ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – Wednesday OctOber 7, 2015 High of 90 Low of 79 Smooth to slight with wave heights less than 2 feet. Fantasy sports grow by leaps and bounds internationally THIS ISSUE: SPECIAL REPORT Connecting your business with con dence in healthcare >>PAGE 13 BANKING Bank ‘de-risking’ Serious problems for Cayman >>PAGE 4 INVESTING Disruptive innovations Get ready for explosive share price power >>PAGE 6 LAW Landmark merger ruling Cayman court decides on fair value determination >>PAGE 7 PAGE 13 SPECIAL REPORT October 2015 Journal Special Report HEALTH CARE CONNEC TING YOUR BUSINESS WITH CONFIDE NCE IN O CT O BER 20 1 5 • WWW .CA Y J O URNAL . CO M 15 6 Lofty goals, limited results for football project Fantasy sports grow by leaps and bounds internationally JAMES WHITTAKER After 10 years and nearly US$3 million in spending, at the most conservative estimate, Cayman Islands football offi cials are planning a “grand opening” ceremony for a solitary football pitch at the game’s headquarters in Prospect. The artifi cial turf has been laid, the corner fl ags are in place and the center is fi nally ready to host some football. Partly funded by FIFA’s much hyped, at times controversial, GOAL project, progress has been slow since the land was donated at peppercorn rent by government in 2004.Money has poured into the project, from fi ve separate GOAL donations and two grants from private companies. The result, so far, is an administrative offi ce building, car park and now, a football pitch. In comparison to the lofty goals for a world-class center of excellence outlined at an earlier opening ceremony for the of-fi ce building more than six years ago, it is underwhelming. Senior offi cials from the Cayman Is- lands Football Association acknowledg e progress has not been smooth, but say it is an ongoing project that will take several years, and more GOAL funding to complete. They attribute the high costs largely to the expense of developing and fi lling the swampy, low-lying land. A 2013 survey of the land, carried out af-ter a minimum of US$1.6 million had already been spent, showed that the site still required more than 43,000 cubic yards of additional fi ll at a likely cost in excess of $1 million. A full accounting of precisely how much money has been spent on the center is not publicly available. Bruce Blake, the acting president of CIFA, did not respond to requests to provide this information. FRANK BENTAYOU Fantasy sports, especially fantasy American football, is no new-comer to the world entertainment stage. But the already wildly successful fan-participation games now stand at the precipice of the greatest global expan-sion in their reach and infl uence in their more than 40-year history. Just since late August, daily and weekly iterations of simulated profes-sional sports games have extended au-dience reach by millions in the United States – and now plan to aim their strat-egy at the rest of the world. The two biggest fantasy-competition purveyors, FanDuel and DraftKings, are drawing so many new participants – along with buckets of new cash – that not even their most optimistic support-ers would have predicted such success at the start of 2015. A similar interna-tional boom seems right on the horizon.This intricate entertainment model has dramatically evolved since its mod-est beginnings in the 1970s. The tra-ditional fantasy sports leagues, once known as “rotisserie leagues,” have been inviting gamers to create and manage imaginary teams in virtually any sport. They pick real-life pro ath-letes based on their published statistical performance, then compete for a season against other gamers’ imaginary teams.What these fantasy players engage in is as much a business simulation as a sporting endeavor. They have to budget for sky-high athletes’ wages while stay- ing below salary caps, just as actual pro teams do. And their human resources evaluations must be as thorough as those of a Fortune-500 company. Yet, however many challenges mil- lions of gamers confront in running im- aginary teams, the real genius in this new take on sports is how the two gi- ants in what is known as “daily fantasy sports” (DFS), have crafted their busi- ness model. It shakes out that not only can both enterprises claim victory, but so can individual sports teams and their professional leagues. Even sports media enterprises, in- cluding TV networks and magazine publishers, can advance their fi nancial success, building profi ts. Profi ting from fans’ ego and taste for gambling In fantasy sports’ up-to-the-minute versions, computers running elaborate algorithms interpret each team’s and re-al-life pro athlete’s successes and failures right up to game day and score compe-titions with mathematical precision. A formula assigns points to teams in ac-cordance with how each athlete plays in a game. The world’s fans eat it up.The latest wrinkle is that last summer the two big DFS companies launched vast TV ad blitzes to establish themselves as the alpha dog of weekly and daily fantasy sports. To give real go-power to their ads, both are also offering prizes, big-time payouts to team managers (all paying customers of the fantasy leagues) with the highest daily and weekly scores.So FanDuel and DraftKings have been paying millions a day for commer-cials to lure new blood into the online ac- tivity of virtual sports-team management. At the same time, both employ another winning strategy for building subscriber bases. They announced they would pay out a total of more than $1 billion each this year to their winning customers.That move grabbed fans’ attention in a big way. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association boasts that fantasy football ballooned in recent weeks to 57 million participants in the U.S. and Canada. The commercial blitz and prize bonanza will continue through the spectacle of Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, 2016.Already, the chance at a $1 million payout is a big part of DraftKings’ al-lure, CNBC reports. Last August, Peter Jennings, a former stock trader from Fort Collins, Colorado, took home a $1 million prize after a fi ve-day fantasy baseball event. Last November, broth-ers Dave and Rob Gomes split $1 mil-lion in a fantasy football tournament on A news manager at DraftKings works at the company’s offices in Boston. The daily fantasy sports industry is eyeing a breakout NFL season. - PHOTOS: AP An artifical turf field has been completed at the CIFA center of excellence. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » THE cAymAn ISLAnDS journAL Editorial | pagE 4 On the Farm: When truth is redacted bush: Gov’t ‘undermining’ Pac Opposes motion for PAC ouster brent Fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Progressives-led government is making a “direct attempt” to undermine the functions of the Legislative Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, weakening good governance stan- dards in the Cayman Islands, Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush said Tuesday. Mr. Bush was responding to a legislative motion filed Monday that seeks to remove him as a member of that committee, replacing him with new member and soon-to-be committee chairman, North Side MLA Ezzard Miller. Former PAC chairman, George Town MLA Roy McTaggart, will step aside in that role but is expected to remain as a member of the com- mittee, the government confirmed Monday. The motion to remove Mr. Bush is expected to be heard in the Legislative Assembly later this month. A statement Mr. Bush released Tuesday morning alleges that “politicking” by the ruling government sought to diminish “the repre- sentation of the official opposition party in the assessment and accounting of the usage of public funds … replacing [Mr. Bush] with one who will cooperate with the government in the ways that help the government.” “Since May 2013, and the [Progressives] 2005-2009 administration is also a strong re- minder, that we have not seen leadership and strength in the governance of our beloved is- land for the good of one and all,” Mr. Bush said Tuesday. “Rather we have been subject to what I can only term as the act of ‘politicking,’ which mistakes political rhetoric or debilita- tion of process, for action for the good of all.” Mr. Bush said the Public Accounts Committee in a democratic society should be “fair and bal- anced” and that the role of the “official oppo- sition” membership should be in the chair- man’s seat, at least. New PAC Chairman Ezzard Miller, who is not generally counted among the Progressives administration supporters, is Lockhart: More than 4,000 need MentaL heaLth heLp brent Fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Last month, the newly formed Cayman Islands Mental Health Commission raised some eyebrows when it reported that about 4,000 people here had sought access to mental health services in 2013. Those figures, based on a free assessment by the Pan-American Health Organization in conjunction with a World Health Organization program, may actually be low, Cayman Islands psychiatrist Dr. Marc Lockhart said Tuesday. “It was about 4,000 people we were able to gain information on,” Dr. Lockhart said, speaking to a group of local journalists and other professionals gathered for a one-day Dart Center for Journalism conference at the Westin resort on Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach. “There were a few private facilities [that PAHO couldn’t get information from], so it may be closer to 4,500 or even 5,000 people … out of a population of 60,000.” The 4,000-person figure cited in the Mental Health Commission report represents indi- vidual patients, not the number of patient visits recorded for 2013, Ministry of Health of- ficials clarified earlier. However, that number should not be interpreted to mean that there are nearly 4,000 people in the Cayman Islands with serious, recurring mental illness. Dr. Lockhart said Tuesday that only about 10 percent of that number, between 400 and 500 people in Cayman, might be described as having acute, recurring mental disorders, such as schizophrenia. By far, he said, the majority of mental John Gray conStruction Business case under way James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The mistakes and cost overruns that marred the construction of Clifton Hunter High School will not be repeated as gov- ernment looks to complete John Gray High School, a senior education offi- cial has vowed. Chief Education Officer Christen Suckoo said a careful planning and budgeting pro- cess is taking place before work resumes on John Gray High School. He said a strategic outline case has been approved for the project, which will be com- pleted in three phases over the next several years, starting with the gym. Mr. Suckoo said an outline business case is being developed in line with new regula- tions for capital projects. He said a steering committee has been established with the relevant expertise to guide key decisions, and a senior project manager would be hired in the coming weeks. “Experience is a great teacher and as chair of the steering committee I am much Students continue to attend the John Gray High School on Academy Way, pictured. Chief Education Officer Christen Suckoo says a careful planning and budgeting process is taking place before work resumes on the new school site on Olympic Way. – photo: taneoS raMSaY PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 9 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL SANTA CATARINA PINULA, Guatemala (AP) – Prosecutors in Guatemala said Tuesday they have opened an investiga- tion into who allowed homes to be built in an unsafe area where a massive mudslide killed at least 161 people. Rotman Perez, secre- tary of criminal policy at the Public Ministry, said of- ficials will seek to find out which officials gave autho- rization for the construction and determine their degree of responsibility. Meanwhile, officials were weighing what to do with the site of the acres- wide mudslide believed to hold hundreds of bodies, as well as a surrounding area of largely untouched homes declared uninhabitable. Simply too vast to exca- vate fully, there may come a point where officials simply end digging efforts at the site and declare the area a de- facto graveyard, the buried houses serving as final tombs for the dead. Officials are also consid- ering what to do with resi- dents of the Cambray com- munity on the outskirts of Guatemala City whose houses escaped Thursday’s massive landslide but whose neigh- borhood has now been de- clared uninhabitable by Guatemala’s National Disaster Reduction Commission, known as the CONRED. “They told us they have to get organized, they have to buy land” for us, said Clara Elena Solorzano, 40, who had lived in the neighbor- hood for 17 years in a house her husband built. “Also that they’re getting money to- gether to buy us homes, but nothing concrete.” As workers continued to search for bodies under the mud, questions mounted about how people got per- mission to build homes at the base of a dangerous hillside next to a small river. The disaster reduc- tion commission said it had warned since last year of the risk that Cambray and had recommended that resi- dents be relocated. But Solorzano and 26-year-old Sonia Hernandez said they were never warned of any danger. Hernandez had 10 family members dis- placed by the landslide and another five of her relatives still missing. “If we had been warned of the danger we were run- ning we never would have bought” in the neighborhood, Hernandez said. “We practi- cally bought our own tomb.” Many surviving Cambray residents were staying in shelters. Some 187 people waited on cots inside the Salon Municipal, an audito- rium the town usually em- ploys for events and parties. Displaced families could find food, medical services, activi- ties for children and psycho- logical services there. Repairman pleads not guilty to gross indecency with child Wednesday OctOber 7, 2015 • Cayman Compass www. 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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. *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. - FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY - $8.00 THE INTERN (PG13) 6:55 I 9:50 SUN: 4:00 I 6:55 I 9:50 WAR ROOM (PG) 1:10 I 7:10 I 9:55 SUN: 3:00 I 7:10 I 9:55 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 3D (PG) 1:00 I 7:00 I 10:00 2D SUN: 3:45 2D I 7:00 I 10:00 2D EVEREST 3D (PG13) 3:35 I 6:45 2D I 9:50 SUN: 3:35 I 6:45 2D I 9:50 THE MARTIAN 3D (PG13) 12:20 I 3:25 2D I 6:30 I 9:35 2D SUN: 3:25 2D I 6:30 I 9:35 2D THE PERFECT GUY (PG13) 3:45 I 10:00 SUN: 7:00 SICARIO (R) 4:15 MAZE RUNNER 2 (PG13) 12:50 I 7:05 SUN: 3:40 I 9:40 * UPCOMING RUGBY MATCHES AT THE CINEMA – SAT, SUN & THURS * VISIT WWW.BIGSCREEN.KY FOR MORE INFORMATION. 18 YEARS & OVER FRIDAY NEW ZEALAND V GEORGIA: 2:00 SATURDAY SOUTH AFRICA V SCOTLAND: 10:45 ENGLAND V AUSTRALIA: 2:00 SUNDAY IRELAND V ITALY: 10:45 RUGBY CINEMA AT THE RUGBY CINEMA AT THE SOUTH AFRICA V USA 10:45 REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY 8 November 2009 REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY 8th November 2015 www.tonymosleylifeinsurance.com Guatemala declares mudslide-hit community uninhabitable CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com An air-conditioning re- pairman accused of gross in- decency with a child pleaded not guilty in Summary Court on Tuesday. The 25-year-old defen- dant pleaded not guilty to two charges. He is accused of committing an act of gross in- decency against a 5-year-old girl at her home on Sept. 10. Defense attorney Laurence Aiolfi asked Magistrate Grace Donalds for permission to come off record as the de- fendant’s legal representa- tive. He noted that the Grand Court had indicated that the case ought to get a listing as soon as possible. An earlier Grand Court hearing was an application for bail, which was refused, and the defendant appeared in court on Tuesday via video link from Northward Prison. Questioned by the magis- trate, he said he had spoken to another attorney about representing him. Crown counsel Neil Kumar suggested that a case manage- ment hearing be set with the defendant’s attorney present before a trial date is set. The magistrate put the matter over until Oct. 22. She told the defendant, “It’s crucial you make contact with who- ever is going to represent you.” When the matter first came to court, the presiding magis- trate was told that the alleged offenses occurred when the defendant was in the child’s bedroom making repairs to an air conditioner. The child entered the room to change clothes and was asked to play a game, during which the child was allegedly molested. Immediately after the in- cident, the girl told an adult what had happened and the adult told the girl’s mother, who phoned police. The man has been in custody since then. South Carolina CleanS up after floodS COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – The family of Miss South Carolina 1954 found her flood-soaked pageant scrapbook on a dining room floor littered with dead fish on Tuesday, as the first sunny day in nearly two weeks provided a chance to clean up from historic floods. “I would hate for her to see it like this. She would be crushed,” said Polly Sim, who moved her 80-year- old mother into a nursing home just before the rain- storm turned much of the state into a disaster area. Owners of inundated homes were keeping close watch on swollen water- ways as they pried open swollen doors and tore out soaked carpets. So far, at least 17 people have died in the floods in the Carolinas, some of them drowning after trying to drive through high water. Tuesday was the first dry day in South Carolina’s state capital since Sept. 24, but officials warned that new evacuations could come as the huge mass of water flows toward the sea, threat- ening dams and displacing residents along the way. Of particular concern was the low country, where the Santee, Edisto and other rivers make their way to the sea. The islands’ most-trusted news source 3 Cayman Compass • Wednesday OctOber 7, 2015 It’s not just about the right notes. It’s the whole gig. And it all comes together with the right network. This is how we Flow this is how we rock discoverflow.kyThe islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. Printed and Published by: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town send us yOur VieWs Or neWs: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com adVertise With us: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS daVid r. legge and Vicki l. legge EdITOR-In-CHIEf daVid r. legge A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will findtheirownway” Wednesday OCTOber 7, 2015 • Cayman COmpass First, they buried the turtles ... then, they buried the truth. The news that an infection killed 1,268 green sea turtles at the Cayman Turtle Farm over a period of four months last year left us saddened. The fact that officials at the government-owned company then tried to prevent the release of that information to the public left us, shall we say, shell-shocked. The deaths of the turtles, and the subsequent cover-up attempt, illustrate the two critical flaws of the Turtle Farm — 1) its business model (a tourist attraction that raises sea turtles for human consumption), and 2) its organizational structure (a government entity operating as a commercial enterprise). The source of the deadly infection, which ravaged the Turtle Farm from April to July 2014, at one point killing about 20 one-year-old sea turtles per day, was eventually identified as Clostridium, a genus of bacteria that includes strains that can cause botulism and tetanus. Staff responded by vaccinating the turtles, protecting them against the outbreak, but not before more than 15 percent of the Turtle Farm’s “inventory” had perished. Remember that the turtles, which are marketed as the “stars of the show” to Turtle Farm visitors, are, ultimately, marked for the harvest. They are, in other words, food. Farm officials assure us they follow proper protocols for sanitation, processing and meat handling — of that we have no reason for doubt. (Indeed, third-party inspec- tors have found that the “slaughtering” of the turtles was the finest part of the Turtle Farm operations.) Farm officials also say that the one-year-old turtles had not yet come of age to be harvested. That, too, is true. Unlike popular (and profitable) livestock, such as cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, even fish and shrimp, it takes years and years for sea turtles to grow to a sufficient size so that they can be harvested for their meat. Put simply, turtle farming is intensive, and expen- sive. And it becomes even more expensive when the farming operation is lashed to a tourism attraction that has been saddled with debt incurred since the ill-conceived “Boatswain’s Beach” expansion. Add it together, and you have a money-losing venture that the Cayman Islands taxpayers subsidize to the tune of $10 million a year or more. We don’t in this situation find fault with Turtle Farm staff for the infection that developed, nor in their (ulti- mately successful) response to it. When you have thousands of animals being raised in proximity to one another, diseases spread. We do, however, question the Turtle Farm’s handling of the request for open records that included informa- tion on the outbreak. Admirably, Turtle Farm Managing Director Timothy Adam has taken responsibility for the initial redactions. Mr. Adam, whom we hold in the highest professional and personal regard, said he was trying to act with the interests of the farm’s “shareholder” in mind. We presume he means the government. We would hope that in the future, Mr. Adam and his staff remember that the true shareholders in the Turtle Farm are not the individual or collective members of Cabinet, but the taxpaying public of the Cayman Islands. On the Farm: When truth is redacted Victims of regulations Government is sup- posed to make life better for people, particularly the poor, but the U.S. and European governments are increasing the misery of the poor. In the popular culture, Cayman is viewed as a place where tax evaders and money launderers put their wealth. The truth is quite different, in that most money laundering takes place in the big financial centers like London and New York, not Cayman. For many years, Cayman has had information exchange agreements with the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury and the major European governments – so one would be very foolish to put money in a Cayman bank with the intent of not getting caught for tax evasion or money laundering. Cayman is a high-income jurisdiction as a result of having a prosperous finan- cial sector (having nothing to do with illegal activity), a vibrant tourist industry, and an increasingly diver- sified economy. Like most high-income places in the world (including the United States), it relies on for- eign workers to fill many of the jobs, particularly in the construction and hotel industries. These workers typically send back part of their earnings to their fam- ilies in their home coun- tries – which are known as remittances. Remittances are correctly regarded as the best form of “foreign aid” because they go pri- marily to people who really need the money, without government or nongovern- mental organization mid- dlemen taking their cut. Remittances often provide the seed capital for people to start businesses in their home countries, to make their lives better. Most of the remittances from workers in the United States go to those living in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and the Philippines. In Europe, most of the remittances go to those living in Africa, India and the Middle East. Without remittances, the poor countries of the world would be much poorer and the refugee problems would be much greater. Typically, foreign workers in rich countries send funds to relatives in their home countries via money transfer companies, such as Western Union, often known as cambios. As a result of the new financial regulations, most notably the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), imposed by the U.S. and European gov- ernments, banks are shut- ting down the accounts the remittance services have with them. Banks transmit monies between each other through what are known as corresponding accounts. For instance, a bank in Cayman might have a cor- responding account with a big New York bank, which, in turn, has a cor- responding account with a bank in the Philippines. Workers in Cayman take the money they wish to send to their families in the Philippines to a cambio that has an account with a Cayman bank, and that bank then sends it to the New York bank that sends it to the Philippine bank that finally sends it to a local Philippine cambio, where it is picked up. Low-income people often cannot open bank accounts directly because of the ex- isting global anti-money laundering regulations, in- cluding “know your cus- tomer,” and thus are forced to use intermediaries. Under the new regulations, banks can be held liable if their clients have “dirty money.” Since the banks cannot pos- sibly know the financial de- tails of all the cambio cus- tomers, they are playing it safe by shutting those ac- counts – and this is hap- pening all over the world – leaving poor workers out in the cold and often forcing them to use non-legal sources to transmit money at great cost and risk. Michael Alberga, a leading Cayman lawyer, sent me a letter about the problem, where he writes: “All of the banks in Cayman have shut their accounts to the cambios who gener- ally take small amounts of money from the migrant workers. As a result, the some $200 million which is sent to Jamaica from con- struction workers, helpers, etc. who send $50-100 a week to their families and children are being required to buy U.S. cash and provide it to the cambios. The cam- bios have arranged to fly the money to Jamaica and, as a result, there is a shortage of U.S. cash in the country. In addition to that, there is an increased fee to exchange the money and an increased fee to send the money. The result is the poorest of the poor now have to pay more to purchase U.S. dollars, if they can get them, and more to send money.” In addition, the new FATCA regulations have made it almost impossible for many Americans living overseas to open or main- tain bank accounts. Many of us have been warning about the unintended con- sequences of all of these new financial regulations, including the pleas of over- seas Americans and the poor worker victims, but we have been ignored by the smug politicians and bu- reaucrats in Washington, Paris and London, who are willfully blind to the misery caused by their own actions. The tragic irony is that the supposed targets of all of these new regula- tions, major tax avoiders and money launderers, have the financial resources and knowledge to find ways to avoid the regulations. Richard W. Rahn, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth, is on the Editorial Board of Cayman Financial Review. © 2015, The Washington Times RichaRd W. Rahn Low-income people often cannot open bank accounts directly because of the existing global anti-money laundering regulations, including “know your customer,” and thus are forced to use intermediaries.5 LOCAL NEWS ernment to assist first-time Caymanian homeowners.” Julio Ramos, general manager of the National Housing Development Trust, said the final agreement’s details are being worked out now with six banks. He said he expects the National Housing Development Trust, which administers the pro- gram, to begin offering the mortgage assistance this month. The Government Guaranteed Home Assisted Mortgage program is sepa- rate from the Trust’s tradi- tional affordable housing program, Mr. Ramos said. The mortgage assistance is to help people and couples making less than $75,000 a year, who have the in- come to qualify for a mort- gage but may not have the savings to make a down payment. The program al- lows qualified people to use the program to buy homes on all three islands. Mr. Ramos said the orig- inal program, which ran from 2007 to 2012, helped 327 people buy homes. “We are working on extending the program,” he said, “and providing others the oppor- tunity for home ownership.” The first five years of the government-back mortgage program were heralded as a success at the time as banks initially pledged $5 million each for mortgages through the program, but added more funds to make the loans as Caymanians made successful applications. The agreement with the banks, negotiated under the previous government, ex- pired in November 2012. The new agreement, based on similar terms as the orig- inal, should be signed this month and the Housing Trust will again be able to take new applicants for the mortgage assistance. Charles DunCan cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com A government program to help first-time home buyers will restart this month after a three-year hiatus. The Government Guaranteed Home Assisted Mortgage program backs first-time Caymanian home buyers by guaranteeing 35 per- cent of the deposit, allowing buyers to borrow up to the full cost of the home without making a deposit. Premier Alden McLaughlin, speaking to the Chamber of Commerce last week, said, “We are working with local banks that have agreed to earmark $50 million to $60 million for GGHAM mortgages. I thank the banks for working with gov- Cayman Compass • Wednesday OctOber 7, 2015 Government mortgage program restarts this month “We are working on extending the program and providing others the opportunity for home ownership.” Julio Ramos, general manager, National Housing Development Trust Premier McLaughlin James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Christen Suckoo has been appointed chief of- ficer in the Ministry of Education, Employment and Gender Affairs. Mr. Suckoo, who has held the position on an acting basis since the departure of Mary Rodrigues last year, took the role on a permanent basis on Oct. 1. “I look forward to the challenges of this new posi- tion and the opportunity to continue to develop policies that will enhance the edu- cational, employment and gender development of these islands,” he said. A selection panel con- sisting of Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, Chris Duggan, vice president at Dart, and Wanda Ebanks, a partner at Maples, inter- viewed Mr. Suckoo as part of an “open recruitment process,” according to a statement from the Ministry on Tuesday. Mr. Manderson said, “It is particularly pleasing to see another bright young Caymanian rising through the ranks to achieve one of the most senior positions in the civil service.” Education chief appointed on permanent basis Mr. Suckoo Civil serviCe develops ‘five-year plan’ Cayman Islands Deputy Governor Franz Manderson is commissioning the devel- opment of a new five-year strategic plan for the gov- ernment service. The plan, according to Mr. Manderson, will seek advice from rank-and-file government workers, seeking to determine what methods of providing gov- ernment services have worked well and determining how those methods can be expanded to the entire civil service. “If you want a strategic plan that is realistic, achiev- able and has the potential to create sustained positive change, it is critical that its de- velopment include those per- sons who will be charged with the task of bringing the plan to life,” Mr. Manderson said in a statement released Monday. The plan is expected to be completed by February and is being driven by the same civil service unit responsible for the implementation of rec- ommendations in the Ernst & Young consultants report. Mr. Manderson, who has often advocated for improved customer service in the govern- ment, said the plan would seek to emphasize positives, rather than the negatives. “In looking around the civil service, I am encouraged by the moments of excellence that emerge when we are op- erating at our best and I am hopeful that together we can make the necessary shifts in our organization so that those moments of excellence become business as usual,” he said.6 LOCAL NEWS Wednesday OctOber 7, 2015 • Cayman Compass SMMEDLRG $ . $ . $ . CLASSIC FROSTY™ Chocolate or Vanilla PULLED PORK CHEESE FRIES COMBO $ SANDWICH $ COMBO $ SANDWICH $ $ PULLED PORK SANDWICH PULLED PORK CHEESEBURGER © 2014 Oldemark LLCWN58920V 0914 Interior MB 4 Sandwiches contain EGG, MILK, WHEAT. Sides contain MILK. 9.99 7.75 8.99 6.65 2.75 DRIVE THRU OPEN LATE FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS UNTIL 1AM AT SEVEN MILE BEACH Now serving you from 2 locations: Savannah and Seven Mile Beach Shark diving: Should Cayman take the bait? James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands could be missing out on an eco- nomic and conservation op- portunity by maintaining its ban on shark diving, ac- cording to experts. Guy Harvey, the fish- erman, artist and conserva- tionist, has called on govern- ment to consider licensing dive operators to run shark interaction dives, saying it could be a boost to the is- land’s economy. He said the Bahamas makes millions every year from shark diving and Cayman is missing out. Mr. Harvey said shark diving would be a valu- able conservation opportu- nity, raising awareness of the animals in their nat- ural environment and cre- ating an economic incen- tive to protect the species. Bradley Wetherbee, a shark expert with the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation who was on island last month for the Cayman Shark Talk event, said there are pros and cons to shark diving. But he believes that with the right regulations, it could help change age-old percep- tions about the apex predator that has frightened and fasci- nated people for generations. “Encounters with sharks when the humans live to tell about their experience and are able to appreciate sharks for something other than killers [are] very valuable and is part of a movement worldwide where sharks are viewed in a more positive way and people realize that they are beautiful and exqui- sitely adapted animals,” said Mr. Wetherbee, one of several experts to speak on the issue during the Shark Talk event. Steve Broadbelt, owner of Ocean Frontiers dive shop in East End, used to run shark interaction dives before the activity was banned in 2002. He said the Shark Awareness project involved a 90-minute lecture on shark biology, behavior and con- sultation. The dives involved using chum to attract sharks to the area and feeding them for reward. Mr. Broadbelt acknowl- edged there are legiti- mate concerns about sharks making associations between boats and divers and food, but he said there are well-es- tablished protocols in other areas to mitigate this risk. “I would like to see some amendments to the law that provide provisions for those with approved policies, pro- cedures and training in place to be permitted to conduct shark dives,” he said. “Cayman is at a signifi- cant disadvantage by not per- mitting shark dives. We have always had a healthy popu- lation of sharks on the East End of Grand Cayman and in some other areas around the destination. We lose a lot of business to the Bahamas specifically due to the shark diving that is offered there.” He said specific regula- tion and monitoring would be required. “There are industry-wide standards and best prac- tices on shark feeding that must be followed and have a proven safety track record,” he added. Another dive operator who dabbled in shark diving in the early 2000s was Greg Merren, owner of Divers Supply and former operator of Parrots Landing dive business. Parrots Landing has since closed, but Mr. Merren still has the chain-mail shark feeding suit he bought for the venture. “I spent quite a lot of money on it, but they shut me down,” he remembers. He said clear safety precautions must be fol- lowed, but he believes shark diving could still work in Cayman. He believes a lot of public fears around sharks are misplaced. “People don’t understand the animals. They are very shy,” he said. Mr. Broadbelt said he be- lieves the government of the day had simply decided it was easier to ban the activity than to regulate it. “Ultimately, we concluded that government’s view was that it was easier to ban shark diving outright than to try and manage it and risk every single dive shop set- ting up and running their own feeding frenzy, ad-hoc,” he said. Mr. Harvey, whose foun- dation has been tagging and researching sharks in Cayman’s waters for several years, believes the climate may be changing. He said the shark fishing ban and his recent docu- mentary about sharks in Cayman show that fear is giving way to fascination for many in the Cayman Islands. “Cayman is more tuned in to this issue than ever,” he said. “People have a lot more concept of the value of a living shark.” Shark interactions are not without pitfalls. Mr. Wetherbee said the impact on shark movements is not clear and the risk of sharks associating humans with food has been aired as a concern in other areas. “Shark dives are bound to drive up the number of divers and so be good for the economy, but they are not without drawbacks,” he added. The Marine Conservation Law and the new National Conservation Law both ban shark feeding. There is also a regulation accompanying the law which bans facili- tating wildlife interaction outside of Stingray City and the sandbar. “No person swimming, diving, scuba diving, snor- kelling or carrying on any similar water activity within an area of Cayman waters, other than a wildlife inter- action zone, shall invite, en- courage or facilitate wildlife interaction with any marine life,” it states. Caribbean reef sharks are often seen off East End. – PHOTO: ELLY WRAY, OCEAN FRONTIERS7 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Wednesday OctOber 7, 2015 Integra Realty Resources - Caribbean James V. Andrews, MAI, ASA, CVA, FRICS Cayman Business Park Unit A5 • Mail Box 751 Grand Cayman • KY1-9006 (345) 746-3110 • (844) 952-7304 Email: Caribbean@irr.com • www.irr.com/caribbean • Succession Planning • Estate Planning • Share Sales • Restructuring • Tax • Financial Reporting • Litigation • Permanent Residency Why Have a Valuation of Your Business? Business Valuation • Real Estate Valuation • Consulting Understand How to Unlock Wealth within the Value of Your Company Burglar caught with stolen goods Carol Winker cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Electronic goods, jewelry and other items valued at $5,214 were recovered when a police officer on patrol stopped a man walking with a blue canvas shopping bag, Magistrate Adam Roberts heard on Monday. He was scheduled to sen- tence Brian Percival Rankine, 46, for burglary but asked for a social inquiry report after being told the defen- dant has had a drug ad- diction for 25 years. Crown counsel Scott Wainwright presented the facts of the offense: a day- time burglary in the area of Lookout Gardens, Bodden Town, on June 5. He said the officer, who was patrol- ling the eastern districts saw Rankine, whom he knew, walking along Anton Bodden Drive around noon. Rankine told the officer he was coming from a roofing job at the primary school. The officer asked to see what was in the shopping bag and when he checked, he found an electric drill, a tape mea- sure, a pair of men’s sneakers, a pair of woman’s sneakers, a Samsung tablet and a mini-tablet. A search of Rankine’s person revealed a small camera, several watches and jewelry in his pockets. Later that day, an area res- ident reported that coins from a savings container, jewelry and electronic goods were missing from his home. Rankine initially declined to answer questions and then denied the offense, but later pleaded guilty. Defense attorney John Furniss accepted that his client fell into the sentencing range of three to four years for a second or subsequent burglary conviction, but pointed out that Rankine had pleaded guilty at a relatively early stage. The defendant, who pre- viously graduated from the Drug Rehabilitation Court program, had asked to be readmitted, Mr. Furniss ex- plained. While in custody, Rankine went to Caribbean Haven, the residential pro- gram, but was expelled for acting disrespect- fully to staff and asking to leave the program. Rankine said he never asked to leave and he wanted to stay. Mr. Furniss read from a letter his client had written. In it, Rankine apologized for his behavior and asked for an- other chance. “I have a serious disease of drug addiction,” he wrote, adding that it has been a problem for 25 years. “I have spent nearly half my life in prison for crimes to support my addiction.” Magistrate Valdis Foldats said the drug court wished to help Rankine, but public safety had to be considered. The drug court had tried ev- erything with Rankine and Caribbean Haven had been the last resort. Rankine was returned to the regular Summary Court for sentencing. Magistrate Roberts adjourned the matter until Nov. 3, con- tinuing the defendant’s re- mand in custody. Students develop leadership skills Cayman students are de- veloping leadership and team building skills from ex- tracurricular activities of- fered by the Kiwanis Club of Grand Cayman. During the weekend of Sept. 25-27 at the St. Ignatius campus, 67 students, in- cluding six from Cayman Brac participated in the Kiwanis Key Leader retreat. Kim White from Atlanta, representing Kiwanis International, was the lead facilitator, assisted by local Kiwanian Kadi Merren- Pentney and eight past leaders serving as student facilitators. “This was my fifth year coordinating Key Leader and each year I learn some- thing new about leadership, whether it’s from the facili- tator or from the students,” said Ms. White. She was pleased that Kiwanis and local sponsors saw the value in supporting an event that can positively impact students and help chang lives for the better. “I look forward to many Key Leader weekends to come,” she said. Students were taught the five principles of ser- vice leadership: personal in- tegrity; personal growth; re- spect for yourself and others; building community; and the pursuit of excellence. The event was offered to students for a fee of $25 with the balance coming from the Cayman business commu- nity. Island Heritage donated $10,000. St. Ignatius, Casanova Restaurant, Marriott Beach Resort, The Security Centre and Reliable Industries also came on board as sponsors.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Wednesday OctOber 7, 2015 • Cayman Compass We Buy Gold!We Buy Gold! Cash For Gold Silver, Coins and Broken Jewelry Cash Paid on the Spot! Call 927-8565 Cash For Gold • Shedden Road WORLD’S MOST AWESOME 30 YEAR OLD! #thirtyandthriving #thirtyisthenewtwentyone #youmakethirtylookgood#thirtyandrockingit #cheerstothirtyyears#thirtyandfabulous #mybff #loveher Join us in wishing this lovely lady a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! From your BFF Ti any, John John, Terrell, Tanieyah and the rest of family. We love you and hope you have a fantastic day! an independent member of the assembly, not a member of the opposition Cayman Islands Democratic Party. Two other independent legislative members, Mr. McTaggart and George Town MLA Winston Connolly, are currently members of the gov- ernment backbench. A third PAC member, George Town MLA Joey Hew, is a member of the Progressives. The final PAC member, if Mr. Bush is removed later this month, will be opposition party MLA Capt. Eugene Ebanks. “The Public Accounts Committee must be an over- sight body on expenditure … to ensure that money is spent responsibly, but audited [in an unbiased manner] and re- ported on fairly by the audit office,” Mr. Bush said. “If the PAC, through political maneu- vering, becomes an environ- ment where certain invest- ments are not challenged and interrogated properly with the knowledge of those who were involved to verify their service to Caymanian society, [then] huge expensive build- ings, road building, and gov- ernment land sales etc., will continue to lead to tremen- dous waste and conflicts.” Mr. Bush, describing him- self as a “strong critic” of the Auditor General’s Office, said his position on the “bi- ased and unfair reports made without interviewing those who are being criticized” is what led to calls for his res- ignation from the PAC a year ago. He declined to step down at that time. “I do not oppose for the sake of opposition. I do not walk out of the assembly. I do not disrupt the assembly while government is trying to do the country’s work,” Mr. Bush said. “That is what the [Progressives] did with [now- Premier] Alden [McLaughlin] as the leader of the opposi- tion. People suffered and still [are] suffering because of his type of opposition, which helped to derail several gov- ernment programs to help build the economy. “I am vocal in government where I believe the best inter- ests of the Cayman Islands are not being represented in proposals or expenditure. This is my moral duty as a member of government and a Caymanian citizen, and a role that I will continue in any or all capacity in the proud ser- vice of my country.” Government’s view The Progressives-led ad- ministration announced Monday that it would seek to remove Mr. Bush from the Public Accounts Committee due to what it believed was his inability to put aside conflicts of interests in cer- tain reports that dealt with his former govern- ment’s handling of various public projects. “Mr. Bush was previously asked to resign from PAC in June 2014 in a formal letter from Mr. McTaggart as PAC chair because of several statements made regarding the integrity and profession- alism of the auditor general and his office,” a statement from the government noted. “The concern was that this demonstrated the inability of Mr. Bush to consider the reports and oversight of the Office of the Auditor General with any sense of objectivity. Mr. Bush’s criticism of the Auditor General and his of- fice has continued and with the committee set to con- sider the Auditor General’s report on the Nation Building Fund, this concern has increased. “Regrettably, as Mr. Bush has refused to take up the invi- tation to resign, it is felt best to allow the Legislative Assembly to make the needed changes so as to enable the committee to better meet its charge to ex- amine the public accounts of the Cayman Islands.” The Progressives’ state- ment also asserted that Mr. Miller, the newly appointed PAC chairman, is considered an “opposition” member, even though he does not belong to Mr. Bush’s party. “The proposed change will … bring in an opposi- tion member as chair of the committee at a time when the PAC is now about to con- sider reports of the current government, which is in line with the usual convention for chairmanship of Public Accounts Committee,” the statement read. health services requested were for the more common illnesses of depression and anxiety. For children, atten- tion deficit hyperactivity dis- order, also known as ADHD, was one of the more preva- lent issues, he said. The health commission re- port noted that about 9 per- cent of the patients receiving mental health services were age 17 or younger. The government expects to issue a request for pro- posals this year seeking a consultant to establish an outline business case for a new long-term residential clinic for mental health pa- tients. Government appor- tioned about $1 million in its current budget for the devel- opment of the new clinic. Currently, people who need long-term psychiatric care must leave Cayman for an overseas residential care program. The health min- istry has reported that 10 to 20 Cayman Islands patients require overseas treatment for mental illness each year, and another 10 to 20 pa- tients cannot go off island for care because of criminal convictions. Dr. Lockhart said it was becoming “more and more” difficult each year to find mental health solutions overseas for local patients. There are eight beds for mental health patients at the Cayman Islands Hospital, but that is not a long-term fa- cility, and patients released from hospital often end up back on the streets or in jail for criminal offenses. Dr. Lockhart told the con- ference audience that local health professionals often feel as though various situa- tions involving mental health are misreported in the media and are generally not under- stood by the public. Using one recent case as an example, Dr. Lockhart said media coverage of an inci- dent in May 2014, involving a topless, machete-wielding woman causing damage at two local businesses was misleading in that some re- ports referred to her as a “mental patient.” “Time after time … she has become the example of the failings of the [Cayman Islands] mental health system,” Dr. Lockhart said. “But this woman has a se- rious cocaine addiction.” That addiction, and some of the consequences of it, have been reported pre- viously in the Cayman Compass following court ap- pearances related to her case. However, Dr. Lockhart said those mitigating factors are often not reported in the af- termath of such occurrences. “The propellant that pushes this type of be- havior is drugs,” Dr. Lockhart said. “Drug abuse is the big- gest issue when it comes to mental health.” Bruce Shapiro, di- rector of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at New York’s Columbia University, said the difficulty often is that reporting stories “on deadline” does not mesh with physicians’ desire to thoroughly review written re- ports and discuss “bigger pic- ture” issues. “We don’t often do ‘is- sues’ in a big, murky way,” Mr. Shapiro said. “Mental health is a challenging need, and finding stories can be rather difficult.” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Mr. Bush Bush: Gov’t ‘undermining’ PAC Lockhart: More than 4,000 need mental health help Panelists, from left, Julene Banks, Bruce Shapiro and Dr. Marc Lockhart speak to a group of local journalists and other media professionals at a Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma conference at the Westin resort on Tuesday. – Photo: Brent Fuller CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Stolen boat found in Jamaica A small powerboat that was stolen last month has turned up in Jamaica, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service reported. The 25-foot Cobia was reported stolen on Sept. 28 from the dock be- hind Admiral’s Retreat at Drake Quay in West Bay. The RCIPS was in- formed Tuesday that the craft was recovered by Jamaican authorities sometime last week. No ar- rests were reported in con- nection with the theft. Mexico city investigates rePorts oF dog Poisoning at Park MEXICO CITY (AP) – A pop- ular dog run in a pictur- esque Mexico City park remained closed Tuesday following reported cases of dog poisoning. Orange tape surrounded the fenced-off dog area at Parque Mexico in the well- to-do Condesa neighbor- hood in the central part of the capital. Large banners hung on the fence warning of a “Red Alert” that dogs are being poisoned. The shady area where dogs usually play was empty and unusually silent. Smaller paper signs posted throughout the park by the local government ad- vised dog owners to keep their pets on leashes while an investigation into the poisoning continued. Several police officers standing outside the dog run said they did not know when it would reopen. One sign posted by a Facebook group on the gate had photos of nine dogs that it said had been poisoned since Sept. 29. Javier Hidalgo, director of the environmental and mobility department for the local government, said 12 dogs had died in vet- erinary clinics with symp- toms that could indicate poisoning and officials re- ceived reports of six other suspicious deaths. One of those was “Daisy,” described as a “mutt of the best sort” by her owner, Caroline Owen. Owen said she and her husband were aware of reports about poisoning around Parque Mexico when they were out Friday night walking their three dogs. She said they were vigilant and kept the dogs on leashes while limiting the walk to the park’s perimeter. The islands’ most-trusted news source 9 Cayman Compass • Wednesday OctOber 7, 2015 Report: Frank Sound farm cleared of arsenic poisoning Tad SToneR tstoner@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Pan American Health Organization has issued a clean bill of health to the 14.5-acre Powell family farm in Frank Sound, declaring arsenic levels in soil and groundwater within accept- able limits. “The findings suggest that there are no significant dif- ferences between the [arsenic] content of soils from the test site and control/background sites,” the executive summary of a 35-page report noted. The 14 contributors to the report four from PAHO and 10 from its Jamaican affiliate, the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences: cautioned, however, that “the number of back- ground location samples ana- lyzed was below the number needed for statistical analysis. “The examination revealed that none of the persons showed symptoms and/or signs of chronic exposure to arsenic such as enlarged liver or spleen, ascites, pedal oe- dema, Mee’s lines, hyperpig- mentation or keratosis of the skin,” the report said. “Some persons had chronic diseases such as hy- pertension and diabetes. It was also noted that some in- dividuals were chronic ciga- rette smokers.” “The results of the clin- ical examination and the en- vironmental analysis re- vealed that the situation does not warrant an alarm this time. Clinical exams indi- cate that arsenic exposure ef- fects are likely not occurring among the study population. The health of the residents doesn’t seem to have been af- fected,” the report said. In a technical explana- tion, the authors said “ap- proximately 73 percent of the water samples analyzed were below the limit of de- tection of 10μg/L, which is also the maximum contami- nant level for [arsenic] for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. “The food samples,” the team wrote, “ranged from 0.08 to 5.63μg/g (me- dian, 0.25μg/g, and mean, 0.76μg/g).” Approximately 73 per- cent of those samples fell below the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s lower regu- latory limit, while those above FDA limits, the report said, were from plants with spe- cial “hyperaccumulators” of the contaminant. A hyperac- cumulator is a plant capable of growing in soils with high concentrations of metals, ab- sorbing them through their roots and concentrating them in their tissues. PAHO and ICENS con- ducted a weeklong study of the farm starting July 10, after a request from Cayman Cabinet Secretary Samuel Rose and the then- Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kiran Kumar. The pair was acting on two reports, one shortly after Hurricane Ivan in 2006, and one in 2014 – although re- leased only in 2015. Both of the reports by the Water Authority at the request of the Powell family found elevated levels of arsenic contamina- tion in the soil and ground- water, measured in a domestic well, and trace amounts of chromium, lead and benzene. The contamination came in the wake of 2005’s in- cineration on the farm, with the approval of owner Charles Powell, of plywood infused with the contami- nant, which retards rotting in wet weather. The burning produced toxic ash, which was stored in both a pit and in piles randomly placed around the farmland. The U.S. departments of health and environment have long-standing warnings that infused plywood should never be incinerated. PAHO and ICENS drilled 45 holes and tested soil, groundwater, fruit, grass and dead animals to determine the depth and width of con- tamination, while sampling hair and fingernail fragments from 25 people on and near the farm, which features sev- eral family homes and two apartment blocks. The 25, according to the report, comprised 11 males and 14 females, ranging in age from 3 and 66 years old. Test results had been due originally in August, but were delayed until Oct. 3, when Charles Powell’s son, Chad, said PAHO had given him the conclusions. “The good news is that we are certainly assured we are all apparently OK, although there is one individual who is sitting on the borderline,” displaying arsenic levels just above World Health Organization limits. “We still do not know who that is,” Chad Powell said, “and there are still elevated levels on the property.” No one, had spoken to him about remediation, he said, “so PAHO and ICENS are talking to us.” Cabinet Secretary Rose had asked his opinion, Chad Powell said. “I told him it was too early to make any pre-judg- ments about everything in that report. For now, we are just looking for clarification about the things in there.” In a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Mr. Rose said the report was only the first, accounting for the wel- fare of the families. A second report in mid-December will detail environmental condi- tions, although little is ex- pected to change from this initial document. “We gave first pri- ority to the biological con- cerns, the families,” he said. “There are no concerns about their health, but we are not going to abandon them. The Department of Environmental Health will be recov- ering debris from the site.” The report concluded that “arsenic is a natural com- ponent of the Earth’s crust, and is widely distributed throughout the environment in the air, water and land. It is therefore important to note that persons may become exposed to arsenic through consumption of food (in- cluding certain types of rice) and water, industrial pro- cesses and tobacco smoking.” Chad Powell noted that the report recommended an- nual testing for all parties, “just to keep that in perspec- tive, that there are still signs of danger.” PAHO and ICENS rec- ommended “annual clinical exams targeting potential medium-term health effects, including cancers, neurop- athy and other effects that can be potentially associated with arsenic exposures, but also to assess other risk fac- tors, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc.” In remediation, the or- ganization said “a suitable course of action may be” to remove the soil, storing it in a landfill; use iron oxide fil- ters for well water; and re- frain from using ground- water for irrigation, as “some plants (lemongrass and lime) have been shown to accu- mulate [arsenic] above the limit permissible in foods,” and because “it is difficult to mitigate against the metal content of plants that bioac- cumulate these components.” more experienced now at looking at these things and seeing where they are going awry,” said Mr. Suckoo. Speaking at a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, fol- lowing an auditor general’s report on the mismanage- ment of the high schools con- struction between 2008 and 2013, Mr. Suckoo said new processes are in place that would prevent the same er- rors from being repeated. He said the auditor’s re- port will be required reading for ministry staff. “I don’t expect to see the same mistakes being made. We have clear direction on how to move forward. We know where issues lie. “If these kind of mistakes are made again, we need to look at why and if action needs to be taken.” He said finding a con- tractor who is willing to touch the schools projects has been difficult in the after- math of lead contractor Tom Jones International walking out on the job in 2009. He added that completing John Gray High School in phases would make it an easier sell to construction firms. “The plan is to award a tender to a single contractor and they will deal with the subcontractors,” he said. Mr. Suckoo said some ad- ditional work would be re- quired to assess the state of the site, which has been abandoned for three years. There will also be some rede- sign work. As of March 2012, $54.4 million had been spent on the half-built school. At the time, then-Education Minister Rolston Anglin estimated a further $43 million would be required to finish the job. The Ministry of Education has not released the strategic outline case for the comple- tion of the school. John Gray construction: Business case under way CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The John Gray High School on Olympic Way is half built. Next >