ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2016 High of 90 Low of 78 Slight to moderate with wave heights of 2 to 4 feet. SECTION | PAGE ## TITLE FOR THE SPORT/ BUSINESS SKYBOX ABCDE NATIONAL WEEKLY Politics A Clinton jobs plan faltered 4 Nation ‘Granny flats’ face legal test 85 Myths Gymnastics 23 Aging, and fenced in Despite decades of experience, baby boomers nearing retirement feel resentment at work PAGE 12 Workplace Where jobs are loved — or hated 17 ABCDE Workplace Where jobs are loved — or hated THE WEEK OF SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016. IN COLLABORATION WITH THE WASHINGTON POST Aging, and fenced in EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 WHEN CHILDREN ARE FORCED TO WAIT FOR JUSTICE 10 PCS 2 LG SIDES 5 BISCUITS 2L PEPSI Banks to offer loans for solar energy TAD STONER tstoner@pinnaclemedialtd.com Some local banks are planning to offer low-cost loan plans enabling individuals to fi- nance home-based solar-energy systems, po- tentially exceeding limits to Caribbean Utility Company’s Consumer Owned Renewable En- ergy program. First Caribbean Bank joined James Whit- taker, president of solar systems provider Greentech and founder and chairman of the Cayman Renewable Energy Association, at the Green Building Center at A.L. Thompson’s Home Depot on Saturday, to discuss with po- tential customers the loan program and design of a home or business solar-power system. Mr. Whittaker said at least one other bank was considering offering the loans. “There has been a lot of talk about renew- able energy and how it’s good for the country, and I have tried to show the banks they could make some money,” Mr. Whittaker said, by boosting credit and lowering costs. He said the average homeowner requires a system generating approximately 5 kilowatt hours and costing $15,000 to install. Previously, financing for a system was largely up to an individual, he said, which left most people unable to afford a solar system, “because most people don’t have $15,000 laying around.” The new loan programs, which are still being developed by the banks, are expected to offer broadly flexible terms, designed to PREMIER: LEGALIZING MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO MOVE FORWARD Cautions that issues with importing cannabis oil likely JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Government has warned there are no guar- antees that cannabis oil will be available to patients in the Cayman Islands – even after medical use is legalized. Premier Alden McLaughlin said his govern- ment would push through the necessary legal amendments to allow importation and dis- pensing of the marijuana-derived product. But he acknowledged that while the drug remains illegal in most countries, in- cluding under federal law in the U.S., there are concerns about how cannabis oil would be sourced for import into Cayman. “There are still real and serious practical hurdles to obtaining and importing this drug because it remains illegal in many jurisdic- tions, including nearby Jamaica,” he said. The premier said planned amendments to the Customs Law, the Misuse of Drugs Law and Pharmacy Regulations would go to the next sitting of the Legislative Assembly, likely in October. The announcement follows pressure from campaigners, including cancer-sufferers on the island who believe the treatment may rep- resent their last chance. However, a statement from the Premier’s Office also cautioned that cannabis oil was unproven as a cure for cancer and would be available only with a doctor’s prescription. It stated, “Challenges remain as there is no agreed medical body of evidence that can- nabis oil is curative for serious diseases such as cancer. There are also no agreed prescribed NEW ‘SAFEGUARDING’ BOARD TO FOCUS ON CHILD ABUSE Cross-agency board to coordinate child protection matters CHARLES DUNCAN cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com The new Cayman Islands Child Safe- guarding Board, announced last week, is an effort by government and nongovernmental organizations to coordinate Cayman’s various agencies to protect children from abuse. A press release from government states that the board was formally established on May 23 to coordinate policies and procedures for pre- venting all forms of child abuse, and making sure information is shared across agencies. The announcement last week comes after a Grand Court judge took police to task for ne- glecting an investigation into the sexual as- sault of a young girl for 18 months, and an- other high-profile case involving a former political candidate who has been charged with gross indecency with an underage girl. Governor Helen Kilpatrick said in the press release that the board “will provide an effec- tive mechanism to coordinate child protec- tion matters and safeguard the children of the Cayman Islands from all forms of abuse. The Board is based on a best practice model and I look forward to seeing it develop over the coming months.” The board will report to the deputy gov- ernor and Cabinet. Deputy Governor Franz Manderson said in the press release, “To have a Child Safe- guarding Board in the Cayman Islands re- ally shows that we are stepping up and en- hancing our child protection structure, to protect our most vulnerable citizens. The Child Safeguarding Board will ensure that Swimmer Phelps most decorated Olympian - ever (AP) – Michael Phelps, 31, of the United States has become the most decorated Olympian in history with an overall total of 28 medals in five Olympic Games – 23 gold, three silver and two bronze. His individual gold medal tally is 13. In Rio, he won five gold medals (4x100 medley relay, 4x200m freestyle relay, 4x100 freestyle relay, 200m butterfly, 200m indi- vidual medley) and one silver (tied with two others in the 100m butterfly). Phelps now says his swimming career is over, though his teammates keep in- sisting it may not be. Phelps retired once before, after the 2012 London Games. The first inklings of doubt came during an interview with the relay team. Swimmer Ryan Murphy said that “maybe it’s his last race, maybe not. He says it is. I don’t think so.” “It is, it is,” Phelps said. See more on page 16. Michael Phelps displays his gold medal for the men’s 4 x 100-meter medley relay on Saturday. - PHOTO: AP PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2016 • CAYMAN COMPASS SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any film starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. Daily Matinees Every Day $8.00 Seniors, Mon-Fri Before 6pm Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 SATURDAY, AUGUST 20th, 8PM *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. - MONDAY - BAD MOMS (R) 1:30 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 SUICIDE SQUAD (PG) 1:00 | 3:45 | 6:30 | 9:15 THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (PG) 1:10 | 3:30 | 7:10 | 9:30 NERVE (PG13) 12:30 | 3:00 | 5:20 I 7:40 | 10:00 JASON BOURNE (PG13) 1:20 | 4:15 | 7:15 | 10:00 LIGHTS OUT (PG13) 12:40 | 2:50 | 5:00 | 7:25 | 9:40 640-FILM (640-3456) Arson charge sent to Grand Court Defendant remanded in custody until Aug. 19 CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A woman accused of set- ting a fire that destroyed a number of buildings while their occupants, including two children, slept inside, had her application for bail denied Friday. Leticia Jarrett, 37, ap- peared in Summary Court, where a charge of arson was transmitted to the Grand Court. Jarrett is accused of de- stroying by fire a number of buildings and their contents at Cruz Lane (off Eastern Av- enue) on July 31 and being reckless as to whether the life of another would thereby be endangered. Magistrate Kirsty-Ann Gunn first dealt with the question of which court would deal with the matter. Damaging or destroying property without lawful ex- cuse is an offense that can be heard in either Summary Court or Grand Court. How- ever, when the damage or de- struction is by fire, the of- fense is charged as arson and can be heard only in the higher court. Crown counsel Neil Kumar asked to amend the section of the law cited in the charge, in order to make clear that arson was the offense alleged. He said authorities re- ceived a report around 2 a.m. on Sunday, July 31, that a house was on fire on Cruz Lane. Firefighters responded within minutes and found a number of buildings ablaze. Mr. Kumar listed the people who lived in those buildings; at least two of the eight he named were chil- dren. “Many were asleep when the fire began,” he said. He detailed the Crown’s objections to bail. Defense attorney Amelia Fosuhene made the bail ap- plication. She pointed out – and Mr. Kumar accepted – that no one indicated seeing how the fire began. Ms. Fosuhene empha- sized that prosecution wit- nesses had said the defen- dant was outside with a bucket of water trying to put out the fire. She said her client had told police she did not set any fire. There was no direct evidence that Jarrett was responsible, the attorney concluded. In deciding against bail, the magistrate noted that the investigation was still in its early stages. She said Jarrett would have an opportunity to apply again in Grand Court. She set the matter for men- tion again on Friday, Aug. 19. Lochte, 3 other US swimmers robbed RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Ryan Lochte and three other Amer- ican swimmers were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday by thieves posing as police offi- cers who stopped their taxi and took their money and belongings, the U.S. Olympic Committee said. In the latest security inci- dent to hit the Rio de Janeiro Games, Lochte told NBC that one of the robbers put a gun to his forehead before taking his wallet and cellphone. No one was injured. Lochte and his teammates were returning to the athletes village by taxi after a night out at the French Olympic team’s hospitality house in the Rodrigo de Freitas area in the upscale south zone of the city. The outing was several hours after Olympic swim- ming ended Saturday night at the Rio Games. “Their taxi was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers who de- manded the athletes’ money and other personal belong- ings,” USOC spokesman Pat- rick Sandusky said in a state- ment. “All four athletes are safe and cooperating with authorities.” Sandusky told The Asso- ciated Press the robbers took cash and credit cards only, and that no Olympic medals were lost. Traveling with Lochte were Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen. Lochte swam in two events at the Rio Games, winning gold in the 4x200-meter free- style relay. He is a 12-time Olympic medalist. Bentz and Conger were also part of that relay, their only event in Rio. Feigen was on the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, another gold winner for the U.S. in Rio. “We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing just a police badge and they pulled us over,” Lochte told NBC’s “Today” show. “They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground – they got down on the ground. I re- fused, I was like we didn’t do anything wrong, so – I’m not getting down on the ground. “And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, ‘Get down,’ and I put my hands up, I was like ‘what- ever.’ He took our money, he took my wallet – he left my cellphone, he left my credentials.” USA Today and Fox Sports Australia first reported the news, citing Lochte’s mother, Ileana Lochte. Ileana Lochte and Lochte’s agent did not immediately return phone calls and text messages from The Associated Press. Word of the robbery touched off a chain of con- fusion between Olympic and U.S. officials. An Interna- tional Olympic Committee spokesman said reports of the robbery were “absolutely not true,” then reversed him- self, apologized and said he was relying on initial information from the USOC that was wrong. Street crime was a major concern of Olympic orga- nizers going into the games. Brazil deployed 85,000 sol- diers and police to secure the games, twice as many as Britain used during the 2012 London Olympics. Last week, a Brazilian se- curity officer was fatally shot after taking a wrong turn into a dangerous favela, or slum. Two Australian rowing coaches were attacked and robbed by two assailants in Ipanema, and Portugal’s edu- cation minister was held up at knifepoint on a busy street. In addition, stray bul- lets have twice landed in the equestrian venue, and two windows were shattered on a bus carrying journalists in an attack that Rio organizers blamed on rocks and others claimed was gunfire. SOME FLORIDA FARMERS EYEING HOPS AS NEXT NICHE CROP APOPKA, Fla. (AP) – With the state’s iconic citrus in- dustry reeling due to a so- far incurable bacterial dis- ease, some Florida farmers are eyeing a new niche crop that can tap into the country’s burgeoning beer- brewing business: hops. Hops are vining plants that produce pungent flowers or buds that for hun- dreds of years have been used by brewers as the building blocks of a beer’s flavor and aroma. The acids in hops produce bitterness, and the plants’ oils give beer a floral or citrusy aroma, de- pending on the plant. Traditionally, Florida was considered too hot and humid to grow hops – most varieties are grown in Ger- many and other European countries with cooler cli- mates, while 95 percent of hops grown in the U.S. come from Washington and other Pacific Northwest states. An explosion of craft breweries in the U.S. has pushed demand sky high, and as a result, shortages of popular hop varieties are common for smaller brew- eries, which compete with much larger ones for the same supply. Three years ago, home- brewing horticulturist Brian Pearson of the University of Florida decided he wanted fresh hops and began doing his own research on what he could grow. He started with a few plants in a small wooden shed, and that has since grown into hundreds of plants and a hope that Florida may have found a new cash crop. “The amount of phone calls from brewers wanting them, the amount of phone calls from growers wanting to grow them, has been in- credibly overwhelming,” Pearson said. The local interest makes sense. In 2015, Florida added more craft breweries than any other state at a time when citrus farmers in the nearly $11 billion industry were looking to augment their crops with something new due to citrus greening, a bacte- rial disease that does not hurt humans or animals but is devastating to citrus trees. Over the past decade or so, Florida’s citrus har- vest has been reduced by about 60 percent. JURY NOTICE The report date for Grand Court jurors in the July 6 to Oct. 4 session has been changed. They are now to report for jury duty at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 18. Call the Jury Information line, 945-5072, for the most up-to-date information. Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte and three other American swimmers were robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, early Sunday morning. - PHOTO: AP Lochte told NBC that one of the robbers put a gun to his forehead before taking his wallet and cellphone. No one was injured.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2016 Personal Insurance BRITISH CAYMANIAN INSURANCE CO. LTD. BritCay House, 236 Eastern Avenue, George Town, P.O. Box 74, Grand Cayman KY1-1102 Tel. 949-8699 12 Kirkconnell Street, Stake Bay, P.O. Box 254, Cayman Brac KY2-2101 Tel. 948-1760 www.britcay.ky A member of Colonial Group International insurance, health, pensions, life Save up to $400 with home and car insurance Car insurance deductibles from $200 and extra free benefits. With your first BritCay buildings insurance policy you will receive a $250 gift certificate. Home insurance also entitles you to a 10% car insurance discount. With the lowest standard deductibles at $200, you also save when you claim. Ask BritCay for a quote! CALL 949-8699 or visit www.britcay.ky SAVE $250* when you insure your home! 10% discount on car insurance if you have home insurance Free $500,000 public liability (home insurance) Free $10 million liability protection (car insurance) Interest free monthly payment option cgigrp coverwithoutaddedcosts! $250* CERTIFICATE WITH BUILDINGS INSURANCE *$250 BritCay gift certificate applies to new buildings insurance policies only Chief inspector denies abusing officer Police at loggerheads in civil case JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A police chief inspector accused of assaulting an of- ficer under his command in a public confrontation in cen- tral George Town said he was simply admonishing the man in a “firm but fair” manner. Responding for the first time to suggestions that he had bullied Police Constable Cardiff Robinson and as- saulted him on two separate occasions, Chief Inspector Frank Owens said he had “ad- monished” the officer over what he described as “a minor performance issue.” Speaking during a civil case brought by Mr. Robinson last week, Mr. Owens said no bullying or assaults had taken place. He said, “What you say is abuse didn’t happen. It is to- tally inaccurate, it is over the top and it is inflammatory.” He said he had verbally disciplined the officer, but de- nied that he had been inches from his face, jabbing his finger and showering him in spittle, as the constable sug- gested in his evidence. “If a senior police officer faces investigation every time he admonishes an officer for performance issues, that would seriously undermine the effectiveness of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Ser- vice,” he added. Mr. Robinson has claimed that Mr. Owens assaulted him on two occasions, which he described as part of a pattern of bullying behavior from the senior officer. On the first occasion in June 2011, he says Mr. Owens threw a log book at him through the open door of a police car. Mr. Owens claimed he had no recollection of the incident, which he said he was informed about two years later as part of an internal po- lice investigation. “I deny ever throwing a book at PC Robinson or any- body else; it is not my way of doing things,” he said in a statement read to the court. The constable also claims that Mr. Owens acted aggres- sively toward him, shouting and pointing his finger in his face, in a separate argument in February 2012. In civil cases, assault is de- fined as an action that puts a person in threat of imminent bodily harm. Actual physical harm, which is not alleged in this case, is separately defined as battery. Mr. Robinson, speaking in court on Wednesday, said Mr. Owens had aggressively ques- tioned him about his move- ments while on foot patrol in central George Town. “How close he was to me, spit was coming out his mouth to my face,” the officer said. “I ask him if he don’t see a uniform, some people looking, some people laughing, then he catch himself and said to me, ‘Go do some pa- trol work.’ I was so ashamed, I went behind a pole and I started to cry.” He said he had made a criminal complaint about the incident and claimed the De- partment of Public Prosecu- tions had ruled that an of- fense of assault had taken place but decided not to pro- ceed with the matter, rec- ommending that it be dealt with internally. The officer said he had tried to follow internal com- plaint procedures, but the process left him feeling frus- trated and victimized. “You report this bullying behavior, this bad treatment, and they are not getting any result,” he added. He said he had brought the civil case as a way of get- ting justice. A bystander, who ran a food stand in George Town and witnessed the second alleged assault, also gave evidence that he had seen a white officer yelling at a black officer, covering him in spittle. Mr. Owens, in his evi- dence, said he had raised his voice in the argument but de- nied yelling. He said he fre- quently had to deal with disciplinary issues with of- ficers under his command in the George Town district, in- cluding Mr. Robinson. He acknowledged there were some officers that might not like him, but said it was part of his job to give orders and deal with performance issues. He said he believed Mr. Robinson had a problem with being told what to do. Addressing the two spe- cific assaults alleged in the claim, Mr. Owens said he had no recollection of any inci- dent involving a log book and denied it ever happened. Of the second incident, he said he was doing check- ups in George Town following complaints from senior man- agement and the public that officers ordered on increased foot patrol in the capital fol- lowing an armed robbery at jewelry store Diamonds In- ternational were not seen carrying out their duties. He said he had eventually contacted Mr. Robinson, who claimed he was at Cayman National Bank doing check- ups, and summoned the con- stable to meet him close to the court building. The two police officers gave different accounts of the argu- ment that took place, but both indicated in evidence that Mr. Owens had disputed the con- stable’s story and accused him of neglecting his patrol. Mr. Owens said he ad- monished the officer and moved on, considering the matter dealt with. “I never allowed saliva to hit him, I was not intimi- dating,” he said. “I reject any suggestion that my actions went beyond what was nec- essary or appropriate.” The case was adjourned to allow two additional witnesses, who were un- able to attend last week, to give evidence. Armed robbers hit Savannah store Two men, one armed with a handgun, robbed a store in Savannah Friday night, police reported. No one was injured and no shots were fired. According to police, the two men went into D&D Ac- cessories & Things (Money Transfer) after 8 p.m. “on the pretext of doing business whilst other customers were in the store being served and queuing to be served.” The two went back into the store after the customers left and one pointed a silver handgun at the clerk, demanding cash, police said. A police press release stated that the suspects got Cayman and U.S. cash from the store on Homestead Cres- cent and then left, in the di- rection of Astral Way. Police described the sus- pect who was carrying the gun as dark-skinned, wearing a black baseball cap, a black T-shirt, black jeans and about 5 feet, 7 inches tall. The other suspect, police say, had dark skin, was wearing a red hoodie, and was shorter than the man carrying the gun. Po- lice described both suspects as being in their 20s. The two went back into the store after the customers left and one pointed a silver handgun at the clerk, demanding cash, police said. Mr. Robinson has claimed that Mr. Owens assaulted him on two occasions, which he described as part of a pattern of bullying behavior from the senior officer. Chief Inspector Frank OwensThe 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 EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will findtheirownway” The report of court pro- ceedings carried in your newspaper on Thursday, Aug. 11, headlined “Police dispute case delayed,” requires some clarification. Your report attributes to me as the presiding Grand Court judge the loosely quoted words, “This is not Magistrates Court. It is not a free for all.” Unfortunately, your re- port failed to frame in proper context my comments made when considering an applica- tion for an adjournment of a hearing made at the outset of a three-day hearing that had been fixed four months prior by the applicant. The context of the words “This is not a free for all.” was that I hoped that the attorney was not stating that formali- ties were not important in Grand Court. I reminded the attorney that this was not Magistrates Court where counsel often argue that it is not a “court of pleadings.” I questioned the need for the Grand Court Rules if parties did not intend to comply with procedural requirements im- posed by the Rules. Your reporters provide an invaluable service in covering court cases and in the pro- cess generally manage to re- flect accurately the nuances in rapid verbal exchanges in complex court cases. How- ever, in this case the speci- fied inadequate contextual- izing has not only resulted in an inaccurate report but, more significantly, it has also created an unintended re- flection on the procedures of Magistrates Court. Justice Richard Williams Grand Court Judge MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2016 • CAYMAN COMPASS In 2012, a young girl stepped forward with the most serious of allegations – that she had been the victim of sustained sexual abuse, perpetrated by two older male relatives. She told her story to school authorities. Then she told the police. And then, she waited for someone to do something about it … and waited … and waited … and waited. Nearly four years later, the case has finally made its way to Cayman Islands Grand Court, where an “aston- ished” Justice Timothy Owen condemned “inexcusable delays” by police in investigating the allegations. “I cannot understand how a case as serious as this could not be treated very seriously and given the resources and energy to make a charging decision and bring it to trial. I just don’t know why that happened,” he said. Neither do we, Justice Owen. “We can be sure if this case had been investigated promptly and brought to trial promptly, the quality of the material evidence and the ability of the court to decide on where the truth lies would have been better,” the judge said. “That seems to be obvious. Delay is [the] enemy of justice.” At this juncture, we’ll note that no verdict has yet been rendered, and no one has been found guilty of any crime. When Justice Owen says delay is the enemy of justice, that is true for both the accuser and the accused, and more broadly for society. It is in the interests of each individual, and the col- lective, for justice to be delivered fairly, impartially – and swiftly. The importance of that last point is heightened according to the vulnerability of the alleged victim, for example, a child who has levied serious accusations against older family members. According to the results of a 2015 survey by the Pan American Health Organization (of 15- to 19-year-olds), one in five girls in Cayman reported they had been sexually abused, and one in six children said they had been physi- cally assaulted by an adult. Dr. Taylor Burrowes, a counselor who has run a sexual trauma recovery program in Cayman for more than seven years, told a Cayman Compass reporter, “The program has seen 70 referrals of sexually abused youth and few of them have had positive outcomes from criminal proceedings.” Generally speaking, the delays, shortcomings and outright failures in the prosecutions of alleged sexual offenders in Cayman are apparent. If we could, we’d say “well documented,” but, inexplicably, our coun- try’s Department of Public Prosecutions does not keep statistics on conviction rates for sexual abuse or any other offense. In the face of this damning (albeit somewhat anec- dotal) preponderance of evidence, our government has rushed in – not with a plan – but with an announcement: “A Child Safeguarding Board has been established in the Cayman Islands.” According to the government’s statement, the “mul- tidisciplinary Board,” composed of a dozen agencies plus appointed citizens, “is based on a best practice model” and “will function primarily as a scrutiny and decision making body.” While such an entity may in theory be desirable from a policy standpoint, please pardon our lack of enthu- siasm. (The fact that this board was actually established back in May should serve as a hint toward its future effectiveness.) “Establishing a board” … “Appointing a committee” … “Conducting a review” … “Commissioning a study” … “Pursuing a business case” … “Formulating a response” … “Tendering a proposal” … “Drafting a report” … “Forming a working group” … “Considering audit recom- mendations” … etc., etc., …. The regularity and aplomb with which our govern- ment issues those statements are astounding, consid- ering how they defy the laws of reason and physics: They have considerable volume, but no weight. Stacked high into the air, one on top of the other, those utterances will not move the needle on any scale, or any issue. They are, in a word, vacuous. When it comes to child abuse, the only committee that truly matters, in the context of criminal justice, is extremely limited in composition. It comprises the accuser, the accused, the police, attorneys and the courts. Anything else is at best supplementary, and at worst, deleterious. When children are forced to wait for justice Hubris: a great or foolish amount of pride or confidence. Wonder what percentage of the kids at Clifton Hunter know the definition of the word hu- bris or the story of “The Em- peror’s New Clothes.” Better yet, how many of our political leaders know the definition or the story? In “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christen An- dersen, a couple of swindlers pretending to be weavers make a special suit for an emperor. They tell the emperor and his followers that the clothes are invisible to people who are too stupid for their jobs. No one can see the clothing, but no one wants to admit this fact be- cause they do not want to be identified as foolish. At the end of the story, a child is the one to point out the truth. Slowly, all of the people in the kingdom admit that they cannot see the clothing, and the truth about the weavers is revealed. In English, “the emperor has no clothes,” in Caymanian- “he nekked!” The moral of the story is that people should be willing to speak up if they know the truth, even if it is not polit- ically correct. The efforts of Savannah Pri- mary PTA and the Compass to raise awareness are to be applauded. The truth in this matter is that it should not cost $110 million to build a school and someone should be held ac- countable (fired) for the waste of public funds. Some of those funds would have been better spent on teachers since there is com- pelling evidence that (1) stu- dents in smaller classes score higher on standardized tests than those in larger classes, (2) smaller classes have fewer behavioral problems, and (3) teachers of smaller classes re- port themselves as more pro- ductive and efficient than they were when they taught larger classes. It is not the physical building that makes for a good school but the culture and especially the expectations placed on the teachers and students. (https://sites.google. com/site/7arosenthal/) During 1964-1965, Harvard’s Robert Rosen- thal conducted an experi- ment in an elementary school to see whether teacher expec- tations influenced their stu- dents’ performances. Teachers were told the names of chil- dren in their classes who were “late bloomers,” about to dra- matically spurt in their ac- ademic learning. In fact, these “special” chil- dren were randomly selected and no smarter than their class- mates. At the end of the term, all the students were tested, and the results made an im- portant point. The “special” chil- dren not only performed better in the eyes of their teachers (an expected outcome, the so-called “halo effect”), but they also scored significantly higher on standardized IQ tests. In other words, teachers’ expectations had improved the academic performance of their students. Where they expected success, they found it. Rosenthal insists that the “Pygmalion effect” also applies to higher education: Advice to teachers … never judge a book by its cover and be an encourager. 1. Never forecast failure in the classroom. If you know a test is particularly difficult, tell your students that the test is difficult but that you are sure that they will do well if they work hard to prepare. 2. Do not participate in gripe sessions about students. Teachers who gripe about students are establishing a culture of failure for their stu- dents, their classes and their own teaching. 3. Establish high expecta- tions. Students achieve more when teachers have higher expectations. Accountability: an obliga- tion or willingness to accept re- sponsibility for one’s actions. PS: How much will it cost to complete the sister school? $54 million already spent, $8 mil- lion planned for a new gym- nasium and still haven’t heard what the final projected cost will be. Do we dare broach the topic of “apartheid” in the educa- tional system? Darley Solomon, M.D. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Education issues laid bare JUSTICE WILLIAMS REQUESTS CLARIFICATION5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2016 Screen Printing Digital Printing Athletic Printing Sublimation Printing Embroidery Tee Shirts & Sports Shirts ● Quality ● Service ● Price Screenprint & Embroidery Tel: 949-3852 171 Eastern Ave. E-mail: LNG@candw.ky www.aceprint.ky Fishing boat used to import drugs to be returned to owner Baby Sol was ordered forfeit under Misuse of Drugs Law CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Ten months after a Hon- duran fishing vessel was im- pounded by Cayman author- ities, attorney John Furniss successfully argued for its re- turn to its owner after pay- ment of costs for “transporting and keeping” the vessel. Magistrate Grace Donalds heard the application earlier this month for the boat to be restored to its owner, after payment of costs totaling $7,533. She had ordered forfeiture of the Baby Sol on Feb. 3, after sentencing six crew mem- bers for importing a little more than three pounds of ganja. The men claimed to have picked up the ganja at sea while on their way to Cayman with 3,000 pounds of seafood. They said they had the drug for their per- sonal use. When the vessel arrived in Cayman on Sept. 29, 2015, one quantity of ganja was found in the bunk in the cap- tain’s quarters, another in the engine room and more in the crew area. At the sentencing hearing, Crown counsel Greg Walcolm said Customs officers who in- spected the vessel had noted irregularities in paperwork regarding the seafood on board. A K-9 unit search of the vessel revealed three cases of alcohol and 52.64 ounces (about three-and-a- quarter pounds) of ganja. Mr. Furniss accepted that under the Misuse of Drugs Law, the court “shall” order the forfeiture of a vessel used in the commission of a drug offense, and “shall” in the legal context means “must.” After the men were sen- tenced to one day in prison and recommended for deportation, Mr. Furniss gave notice that he would be ap- plying for the return of the vessel to the owner. He ac- cepted that he had seen a statement suggesting that the boat was altered to create concealed compartments. The application for return of the vessel was heard on Aug. 4. A customs officer pro- duced two models of a fuel tank – one with holes cut in the baffles and one without holes. A baffle is a device used to restrain the flow of a fluid, gas, or loose material. A marine surveyor, in a statement to Customs, de- scribed the vessel as 72 feet long and 18.5 feet wide, with a draft of 5.7 feet and pow- ered by twin inboard diesel engines. He noted that the stated market value was US$150,000, but based on his observations of the boat, he could not see anyone paying as much as that to acquire it. In his opinion, the holes in the baffle plates had been put there so that the amount of sludge in the tanks could be observed and cleaned out. The surveyor consid- ered it “most unlikely” that the holes had been cut to make a hiding place for smuggled goods. The owner of Baby Sol and her husband, in their ev- idence, said they had never given permission for the boat to be used for drugs. In fact, the husband had met with the crew before they sailed and had made clear what the expectations were as to disci- pline on board and zero tol- erance for illegal drugs, the court heard. The Misuse of Drugs Law states that a court shall not make an order to restore a vessel to its owner unless it is satisfied that he or she did not permit anyone to use the vessel for the purpose of conveying a controlled drug and had no knowledge that the vessel would be used for that purpose. The surveyor considered it “most unlikely” that the holes had been cut to make a hiding place for smuggled goods. New indecent assault charges laid against chiropractor Chiropractor faces 20 charges, involving 14 alleged victims Police charged chi- ropractor Jemal Khan with two more counts of indecent assault last week, bringing the total number of charges against him to 20. The 20 charges involve 14 alleged victims, all of whom were female patients at his chiropractic practice in Pasadora Place in George Town, police said. Khan, 47, who was ar- rested on June 7, was ini- tially charged on July 6 with 10 counts of indecent assault and eight charges of “insulting behavior.” The two new charges, relating to allegations made by two additional female patients, were laid on Tuesday, po- lice said in a press release issued Thursday afternoon. Khan has been bailed to attend court on Sept. 13. According to the original police statement following his arrest, an investigation was launched following a complaint from a female patient who suspected the chiropractor had taken un- authorized photos of her during her treatment. “The investigation into the complaint uncovered pictures of another woman or women who appear(s) to be patients. The subject(s) in the photo do not appear to be aware that a photo- graph is being taken,” the police statement said. Election registration count begins this month From Aug. 27, election workers will begin knocking on doors across the Cayman Islands to register new voters and verify existing registrations. More than 160 people will be going door-to-door to every building in Cayman to make sure eligible voters are regis- tered and that their informa- tion with the Elections Office is accurate ahead of the new one-man, one-vote system for next year’s election. Deputy Elections Su- pervisor Sheena Glasgow said in a press release, “Where an elector votes is determined by residence. In the past, the onus has been on the electors to come forward and update their name, occupation and address, if there were changes, for inclusion in the final register. “But with the law changes, our purpose with door-to-door canvassing is two-fold: to confirm where the electors are living now and will be prior to the elections, as well as to help register new electors who wish to vote next year.” Ms. Glasgow said the enumerators come from the public and private sectors, including experienced of- ficers from the Economics and Statistics Office. She said everyone working on the count will take an oath of secrecy, “so all voters can be reassured that the personal information they provide will be handled in the strictest confidence.” Ms. Glasgow said the workers for Grand Cayman attended a four-day training course. The Elec- tions Office will host an- other training session on the Brac on Sept. 3. The canvassing will run through the end of Sep- tember and, if necessary, resume in November. Jemal Khan Deputy Elections Supervisor Sheena Glasgow speaks with the people who will begin counting and registering voters.DISTRICT DAYS 6 District Days George Town MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2016 • CAYMAN COMPASS Caymanian graduates in UK with top honors ALMA CHOLLETTE achollette@pinnaclemedialtd.com For 22-year-old Loughborough University graduate Alexander McCallum, working toward be- coming a qualified accountant is the next step of his career since graduating last month with the highest academic achievement of his degree. On July 13, after three years of studies, Mr. McCallum, from Red Bay, George Town, graduated with first class honors for his bache- lor’s degree in economics with ac- counting, from the Leicestershire- based university. Commenting on his gradua- tion, Mr. McCallum said, “It’s bit- tersweet, as living in Cayman, I’ll miss the experience and friends that I’ve made. But I’m also ex- cited to start the next chapter in life.” In his career, he is following in his parents’ footsteps. While his mother and father are now working in finance and business consulting, respectively, “both my parents are qualified accountants,” said Mr. McCallum, “so I am fol- lowing them.” He enjoyed mathematics throughout school and developed an interest in economics during his A-levels studies at Cayman Prep. Then it was clear to him what he should study. Having received offers from Stirling, Birmingham, Edinburgh Napier and Heriot-Watt University. Mr. McCallum decided to accept Loughborough University’s offer. Ranked fourth overall in the U.K. according to The Guardian’s 2017 League Ta- bles, Loughborough was his choice mainly for its sporting facilities and business school. For Mr. McCallum, who is also a swimmer, Loughborough was at- tractive because it has a 36-year winning streak at the British Uni- versities and Colleges Sports na- tionals, and has one of the top swim teams in the U.K. “I’ve been swimming since I was about 4 or 5,” he said, “but started swimming competitively at the Lions Pool around the age of 8 and have been swimming with the Stingray Swim Club since then,” he said. Mr. McCallum has competed in a variety of meets, including Carifta, the Island Games and sev- eral Commonwealth Games. At the 2014 Commonwealth Youth Games, Mr. McCallum, alongside Rio 2016 Olympic medal hopefuls Lara and Geoff Butler, competed with team Cayman. At the 2015 Island Games in Bermuda, he won silver and bronze medals in the men’s 200m backstroke and 4x50m freestyle relay with teammates Geoff Butler and Brett and Shaune Fraser. At university, Mr. McCallum competed in international meets such as the Amsterdam Swim Cup and the Edinburgh International Open with the Loughborough Swim Team, where he mainly com- peted in the 200m backstroke. In June, at the 2016 Carib- bean Island Swim Championships, he won silver in the 200m long course backstroke in the Bahamas. University experience “My first year [at university] was a good adjustment to a more individual study-based learning,” he said, “and whilst my grades were acceptable, I kept working harder and improving each year as the degree became more heavily weighted.” Mr. McCallum, who was a re- cipient of EY and government scholarships, will be working for EY. He said he will be pursuing an ACCA accounting qualification and will possibly continue his swimming career on the side. 50 YEARS AGO: A car and a bike stolen, suspect sought In the August 17, 1966 edition of the Caymanian Weekly, a pre- cursor of the Cayman Compass, George Town news included the following: “Sometime after 7:30 p.m. on Sunday night a car, the property of Mr. Winston McNamee, which was parked in the yard of his home on Crewe Rd. was stolen. “On Monday morning, when he discovered his own car was missing he also found that the electrical wiring in his father’s car, parked behind Mr. B. Hurlston’s store, had been tampered with. “He immediately reported the matter to the police who, upon in- vestigation, found a bicycle leaning on the fence. This they took into custody. “This bicycle was later claimed by its owner who reported that it had been stolen from his home also on Crewe Rd. “The car was found abandoned in the vicinity of the Snack Bar at the Islander Theatre. “The police would like to inter- view anybody who saw this blue Falcon car, Licence Number C.I. 1122 being driven on Sunday night in George Town and possibly as far away as West Bay.” In maritime and airport news: “The largest ship to have docked in the Texaco dock has been un- loading there this week. She is the Kirknell which brought a consign- ment of cement for Dr. Roy McTag- gart and the Kirkconnell Bros. “The Kirk Star has also been in this week and brought the new Ruston Generator for Caribbean Utilities. “The cabin cruiser coming out for Mr. Bruce Parker of Rum Point Club, towed in the Vivia G. which was in difficulties due to a broken crank shaft on her way out from Miami. “Mr. Chadwick tells us that pi- lots are picking up our new beacon hundreds of miles away and are very pleased with it. The govern- ment not feeling that that fence was safe enough are now in pro- cess of having an ‘earthed’ fence erected and have a watchman on duty meantime to see that nobody comes to any harm as the beacon is very lethal. “Additional fire equipment, i.e. another fire tender and a crash ve- hicle are expected to arrive shortly and the Cayman Islands Corpo- ration are looking for three good men to be trained to operate these. Leadership summer camp wraps up Sixty-six campers took part in this year’s Fearless Xtreme Leadership and Pre- vention Camp at the Mary Miller Hall. A third of the campers were referred by the Depart- ment of Children and Family Services, while others were campers from previous years, with some new faces, orga- nizers said. For two weeks the campers attended general sessions on issues that affect them, such as violence, sub- stance abuse and teen preg- nancy. Using Josh McDow- ell’s “Setting you free to make right choices” workbook, the campers were guided through sessions on how to determine right from wrong, and on the final day were en- couraged to apply the right from wrong message to their lives, said Sylvia Wilks, on behalf of organizers Cayman Islands Youth Development Consortium. In addition to these gen- eral sessions, the campers had an opportunity to as- sess themselves to determine the areas they needed to im- prove at home, at school and in the community. Ms. Wilks said peer leaders from last year’s camp assisted their teams and volunteered in other areas. “The campers were en- gaged in team-building exer- cises where they utilized their skills to produce posters on themes they were introduced to,” she said. There was plenty of time spent outdoors as well, in- cluding a trip to Crystal Caves in East End, a “Sur- vivor Day” activity in Dart Park in George Town and “Beach Olympics” at Seven Mile Beach. The campers also visited the Cayman Islands Hos- pital to deliver get well cards to patients. At the Fearless Xtreme camp’s closing program, the campers made group pre- sentations about what they had learned and show- cased their talents for their family and friends.Fearless Xtreme campers work on a team-building exercise. Alexander McCallumThe islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2016 attract as many borrowers as possible. Loans may be secured or unsecured, may require eq- uity financing between 10 percent and 20 percent, and will be charged somewhere between 1 percent and 2 per- cent above prime, Mr. Whit- taker said. “We purposely will keep the financing broad because we want to have multiple op- tions,” Mr. Whittaker said. “If you have a mortgage, you can fold all or part of the loan into that. And the more op- tions available, the more con- sumers can qualify. There is not one single ‘cookie cutter’ choice.” Financing periods may extend anywhere from five years to 20 years, depending on whether it is a loan or mortgage, largely financed by savings on electricity bills. “If you choose a longer fi- nancing period, your current electricity costs can drop dramatically and, ultimately your electricity is free when once your financing is paid off,” Mr. Whittaker said. “Cur- rently, our electricity costs are historically low at around 25 cents per kWh, but all pro- jections suggest this will con- tinue to rise; however, by uti- lizing solar energy, that rise in price increases your sav- ings significantly.” CUC’s CORE program is built around homeowners and businesses that want to install their own solar gener- ating systems. System owners sell CUC the power they gen- erate, then buy it back from the company as needed. CUC pays owners for the power they supply. Payments under the program, started in 2009, have been revised several times since a broad 2011 overhaul. Initially, CUC paid residential customers 38.5 cents per kilowatt hour and businesses 37.5 cents per kWh on a 20-year contract. On April 1 last year, CUC and its Electricity Regulatory Authority overseer raised the cap on the amount of self- generated power allowed on the national grid, but ex- tended contracts to 25 years while reducing payments to 32 cents per kWh for resi- dential systems and 28 cents for businesses. In late April, CUC and the Electricity Regulatory Au- thority again revised CORE’s terms, raising the 4 mega- watt cap to 6MW, but fur- ther reduced payments ac- cording to the size of the generation system. Today, CUC pays residen- tial owners 30 cents per kWh for systems generating up to 5kW; 28 cents per kWh for systems generating between 5kW and 10 kW; 26 cents for systems generating between 10 kW and 20 kW; and 21 cents for systems generating between 20kW and 100kW. CORE limits residential systems to 20kW and com- mercial systems to 100kW. CUC and the Electricity Regulatory Authority said the changes encouraged pro- liferation of smaller systems and diversified their geo- graphical distribution. Mr. Whittaker dissented, saying lower prices prolonged pay- back periods on solar sys- tems, discouraged uptake of renewable energy and com- promised Cayman’s nascent solar industry. If the new loan program proves successful, he said, it could quickly exceed CORE’s 6MW cap. Already, he said, the 100-or-more CORE customers had filled nearly 4.5MW of the limit, “and this is quickly going to eat up the rest,” par- ticularly if CORE’s largest business consumers, such as Foster’s Food Fair, Camana Bay and The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman expand their participation. The Electricity Regula- tory Authority’s managing director, Charles Farrington, reacted cautiously, saying the authority might raise the 6MW CORE cap “if the cheap financing produces a marked upswing in adoption that will reflect that CORE consumers have found a way to reduce their costs and thereby garner greater re- turns on their investments from the current CORE rates than hitherto. “In the view of the ERA,” he said, CORE payments amounted to a subsidy to program members, giving them an unfair advantage over CUC’s nearly 28,000 non- CORE consumers. “At current CORE rates,” he said, “on- CORE consumers continue to pay more for their energy than they would pay if there were no CORE consumers.” Before lifting the cap, he said, “the ERA will have to consider how to leverage the two variables that it can im- pact – the available capacity and the CORE tariff – with a view to achieving greater equity for non-CORE con- sumers whilst not stopping growth of the CORE program. “The ERA could take the view that in order to treat the non-CORE consumers more equitably, the ERA should act in a manner that manages the growth of this subsidy such that it eventually disap- pears and reverses, leading to the non-CORE consumers actually seeing a reduction in their cost of electricity as well as everyone benefitting from the carbon emission reductions.” social workers, police and other professionals are communicating at the highest level to ensure that everything that can be done is being done to protect our children.” Community Affairs Minister Osbourne Bodden said, “Ensuring that our children are able to grow up safe and free from abuse must be our top priority and I am pleased to support the work of the Board as an essential body to help us achieve this.” According to the press release, the board’s first objectives include stra- tegic planning for services to keep children safe, co- ordinate those services, and “hold all partner agencies to account for their safeguarding practice.” levels of the drug that can be used to treat such diseases. “It remains for local doc- tors and pharmacists to use their own medical ex- perience, judgement and research on how best to prescribe and dispense can- nabis oil.” Despite those concerns, Premier McLaughlin said Cabinet had approved the necessary amendments ahead of the House debate in late September or October. He re- futed suggestions from some cancer patients and their fam- ilies that government had not moved quickly enough since his announcement in May that cannabis oil would be legalized for medical use. He said government was moving as swiftly as possible in a re- sponsible manner. “In many respects, we are a pioneer in this field,” said Mr. McLaughlin. “We have moved from investigation to policy approval to legis- lative amendments and will soon go to the Legislative As- sembly over the course of a few short months. However, at all times we have appre- ciated that we must pro- ceed responsibly, ensuring that what is brought for- ward has the best possi- bility for effective outcomes without causing unexpected consequences.” He said a committee that includes medical profes- sionals had also reviewed the proposed bills as part of the policy development process. In the U.S., the Drug En- forcement Administration announced late last week that marijuana would re- main illegal under federal law “because it does not meet the criteria for cur- rently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of ac- cepted safety for its use under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also not approved botanical mari- juana for any use, stating on its website: “This means that the FDA has not found any such product to be safe or effective for the treatment of any disease or condition.” Dennie Warren, whose wife was diagnosed with incurable stage four lung cancer in May last year, told the Cayman Compass last week that survivor testi- monies about the impact of cannabis oil had given his family a glimmer of hope. “I understand it doesn’t work in every single person and if it doesn’t work for my wife, at least we know we tried everything. I would hate if she died and we never got the chance to do it,” he said. “I believe individuals have the right to be in control of their own life, including matters of treatment.” Mr. Warren, along with MLA Cline Glidden, made a presentation to govern- ment in November last year, asking for the law to be altered to allow doc- tors to prescribe cannabis oil to patients. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 New ‘safeguarding’ board to focus on child abuse CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Premier: Legalizing medical marijuana to move forward Medicinal cannabis with extracted oil in a bottle CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Banks to offer loans for solar energy Maiden flight of giant helium-filled airship postponed SHORTSTOWN, England (AP) – The makers of a blimp- shaped, helium-filled air- ship billed as the world’s biggest aircraft postponed its maiden flight at the last minute on Sunday. The 302-foot-long Air- lander 10 was due to take off for from an airfield 45 miles north of London on the first in a series of test flights. Stephen McGlennan, chief executive of Hybrid Air Ve- hicles, said the airship had “a slight technical issue” and there’s not time to fix it be- fore darkness fell. He did not say when the flight might be rescheduled. Nicknamed the “flying bum” because of its bulbous front end, the Airlander is a hybrid air vehicle – part lighter-than-air blimp, part plane. It’s designed to use less fuel than a plane, but carry heavier loads than con- ventional airships. Its developers say it can travel at up to 90 mph and stay aloft for up to two weeks. The aircraft was initially developed for the U.S. mili- tary, which planned to use it for surveillance in Afghani- stan. The U.S. blimp program was scrapped in 2013, and since then the airship’s de- veloper has sought funding from government agencies and individual donors. The vast aircraft is based at Cardington airfield, where the first British airships were built during and after World War I. The program was abandoned after a 1930 crash that killed almost 50 people, including Britain’s air minister. That and other accidents including the fiery 1937 crash in New Jersey of the Hinden- berg, which killed 35, dashed the dream of the airship as a mode of transportation for decades. Unlike hydrogen, the gas used in the Hindenburg, helium is not flammable. Speaking Sunday be- fore the technical hitch, Mc- Glennan said he is confident airships have a strong future, despite their public image as a failed 20th-century aviation experiment. “It’s a disruptive capa- bility,” he said, likening it to the electric car – a technology finally making a long-elusive breakthrough into mass use thanks to Elon Musk’s Tesla. “Something that disrup- tive, it’s always long, and it’s always a winding road,” Mc- Glennan said. The Airlander 10, part plane, part airship, goes through pre-flight checks at Cardington airfield in Bedfordshire, England, on Sunday. - PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2016 • CAYMAN COMPASS Suspected rebels kill civilians in Congo Suspected rebels have killed at least 36 people in northeastern Congo, spurring residents to rally in street protests against the violence. Army spokesman Gen. Richard Kasonga said that Allied Democratic Forces carried out the attacks in Rwangoma. On 90th birthday, Fidel Castro thanks Cuba, criticizes Obama HAVANA (AP) – Fidel Castro thanked Cubans for their well-wishes on his 90th birthday and criticized Pres- ident Barack Obama in a lengthy letter published in state media. He appeared but did not speak at a gala in his honor broadcast on state television. “I want to express my deepest gratitude for the shows of respect, greetings and praise that I’ve received in recent days, which give me strength to reciprocate with ideas that I will send to party militants and relevant orga- nizations,” he wrote about his birthday on Saturday. “Modern medical tech- niques have allowed me to scrutinize the universe,” wrote Castro, who stepped down as Cuba’s president 10 years ago after suffering a se- vere gastrointestinal illness. Just after 6 p.m., he could be seen in footage on state television slowly ap- proaching his seat at Ha- vana’s Karl Marx theater, clad in a white Puma tracksuit top and green shirt. He sat in what appeared to be a specially equipped wheel- chair and watched a musical tribute by a children’s theater company, accompanied by footage of highlights from his decades in power. He sat alongside his younger brother, Presi- dent Raul Castro, and Presi- dent Nicolas Maduro of Ven- ezuela, along with Cuba’s highest-ranking military and civilian officials. In his letter, Castro ac- companied his thanks with reminiscences about his childhood and youth in eastern Cuba, describing the geology and plant life of the region where he grew up. He touched on his father’s death shortly before his own vic- tory in overthrowing U.S- backed strongman Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Castro returns at the end to criticize Obama, who ap- peared to anger the revolu- tionary leader with a March trip to Cuba in which he called for Cubans to look toward the future. A week after the trip, Castro wrote a sternly worded letter admon- ishing Obama to read up on Cuban history, and declaring that “we don’t need the em- pire to give us anything.” In Saturday’s letter, he criticizes Obama for not apologizing to the Japa- nese people during a May trip to Hiroshima, describing Obama’s speech there as “lacking stature.” The Cuban govern- ment has taken a relatively low-key approach to Cas- tro’s birthday, in comparison with the large-scale gather- ings that had been planned for his 80th. Along with the Saturday evening gala, gov- ernment ministries have held small musical performances and photo exhibitions that pay tribute to the former head of state. Castro last appeared in public in April, closing the twice-a-decade congress of the Communist Party with a call for Cuba to stick to its socialist ideals amid ongoing normalization with the U.S. The need for closer eco- nomic ties with the U.S. has grown more urgent as Ven- ezuela, Castro’s greatest ally, tumbles into economic free-fall, cutting the flow of subsidized oil that Cuba has depended on the South American country for more than a decade. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Cu- bans are migrating to the United States, hollowing out the ranks of highly educated professionals. The brightest spot in Cu- ba’s flagging economy has been a post-detente surge in tourism that is expected to boom when commercial flights to and from the United States, Cuba’s former longtime enemy, resume on Aug. 31. Fidel Castro, center right, attends a gala for his 90th birthday, accompanied by his brother and current president Raul Castro, center left, and Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, right, at the Karl Marx theater in Havana on Saturday. - PHOTO: AP BEIRUT (AP) – Syria’s rebel- held, northwestern Idlib province came under heavy bombardment Sunday, activ- ists reported, as rebels and pro-government forces bat- tled for control of the nearby city of Aleppo. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 26 airstrikes across the province, one of the last remaining bas- tions of rebel control. Rebels in Idlib, home to a pre-war population of 1.5 million, are mounting an offensive to seize contested Aleppo. Tens of thousands of Syrians dis- placed from Aleppo province have found refuge in Idlib. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist net- work, said Russian jets struck the towns of Jisr al-Shaghour and Binnish, while the Ob- servatory reported strikes on the provincial capital, Idlib. It was unclear how the activists identified the planes. Moscow has been waging an air campaign in support of government forces for nearly a year. Russia’s mili- tary said six long-range Tu- 22M3 bombers that took off from Russian territory car- ried out strikes Sunday on the Islamic State group near the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour. The strikes killed a large number of militants while destroying two command posts, six arms caches, two tanks, four armored infantry vehicles and seven all-terrain vehicles with heavy machine guns, the Defense Ministry statement said. The ministry made no mention of any strikes in Idlib. Elsewhere in Syria, rebels and government forces battled around a major power plant in the central Hama province. State media reported that rebels inflicted heavy damage to the Zaara generating sta- tion, while an opposition media activist in the nearby town of Aqrab said the power plant was not targeted. Obeida al-Hamawi, of the activist-run Hama Media Center, said govern- ment forces had launched an assault from positions near the plant to retake the village of Zaara, captured by rebels earlier this year. He said elec- tricity was still being sup- plied to the area. The Observatory reported heavy clashes in the area. Clashes and airstrikes meanwhile continued across the northern Aleppo prov- ince, resulting in at least 49 civilian deaths on Saturday alone, activists and state media reported. Five children were among the dead. Warplanes pound Syria’s Idlib as battles rage in Aleppo A Russian long-range bomber is seen during a strike above an undisclosed location in Syria on Sunday. - PHOTO: RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE PHOTO VIA AP BOKO HARAM: SOME ABDUCTED CHIBOK GIRLS KILLED IN AIRSTRIKES MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) – Some of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls have been killed in Nigerian mil- itary airstrikes, according to a new video appearing to come from Boko Haram Islamic extremists, which shows one of the alleged victims pleading for au- thorities to release detained militants in exchange for the girls’ freedom. The video posted Sunday on Twitter shows a girl, covered in a hijab with just her face showing, identified as one of the 276 students abducted from a remote school in north- eastern Nigeria in April 2014. In the video, she claims that some of her kidnapped classmates died in aerial bombardments by the Nigerian Air Force. She also said that 40 have been “married” to Islamic ex- tremist fighters. The video shows a fighter warning in the Hausa language that if President Muhammadu Bu- hari’s government battles Boko Haram with fire- power, the girls will not be seen again. “Presently, some of the girls are crippled, some are terribly sick and some of them, as I had said, died during bombardment by the Nigerian military,” the fighter says, appearing be- fore a group of more than 40 young women in hijabs, some holding babies. “If our members in de- tention are not freed, let the government and parents of the Chibok girls know that they will never find these girls again,” he said. The video, cited by the SITE Intelligence Group, was posted by Ahmad Salkida, a Nigerian jour- nalist known to have good contacts in Boko Haram. Salkida says he was given the video by the Boko Haram wing led by Abubakar Shekau, who is in a leadership battle with a lieutenant named by the Islamic State group as the new leader of what it calls its West Africa Province.9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2016 3 killed, thousands rescued in southeast Louisiana floods BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Emergency crews plucked motorists from cars stranded by high water along a seven- mile stretch of south Loui- siana interstate, pulled others from inundated homes and waist-deep waters and braced for more of the dangerous work Sunday after conducting at least 2,000 rescues. Pounding rains swamped parts of southeast Louisiana so that whole subdivisions and shopping centers ap- peared isolated by floodwa- ters, which have claimed at least three lives. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency, calling the floods “unprecedented” and “his- toric.” He and his family were even forced to leave the Gov- ernor’s Mansion when chest- high water filled the basement and electricity was shut off. “That’s never happened before,” said the governor, whose family relocated to a state police facility in the Baton Rouge area. The governor toured flood- ravaged areas by helicopter later Saturday after rivers and creeks burst their banks and warned Louisiana resi- dents it would be too risky to venture out even after the rains start to subside. In addition to the three confirmed deaths, Ed- wards said, at least one person is missing. One of the worries, the governor said, is that as the rain lessens in the next sev- eral hours, people will be- come complacent and feel too at ease in areas where waters may still be rising for several days, getting in cars in areas that could still be dangerous. “I’m still asking people to be patient. Don’t get out and sightsee,” Edwards said. “Even when the weather is better, it’s not safe.” In one dramatic rescue Saturday, two men on a boat pulled a woman from a car almost completely under- water. The woman, who is not initially visible on camera, yells from inside the car: “Oh my god, I’m drowning.” One of the rescuers, David Phung, jumps into the brown water and pulls the woman to safety. She pleads with Phung to get her dog, but he cannot find it. After several seconds, Phung takes a deep breath, goes underwater and resurfaces – with the small dog. Both the woman and dog appeared OK. Elsewhere, rescues con- tinued late Saturday, including missions by crews in high- water vehicles who pulled mo- torists from one swamped stretch of Interstate 12 between Baton Rouge and nearby Tan- gipahoa Parish. Maj. Doug Cain, spokesman of the Louisiana State Police, said about 125 ve- hicles became stranded on the seven-mile stretch, prompting those rescues. During an aerial tour, an Associated Press re- porter saw homes in parts of rural Tangipahoa Parish that looked like little islands among flooded fields. Farm- land was covered and streets descended into impassable pools of water. In the Livingston Parish city of Denham Springs, a suburb of Baton Rouge, en- tire shopping centers were inundated, only roofs of cars peeking above the water. And in many places, the water was still rising, with days ex- pected before rivers were ex- pected to crest. Though the governor’s of- fice said Saturday that more than 1,000 people had been rescued, that number ap- peared to at least double by the end of the day, when Liv- ingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said 2,000 people in his parish alone had been res- cued, and more people still await help. “We haven’t been rescuing people. We’ve been rescuing subdivisions,” he said. “It has not stopped at all today.” In Baker, just north of Baton Rouge, residents were rescued by boats or waded through waist-deep, water to reach dry ground. Dozens of them awoke Saturday morning on cots at a make- shift Red Cross shelter only a few blocks from their flooded homes and cars. Shanita Angrum, 32, said she called 911 on Friday morning when she realized floodwaters had trapped her family in their home. A police officer carried her 6-year-old daughter, Khoie, on his back while she and her husband waded behind them for what “felt like forever.” “Snakes were everywhere,” she said. “The whole time I was just praying for God to make sure me and my family were OK.” Beginning Friday, 6 to 10 inches of rain fell on parts of Louisiana and several more inches of rain fell on Sat- urday, according to the Na- tional Weather Service. Some areas got even more rain. In a 24-hour period, Baton Rouge had as much as 11 inches while one weather observer reported more than 17 inches in Livingston. Forecasters expected a turn to the north Sunday by the system, warning portions of central and northern Lou- isiana could see heavy rain into next week. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency for several coun- ties in his state as it also bat- tled the heavy rainfall. Hacker posts House Democrats’ personal information WASHINGTON (AP) – After receiving a deluge of ob- scene voicemails and text messages, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in- formed her fellow Demo- crats on Saturday of “an electronic Watergate break- in” and warned them not to allow family members to an- swer their phones or read in- coming texts. The breach targeted the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other Democratic Party en- tities, Pelosi said in a state- ment. As a result, a mix of personal and official infor- mation of Democratic mem- bers and hundreds of con- gressional staff, purportedly from a hack of the DCCC, was posted online, she said. Pelosi said she is changing her phone number and advised her colleagues to do the same. A hacker who calls him- self Guccifer 2.0 took credit for posting the information Friday night. He had claimed responsibility for the recent hack of Democratic National Committee emails, which roiled the Democratic Na- tional Convention last month. While Guccifer 2.0 has de- scribed himself as a Ro- manian hacker and denies working for Russia, online in- vestigators assert that he is linked to Russia. President Barack Obama said in late July that Russia may have been behind the leak of the hacked Demo- cratic National Committee emails. Obama, who noted that outside experts have blamed Russia for the leak, suggested Russian Presi- dent Vladimir Putin may have reason to facilitate the attack. “Anything’s possible,” Obama told NBC News when asked whether Moscow was trying to influence the presi- dential election. The FBI, which is inves- tigating, has not publicly at- tributed the attack to Russia. But Democrat Hillary Clin- ton’s campaign has, implying that the goal was to ben- efit Donald Trump’s presi- dential campaign. Trump has rejected the allegation, insisting Demo- crats were trying to “deflect the horror and stupidity” of the leak. Two U.S. cybersecurity firms have said their analysis of computer breaches at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, showed detailed ev- idence that the intrusions were likely linked to Rus- sian hackers. The Internet do- mains and registrants used in the breach of computers used by the committee tied back to a Russian hacking group linked to that nation’s intelligence services. That same hacking group, known as “Fancy Bear,” was previ- ously connected to the cyber breach at the Democratic Na- tional Committee. Both firms, Fidelis Cyber- security and ThreatConnect, said the hackers created a fake Internet DCCC donation site. The registrant for the fake DCCC site was linked back to other web domains used by “Fancy Bear. WikiLeaks founder Ju- lian Assange, who began publishing thousands of the emails last month, has said there is “no proof” Russia was behind the hack. Pelosi said Saturday she was flying from Florida to California when she heard about the posting of in- formation such as cell- phone numbers. “Upon landing, I have received scores of mostly obscene and sick calls, voicemails and text mes- sages,” Pelosi said in her letter to colleagues. Pelosi said the chief in- formation security officer of the House, John Ramsey, in coordination with U.S. Cap- itol Police, has sent com- munications to those people whose email addresses have been made public about how to address the problem. The chief administrative officer of the House has also sent an email stating that the House computer system has not been compromised, but urged members and staff to be vig- ilant about opening emails and websites. Ramsey, in a memo dis- tributed by Pelosi, advised lawmakers to change pass- words to all email accounts that they use and strongly consider changing non-House email addresses if possible. Should lawmakers or staff receive any threats or ob- serve suspicious activity, they should contact U.S. Capitol Police and local police, he said in the memo. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi received obscene voicemails and text messages after the House Democrats’ personal information was hacked. - PHOTO: AP In this aerial photo over Robert, Louisiana, stranded people wait on flooded U.S. Route 190. - PHOTO: APNext >