to amend the law,” Minister Archer clarified. Mr. Archer said the rates should have been changed in the Land Holding Companies Share Transfer Tax Law in the same way A decade later, airport parking headaches persist brent fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Customer frustration, along with the risk of abuse and fraud, have been identi- fied as significant deficiencies in the Owen Roberts International Airport parking man- agement system, according to an internal audit report completed late last year. The report was recently made public via a Cayman Compass open records request to the government, which FOI managers sought initially to delay and later released in a redacted form. The October 2014 audit is not the first time such difficulties have been publicly flagged. The Compass reported problems with the parking system in July 2014 after some users complained the machines out- side the airport terminal that collect cash from parking lot users had kept their change when they inserted larger bills. Back in March 2006, the newspaper re- ported the then-newly installed parking system, known as the Automated Parking System, was “trying the patience” of airport users. The government’s Internal Audit Unit review put it this way: “Frequent system breakdowns impact the customer expe- rience negatively and may lead to loss of revenue. Manual intervention by [staff] also increases the risk of errors and ir- regularities in the revenue collection and reporting process.” PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » The pleasant-looking airport parking lot seems to be an ongoing source of passenger discontent, according to a government audit. – photo: taneos ramsay2 LOCAL NEWS Thursday June 25, 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 SURVIVOR (PG13) 1:20 I 7:20 SAN ANDREAS 3D (PG13) 12:45 I 3:25 2D I 7:15 I 9:55 2D ALOHA (PG13) 4:00 I 10:05 INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 3 (PG13) 1:10 I 3:30 I 7:30 I 10:10 JURASSIC WORLD 3D (PG13) 1:00 I 1:30 2D I 3:45 I 4:15 2D 6:30 I 7:00 2D I 9:15 I 9:45 2D SPY (R) 1:00 I 3:55 I 7 :10 I 9:55 *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. - THURSDAY - $8.00 Civil servant’s sentence suspended Judge views $946 stolen as ‘small amount’ CAROL WINKER cwinker @pinnaclemedia;td.com A former civil servant con- victed of theft had her prison sentence suspended after at- torney Crister Brady argued her appeal in Grand Court. Lavania Olivia Hume- Ebanks, 31, was a clerical of- ficer in the Lands and Survey Department when the inci- dents occurred that led to charges against her of theft and false accounting. After a trial that concluded in March 2014, Magistrate Kirsty-Ann Gunn found her not guilty of 13 charges of false accounting, but guilty of three stealing amounts that totaled $946. The magistrate imposed a sentence of four months imprisonment, noting that the offenses were a breach of trust. She also consid- ered that the amount stolen was not small. The best-known sen- tencing authority for breaches of trust, the 1985 U.K. case of Barrick, explains that, in general, an imme- diate custodial sentence “is inevitable save in very ex- ceptional circumstances or where the amount of money obtained is small.” Justice Malcolm Swift, who heard the appeal on Tuesday, said there were no exceptional circumstances in this case. “Surprisingly, there is a limited body of au- thority dealing with the issue of what amounts to a ‘small’ sum of money for the pur- pose of avoiding an imme- diate custodial sentence,” the judge commented. He noted that the magis- trate had accepted $946 as being on the very border- line of custody. “However, she then proceeded to draw the following conclusions: First, that $946 was not a small amount when judged against the income or school expenses of an ordinary Cayman resident; Second, that the level of trust placed in the appellant by her em- ployer, coupled with the fact that she was a public officer, raised the case into the cus- tody bracket. “Was that the correct ap- proach?” the judge asked. “In my opinion, it was not.” In his judgment, the ques- tion of whether a sum is small “is not to be decided with reference to the percep- tions of the public or against levels of trust placed in a public official.” Mr. Crister and Crown counsel Toyin Salako had re- ferred to previous cases in which the issue of a “small amount of money” was raised. In 1998, Chief Justice Anthony Smellie dealt with a breach of trust case. He said, “The offense involved what was by any measure a small amount of some $1,250. That brings the offense well within the exceptions recog- nized (in Barrick) as not re- quiring immediate imprison- ment,” he said. In a 2009 Grand Court case involving theft by an employee, $180 was consid- ered small and the sentence was community service after a guilty plea. In a 2009 Summary Court case, a young bank teller was sentenced to four months im- mediate imprisonment after pleading guilty to theft of $2,000 from a customer’s ac- count. Justice Swift said it did not appear that anyone in that case had suggested the amount was small. It seemed to him that, once it was de- termined that the offense fell within the lowest sentencing range as explained in accepted authorities, a bank teller was in a high position of trust and the sentence was justified. In a 2012 case, an officer in the Immigration Department received a suspended sen- tence after pleading guilty to thefts totaling $2,600. Justice Swift said he was guided by these cases and they drove him to conclude that the $946 Hume-Ebanks was found to have stolen must be considered as small for the purposes of the guide- line case of Barrick. Once the amount is cate- gorized as small, “the case is to be treated as if very excep- tional circumstances apply, with the effect that an imme- diate sentence of imprison- ment is no longer inevitable,” Justice Swift said. For Hume-Ebanks, the ag- gravating factors were her po- sition of trust and the theft of public money. The judge commented that the offense was not going to dramati- cally affect the economy of the Cayman Islands – an im- portant factor in a Court of Appeal decision – and the ef- fect on fellow employees was limited, except for the percep- tion that the cash accounting system was easily abused. In mitigation, Mr. Brady pointed to his client’s lower income as a result of losing her job with the civil service and the effect of the convic- tion on her reputation in a small community. Justice Swift also referred to factors in a social inquiry report, saying there was “suf- ficient mitigatory material” to justify a suspended sentence. He said the sentence of 16 weeks was not too high, but he suspended it for 18 months. [The judge] noted that the magistrate had accepted $946 as being on the very borderline of custody. Nine keen high school and college students with interests in the field of con- struction got some first- hand experience and men- toring in the industry when they worked recently with the Cayman Society of Architects, Surveyors and Engineers, known as CASE. Rakeem Martin, Kadeem Gordon, Brandon Williams, Stephen Batgidis, Stephanie Christian, Jordan Pierre, Andrew Christian, Blakely Maynard and Joseph Burey were selected by CASE for their interest in poten- tial careers as architects, surveyors, engineers and project managers. More students will have an opportunity to be in- volved in this program in the coming school year, with the next instance beginning in December 2015, organizers of the program said. High school and college students in their final year of study who are both interested in a career in the industry and have exceptional attainments in English, mathematics, sci- ence, and the arts will be con- sidered for selection. The CASE mentorship program involves on-site visits for the students, during which they are able to learn about building techniques and proper safety proce- dures, as well as observe and learn about different archi- tectural styles and methods. This was the fifth run of the program, with a gradu- ation ceremony held on May 27 to honor the students’ commitment and drive, ac- cording to a statement from CASE. The students’ men- tors, executives from CASE, and MLA Winston Connolly were in attendance to con- gratulate the students for their hard work. John Harvey, director of the program, said, “CASE recognized a growing need to invest in the next gener- ation of construction pro- fessionals, equipping them with the necessary experi- ence and education to be- come leaders of Cayman’s future development.” Mr. Harvey’s goal with the program is to encourage students to “dream big and realize a career in en- gineering, architecture or any area of construction is within their reach.” CASE intends to extend its reach further and include post-graduate and licen- sure training in the program so as to cater to university graduates as well as those already in the industry, Mr. Harvey said. Construction industry builds links with students High school and college students celebrate completing their mentorship program with CASE. Nine students reach target $11,000 with community support CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Year Six students of the Edna M. Moyle Primary School in North Side are set to leave on Friday, June 26, for a class trip to Orlando, Florida. The two boys and seven girls began raising money last October; with the help of adults and local businesses they raised $11,000. Group leader Felisiana Ebanks said students had two educational events and two fun events planned for the four-day adventure, with visits to Wonderworks, the Orange County Regional History Center, Magic Kingdom and Wet ‘n Wild. “Each child will be pro- vided with a journal and a disposable camera to write down the events each day and what they learned and what they enjoyed the most,” Ms. Ebanks explained. They will be accompa- nied by parents and class teacher Tonia Harris. Adults who assisted stu- dent efforts with contribu- tions or approaches to the business community in- cluded Shari Whittaker from Cayman National Bank, Johany Ebanks and Alex Johnson from J&J Enterprises, Maxine Bodden from Caribbean Creations, Rich Dyer from Burger King and a representative of Cayman Airways. Sponsors help fund school trip3 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Thursday June 25, 2015 Labor bill raises retirement age to 65 CharLes DunCan cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com New labor law pro- posals, out for public con- sultation this week, could make sweeping changes to employment laws in the Cayman Islands, including raising the retirement age, in- creasing the length of mater- nity leave and creating new whistleblower protections. Announcing the new bill at a press briefing on Wednesday, Education and Employment Minister Tara Rivers said, “Caymanians are being retired as soon as they turn the age of 60 … They are willing, able and need to work beyond the age of 60.” The Labour Relations Bill 2015 does not in- clude the proposed min- imum wage, but Ms. Rivers said the recommendations from the Minimum Wage Advisory Committee will be included after the public consultation period. She said the minimum wage report, which calls for a $6 an hour minimum wage and $4.50 an hour for workers who also earn gratuities, came too late to be included in the public consultation bill. The minimum wage pro- posal calls for a number of legal changes to imple- ment the minimum wage. Some of the provisions in the committee proposal are al- ready included in the con- sultation draft for the new labor law, including making households with domestic workers legally recognized as workplaces, and whistle- blower protections for people who make complaints about their employers The bill, if approved, would replace the cur- rent Labour Law and the Employment Law, which was never fully implemented. The proposed new legislation is available on the Employment Ministry website. The min- ister said government plans to hold open meetings in each district to gather input on the proposal and will meet separately with stake- holder groups. The ministry is also collecting input by email and will post a survey to gauge how people feel about the changes. ‘Overqualified’ discrimination The draft bill creates a new category for discrimina- tion, making it illegal to re- fuse a job to a Caymanian if he or she is deemed “over- qualified” for the position. The employment minister said government has seen a trend in Caymanians being denied jobs because em- ployers thought the candi- date was overqualified. Hiring Caymanians not discrimination Discrimination in hiring and wages is illegal based on sex, race, religion, age, politics and several other categories. But the excep- tion is for employers to give preference to Caymanians. The new bill states explic- itly, “Where preference is given to a Caymanian in re- lation to hiring, such prefer- ence shall not be regarded as discriminatory.” The bill does not include discrimi- nation protections based on sexual orientation. Sexual harassment If approved, the new law will be the first time sexual harassment is made illegal under the labor law. Sexual harassment is already illegal under other legislation, but is not made explicit in the cur- rent Labour Law. Constructive discharge For the first time, Cayman law will recognize the con- cept of constructive dis- charge in the new proposal. Constructive discharge is the concept of making a workplace so untenable, due to harassment or discrim- ination, that an employee is left with no other option but to quit. While many em- ployment disputes go to the Labour Relations Board, constructive discharge cases would have to go directly to Grand Court. Maternity and paternity leave Maternity leave gets a bump in the new proposal, going from 12 weeks of paid leave to 14 weeks, six of which have to be taken im- mediately after a baby is born. With the bill, employers for the first time will also have to give paternity leave to new fathers. New dads, at a minimum, will get five days paid and five days unpaid pa- ternity leave. The bill also includes a provision to give expectant mothers paid time off for doctor’s appointments. Whistleblower protections The new labor proposal includes protections for people who complain to gov- ernment regulators about ha- rassment, unsafe conditions, criminal activity or uneth- ical behavior. This is the first time protections for whistle- blowers are enshrined in the Cayman Islands labor law. Statute of limitations extended A statute of limitations, – the time government has to file a lawsuit or criminal charges for labor law viola- tions – will be two years in the new proposal. The cur- rent law does not give a spe- cific time restraint, so cases have to be filed within six months. Labour and Pensions Director Mario Ebanks said six months typically does not give investigators enough time to put a case together for the Department of Public Prosecutions, and extending that to two years will help bring better cases against employers who violate labor rules. Carnival orders largest cruise ships ever built James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cruise giant Carnival has signed a multi-billion dollar contract to build four “next generation” cruise ships that will each accommodate more than 6,000 guests and are un- likely to use tenders. The cruise line has fol- lowed Royal Caribbean, which launched its Oasis class ships in 2009, in com- missioning larger ships. Supporters of a cruise dock in Cayman say the move will have implications for the island if it does not go ahead with the port project. Robert Hamaty, of the Association for the Advancement of Cruise Tourism, said the Cayman Islands was already missing out on the 5,400-passenger Oasis class ships, which do not tender, and cruise past Cayman on their way to Jamaica. He said the new Carnival ships, the largest ever built, would also bypass Cayman. He said, “I am not playing games with anybody. It is a fact that these cruise ships are not going to tender. This is the way the cruise industry is going and we are going to lose out.” Carnival has a fleet of 24 ships worldwide and has not said where it will deploy the larger vessels. The proposed new cruise dock would be able to accom- modate two ships of Oasis class size and two other cruise ships. Royal Caribbean and Carnival collectively account for around 80 percent of cruise passenger arrivals in Grand Cayman. Stewart Chiron, a US based cruise industry expert who runs The Cruise Guy website, said the trend to- wards larger ships appeared to be continuing. “The ships are getting bigger and there are an in- creasing number of ports to choose from. The new Carnival ships, like Royal Caribbean, will be forced to bypass Cayman as their ships will have too many passengers to tender. A cruise pier is imperative for Grand Cayman’s future. Cayman has worked hard improving the cruise passengers’ experience but it’s not enough.” Mr. Hamaty and other business owners are urging government to proceed with the dock despite environ- mental and economic con- cerns recently highlighted in a consultant’s report. The report, produced by marine engineers Baird, pre- dicted extensive damage to coral reefs in the harbor and estimated economic losses of up to $9 million a year for water sports business in the harbor. A petition to stop the project, launched earlier this month, had amassed almost 2,000 signatures by press time on Wednesday. The Cayman Islands Tourism Association said in a statement that it is con- sulting with members and reviewing the reports be- fore taking a position on the issue. Premier Alden McLaughlin said in a statement in the Legislative Assembly Friday, “I acknowledge that the en- vironmental assessment has identified several issues, so the viability and economic benefits of cruise berthing must be understood and carefully weighed against those concerns.”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” “Lift the Cuba Travel Ban,” The New York Times Edito- rial Board declared a few days ago — summing up the sen- timents held by a clear majority of Americans (including, it seems, their President Barack Obama.) Barring unforeseen events or a drastic political shift, the complete “normalization” of the relationship between the United States and Cuba at this point seems inevitable, and is now a question of “when” rather than “if.” Investors, entrepreneurs and travelers in the U.S. are salivating at the prospect of unlocking the secrets of their heretofore mysterious Communist neighbor to the south, while the Cuban government appears increasingly open to (if not desperate for) an influx of American dollars and resources. Meanwhile, a poll conducted this spring found that nearly all Cubans believe the normalization of their country’s rela- tionship with the U.S. would be to Cuba’s benefit, and nearly all think the U.S.-Cuba embargo should end. Additionally, nearly three-quarters of Cubans said they felt optimistic about their and their family’s future. That, in a nutshell, sums up the “promise” of Cuba. And then there’s the “peril”: According to the same poll cited above, more than half of Cubans said they would like to leave Cuba and go live in another country. (Of the Cubans who said they wished to expatriate, more than half said they wanted to go to the U.S.) Of course, that’s just one survey, which, as the poll sponsors readily concede, was conducted under arduous circumstances, with challenges including infrastructural limitations, security concerns and an environment that represses political dissent. We in the Cayman Islands, however, don’t have to rely solely on polls to gauge the opinions of Cubans. Indeed, we don’t even have to ask a single one of them. Each of the 54 Cuban migrants currently being housed in Grand Cayman’s Immigration Detention Center, as well as the hundreds of Cuban migrants who have arrived in Cayman waters in the past year and a half, might not have contributed to any opinion poll, but they for certain were “voting with their feet,” so to speak, by loading themselves onto ramshackle contrivances that could hardly be called boats, and risking their very lives to the whims and furor of the open sea, all for the distant chance of achieving what is to them a dream that could hardly be imagined, but to us in Cayman is something we take for granted — that is, personal freedom. The Cubans we are hosting, obviously, did not think freedom is something they could expect to come to Cuba anytime soon, even with all the talks of a U.S.-Cuba thaw, so they set out to grab freedom for themselves. We at the Compass, and we would venture to say most people in Cayman, have the utmost respect for their courage and motivations, and understand their desire to escape from a country they may love, but still consider a prison. We like to think that if our country had the means, and the space, we would welcome all such refugees with open arms and offers of opportunity. But the reality is, as a small territory of about 58,000 people, Cayman cannot possibly hope to accommodate all the thousands, or even millions, of Cubans who would seek sanctuary here if they could. And so Cayman is stuck, able neither to provide the proper level of humanitarian assistance to people who come seeking it, nor to avoid totally the costs associated with existing in the corridor of a massive human migration. The situation we have now — where we bid fond farewells to those Cubans whose craft appear worthy enough to carry them to their destination, and where we rescue and repatriate those Cubans whose fates would otherwise be sealed — is far less than the ideal, but perhaps remains the best we can do in this imperfect reality. Caught in the middle of the Cuba conundrum Thursday June 25, 2015 • Cayman COmpass Berlin: Then and now The first time I saw Berlin was in 1960, just 15 years after the end of World War II in Europe. I came for a week of exploring with the other participants in the International Christian Youth Exchange living in Germany for the school year of 1959- 60, during which I lived with a German family in the small village of Rasdorf near the somewhat larger village of Hünfeld, near the small city of Fulda. Though Rasdorf was on the border between East and West Germany, we had to fly to Berlin, as it was an island of West Germany within the Deutsche Democratic Republic (DDR), commonly referred to as East Germany. While Berlin was technically divided into four zones (American, British, French and Russian), it was administratively divided into the Western Zone, which was part of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Eastern Zone controlled by a puppet government installed by the Soviet Union. The wall that separated the two had not yet been built nor even thought of at the time. By then I had lived for the better part of a year within walking distance of a 10-meter wide strip of plowed earth that separated East and West Germany – the communist world from the free world – and our village from the next one to the east. The physical scars of the Great Patriotic War, as the Russians called it, were little in evidence in Germany’s villages such as Rasdorf. Berlin, however, was a very different matter. According to Wikipedia: “Up to the end of March 1945 there had been a total of 314 air raids on Berlin, with 85 of those coming in the last twelve months. Half of all houses were damaged and around a third uninhabitable, as much as 16 km² of the city was simply rubble.” Estimates of the total number of dead in Berlin from air raids range from 20,000 to 30,000. To put it into perspective, the total U.S. causalities in Iraq from March 19, 2003 to May 26, 2015 were 4,493. By 1960 West Berlin had enjoyed considerable re- building. But vast areas remained flattened and uninhabitable, though gen- erally cleared of rubble. The now thriving hot spot of Potsdamer Platz, just west of what was about to be- come the Berlin Wall, was a large vacant space. The Kurfürstendamm, on the other hand, was largely re- built and thriving with the steeple of the bombed out Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church still standing, as it is today, as a memorial to the horrors of war. The 17 Juni strasse in the West becomes the Unter der Linden strasse as it passes through the Brandenburg Tor to the East. Its buildings also had been fully restored to their prewar appearance. But not more than one or two blocks on either side was nothing but gutted buildings and ruble. It was a shocking sight. Coming from America, I had never seen such mas- sive devastation before in my life. Of course, today no evi- dence of the war exists any- more except in memorials and museums. And even the Berlin Wall, which existed from 1961 to 1989, is gone; a small por- tion of the Wall still remains as a historical reminder for visitors but mainly it has been broken up into inch-size fragments for sale to tourists – one of which sits on my of- fice bookshelf – or used as decorations in hotel lobbies. The apartment building Ito and I are now staying in on Behrenstrasse is just one block south of Unter der Linden strasse and has replaced the gutted buildings I had seen 55 years earlier. As far as I can see in every direction now the area has been fully rebuilt, as very little was restorable. The exceptions are the grand buildings of Berlin’s original and once-again city center. During our day trip to East Berlin during that first visit in 1960 our group went to the Opera House, which had survived the war, and saw a performance of a por- tion of opera. I remember the concert very well. They performed the Polovtsian Dances from Alexander Borodin’s “Prince Igor.” It was very familiar to me from the American musical “Kismet.” Being the naive and skep- tical 18 year old that I was at the time, I complained to my companions that those damn Russians had stolen these songs. They will steal any- thing, I said. Learning that the reverse was true soon thereafter was eye-opening. I returned to Berlin, now divided by the Berlin Wall, in 1976 or so to visit my former wife’s sister Jean and her husband Tom, and then again for the Mont Pelerin Society meetings in 1982 with Milton Friedman and other economists in atten- dance. By then I was in my mid-30s. Reconstruction con- tinued in the West but little had changed in the East. During the first of these two visits I saw, with Jean and Tom, my first ever full opera, this time in the Western Zone. The opera was “Madam Butterfly,” a nice introduction to the world of opera. I mar- veled at the music, of course, but also found it fascinating that I was watching an opera sung in Italian about a geisha who had fallen in love with an American Captain in Japan and I was watching it in Germany. I returned to a re- united Berlin (and a re- united Germany) after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent col- lapse of the USSR several times again for one reason or another. Once was to visit my German friend Moritz Schularick, with whom I will meet again here for dinner on Monday. The burst of con- struction and development in the newly freed Eastern Zone was amazing. The transfor- mation with each of my sub- sequent visits was quite pro- nounced. Younger people no longer refer to the Eastern Zone. The hotel where we are now staying is in what was once part of the Eastern Zone, and is now called Mid Town (Mitte). We are now vacationing in Berlin because Ito has been reading a lot about Winston Churchill and the Germans in the Nazi govern- ment such as Albert Speer, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, and Hermann Göring, and WWII in general and he wanted to see the places he has read about. So here I am, 55 years after my first visit in 1959, astonished at the city’s history of glory, in- famy, courage and pain, de- struction and eventual re- construction and rebirth. Hitler’s famous bunker where he ended his life together with his new wife Eva Braun and his dog Blondi has been filled in and covered over, but the Germans have gone out of their way not to cover up their treatment of the Jews in what came to be called the holocaust. Still, it feels a bid odd walking and riding around this historic city with its many Nazi ghosts. It is also the city in which brave Germans sought freedom in the West by jumping out of windows over the Wall, dig- ging tunnels under it, and by risking their lives in order to escape the Eastern Zone to live in the West. The story of Berlin, from then until now, is an ex- ample how a people can succumb to inhumane be- liefs and behavior, recover their humanity and respect for freedom, and once again flourish. Germany’s long his- tory includes both great and horrendous acts. Within my lifetime the Nazis rose to power and threatened the world in WWII, Berlin was completely and utterly de- stroyed by allied bombing near the end of that war, then occupied by the Red Army in 1945, the city butchered into four quadrants as part of the Allies’ Cold War with the USSR, the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 and torn down in 1989, and Germany was reunified in 1990, subse- quently prospering as a free and democratic state. I am grateful to have been able to witness what seems to be a positive outcome to this com- plicated story. Warren Coats, a former director of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, and former senior monetary policy advisor to the Central Bank of Afghanistan, Iraq and Kenya for the International Monetary Fund, is on the Editorial Board of Cayman Financial Review. WARREN COATS A May 1965 photo of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as they pass the Brandenburg Gate during their first visit to Berlin. - Photo: AP The story of Berlin, from then until now, is an example how a people can succumb to inhumane beliefs and behavior, recover their humanity and respect for freedom, and once again flourish.5 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Thursday June 25, 2015 What will you do with your extra second? Be a hero and do something amazing. A leap second will be added to international clocks on June 30th 2015, because the Earth’s rotation is slowing down by around two thousandths of a second each day. Visit www.extrasecond.click and use your extra second to donate CI$1* to the Cayman Special Olympics team. *Aon will donate up to CI$5,000. Police meeting residents where they are Brent Fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service is receiving feedback from more than 100 local residents per day as it embarks on a series of community “clinics” around Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands this week. Police Sgt. Robert Nodding said the new-style public meetings officers have been holding in front of public areas like supermarkets and hospitals have been a good opportunity for RCIPS offi- cers to meet with the public, even if the discussions aren’t always about crime. “Some people at the hos- pital wanted to tell us about their illnesses,” Mr. Nodding said. “But the response is much better, we’re getting to meet a lot more people.” Police decided to host the clinics around the islands this week after a round of public meetings in the dis- tricts earlier this year were poorly attended. “People just didn’t want to leave their homes at night [to go to police meetings],” Mr. Nodding said. In response, RCIPS neigh- borhood officers decided to put themselves out in public. “We … come to the commu- nity, rather than ask the com- munity to come to us,” said RCIPS Acting Superintendent Angelique Howell. As a result of the police clinics, the RCIPS has re- ceived more than 100 survey responses per day from ques- tionnaires they are distrib- uting on location or at local police stations. The 13-question survey asks general questions and does not seek to obtain more specific information from individuals other than the neighborhood in which they live. Respondents are not asked to give their names, addresses or phone numbers. Questions asked include: Is safety in your neighbor- hood changing? What crimes most affect your community? Who commits these crimes? Why do some people fail to commit crimes? Superintendent Howell said the clinics will hopefully “ensure early identification and treatment of emerging community ailments to re- duce community impact.” The effort is also aimed at improving the RCIPS’s public image. Most respondents to a survey done by the police that was released in March said the RCIPS does not do a good job at reducing and preventing crime. Even after crimes are committed, most respondents said police do a “poor” or “very poor” job at keeping victims apprised of the status of a case. Respondents to the survey said frontline offi- cers need to get out of their cars and engage more with community members. Outreach artwork on display at National Gallery Artwork created by prison inmates, the elderly, recov- ering drug addicts and people with learning disabilities is on display at the National Gallery Cayman Islands. The National Gallery is showcasing more than 70 works of art from more than 55 of these artists who are participating in the gallery’s community outreach programs. The art gallery’s out- reach initiatives cater to art- ists of all abilities and ages, including “Sunrise Art Club,” a class for adults with dis- abilities, taught by Meegan Ebanks, and “Art Haven,” which caters to those in Caribbean Haven, HMP Northward, HMP Fairbanks, and HMP Northward Juveniles. “Art Haven” is taught by Joseph Betty, and is sponsored by Lori Monk and Kevin Butler. Ernst and Young sponsors the gallery’s two other out- reach programs, namely “EY’s Meet Me,” taught by Kerwin Ebanks and Simone Scott and aimed towards residents of rest homes, and “EY’s Art Talk,” a class for those aged 50 and up, again taught by Mr. Ebanks. The showcase, titled “Horizon,” was held in the Dart Auditorium/Community Gallery, and was curated by the National Gallery Deutsche Bank intern Lyle Anderton. “I decided to call the ex- hibition ‘Horizon’ because it reaffirms the idea of the NGCI outreach programs, which aim to expand the cre- ative and artistic horizons of the participants who may be struggling with varying degrees of challenges,” Mr. Anderton said. Outreach instructor and the gallery’s education coor- dinator Kerwin Ebanks em- phasized the need for pro- grams like this one. “Outreach is a vital link for people in the community who may not be able to attend public NGCI programmes, such as children with disabilities, young offenders, senior citi- zens, elderly people suffering from Alzheimer’s and ordi- nary people struggling to free themselves from drug addic- tion,” he said. He also wanted to ex- tend his thanks to those who had made the eve- ning possible. “These out- reach classes account for a large portion of the National Gallery’s annual output and are made possible at no cost through the generosity of do- nors and sponsors.” “Horizon” wasn’t the only new feature on display, as Lighthouse graduate and Special Olympics athlete Matthew Ebanks had his art- work set up in a satellite exhi- bition in the hallway gallery, in his show called “Artiversary.” “Artiversary” featured 11 works created with colored pencil, and marked a step forward in his dream to be- come an artist, which was in- spired by his grandmother. He is a long-term volunteer with the gallery, a recent graduate of their Walkers Art Club Lighthouse for young adults with disabilities, and also assists with the out- reach department. “I like that I have the chance to show the world my artwork. I hope that my friends, family and ministers show up to see the work,” he said. “I like to share a story and to paint or draw what- ever makes me feel comfort- able and makes me feel good. When people see my work, like it, and hang it in their homes it makes me feel warm.” For more information about the outreach programs at the National Gallery call (345) 945-8111 or email education@nationalgallery.org.ky. Resident Fleur Coleman speaks with RCIPS constable Sharon Baillie outside Kirk Market in George Town Wednesday. – Photo: Brent Fuller Outreach exhibition curator and National Gallery Deutsche Bank intern Lyle Anderton at the ‘Horizon’ exhibition.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 Community Calendar ■ Community Calendar is published Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is available to charitable or nonprofit organizations. Items should be submitted at least three working days before publication. Information must include name of sender, signature and contact number. ■ Items may be faxed to 949-2662, brought to the Cayman Compass office on Shedden Rd. or emailed to cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com at least three days in advance of publication. Thursday June 25, 2015 • Cayman Compass THURSDAY, JUNE 25 SalSa FieSta: 7 p.m. George Town Yacht Club. Salsa lesson and dance night. KRI salsa lesson, 8 p.m. Dance performance, 9 p.m. Drink specials, raffle prizes. Fundraiser for Business and Professional Women’s Club. Tickets $15, available at the door. iMMiGRatiON COUNteR: The Department of Immigration public counter will close at 3 p.m. to facilitate a staff meeting. All other sections will operate within the usual business hours. Persons are encouraged to take advantage of the extended opening till 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. Front office hours will resume as normal on Friday, June 26, at 8:30 a.m. FilM SHOWCaSe: CNCF Caribbean Film Showcase travels to East End Civic Centre, 7-10 p.m. Admission is free, refreshments on sale. All films rated PG to PG-13. OUtReaCH eXHiBitiON: The National Gallery features the annual outreach exhibition until July 2. Admission is free. Donations welcome. The exhibition consists of work from programs at Fairbanks, Northward, Northward Juvenile, Haven Art Club, Art for the Elderly, the Meet Me program for those over 50, and the Sunrise Art Club for adults with disabilities. DiaBeteS SeMiNaR: The Cayman Islands Diabetes Association hosts an education seminar at Sir John A. Cumber Primary School Hall 7 p.m. There will be A1C blood testing and attendees will receive tips on foot care and nutrition to assist those who are pre- diabetic and or those living with diabetes. NORtH SiDe MeetiNG: The North Side District Council invites all residents to meet in the Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre, 7:30 p.m. to hear from the Ministry of Education on the new Education Bill. Minister Tara Rivers will be present. BRaC COURt: Summary Court is held at the Aston Rutty Civic Centre from 10 a.m. today and tomorrow. POliCe CliNiCS: Officers of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service will meet the public at Scotiabank, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Clifton Hunter High School PTA sessions, 5-9 p.m. FRIDAY, JUNE 26 VeSPeR MUSiC: The Bodden Town SDA Church in association with “Jesus in the Strings Orchestra” invites everyone to an evening of instrumental vesper music of praise, worship and adoration. 7:45 p.m. in the church. FilM SHOWCaSe: CNCF Caribbean Film Showcase travels to North Side Civic Centre, 7-10 p.m. Admission is free, refreshments on sale. All films rated PG to PG-13. SCHOOl ReGiStRatiON: Today is the deadline for registering students enrolling in or transferring to government schools for the 2015/2016 school year. Visit the Department of Education Services or the Cayman Brac Teachers Centre. Registration forms available at government schools, the Department of Education Services at 130 Thomas Russell Way, George Town, or the Brac Teachers Centre. Registration for reception classes is open for qualifying children who are age 4 before Sept. 1. BBQ aND GOSPel HOeDOWN: St. George’s Anglican Church hosts this fundraiser from 6 p.m. featuring Earl LaPierre on steel pan, line dancing and other entertainment. BBQ tickets $10 for choice of chicken, pig tails, ribs or fish plus sides. Drinks and desserts on sale. $25 tickets for a chance to win prizes including a weekend for two on Ambergris Caye or flat screen TV. Call 949-5583. SATURDAY. JUNE 27 PaNCake BReakFaSt: The Kiwanis Club of Grand Cayman holds its annual all- you-can-eat pancake breakfast, at Craft, 8–11 a.m. Tickets are $10 each. Phone 926-3262 for yours or buy them on the morning. All funds raised support the club’s Buy A Kid Breakfast Program. GaRaGe Sale: Webster Memorial United Church in Bodden Town holds a huge Garage Sale at the Church Hall Grounds, 6:30-10:30 a.m. Lots of good and reasonable bargains will be available. FUll GOSPel FellOWSHiP: The monthly meeting of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship takes place 7:30 a.m. at the Upper Crust Restaurant, Camana Bay. For more information, call 949-5720. aMateUR RaDiO: The Cayman Amateur Radio Society will conduct an annual field day exercise 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Public Beach, West Bay Road. Anyone interested in amateur radio is welcome to attend. Amateur radio operators around the world will be participating in the field day from their respective countries. BRaC FilM SHOWCaSe: CNCF Caribbean Film Showcase travels to Layman E. Scott High School, 7-10 p.m. Films include Young Image Makers. Admission is free, refreshments on sale. All films rated PG to PG-13. little CaYMaN FilM SHOWCaSe: CNCF Caribbean Film Showcase travels to Little Cayman beach Resort 7-10 p.m. Admission is free, refreshments on sale. All films rated PG to PG-13. POliCe CliNiCS: Officers of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service will meet the public at Fosters Food Fair (Strand), 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Foster’s Food Fair in East End, 2-6 p.m. Cost-U-Less, 9 a.m. till 12 noon. Fosters Food Fair, Republic, 1-3 p.m. aStRONOMiCal SOCietY: Members and potential new members are invited to an Astro Barbecue. Email for more information: cpcooke@aol.com. TUESDAY, JUNE 30 HOStiNG FOReiGN StUDeNtS: UCCI is seeking families to host foreign exchange students (male and female) beginning Fall 2015. Interested parties are invited to meet president Roy Bodden at 4 p.m. in the UCCI Cascade Room. For further information, contact the president’s office at 623-0574 or email wlauer@ucci.edu.ky. eDUCatiON Bill: The Ministry of Education invites public feedback on the proposed Education Bill. Meeting tonight is at East End Primary School, 7:30-9 p.m. MOONliGHt & MOVieS: Tonight’s free film at 7 p.m. is “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (PG). Families are invited to Gardenia Court in Camana Bay to set up a picnic on the grass, or just bring a blanket, relax and enjoy the show on the outdoor big screen. WEDNESDAY, JULY 1 eDUCatiON Bill: The Ministry of Education invites public feedback on the proposed Education Bill. Meeting tonight for Bodden Town District is at Savannah Primary School, 7:30-9 p.m. SATURDAY, JULY 4 CaNCeR Walk/RUN: The Lions Club of Grand Cayman invites everyone to participate in the 4th annual Delano Hislop Memorial 15K Walk/Run. This 3-day Journey for Life on July 4–6, is to raise awareness for prostate and colon cancer. Registration is $50 and participants are encouraged to raise funds. Proceeds will help support victims and survivors in the Cayman Islands. For more information, visit lionsclub. ky or email pace@candw.ky. SUNDAY, JULY 5 CeRaMiC OPeN StUDiO: Visual Arts Society offers ceramics to adults who want to work independently. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Watler House Studio, Pedro Castle. $15 pp/$25 pp non- members. Clay, materials, glazes and firing facilities are available. More information at visualartcayman@yahoo.com. MONDAY, JULY 6 DiNNeR Sale: The Gun Bay United Church annual dinner sale takes place 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the parking lot of the Elliott Conolly Civic Center across the road from the church. There will be lots of food for sale, turtle, lobster, conch, whelks, fish, chicken and Cayman style beef. Heavy cakes – cassava, biscuit and pineapple upside down and home made ice cream. All are invited. SUMMER CAMPS VBS: First Assembly of God Vacation Bible School. July 13 - 17, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For ages 4-15. Theme is Everest, Conquering challenges with God’s mighty power. $45 includes registration fee. Lunch and snacks provided. Contact 945-2182 to register SUMMeR aRtS CaMP: Organized by the Cayman National Cultural Foundation. Last date to register is June 30. The camp is for 6-16-year-olds only. Visit www.artscayman. org for a registration form. CReatiVe CaMPeRS: In session from July 1-Aug. 28, for ages 3-13. Runs 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Elmslie Memorial Church Hall. $80 per week includes camp fee, field trips, snacks and lunch. Activities include arts and craft, sports, science, talent show, Bible study. Contact 324-8707 or creativecampers@live.com. FeaRleSS eXtReMe: Leadership and Prevention Camp. Organized by Cayman Islands Youth Development Consortium. July 13-24 for ages 7-9 and 10-14. Mary Miller Hall, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. $75 per week, includes transportation. Contact sylviawilks@ caribbeanyouthassets.com or 917-3885. aRt aND CRaFt: Organized by the Visual Arts Society. July 20-Aug. 12. Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 a.m. to noon. $45 per session or $120 per week, or $485 for the month. Camp takes place on the grounds of Pedro Castle at the Watler House Art Studio. Contact visualartcayman@ yahoo.com. GENERAL INTEREST aRtiSaNS MaRket: Camana Bay Artisans Market every Wednesday. Visual Arts Society has artists displaying arts, crafts, paintings, prints, hand-crafted jewelry and ceramics for sale between noon and 8 p.m. near KARoo. For more information about being a displaying artist, contact info@visualartcayman.com or 546-9422. ReeF ReStORatiON: Certified divers are invited to work on the Cayman Magic Reef restoration in George Town. A schedule of work dates and times is posted on Facebook under Cayman Magic Reef Recovery. Dates, times and places are listed under Events, for volunteers to check and sign up. DeMeNtia/alzHeiMeR’S SUPPORt GROUP: This group meets on the last Wednesday of each month at the catboat clubhouse, North Church Street. All are invited to attend. For more information please call 924-4170 or email info@adacayman.com. SPeCial OlYMPiCS: Volunteers are needed on Tuesdays from 5:30-6:45 p.m. to assist with training athletes in track and field, bocce and football. Truman Bodden Sports Complex. Contact Penny McDowall, 516-2578, soci@candw.ky or pjmcdowall@gmail.com. PReSCHOOl FUNDiNG: The Ministry of Education offers funding to assist eligible young Caymanian children to attend an early childhood center (preschool). Application forms are available at the Government Administration Building on Elgin Avenue, at the Department of Education Services on Thomas Russell Way, and from early childhood center directors/operators. For further information, call 244-5735 or contact turnette.stewart@gov.ky or renee.barnes@gov.ky. HiV teStiNG: Free HIV testing is available every Tuesday year-round at the Cayman Islands Red Cross on Thomas Russell Way. Anyone wishing to get tested should arrive by 9 a.m. Testing will be available every Tuesday, 9-10 a.m. Contact HIV/AIDS Coordinator Laura Whitfield at 244-2631. MUSeUM tOURS: The National Museum provides guided tours for students and school groups free of cost. Students will gain an understanding of Cayman’s geological formation, flora and fauna, seafaring and rope-making heritage, political history and more. Contact the museum to book a tour in advance at 949-8368 or email info@museum.ky. aRt FOR StUDeNtS: The National Gallery hosts free Active Learning Sessions for students of all ages. Part tour, part art activity, the tour takes students up-close with the National Collection – more than 50 years of Caymanian art history – providing links to literacy, mathematics, social studies and science. For information or to book a session, contact 945-8111 or education@ nationalgallery.org.ky. FRee GalleRY tOURS: Free guided tours of the temporary exhibition “Plastic In paradise: Scenes of Real Life Fictions” by Heidi Bassett Blair are available for students of all ages at the National Gallery. Students will discuss the exhibition and get hands-on art activities that incorporate literacy and numeracy. Tours run until July 3. For information or to book a tour, contact 945-8111 or education@ nationalgallery.org.ky. For more Community Calendar events, visit www.compasscayman. com/caycompass/portal/ community-calendar.7 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Thursday June 25, 2015 Pines residents get therapeutic paws Jewel levy jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com Residents of the Pines Retirement Home had an un- usual visitor this week when Chase, a 5-year-old Doberman Pinscher, dropped by. The quiet atmosphere in the home was interrupted by some excitement Tuesday when trainer Alberto Bryan walked in with Chase, and there were smiles all around as the dog and students from George Town Primary School lifted spirits. “He’s a darling and a beauty. I used to have one just like him,” said 85-year-old George Bothwell, a Pines resident. “You all did a wonderful job today. You never know what goes on between these four walls, there’s people who have things in their life that they can never be happy again. But this visit has done me an abundance of good,” he said. Mr. Bothwell, along with other residents, chatted with students and took part in a training demonstration with Chase. At times Mr. Bothwell used his own past experience as the owner of Bothwell’s Day Care in West Bay to get stu- dents’ attention. The school visit was part of a “pet therapy” visitation pro- gram offered by Paws4Youth, which is running a two-month pilot program that introduces pet therapy as an alternative to traditional therapy. Houseguard Security Company Cayman Ltd. owner Mr. Bryan had approached Michael Myles, at-risk youth coordinator and founder of Youth ACT, as a concerned cit- izen wanting to do something to help with the program. Mr. Bryan and lead dog trainer Kenneth Morgan said there are not many therapy dogs on island, making Chase a great asset for those in need. “A part of the program is to look at alternative thera- peutic services for the youth and a major aspect of what Paws4Youth is, is making sure that even when parents aren’t around, that children have ac- cess to small levels of therapy,” Mr. Myles said. According to him, the goal is to create a wellness envi- ronment. “We’ve been having a lot of issues with children and parents going into traditional counseling … it may not be as- sessable or at convenient times … having the dog therapy is another alternative,” he said. Mr. Myles commented on a recent study that was done by the World Health Organization on mental ill- ness in Cayman, which high- lights that young people don’t have a lot of access to mental health resources. “What that transforms into is poor education – we have a lot of youngsters who aren’t actually engaged at school, or they’re causing major behav- ioral problems. They’re also being excluded from school long term,” Mr. Myles said. He said taking the young people to the Pines to take part in the pet therapy dem- onstration helped to provide them with a level of compas- sion. “We have a high number of youths that have no com- passion. Gang violence, bul- lying and a number of other things happening in and out- side schools …. By exposing them to the fragile and elderly, they can learn to show com- passion,” he said. Mr. Myles said the program, however, may not be sustainable due to funding issues. “Alberto is a full time em- ployee and has his own con- struction company and he has been giving us the program for the past two months for free. That may not be sustainable for a long time.” he said. He said the hope for the program is to offer it once a month on Saturdays at the Black Pearl Skate and Surf Park at Grand Harbour. “We are hoping to transition the program, and if we can’t get it back in the schools, we will have to look at other alterna- tives,” Mr. Myles said. Shelly-Ann Bush, a recep- tionist at the Pines, said visits from therapy dogs made the residents very happy and made them smile and that it showed the residents great benefits. “Especially when living in the Pines, regular visits with the dogs can have positive physical, emotional and mental benefits,” she said. She added that physical benefits of the visit can in- clude lowering blood pressure, heart rate and overall stress levels. “Emotional benefits are reducing anxiety and depres- sion,” she said. The Pines Retirement Home caters to 34 clients, in- cluding full-time residents and day-care clients. The day- care program exists so that those who still have a level of independence can come in for the day and be involved in activities. Ashani Francis-Collins contributed to this report. Pines resident George Bothwell, 85, pets Chase, with George Town Primary School students Raekwon Moya, Dwight Brown, Dimitri Seymour and Destin Miller. The school visit was part of a ‘pet therapy’ visitation program offered by Paws4Youth. - Photo: Jewel levyThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Thursday June 25, 2015 • Cayman Compass For decades Baha’is have been imprisoned in Iran Mr. Saeid Rezaie, 57, is an agricultural engineer who has run a successful farming equipment business in Fars Province for more than 20 years. He is also known for his extensive scholarship on Baha’i topics, and is the author of several books. Born in Abadan on 27 September 1957, Mr. Rezaie spent his childhood in Shiraz, where he completed high school with distinction. He then obtained a degree in agricultural engineering from Pahlavi University in Shiraz, attending with the help of a scholarship funded from outside the country. In 1981, he married Ms. Shaheen Rowhanian. They have three children, two daughters and a son. Mr. Rezaie has actively served the Baha’i community since he was a young man. He taught Baha’i children’s classes for many years, and served the Baha’i Education and Baha’i Life Institutes. He was also a member of the National Education Institute. A scholar and an author, he has served as an academic adviser to Baha’i students. During the early 1980s, when persecution of Baha’is was particularly intense and widespread, Mr. Rezaie moved to northern Iran and worked as a farming manager for a time. Later he moved to Kerman and worked as a carpenter and at other odd jobs in part because of the di culties Baha’is faced nding formal employ- ment or operating businesses. In 1985, he opened an agricultural equipment company with a Baha’i friend in Fars Province. That company prospered and won wide respect among farmers in the region. He has experienced various forms of persecution for his Baha’i belief, including an arrest and detention in 2006 that led to 40 days in solitary con nement. Here is the fi fth of seven stories, remembering seven years in prison He is also known for his extensive scholarship on Born in Abadan on 27 September 1957, Mr. Rezaie spent his childhood in Shiraz, where he completed For further information, contact The Regional Baha’i Council at 949-3435/916-4130 or email: bevndale@candw.ky A decade later, airport parking headaches persist 10 years. In another case, there was a question because, under the 2010 Penal Code, the charge was triable only in Summary Court. Under the 2013 revision of the Penal Code, however, a sim- ilar allegation could lead to a charge that may be tried in either the Summary Court or the Grand Court, in which case a choice would have to be made. “These sorts of issues are cropping up all the time,” the magistrate said. 12 in court for failure to surrender In addition, there were 12 defendants in court who had previously failed to show up for their court dates and who had been charged with failure to surrender to custody. There was no in- formation as to why each person had been brought to court originally. The magistrate said people may not have understood that missing a court date without a valid excuse could result in a charge, even though they subsequently came to court and apologized. Some of the charges for failing to surrender dated from October 2014, but were listed for the first time this week. “I’m going to be blunt about it,” the magistrate de- clared, telling the defendants that if they pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to sur- render, he would not record a conviction although he would impose costs. He indicated that he did not want anyone to feel pres- sured and they should feel free to plead not guilty. One man and two women pleaded guilty to failure to surrender and each was or- dered to pay costs of $100. The magistrate gave them until the end of July to pay. Three men gave expla- nations. One said he had to leave the island be- cause he was sick and had told his attorney. One man said he had come to court to say he could not get off work that day and then he had returned the following week with a letter from his employer. The third man said he couldn’t come to court because he was in Northward Prison. The magistrate said the man who was sick should have made sure the court was told, not just his attorney. The man who couldn’t get off work had to know that, “Court trumps work. End of story.” The man who said he was in prison had a legitimate ex- cuse if it checked out. After some consider- ation, the magistrate said he was going to leave these three charges on file for one month. He said it would be up to the Crown to choose whether resources should be used to investigate the explanations. If the Crown does not bring the charges back in one month, they will be dismissed, he said. Six other people charged with failure to surrender were not in court. He or- dered summonses to be re- served for those who had not been served; he issued warrants for those who had been served, with a require- ment that they post a $100 cash bond. the Stamp Duty Law was changed for individual prop- erty purchasers. “As a result of the Land Holding Companies Share Transfer Tax Law (2007 Revision) not being amended, the Lands and Survey Department has been charging the rates of 4 per- cent and 6 percent, when it was the government’s inten- tion back in 2012 to charge 7.5 percent,” Mr. Archer said. The minister could not immediately say whether the government had lost signifi- cant revenue due to the delay in raising the share transfer tax from either 4 or 6 percent to 7.5 percent. “[This] would require a detailed analysis of every property valuation report for share transfer transactions within a land holding com- pany since November 2012,” Mr. Archer said. “However, such an analysis would not enable the government to collect any additional rev- enue because the legally ap- plicable rates would have been paid at the time of each transaction since November 2012.” The stamp duty changes on land transfers were ex- pected to earn the govern- ment about $3.5 million per year, according to govern- ment estimates when the law was passed. There were no corre- sponding estimates given at the time from what was sup- posed to be collected on the share transfer taxes. In addition, the Automated Parking System machines were originally supposed to accept payment via debit and credit cards, but audi- tors noted the module that allows such transactions to be processed “was no longer operational.” “This, coupled with the fact that the machine often dispensed incorrect change, necessitated customers to have the exact amount of cash to settle their tickets. Such a deficiency resulted in limited payment options and a negative customer experi- ence,” the audit review stated. Internal auditors also un- covered other issues in their report that led them to ques- tion whether the parking system was “susceptible to the risk of fraud.” “We were advised that there was no known re- port that could be generated from the Automated Parking System documenting all the tickets that had been issued for a specified period,” audi- tors noted. “This made ver- ifying the completeness of parking revenue impossible during the audit. “Inadequate controls over the completeness of the parking fees render the process highly suscep- tible to the risk of fraud and may also lead to mis- statements in the [Cayman Islands Airports Authority’s] financial records.” There were also difficul- ties noted with certain air- ports authority employees being able to override pay- ment requirements at the exits to the airport’s short-term and long-term parking lots. The parking system re- quires anyone using those lots to punch a button on the ticket dispenser at the en- trance to the parking area to obtain a ticket. When they return to retrieve their ve- hicle, they must stop by the automated payment ma- chines to insert cash and re- trieve a stamped copy of the ticket. The passenger must then insert the stamped card into the machine at the parking lot exit to leave the airport property. In instances where the exit machines cannot read the person’s ticket, or if the ticket is damaged or mis- placed, airport employees are allowed to use a “swipe” card to override the parking system and let the driver pass through. “There was no control in place to monitor against the abuse of this override,” audi- tors stated. “There was no ev- idence of records being kept that documented when a swiping override was carried out, and by whom. “Inadequate monitoring over the use of employee swipe cards at the [parking lot] barriers renders the pro- cess susceptible to abuse. There is risk of financial loss which is compounded by the inadequate management of receipts and collections.” The remainder of the section of the report that discusses employee con- trols over the parking area is redacted. In responding to the audit unit’s report, Cayman Islands Airports Authority manage- ment did not dispute the findings with regard to the airport parking system. It did state that a “short-term” so- lution to the parking prob- lems would be put in place last year and that an entirely new parking management system would be in place by early 2015. Airport officials said Wednesday that the earlier timeline had been pushed back, but that a competi- tive bidding process for a new parking management system would be completed shortly. Once a new vendor is chosen, the installation process is expected to take about three months. Officials hoped the new system would be in place before the up- coming tourism high season in December 2015. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The machine tasked with collecting paid parking passes at the Owen Roberts International Airport sometimes does not work, government auditors report. – Photo: taneos Ramsay Mr. Archer Corporate Property transfer duty never implemented CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Magistrate lambasts lawyers on defective charges before court “These sorts of issues are cropping up all the time.” Magistrate Valdis Foldats CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 9 Cayman Compass • Thursday June 25, 2015 UK increases border security in Calais The U.K. government said it had increased border security measures in the French port of Calais after scores of migrants tried to board lorries headed to Britain during a strike there. Boston Marathon bomber apologizes BOSTON (AP) – Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev apologized for the deadly attack for the first time Wednesday just before a judge was set to formally sentence him to death. “I am sorry for the lives that I’ve taken, for the suf- fering that I’ve caused you, for the damage that I’ve done – irreparable damage,” the 21-year-old college student said, breaking more than two years of public silence. To the victims, he said: “I pray for your relief, for your healing.” It was a five-minute ad- dress peppered with reli- gious references and praise of Allah. He paused several times, looking as if he was trying to remain composed. He stood and faced the judge while speaking, but spoke of the victims. The apology came after Tsarnaev listened impas- sively for about three hours as a procession of victims and their loved ones lashed out at him for his “cowardly” and “disgusting” acts. “He can’t possibly have had a soul to do such a hor- rible thing,” said Karen Rand McWatters, who lost a leg in the attack and whose best friend, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell, was killed. Campbell’s mother, Patricia Campbell, was the first person to address the court. She looked across the room at Tsarnaev, seated about 20 feet away, and spoke directly to him. “What you did to my daughter is disgusting,” she said. “I don’t know what to say to you. I think the jury did the right thing.” Twenty-four people in all gave so-called victim impact statements at the sentencing in federal court. The outcome was a fore- gone conclusion: U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. was required under law to im- pose the jury’s death sen- tence for the April 15, 2013, attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260. The only real suspense was whether Tsarnaev would say anything when given a chance to speak near the end of the proceedings. Until Wednesday, has said almost nothing pub- licly since his arrest more than two years ago, of- fering neither remorse nor explanation. McWatters urged Tsarnaev to show remorse to discourage other jihadis from killing people in sim- ilar attacks. “You can save them from these cowardly acts if you really have an ounce of re- gret or remorse,” she said. In May, the jury con- demned the former college student to die for joining his older brother, Tamerlan, in setting off the two pres- sure-cooker bombs near the finish line and in killing an MIT police officer as they fled. Tamerlan, 26, was killed during the getaway. A somber-looking Tsarnaev, wearing a dark sport jacket with a collared shirt and no tie, sat between his lawyers, his chair turned toward the lectern from which the victims spoke. He picked at his beard and gazed downward most of the time, only occasionally looking at the victims. Rebekah Gregory, a Texas woman who lost a leg in the bombing, defiantly told Tsarnaev she is not his victim. “While your intention was to destroy America, what you have really accomplished is actually quite the opposite – you’ve unified us,” she said, staring directly at Tsarnaev as he looked down. “We are Boston strong, we are America strong, and choosing to mess with us was a terrible idea. So how’s that for your VICTIM im- pact statement?” Several vic- tims condemned Tsarnaev for coming to the U.S. as an immigrant from Russia, en- joying the benefits of living here and then attacking American citizens. “He is a leech abusing the privilege of American freedom, and he spit in the face of the American dream,” said Jennifer Rogers, an older sister of slain MIT Officer Sean Collier. Boston Marathon bombing survivor Rebekah Gregory, second from right, walks towards the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston on Wednesday to deliver her victim impact statement. - PHOTO: AP In this courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stands before U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. as he addresses the court during his sentencing on Wednesday in federal court in Boston. - PHOTO: AP As South Carolina honors victims, Alabama lowers its flags COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – The Confederate flag flew high Wednesday outside the South Carolina Statehouse, but a large drape kept mourners from seeing it as they filed past the open casket of a veteran black law- maker and pastor. The slayings of state Sen. Clementa Pinckney and eight others inside their historic black church is prompting national soul-searching over historic but divisive sym- bols. The makeshift drape obscuring the secessionist battle flag only emphasized how quickly this symbol of Southern pride has fallen into official disrepute. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley became the first southern governor to use his executive power to remove Confederate banners, as four flags with secessionist symbols were taken down Wednesday from a large monument to rebel soldiers outside that state’s capitol. “It has become a dis- traction all over the country right now,” Bentley said. The iconic Confederate battle flag in particular “is offensive to some people because unfor- tunately, it’s like the swas- tika; some people have ad- opted that as part of their hate-filled groups.” In South Carolina, making any changes to “heritage” symbols requires a two- thirds supermajority of both houses of the state legisla- ture, and while lawmakers voted overwhelmingly for a debate later this summer, few wanted to risk ugly words during a week of funerals. Pinckney’s open coffin was brought to the Statehouse in a horse-drawn carriage and displayed under the dome. He’s the first African- American given such an honor since at least the Reconstruction Era. The 41-year-old lead pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church served the state for nearly 20 years and spent a lot of time in the second-floor lobby, where mourners were greeted by five state senators and two former governors, as well as his wife and two young daughters. Pinckney came to the Statehouse as a page, and in 1997 became the youngest member elected to the House. He became a senator in 2001. To honor him, people also had to file past a statue of former Vice President John C. Calhoun, who argued in the 1820s and 1830s that slavery was a “positive good,” and that states should be able to decide not to follow federal laws they don’t like. Prodded by Gov. Nikki Haley’s call to move the flag to a museum, South Carolina’s lawmakers over- whelmingly agreed to revisit an uneasy compromise that has held for 15 years, since mass protests succeeded in moving the flag from atop the dome to its current spot out front. By Wednesday, both of Mississippi’s U.S. sena- tors endorsed removing the Confederate symbol from the flag the state has flown since Reconstruction, even though the state’s voters decided to keep it back in 2001. Lawmakers across the state took aim at other symbols, from a bust of Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest in Tennessee’s Senate to the Confederate vanity li- cense plates used by thou- sands of motorists in various southern states. Many said change is im- perative after seeing photos of Dylann Storm Roof, a 21-year-old white man, posing with the Confederate flag and burning and des- ecrating the U.S. flag. Now jailed on murder and gun charges, Roof was captured after a motorist spotted his Confederate license plate. Other photographs showing Roof posing at Confederate museums, former slave plantations and slave graves were uploaded to a website along with an essay whose writer wished every white person had a chance to brutalize blacks be- fore the Civil War, and men- tioned choosing Charleston for its place in America’s ra- cial history. “This is an extraordi- nary opportunity for South Carolina to be the beacon on the hill – to show love and not vengeance, to show unity and not division,” said David Beasley, who lost the governorship in 1998 after advocating for the flag’s re- moval. He joined three other former South Carolina gover- nors in applauding Haley on Wednesday. Sen. Clementa Pinckney’s remains arrive by horse-drawn carriage at the South Carolina Statehouse on Wednesday in Columbia, South Carolina. Pinckney’s open coffin was being put on display under the dome where he served the state for nearly 20 years. - PHOTO: APNext >