ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – Wednesday OctOber 14, 2015 sports | page 24 hall dOuble has sunset rising Women’s Charity Shield report High of 88 Low of 76 Slight to moderate with wave heights 2 to 4 feet. editorial | page 4 legal ganja nO cash crOp fOr cayman CruiSe Ship doCk business case predicts up to US$439 million benefit Earlier report warned of possible loss of US$72 million james Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The final business case for the cruise pier project estimates a potential economic upside of some US$439 million over 20 years for the Cayman Islands. Even if the worst economic impacts associated with the loss of reefs in George Town harbor were realized, consultant PwC concluded in its report that the project would still deliver a net benefit to the economy of US$112 million. However, an earlier analysis, also released Tuesday, put the potential net economic gain from the project at US$213 million and concluded that in the worst case scenario, the project could lead to a loss of US$72 million. Those figures were revised upwards by PwC to reach the final conclusion based on additional research from Business Research & Economic Advisors, factoring in an anticipated increase in passenger spending based on the assumption that the piers would allow passengers to spend more time on shore. Nursing students to train at Health City james Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Nursing students at the University College of the Cayman Islands will get practical training at Health City Cayman Islands following the signing of an agreement between the two institutions on Tuesday. Students in the third and fourth year of the college’s new nursing program will re- ceive practical instruction from nurses at the medical tourism hospital as part of the course. The nursing students already receive some training at Health Services Authority facilities. UCCI president Roy Bodden said the partnership would en- able the students to specialize in niche areas of nursing and broaden their experience at a world-class facility. Dr. Chandy Abraham, CEO of Health City, said he hopes the agreement is the first step in a partnership to help supply the No PR gRaNts yet uNdeR New law brent fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com More than 500 non-Caymanians have ap- plied for permanent resident status in the Cayman Islands over the past two years under the revised Immigration Law, but so far none have been awarded that status. The reason is largely due to the fact that so few applications have come before the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board for consideration since the law was changed on Oct. 26, 2013. According to records provided by the Immigration Department late last week, 11 people who applied after working here more PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » uCCi president roy Bodden, front left, health City Cayman islands Ceo dr. Chandy Abraham, front right, Terica Larmond, director of the uCCi nursing school, and health City’s richard parchment celebrate the signing of the agreement. – PHoto: JaMes wHIttaKeR A tender ferries passengers to a cruise ship in George Town harbor. under the proposal to build a cruise berthing dock, tenders would no longer be required. – PHoto: CHRIs CouRt PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL Wednesday OctOber 14, 2015 • Cayman Compass Don’t Miss a Minute! Watch live coverage of the FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile, exclusively available on Logic channel 1 and 301. Logic provides access to all of the hottest entertainment and sports you want. Call a Logic Customer Service representative and connect today! www. REGmovies.com SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any lm starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. - WEDNESDAY - $8.00 * UPCOMING RUGBY MATCHES AT THE CINEMA * VISIT WWW.BIGSCREEN.KY FOR MORE INFORMATION. 18 YEARS & OVER KNOCK KNOCK (R) 1:20 I 3:40 I 7:20 I 9:40 THE MARTIAN 3D (PG13) 12:20 I 3:25 2D I 6:30 I 9:35 2D HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 3D (PG) 1:00 2D I 3:45 I 6:50 2D I 9:10 EVEREST (PG13) 4:10 I 10:00 THE WALK 3D (PG) 12:45 I 3:30 2D I 7:00 I 9:45 2D WAR ROOM (PG) 1:10 I 7:10 THE INTERN (PG13) 1:05 I 4:00 I 6:55 I 9:50 Security firm owner fined A security company owner pleaded guilty to carrying on his busi- ness without a license and two charges of working as a security guard without a license. Mark Twain Turner was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine or serve six months in prison. Turner said he had lost his license to run the secu- rity company in 2012 and he had continued to run the company, M-1 Security, ille- gally for another 18 months. “You knew you should not have run the business or worked for yourself,” said Magistrate Kirsty-Ann Gunn, adding that she had to record a conviction or risk encouraging others to run unlicensed businesses in the Cayman Islands. The magistrate told Turner she took his finan- cial circumstances into con- sideration while setting the fine as he works to pay off a pension debt accrued before he lost his license. The fine, she said, was “not a reflection of what it can be” for running an unli- censed business. The purpose of regu- lating the security industry is to make sure guards are qualified, the magistrate said. The fact that Turner continued to run the busi- ness after losing his license in order to pay off a debt related to unpaid pension contributions “doesn’t re- duce culpability,” she said. Plane evacuated after faulty fire rePort KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) – A Delta Air Lines plane aborted takeoff Monday in Jamaica after a fire was reported in its cargo area, forcing 160 people and six crew members to evac- uate the commercial jet- liner which was sched- uled to fly from Montego Bay to Atlanta. Nobody was injured in the afternoon incident at Sangster International Airport in the northern tourist city of Montego Bay. A Delta spokeswoman said the flight-deck warning was not accurate and there was no fire. Photos posted on the Jamaica Gleaner’s web- site show passengers using emergency chutes on the Boeing 737 to get off the aircraft and onto the runway. The Jamaican airport was forced to close after the incident and all flights were rerouted to the is- land’s capital of Kingston. The Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority said all efforts were made to re- open the runway to mini- mize disruptions. Investigators have started looking into what caused the fire warning indication from the plane’s cargo bay. Jamaican writer wins Man Booker Prize LONDON (AP) – Marlon James became the first Jamaican winner of the pres- tigious Man Booker Prize for fiction Tuesday with a vivid, violent, exuberant and exple- tive-laden novel based on the attempted assassination of Bob Marley. Michael Wood, chairman of the judging panel, said “A Brief History of Seven Killings” was “the most ex- citing book on the list” and a novel full of the “sheer plea- sure” of language. “One of the pleasures of reading it is you turn the page and you are not sure who the next narrator will be,” said Wood, a pro- fessor emeritus of English at Princeton University. He said the book had been the unanimous choice of the five judges. James, 44, was awarded the 50,000 pound ($77,000) prize during a black-tie dinner at London’s medieval Guildhall. “A Brief History of Seven Killings” is the third novel from the writer, who now lives in Minneapolis. The book charts polit- ical violence in Jamaica and the spread of crack cocaine in the U.S., and hinges on a 1976 attempt on the life of reggae superstar Marley – identified in the book only as “The Singer.” The story is told in a cacophony of voices – from gangsters to ghosts, drug dealers to CIA agents – and in dialects ranging from American English to Jamaican patois. Critics have com- pared it to the stream-of- consciousness novels of William Faulkner and the hyper-violent movies of Quentin Tarantino, while James himself has cited Charles Dickens as an influ- ence on his multi-character depiction of society. Wood acknowledged that the book’s plentiful sex, vi- olence and swearing might put off buyers who “like to give the Booker winners to their mother to read.” But he said the novel’s verve and humor would win over readers. Wood said although much of the subject matter is grim, “a lot of it is very, very funny.” The Man Booker guaran- tees a big boost in sales for the winner, and can trans- form writers’ careers. When Hilary Mantel won for Tudor saga “Wolf Hall” in 2009, she went from being a modestly successful novelist to a lit- erary superstar. James beat five other authors, including two Americans: Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler, for the multi-generational family saga “A Spool of Blue Thread,” and Hawaiian writer Hanya Yanagihara for “A Little Life,” the story of four male friends, one of whom is a survivor of hor- rific child abuse. The other finalists were British writer Sunjeev Sahota’s immigrants’ story “The Year of the Runaways”; the fratricide fable “The Fishermen,” by Nigeria’s Chigozie Obioma; and British writer Tom McCarthy’s dig- ital drama “Satin Island.” This is the second year the prize has been open to English-language writers of all nationalities two years ago. It had previously been restricted to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth of former British colonies. Wood, who like his fellow judges read 156 books for the prize, said the rule change had “widened the range of the sorts of novels being considered.” Marlon James won the 2015 Man Booker prize for ‘A Brief History of Seven Killings,’ based on as assassination attempt against Bob Marley. - PHoto: aPThe islands’ most-trusted news source 3 Cayman Compass • Wednesday OctOber 14, 2015 this is how we share discoverflow.ky Life. It’s not going to wait. So when you totally need to keep up-to-the-nanosecond with what’s going down, it’s nice to be with the right network. This is how we FlowThe 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. Wednesday OCTOber 14, 2015 • Cayman COmpass New legalized marijuana retailers in the United States, and the potential legal consequences for the Cayman Islands financial services industry, provide a ready reminder of our islands’ interconnectedness with the wider world. While we here in Cayman tend to be, shall we say, cautious when it comes to the acceptance of new societal norms, there is a difference between rushing to imitate other countries’ experimentations and being cognizant that what is occurring in Colorado, London or Luxembourg can have an impact on us here — even if it is they, not we, who have changed. We find the legality of U.S. marijuana financing, which we reported on in Tuesday’s Compass, to be a particularly interesting issue. In brief, several individual states in the U.S. have recently legalized marijuana for recreational and/or medicinal use. That has created (or at least “legalized”) a new sector of agribusiness. However, the sale and use of marijuana remains illegal in many other states, and is still considered illegal under U.S. federal law, although enforcement has gen- erally become more lax (or “selective”) under the Obama White House. The situation has given rise to a dilemma for mari- juana entrepreneurs, whose businesses have the bless- ings of their cities or states, but not their country. In a nutshell, the cannabis is going out and cash is going in, but they’re having a hard time finding banks — regulated under federal law — to accept them as customers. (This scenario in the U.S. also doubles as a cautionary tale against selective enforcement and patchwork lawmaking.) At the AML/Compliance and Financial Crime Conference here last week, a Miami lawyer warned Cayman’s financial services providers against doing business with those legal U.S. marijuana dealers because, under Cayman law, such activity would be considered money laundering. Depending on the pros- ecutor and the venue, money that could be regarded as revenue from a legitimate business operation could, in the next breath, be deemed as proceeds of crime. While that may seem odd, Cayman’s courts, attor- neys and accountants regularly must navigate through similarly complex (and sometimes conflicting) legal statutes from other countries in order to keep our financial services industry humming along. In fact, you could say it’s an integral function of being an offshore financial center. For the record — despite what your nose may inform you to the contrary as you pass by certain establishments, front yards and other gathering places — marijuana remains an illegal substance in Cayman. Technically, marijuana also remains illegal in nearby Jamaica, although legislators in our former colonial sister “decriminalized” possession of small amounts of cannabis earlier this year. Cayman’s Police Commissioner David Baines has said that Jamaica’s (even more) relaxed attitude toward marijuana could lead to even greater amounts of the drug reaching Cayman’s shores. While Mr. Baines is no advocate of marijuana use (nor are we), he is well aware that Cayman’s courts are overwhelmed with low-level offenders facing all manner of petty charges, clogging up our judicial system and delaying the delivery of justice in serious violent criminal cases. Mr. Baines has said that, given the facts, it might make sense to deal with some offenses, such as simple ganja possession or drunk and disorderly behavior, through a system of fixed fines, rather than hauling everybody off to jail and before a magistrate. We think Mr. Baines’s suggestions are worth consid- eration. While Cayman should not embrace all trends occurring in other countries, it is wise for us to be willing to be flexible in our own approaches, in order to maintain the culture that we have created for our- selves — rather than breaking under the weight of external forces. Legal ganja no cash crop for Cayman 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 find their own way” Intro to Hillarynomics If Hillary Clinton were to be elected president, what economic policies would she propose and what would be the effect on the economy? To try to get an answer, I have looked at her statements, her campaign website, and her Senate record. Mrs. Clinton has recog- nized the major economic problem of slow growth and stagnant incomes, and her economic platform is called, “A plan to raise American in- comes.” Unfortunately, the plan is largely a list of feel- good statements with very little specificity and contains nothing that would have a major positive impact on eco- nomic growth. (In fact, some of the proposals, such as in- creasing the minimum wage and overtime rules, would be small negatives). After Mrs. Clinton gave her big economic policy speech in July, the left- leaning Huffington Post fea- tured an article by two of its reporters titled: “Hillary Clinton’s economic speech a total letdown: Wages and in- equality get lip service and not much else.” After reading the speech, one can only con- clude the authors got it right in the headline. Hillary has said she is in favor of tax relief for fami- lies, yet, unlike many of her Republican rivals, she has failed to provide specific tax cut proposals with num- bers other than extending a US$2,500 tax cut for students to deal with college costs. Her small-business proposals are four, nice, general state- ments, without specifics. Hillary Clinton flip- flopped on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal this past week. She had supported the TPP when she was secretary of state, and referred to it as the “gold standard in trade agreements” in her book “Hard Choices.” When she came out against it on Oct. 7, she said: “I don’t believe it’s going to meet the high bar I have set,” while admitting she had not read it. In 1996, she was vocal in her support of the North American Free Trade Agreement, yet she has backed away from it in the years since. Both her Senate voting record and rhetoric on trade deals have been inconsistent. She supported free trade agreements with Singapore, Chile, Australia, Morocco and Oman, while she opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement. One of the planks in her small-business proposal is to expand “access to new markets,” which seems to contradict her newly found opposition to the TPP. As a senator, Mrs. Clinton voted against two major middle-class tax cuts, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, both of which were passed and signed into law. She has proposed higher cap- ital gains tax rates for some taxpayers, and an end to the “carried interest loophole.” These proposals are a slight negative on economic growth and will not bring in appre- ciable tax revenue. During her Senate career, Mrs. Clinton sponsored or co-sponsored more than 800 bills to increase spending (a total of more than US$900 bil- lion), and only 12 bills to de- crease spending (for a total of only about US$1 billion). Her net spending sponsorship was also considerably higher than the average Democratic senator. She has made a number of spending increase proposals, such as her “New College Compact,” which she says will cost US$350 billion. She says she will pay for it by closing tax loopholes on “the wealthy.” But without identi- fying the “loopholes” and the revenues from each of them, the proposal seems hollow. It is widely recognized that major reasons for the existing slow growth are: a tax system which excessively penalizes labor and capital, excessive regulations not supported by real cost-ben- efit analysis, and excessive and wasteful government spending. Where are Mrs. Clinton’s serious proposals to deal with these problems, and where in her track record is there evidence that she is more likely to be part of the cure rather than a continuing part of the problem? A smart, well-educated, young woman friend of mine, who is a strong Hillary sup- porter (as are many single young women) tells me that she is in favor of Hillary in part because of issues like wage equality and wom- en’s rights. It is worth noting that both with her State Department and congres- sional staff, of which Hillary had control, on average men were paid significantly more than women. Despite all of the political rhetoric, wage differentials will only be elim- inated when women enter high-paying occupations like engineering, technology and finance – and spend as many years in the workforce as men. Issues like abortion are now firmly in the control of the states and courts rather than the president, and who- ever wins the presidency, he or she will have virtually no effect on those issues. If you care about women, minorities, and even white men, you should vote for the candidate (other things being equal) who is likely to be able to implement the highest growth policies. The economy did very well under the second Bill Clinton ad- ministration because he was willing to implement policy changes – a major capital gains tax rate cut and lower government spending as a percentage of gross domestic product – and he continued his free trade policies. Though most of her economic policies lack specifics, Hillary Clinton still has the opportunity to go for growth economics rather than stagnant pander-nomics. 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. Rahn5 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Wednesday OctOber 14, 2015 Marchers will present petition to premier Brent Fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Protesters who say they are “fed up” with high gas and diesel prices at the pump plan to hold a peaceful march through downtown George Town on Wednesday morning. The march, to be led by about a dozen residents in a group named “Cayman is fed up with high gas prices,” will begin at the former govern- ment administration building, the Glass House, around 9 a.m. The group plans to walk through the town center to the Legislative Assembly building where it will present a petition demanding “govern- ment action” on fuel prices. The petition, which at last count had collected close to 10,000 signatures of Caymanians and non- Caymanians, will be de- livered to Premier Alden McLaughlin prior to the start of Wednesday’s as- sembly meeting. Petition organizer George R. Ebanks said signatures were collected at supermar- kets, public meetings and on- line over the past few weeks. “[We] support the gov- ernment promising to bring wide, sweeping leg- islation in October to the Legislative Assembly to ob- tain cost prices from both Sol Petroleum and Rubis,” Mr. Ebanks said. “This will then enable the government via the Petroleum Inspectorate to pressure the fuel importers to sell their fuel at market- driven fuel prices to the var- ious retail outlets.” Mr. Ebanks said not all of the signatories are registered voters, so the petition is un- likely to have any legal effect under the Cayman Islands Constitution Order (2009) in terms of forcing a referendum on the gas prices issue. The government is ex- pected to bring legislation during the current meeting to address some of the peti- tioners’ concerns. Proposed changes to Cayman’s laws governing the handling or storage of dangerous sub- stances would require all fuel importers to provide detailed information on their oper- ating costs to government’s regulatory agency. According to the pro- posed Dangerous Substances Handling and Storage (Amendment) Bill, 2015: “The chief petroleum inspector shall … collect from im- porters, and compile, analyze and abstract, information on fuel prices and pricing methods and provide such information to the minister.” At the request of the petro- leum inspector, the importer is required to provide infor- mation on the price of all fuel imported and sold and the “pricing methods” used by the importer in the sale of fuel to retail operators and con- sumers. Those costs can in- clude: initial costs, cost of freight, insurance and bro- kerage fees, customs duties, es- timates of fuel in stock, and the amount and type of fuel to be imported in the next shipment. The legislation proposes a $20,000 fine or imprison- ment for one year, or both, for anyone who fails to provide information or who provides false information to the gov- ernment inspector. The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service has advised that due to the march, Fort Street between the junctions with Albert Panton Street and Harbour Drive will be closed to traffic from 9 a.m. to noon. Traffic on Fort Street will be diverted near the Town Clock toward Mary Street and Edward Street. Slow drop Both in the summer of 2014 and during this summer, the Cayman Islands has wit- nessed a prolonged period of higher gas prices when com- pared to U.S. and world oil benchmarks. Local fuel dis- tributors have explained the pricing lag is due to delays in fuel shipments to the islands that typically take three to four weeks. The price drop, they argue, is not reflected “at the pump” until retail stations have used up all of their fuel purchased at the earlier, higher price. According to records kept by the Cayman Islands Petroleum Inspectorate, the average price for a gallon of regular, full-service unleaded gasoline was $4.71 in early July 2015. By late August, the average from the inspec- torate’s figures was $4.72 on Grand Cayman. In the U.S., as of early July, the average price per gallon of regular unleaded was US$2.77. In late August, the American Automobile Association reported the na- tional average at US$2.45. On Sept. 9, the average price of a gallon of regular, unleaded fuel in the U.S. was US$2.38. Also, Brent crude oil prices per barrel – a key in- ternational benchmark for petroleum pricing – fell er- ratically, but sharply be- tween early July and early September. Prices at Grand Cayman fuel stations did not start coming down until mid-September. 179969_PRINT2-Ad-4x12-Comp-TravePage 1 10/8/15 3:01:18 PM Petrol petitioners set to march on government Full-service, regular unleaded fuel prices remained close to $4.50 per gallon Tuesday along Seven Mile Beach. – Photo: Brent Fuller6 LOCAL NEWS Wednesday OctOber 14, 2015 • Cayman Compass Honda HR-V starting at $25,900 Call 949-0440 for more information. Car City, Durham Dr. Industrial Park, PO Box 10440 APO, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands Including 3 years licensing, 3 years warranty and 3 years free oil changes. Miss Cayman contestants receive sashes Eight contestants vying for the title of Miss Cayman 2016 received sashes from sponsors on Saturday at Abacus restaurant in Camana Bay. Around 250 people at- tended the first official event in the run-up to the Jan. 30 pageant. Since July, the contes- tants have taken part in a meet-and-greet, orien- tation, runway training, photo shoots, life coaching and charitable events, ac- cording to the Miss Cayman Committee. Among those attending Saturday’s event were mem- bers of the committee and representatives of each of the sponsoring companies, as well as Premier Alden McLaughlin and current Miss Cayman, Tonie Chisholm. The contestants’ charity this year is the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre. Each candidate highlighted and spoke about the various as- pects of the Crisis Centre at the “Summer’s Night” event. The next big event for the contestants will be an ap- pearance at the annual Young Caymanian Leadership Awards on Saturday, followed by a trip to Cayman Brac in early December. Chamber offers workshops for small businesses The Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce is starting a series of free monthly workshops to assist small businesses. The first, “Strategies for Effective Debt Collection,” will be held at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Chamber of Commerce conference room in Governors Square. According to a statement from the Chamber on Tuesday, the workshop “will provide small businesses with the available options to improve payment, debt re-structuring and negotiation and a range of options that are available through litigation.” The one-hour workshops, organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Financial Services, Commerce and Environment, are open to all small business operators and will cover a different theme each month. This month’s work- shop will be presented by at- torney Kerrie Cox, an associate with Diamond Law Attorneys. “These free after-hours workshops are intended to provide micro, small and me- dium-sized businesses with useful information that can help business owners and managers to improve all as- pects of business,” said Wil Pineau, the Chamber’s chief executive officer. “Leading professionals in all areas of small business support from operations, marketing and legal mat- ters will participate in these workshops to help micro and small businesses to succeed. The development of the SME sector is vitally important to the Cayman Islands economy and small businesses are urged to attend these free workshops,” he added. Seating is limited to the first 20 people. There will be handouts available after the workshop and a question-and-answer period. Free refreshments will be provided. To register, visit www.caymanchamber.ky.Mr. Cox Miss Cayman 2016 contestants Jamie Rogers, Samantha Rea, Theresa Cole, Schilo Scott, Shanice Kelly, Latrese Haylock, Erin Hislop and Monyque Brooks with Premier Alden McLaughlin. The one-hour workshops … are open to all small business operators and will cover a different theme each month.7 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Wednesday OctOber 14, 2015 2016 LEGENDS Anna Kournikova • Andy Roddick • Ashley Harkleroad • Jim Courier • Mark Philippoussis • Mansour Bahrami Discover the possibilities for you and your organisation. Choose the package that’s right for you. 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Business Valuation • Real Estate Valuation • Consulting Understand How to Unlock Wealth within the Value of Your Company ‘Dignity’ needed in mental health treatment KELSEY JUKAM kjukam@pinnaclemedialtd.com People with mental health issues are not treated with the respect they need and deserve, according to health professionals and other speakers at a panel discus- sion Monday at the Cayman Islands Hospital. The discussion was among events held in recog- nition of Mental Health Week, which began Oct. 10. Panelists and audience members agreed that mental health patients are often not treated with respect or are stigmatized or ignored to the point that they lose their dignity. Panel member Dr. Marc Lockhart, a psychiatrist with Behavioral Health Associates Cayman, said such treatment turns the negative perception of mental health patients into a reality. “It makes us believe that somebody with a serious mental health illness cannot be helped, and that there is a normal downward slide and that they are going to end up on the street,” he said. By assuming that there is no hope for severely mentally ill people, society ignores them, exacerbating their situation, according to Dr. Lockhart, turning the stigma into a self-fulfilling prophecy. He said society should ad- dress mental health issues in the same way it addresses other basic civic issues. “Our roads need to be paved. They’re announcing that we have flooding on Walkers Road and the gov- ernment is going to be put- ting in proper sewage … no one is going to challenge that, it’s a basic commodity of our society,” Dr. Lockhart said. “What I rest on the table is that caring for those with chronic illnesses and those at the bottom of society is just as important.” Several panel members also noted the great need for a residential mental health facility in the Cayman Islands. Currently, several patients must be sent to Jamaica for care, which is costly and can take a heavy toll on both the patients and their families. Such a facility may also help with mentally ill people who end up in prison, where they are often subjected to abuse because of their illness. In addition to mental health professionals, the panel included a patient who struggled with al- cohol addiction and the mother of a young man with bipolar disorder. Beyond structural societal changes that require signifi- cant legislation and funding, the panelists stressed that everyone has the power to help ensure that mental health patients are able to maintain their dignity. People are encouraged to treat those grappling with mental illness with hu- manity, to see them instead of looking away, to ask them how they are, and to take a few moments to listen to the response. “[As a society we] don’t try to foster social inclusion [of those with mental illness],” said Elma Augustine, a psy- chologist with Behavioral Health Associates Cayman. Some members of the au- dience said they sometimes fear the mentally ill. The as- sumption that people with mental health issues or sub- stance abuse issues are more “violent, dangerous, or un- trustworthy,” is common, said Dr. Lockhart, but not fair. He said studies show that people with mental health is- sues are far more likely to be victims rather than be vio- lent themselves. He added that only a small subset of individuals with untreated mental health issues commit acts of violence, and many of these people are also abusing alcohol or drugs. The panel also ad- dressed discrimination against mentally ill people in the workforce. Many people assume that those with mental health issues are unintelligent or unable to work, but in many cases individuals with mental illnesses have a high level of intelligence and are eager to work if given the opportunity. Panelists agreed that a little self-awareness of our perceptions and treat- ment of those with mental health issues can go a long way to ensure that such pa- tients are able to maintain their dignity. “I think a good place to begin is to start addressing discrimination and stigma and for all of us to start ed- ucating people and to be ad- vocates,” Ms. Augustine said.Dr. LockhartThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Wednesday OctOber 14, 2015 • Cayman Compass The consultants acknowl- edge in both documents that an absence of solid data means there is a consider- able disparity between the potential upside and the pos- sible downside based on dif- fering assumptions made about passenger spending and behavior in response to the port construction. Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell said the govern- ment is confident that the final conclusions of the busi- ness case, which factors in the findings of nine other reports commissioned on the project, including the Environmental Impact Assessment, show it is in the best economic interests of the country. He said there is still room for discussion about altering the design of the proposed port, potentially moving it into deeper water to mini- mize the destruction of coral reefs. Government is in dis- cussions with cruise lines, and Mr. Kirkconnell said nothing is off the table, including alter- native designs involving the use of cable cars or floating dock structures. “The cruise lines are going to be our partners. They are the ones who have the most experience in building piers; they have to be involved in these decisions,” he said. “They are the ones who can say if these things will work or not.” He said the release of the addenda to the business case meant that government had put all the available informa- tion before the public. He said the final addendum, which es- timated an economic impact in the range of US$112 mil- lion to US$439 million, was the basis for Premier Alden McLaughlin’s announcement last month that government would move to the next phase of the cruise pier project. Cabinet has still not rubber-stamped that deci- sion, as Environment Minister Wayne Panton is off island, but is expected to do so next week. In both documents, PwC warns that an absence of data on scuba diver spending, specifically associated with George Town’s reefs, and a lack of information on how they would respond to cruise piers being built, made it difficult to assess the potential economic downsides of the project. The estimated losses to the dive industry as a whole differ considerably based on unknown variables, including how many divers actually use the George Town reefs, how much they spend on diving in the capital, and whether they would continue to spend that money in the Cayman Islands, diving on other reefs, if the George Town sites were lost. The first addendum, dated July 31, 2015, notes, “The cur- rent data which underpin the economic and environmental impacts are inconclusive and do not provide the basis for drawing a definitive conclu- sion about whether or not to proceed with the Cruise Berthing Facility. “Prior to continuing with the project, it would, there- fore, be valuable to develop a more detailed understanding of the scale of the impacts put at risk by the [Cruise Berthing Facility] and the anticipated behavior of ‘divers’ in response to loss of parts of the George Town Harbor reefs.” The second document, dated September 2015, fac- tors in an additional survey about cruise ship passenger spending, though it contains the same disclaimer that more research on diver spending and response is needed. The additional Business Research & Economic Advisors report analyzed passenger spending in ports with cruise piers, compared to Grand Cayman, and concluded that new piers would mean pas- sengers spent longer time on shore and spent more money on island, resulting in an es- timated additional economic impact of at least US$25 mil- lion a year. The PwC addendum notes, “The estimated economic ben- efits of the Cruise Berthing Facility now exceed the envi- ronmental costs associated with the damage to the reef under the ‘low’ and ‘high’ en- vironmental impact scenarios. Further, if BREA’s scenarios for increased spend per passenger with the CBF are taken into account, the net benefits in- crease substantially.” Mr. Kirkconnell said pro- ceeding with the project is in the best interests of the country. He said govern- ment had put all the infor- mation out there and was doing everything it could to ensure the balance between the economy and the environ- ment. He insisted moving the pier to deeper water and re- ducing coral damage is still an option. Ahead of a planned pro- test of the cruise project on Saturday, he said, “The pro- testers are saying the same thing we are saying. They are for cruise berthing, but they want the least possible envi- ronmental impact.” hospital with Caymanian medical staff. “Our dream is to have a 2,000-bed facility. The nursing component of that is not going to continue to come from India. We have got to have well-trained, well-equipped staff, and the first place to look is Cayman. This is an in- vestment in our future as well,” he said. Richard Parchment, government liaison and manager of the stu- dent intern program at Health City, said the med- ical profession provides a growing number of oppor- tunities for employment in Cayman. “For the last 60 years, we have been at about 40 percent in terms of the number of Caymanians in the healthcare industry. We are looking to change that dynamic dramati- cally,” he said. Health City staff have been going into high schools and are now fo- cusing on primary schools, emphasizing the importance of science to students interested in healthcare. “We are saying to them, we want you to become the doctors, nurses and techni- cians at Health City,” Mr. Parchment said. “This is a big first step for us.” There are 31 students in UCCI’s nursing pro- gram, which accepted its first cohort in 2013. Students graduating the four-year course qualify to take the Regional Nursing Entrance Examination to become registered nurses in the Caribbean. Terica Larmond, head of the UCCI nursing school, said practical training is an important component of the course. UCCI president Mr. Bodden said the college is committed to providing accredited courses that qualify students for the world of work. He noted that many of the nursing students are on the dean’s list. than eight years were refused permanent resident status when the board determined they were “not eligible.” Those were the only ap- plications, as of last week, to have been considered so far by the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board, the department stated. A total of 522 people have applied for that status since the Immigration Law was amended in late 2013, making the process for seeking per- manent residence much more stringent. The Immigration Department noted that seven of the applications sub- mitted were never consid- ered by the board because it was determined officials had no legal power to hear those cases. In most instances, those came from people who had filed after they had reached nine years of con- tinuous residence on the is- lands; in other words, too late for consideration. Another 57 applicants were contacted by the Immigration Department with requests to provide ad- ditional information. According to the Immigration Department, when a permanent residence application is submitted, it is reviewed by an indi- vidual working in the de- partment’s permanent resi- dence section. If the reviewer finds that the applicant has not provided required docu- ments, the files are set aside and the applicant is con- tacted with details about the information they must pro- vide and when they must provide it. Once the relevant records are received, the ap- plication goes back into the pile of cases awaiting board consideration. The remaining 447 perma- nent residence applications are currently at that status – awaiting board consideration. Further delays? The applicants could face further delays following the announcement that the gov- ernment is now delving back into certain areas of the territory’s Immigration Law to ensure legal issues raised in August by Chief Justice Anthony Smellie are addressed. The issues identified in the chief justice’s Aug. 28 judgment dealt with two major areas: First, the actions of the Immigration Appeals Tribunal in two cases where non-Caymanians had ap- plied for permanent resi- dence in which the tribunal’s actions were determined to be a “miscarriage of jus- tice.” Those applications were made under a former version of the Immigration Law. The second matter in- volved the current permanent residence system and how points toward that status are awarded to applicants. Justice Smellie concluded that there were “immediate and obvious concerns” about the current two-tiered system for awarding permanent res- idence applicants a total of 15 points for their occupa- tion and another 15 points if their job is considered a “pri- ority occupation” according to regulations attached to the Immigration Law. The occupation section of the points evaluation is part of the system that now requires non-Caymanian applicants to obtain at least 110 points out of a possible 215 before being awarded permanent residence – the right to remain in Cayman for the rest of their lives. Law firm Ritch and Conolly has been retained to assist the government in analyzing both the current permanent residence points system and the permanent residence appeals process, which, in one of the cases Justice Smellie ruled on, in- volved an application that was filed in 2006. The firm’s senior partner, David Ritch, a former chairman of the government’s Work Permit Board, was one of the chief architects of the initial basis for the territory’s current Immigration Law, which introduced the term limit or “rollover” policy for non-Caymanian workers. Premier Alden McLaughlin has alluded to the possibility that the review could result in further delays of current permanent residence appli- cations. “The government is cognizant of the need to have all outstanding applications and appeals dealt with in a timely manner,” according to a statement released by the premier’s office this month. Work permits Additional data re- leased by the Immigration Department last week indi- cated that the total number of work permits and govern- ment contracts held by non- Caymanians in the Cayman Islands had increased by several hundred between July and this month – typi- cally considered the tourism “off season” for Cayman. As of Oct. 15, there were 22,618 active work permits or government contracts in the islands, an increase of about 400 permits compared to three months ago. The off-season increase was mainly due to a rise in grants of new work permits and an increase in temporary permits (three-, six- or nine- month permit grants) during the period. No PR grants yet under new law CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Business case predicts up to US$439 million benefit CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Nursing students to train at Health City CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “We have got to have well-trained, well-equipped staff, and the first place to look is Cayman.” Dr. ChanDy abraham, Health City Cayman Islands More than 500 people are awaiting the outcome of their permanent residence applications from the Immigration Department. Mr. KirkconnellThe islands’ most-trusted news source 9 Cayman Compass • Wednesday OctOber 14, 2015 Blast rocks Chinese port The port city of Tianjin in northern China was rocked by a warehouse blast, police said Tuesday, two months after massive explosions in the city left 173 people dead or missing. MICHAEL JOHN HOWARD 17 August 1952 - 14 October 2014 Loving father and husband to Laura & Paul Mary Jo Iran’s parliament votes to implement nuclear deal TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s parliament voted Tuesday to support implementing a landmark nuclear deal struck with world powers despite hard-line attempts to derail the bill, suggesting the historic accord will be carried out. The bill will be re- viewed by Iran’s 12-member Guardian Council, a group of senior clerics who could return it to lawmakers for further discussion. However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on key pol- icies, has said it is up to the 290-seat parliament to ap- prove or reject the deal. Signaling the nuclear deal’s likely success, a spokesman for moderate President Hassan Rouhani’s administration welcomed the parliament’s vote and called it a “historic decision.” “Members of parliament made a well-considered de- cision today showing they have a good understanding of the country’s situa- tion,” Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said. “We hope to see acceleration in progress and development of the country from now on.” The European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who helped facilitate the nu- clear talks, also praised the vote as “good news” in a message on Twitter. In the parliamentary ses- sion carried live by state radio, 161 lawmakers voted for implementing the nu- clear deal, while 59 voted against it and 13 abstained. Another 17 did not vote at all, while 40 lawmakers did not attend the session. A preliminary parliamen- tary vote Sunday saw 139 lawmakers out of the 253 present support the outline of the bill. But despite get- ting more support Tuesday, hard-liners still tried to dis- rupt the parliament’s ses- sion, shouting that Khamenei himself did not support the bill while trying to raise numerous proposals on its details. “This decision has no link to the leader!” shouted Mahdi Kouchakzadeh, a hard-line lawmaker who rushed to- ward the front of parliament to yell at speaker Ali Larijani. “It is a decision by Larijani and we oppose it!” The semi-official Fars news agency reported that Ali Aghar Zarei, another hard-line lawmaker, broke down weeping after the vote. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who led Iran’s nuclear negotiation team, left the session when it grew tense, the state-run IRNA news agency said. The bill grants respon- sibility for implementing the deal to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the top security body of the country, which Rouhani heads. It allows Iran to with- draw from the agreement if world powers do not lift sanctions, impose new sanc- tions or restore previous ones. “The government is ob- ligated to stop its voluntary cooperation if the other side fails to remain committed,” the bill says. The bill also requires the Iranian government to work toward the nuclear disar- mament of Israel, which has the region’s sole, if unde- clared, nuclear arsenal. The bill also says the govern- ment should take “necessary measures” to prevent the U.S. and the West from pen- etrating the country through the deal, a worry mentioned by Khamenei himself in re- cent weeks. Hard-liners had hoped to stall the deal in order to weaken Rouhani’s mod- erate administration ahead of February’s parliamen- tary elections. But many in Iran applauded the final nu- clear deal, struck July 14 in Vienna, as it would lift crip- pling economic sanctions in exchange for limits on the nuclear program. The U.N. Security Council previously approved the deal on July 20 and the U.S. Congress blocked efforts by Republicans to derail the ac- cord in September. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Karl Andree is a 74-year-old British grandfather. For the past 25 years, he has lived in Saudi Arabia, working with local oil companies. According to his children, he was quite happy there, even when his wife, Verity, was forced to return to Britain to help cope with her worsening Alzheimer’s. However, Andree has suf- fered serious problems in Saudi Arabia over the past year – and his problems may well spell trouble for rela- tions between Britain and Saudi Arabia. On Aug. 25, 2014, he was arrested by religious police in Jiddah after they allegedly found bottles of homemade wine in his car. He has served a one-year prison sentence for possessing alcohol, which is illegal in the conservative Islamic country. However, he has not been released – and his family said he now faces 350 lashes in a public flogging. “My dad broke the rules in a country that does not allow alcohol, but he’s served his time,” his daughter, Kirsten, told The Sun tabloid this week. “Dad is 74 and not a well man. I worry he won’t survive this ordeal.” In an emotional ap- peal published Monday, Andree’s family called on British Prime Minister David Cameron to step in to help their father. The family said it had worked with the British Embassy in Riyadh – to no avail. On Tuesday, Cameron’s of- fice indicated that the British leader will write to Saudi au- thorities to protest Andree’s “extremely concerning” case. “Our embassy staff are con- tinuing to assist Mr. Andree, including regular visits to check on his welfare, and fre- quent contact with his lawyer and family,” a Foreign Office spokesperson told WorldViews. Andree’s case comes after a groundswell of international criticism over Saudi Arabia’s human rights records, sparked by the flogging of blogger Raif Badawi and reports of the planned execution of ac- tivist Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr, who was arrested at 17 for allegedly taking part in anti-government protests. Saudi Arabia has responded to these criticisms forcefully over the past year, arguing that its legal system is based on sha- riah, or Islamic law. The flood of criticism has brought heightened scru- tiny of Britain’s ties with Saudi Arabia, a major finan- cial and political partner in the Middle East. On Tuesday, the prime minister’s office announced that Britain had pulled out of a proposed $9 million deal under which it would sell prison expertise to Saudi Arabia. The proposed deal had proven exceptionally contro- versial in Britain, with oppo- sition leader Jeremy Corbyn last month calling for the government to cancel it. The Times of London reported that the Conservative gov- ernment had been split over it, with Justice Secretary Michael Gove reported as saying that he opposed sup- porting a regime that car- ries out beheadings and ston- ings, while Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was wor- ried that canceling the deal would make Britain look like an untrustworthy ally. © 2015, The Washington Post On Tuesday, Cameron’s office indicated that the British leader will write to Saudi authorities to protest Andree’s “extremely concerning” case. British man, 74, faces 350 lashes for having wine in Saudi ArabiaNext >