ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2016 High of 91 Low of 80 Seas: Rough with wave heights of 4 to 6 feet. Small craft should exercise caution over open waters. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 WHEN HAVING ‘STACKS OF BILLS’ ISN’T DESIRABLE SPORTS | PAGE 17 TOTTENHAM HANDS MAN CITY 1ST LOSS IN EPL; UNITED FRUSTRATED 180913_PRINT-Ad-Strip-BOTY-6colxPage 1 11/30/15 12:30:30 PM Lawmakers: Mass of bills to change ‘lives of generations’ BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Islands lawmakers are set to re- view and approve an unprecedented number of bills in the Legislative Assembly meeting that begins Tuesday, some of which involve complex, long-standing issues that have been before parliament for more than a decade. Opposition and independent legislators have groused in recent weeks that they do not have enough time to study and fully understand all the changes being proposed, much less to take a position on each individual matter. “I’ve never seen before where 26 bills, 28, were on the [Legislative Assembly] order paper,” said Bodden Town MLA Anthony Eden, who has served in the assembly since 1992. “How can legislators sensibly discuss bills like this?” All of the bills brought before the assembly for the upcoming meeting were made public at least 21 days before the meeting date as re- quired in the Legislative Assembly Standing Orders. However, another legislative veteran, East End’s Arden McLean, said recently that it was not merely the number of bills, but that the weightiness of some of the issues to be de- cided should have been considered in bringing all of these matters at once. “The things that are coming up now are going to change your lives … and the lives of generations to come,” Mr. McLean said during a public meeting on Sept. 19. “Too much is hap- pening now that they’re trying to push down FUNDS LIQUIDATORS FOR BATEMAN GIVEN WIDE POWERS BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Local fund liquidators have been given wide powers to effect the recovery of millions of dollars invested with a Cayman Islands- registered brokerage previously run by a man who is a fugitive from the Cayman Islands justice system. Following a Grand Court hearing Thursday, liquidators Chris Johnson and Graham Rob- inson were named joint official liquidators of the firm known as Bateman & Company Ltd. The pair had already been named liquidators of another group, B&C Capital Ltd. Both firms operated under a group of companies formerly run by Canadian national Ryan Bateman, court documents state. Mr. Johnson said Monday that one at- torney representing a possible creditor of the former Bateman companies appeared in Grand Court on Thursday, but no one repre- senting Mr. Bateman attended. According to Thursday’s court order, signed by Justice Ingrid Mangatal, the liquidators are allowed to begin legal proceedings in the U.S., Canada, and the Bahamas and to retain law- yers in those jurisdictions for the purposes of recovering funds. “The joint official liquidators [are] autho- rized to do any act or thing considered by them to be necessary or desirable in connec- tion with the liquidation of the company and the winding up of its affairs,” Thursday’s court ruling states. Development planned on edge of Smith Cove JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com An oceanfront piece of land on the edge of Smith Cove is being developed into a condo complex, with 24 two- and three- bedroom homes. The privately owned land to the north of the beach includes a grassy area and rocks commonly used by children to jump into the water, as well as a small portion of one of the sandy beaches. Despite reassurances from the developer, the application has sparked concern that the public experience of one of Cayman’s most popular beaches could be affected. The plot of land, previously owned by the Dart group, was offered to government, which owns the rest of Smith Cove, in- cluding the beach area, in one version of the National Roads Authority deal, but never made it into any of the final agreements. The Dart group confirmed Friday that it had sold the land to a private party more than a year ago. Now, a group called TEG Cayman Ltd. has applied to the Central Planning Au- thority to build two blocks of condos and a swimming pool on the plot. Tim Peck of architectural firm OBMI, which submitted the plans on behalf of the developer, said the development would be set well back from the water line – around 70 feet. He said there would be no fences or PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 9 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 10 » An architect’s rendering of one of the buildings developers propose to erect by Smith Cove. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 10 »2 LOCAL NEWS TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2016 • CAYMAN COMPASS BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com A George Town man was arrested early Monday in con- nection with an attempted murder on Sept. 17 in the car park of a Seven Mile Beach strip mall. The Sept. 17 incident, previ- ously unreported by police, in- volved shots being fired in the parking lot of the Seven Mile Shops complex around 3 a.m. No one was injured in the attack. Early Monday, a police raid in East End led to the suspect’s arrest in connection with the Sept. 17 shooting. The 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm. The Sept. 17 incident was the first of two shootings within two weeks in the vi- cinity of the mall. The latest involved the killing of Justin Manderson, 24, early Saturday. Police declined to com- ment Monday on whether the early morning arrest had any connection to the Man- derson homicide. In a statement released about a number of crimes committed over the past weekend, Acting Police Com- missioner Anthony Ennis focused in part on recent spates of violence outside local nightclubs. The Seven Mile Shops com- plex along West Bay Road houses one late-hours night- club, Nectar, which has often been called before the Liquor Licensing Board of Grand Cayman to explain various vi- olent incidents that have oc- curred there. “Some nightclubs do a good job discouraging these activities and excluding known persons of ill-repute from their premises, which they have a legal right and duty to do,” Mr. Ennis said Monday. “Others, however, have not shown any interest in curbing these ac- tivities, while their premises continue to present a growing threat to public safety and their patrons, especially along the island’s tourist corridor.” Mr. Ennis said police would increase their visibility and presence in and around such premises, adding, “We will also be engaging the relevant li- censing authorities, including the fire service, to ensure that these premises are not in vio- lation of any statutory code. If they are operating a busi- ness that presents a danger to the public, appropriate actions should be taken.” “We cannot sacrifice valuable resources to police these premises at the ex- pense of the greater commu- nity,” he said. Daily Matinees Every Day $8.00 Seniors, Mon-Fri Before 6pm Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 640-FILM (640-3456) *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. 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. BAZODEE (PG13) 1:30 | 4:20 | 7:10 | 9:45 MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME (PG13) FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN 3D 1:00 | 4:00 2D | 7:00 | 9:50 2D STORKS 3D (PG) 12:30 | 3:30 2D | 6:30 | 9:00 2D DEEPWATER HORIZON (PG13) 1:15 | 4:10 | 7:15 | 10:05 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (PG13) 12:50 | 3:45 | 6:45 | 9:40 WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS (PG13) 12:45 | 3:15 | 7:20 | 10:00 - TUESDAY - The Cayman Islands Veterans Association will be having its Annual General Meeting on Friday, 7th October 2016 at the Casanova’s Restaurant at 1:00 p.m. All members are asked to make every effort to attend in order for the selection of officers and to address other matters. The meeting will be followed by lunch and spouses are welcome. BY ORDER: Capt. Dale M. Banks, CMH President, CIVA RSVP: Graham Walker, Hon. Secretary gwalker@candw.ky or 926 2501 CORRECTION In a story headlined “Boy donates birthday money to charity” that appeared on page 6 in Monday’s Cayman Compass, the first name of the boy was incorrect. His name is Jake Fagan. The Cayman Compass strives for accuracy and is committed to correcting errors that appear in the news- paper. Those interested in contacting the paper for that purpose can send an email to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com. Jake Fagan presents $200 to Lighthouse School students for the Special Olympics organization. - PHOTO: JEWEL LEVY JURORS NOTICE Grand Court jurors for the July 6 to Oct. 3 session are advised that their services are no longer needed. This notice does not af- fect Grand Court jurors sum- moned for Wednesday, Oct. 5, and they are still obliged to attend at 9 a.m. Haiti braces for the worst as Matthew moves ashore Minimal impact on Cayman as hurricane passes 345 miles from the Sister Islands CHARLES DUNCAN cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com Hurricane Matthew is ex- pected to remain a major storm until Thursday as it moves over Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas. As of Monday afternoon, Matthew, a massive Category 4 hurricane, still had max- imum sustained winds of 140 mph. Forecasters predict the storm will continue as a Cat- egory 4 until it passes over Cuba on Tuesday night. Any effects from Matthew on the Cayman Islands should be minimal. Shamal Clarke, a forecaster with the Cayman Islands National Weather Ser- vice, said the islands will likely see seas of 4 to 6 feet and 10 to 15 knot winds. He said the closest point the storm will come, based on Monday morning’s pre- dictions, will be about 345 miles from the Sister Is- lands sometime Tuesday af- ternoon. Mr. Clarke said the Brac and Little Cayman could see a little rain and possible thunder from Matthew’s outer bands, but he does not expect much. He said the Sister Islands could experience a minimal storm surge of 1 to 3 feet. Forecasters expected Mat- thew to pass directly over southwest Haiti, bringing tor- rential rains and damaging winds to Jamaica and Haiti Monday night before it moves over southeast Cuba. The Jamaica Observer re- ports that the government has been trying to evacuate people from Port Royal and other areas. Photos in the newspaper showed flooding in Kingston on Sunday. The newspaper on Sunday quoted Jamaican Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie pleading with people to evac- uate low-lying areas. He said at a press confer- ence that people did not ap- pear to be evacuating, the Ob- server reported. The U.S. National Hurri- cane Center predicts 15 to 25 inches of rain in southern Haiti, with isolated areas re- ceiving up to 40 inches. Eastern Jamaica will likely see 5 to 10 inches, with some areas getting up to 20 inches of rain, the Miami-based Hur- ricane Center forecasts. The Hurricane Center re- ports, “Life-threatening flash floods and mudslides are likely from this rainfall in southern and northwestern Haiti, the southwestern Do- minican Republic, and eastern Cuba.” Monday afternoon, rain battered Haiti and Jamaica, with the northernmost bands reaching Cuba. The Hurricane Center predicts Matthew will pass over Cuba by Wednesday morning and will still be at least a Category 3 as it works its way through the Bahamas. The storm could threaten the U.S. by Friday. The Associated Press re- ports two Haitian fishermen died Monday in the southwest of the country. One was trying to bring his wooden boat to shore when his boat capsized. The body of another fish- erman was found a short time later, according to the AP. The two fishermen bring the death toll to four from Hurricane Matthew, according to the AP, with earlier deaths blamed on the hurricane in Colombia and St. Vincent. With the current fore- casts, Haiti will likely take the brunt of the storm in the coming days. Premier: Free Jamaican work permit story ‘bogus’ A recent online report claiming that the Cayman Islands government had agreed to give Jamaican citizens working here free work permits and allowed them to enter Cayman without a visa for up to six months is entirely false, Premier Alden McLaugh- lin’s office said Monday. What the premier’s of- fice described as a “hoax” news story stated that Cayman Governor Helen Kilpatrick had declared that Jamaican citizens working here would no longer be al- lowed to pay work permit fees as of November. Governor Kilpatrick said no such thing, and neither the Cayman nor the Ja- maica governments had agreed to change current policies on travel-related visas, the premier said. “The office of the pre- mier refutes the bogus article,” Monday’s state- ment stated. Attempted murder arrest; police concerned over nightclub violence Premier Alden McLaughlin3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2016 Voting rights challenge filed with Human Rights Commission BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Allegations of voter disen- franchisement, potentially af- fecting hundreds of Cayma- nians who reside overseas, have been made to the local Human Rights Commission in a complaint filed on Sept. 23. The case involves a Cayman Islands voter who went to court on Sept. 12 to challenge a decision by the Elections Office in 2012 that prevented the voter from par- ticipating in the May 2013 general election. The deci- sion would also preclude the person from voting in the up- coming general election based on their residency outside the islands for more than two of the past four years before the last voter registration date. The date for the next gen- eral election has been set for May 24, 2017. The last voter registration date for that elec- tion was Dec. 31, 2016. Typically, Human Rights Commission complaints are not made public, but in this case the voter released a copy of the complaint to the Cayman Compass. Commis- sion officials made no com- ment regarding the matter by press time Monday. Government documents, including emails, obtained by the Compass, state the vot- er’s claims during the Sept. 12 court hearing were that the voter was registered as an elector in the mid-1980s. The voter then spent a number of years living outside the Cayman Islands, but was al- lowed to vote via postal ballot in the May 2005 and May 2009 general elections. The voter argued that the date they registered to vote was a “single date” and alleged their removal from the register of electors in July 2012 was therefore wrong in law. In a Sept. 19 email to the voter involved in the registra- tion challenge, Supervisor of Elections Wesley Howell con- tended that the person’s un- derstanding of how voter reg- istration works in Cayman was not correct: “The legal provisions for removing per- sons not living in the Cayman Islands for the specified number of years from the register of electors goes back many years.” Mr. Howell stated that Magistrate Nova Hall, in her capacity as electoral revising officer, agreed with the Elec- tions Office’s interpretation of the matter. According to the Elections Law, the registration date is the first day of January, April, July or October next occurring after the previous register of electors comes into force. “The registration date is not a single point in time and, for [the voter], it is not back in 1986, as the regis- tration date happens four times a year as per the Elec- tions Law,” Mr. Howell wrote on Sept. 19. “[The voter’s] removal from the register in 2012, at the July 1, 2012 reg- istration date was, in fact, correct and was in keeping with the Elections Law and the Cayman Islands Constitu- tion [Order 2009], as the date of registration for which [the voter] failed to maintain … eligibility is July 1, 2012.” In the Human Rights Com- mission complaint, the voter alleges the Elections Office acted outside the scope of the Cayman Islands Constitution Order (2009) and that officials were being “over-reaching and excessively punitive” in misin- terpreting the law to use resi- dency to remove an already registered elector. “The constitution speaks to residency at the initial date of registration when an eligible Caymanian first registers to vote, something that is perma- nent and a once-in-a-lifetime process for all intents and pur- poses, if the Caymanian is not disqualified under the convic- tion clause [for a criminal of- fense],” the complaint states. “The right to vote is such a sacred right that the Cayman Islands government cannot put a tether on Caymanians and effectively say that they can go but not too far or too long,” the complaint states. The voter also alleges they were advised that Magistrate Hall’s decision on the matter was “final” and that no appeals process or even a written copy of the judgment was provided following the ruling. Deadline approaches for US expats to vote in presidential race Expats from the United States need to request ab- sentee ballots soon if they want to be able to vote in this year’s hotly contested presidential election. U.S. citizens living abroad, whether temporarily or per- manently, vote according to their last address in the U.S. The rules vary from state to state on whether overseas residents can vote in local or state races, how ballots can be submitted, and if they need to be postmarked or re- ceived by the local election office by election day. According to Cayman’s Immigration Department, there are almost 1,400 United States citizens in the Cayman Islands on work permits, and more who are in Cayman as permanent residents and status holders who are eligible to vote in November’s election. The myriad of state rules can be hard to navigate for would-be voters, but the U.S. Federal Voting Assis- tance Program has a service on its website to help people fill out the right forms and turn them in to the appro- priate state or county elec- tion office. There were 2.6 million potential U.S. voters living overseas in 2014, according to the Federal Voting As- sistance Program. The 2014 study found that only 4 per- cent of eligible overseas voters cast ballots in 2014, a mid-term election without a high-profile presidential race to draw voters. Of the U.S. expats who did not vote, 30 percent said they had problems related to absentee voting, almost a quarter said they “felt out of touch with their national or local community,” and 12 percent had no preferred candidate, according to the 214 Overseas Citizen Popula- tion Survey. All states now allow U.S. citizens living overseas and military personnel deployed abroad to vote through email or secure online systems, but can still use traditional mail to send ballots back to the elections office. In a re- cent press release, the Fed- eral Voting Assistance Pro- gram noted, “The media often will report the projected out- come of an election before all of the ballots are counted. In a close election, the media may report the preliminary results or say that the out- come cannot be announced until after the absentee bal- lots are counted. However, all ballots, including absentee ballots, are counted in the of- ficial totals for every election – and every vote (absentee or in-person) counts the same.” Absentee ballots are typ- ically the last votes counted in an election, but can be the deciding factor in very close races. U.S. citizens who want to request an absentee ballot can find more information at www.fvap.gov.The islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. When having ‘stacks of bills’ isn’t desirable As journalists, we appreciate the motivational power of rush deadlines. That said, we’re creating daily news content that is consumed and then (alas) tossed in the bin – not deliberating upon laws that may shape the future course of the country. Therefore, we can’t help but empathize with the anxiety expressed by several elected members in today’s newspaper over the sheer quantity of legisla- tion the Progressives administration has crammed into the agenda of the new parliamentary session. In total, lawmakers have been tasked with consid- ering two dozen or more bills comprising hundreds and hundreds of pages of dense legalese on subjects as basic as construction and as esoteric as the economic regulatory function of the Water Authority-Cayman. Trust us, there’s not a human being in the Cayman Islands (except for, perhaps, a couple of reporters and editors in the Compass newsroom) who possesses the time or the interest to delve deeply into the details of all of these bills. Much of the proposed legislation concerns tech- nical topics, or is written in such lawyerly argot that, in case a layperson actually makes an attempt to read it, the meaning of the bill may not be apparent upon first, second or subsequent perusal. Nevertheless, among those who have studied and do understand the individual pieces of legislation, there is consider- able conflict. For example, the Non-Profit Organisations Bill, depending on who you talk to, is either a vital compo- nent of a robust anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regime – or (and this happens to be our opinion) a superfluous bureaucratic expansion that will solve no existing problem but will severely hinder the altruistic efforts of Cayman’s charitable agencies. Then there’s the proposed Legal Practitioners Bill, which at 126 pages is by itself a veritable tome. The bill is the latest iteration of a long-running effort to modernize the regulation of the practice of Cayman law. The sprawling legislation touches on topics near and far, including the hiring and promotion of Cay- manian attorneys, and extending across the globe to dictate how, where and who can practice Cayman law overseas. We certainly could go on, but we don’t have the space on this editorial page even to begin to describe the volume of bills on the agenda. Given the nature of the legislation under consid- eration, and the potential significance of its passage or rejection, we tend to see this session of the Legis- lative Assembly as an illustration of the maxim that you either trust your elected officials … or you don’t. There is no way, and no time, for the general public to develop informed views, collectively, on all of the gov- ernment’s imminent decisions. We, and even more so our politicians, are keenly aware that this session is occurring on the cusp of campaign season. The clock is ticking, more and more loudly, on this Progressives government. It is at this point in the election cycle that the temptation may present itself to incumbents to “get as much done” as possible – in order to campaign on those “accomplish- ments” … and in the case of freshly passed legislation, before the outcomes of what they have done have become apparent. Whenever we are given an armload, or a wheel- barrow-load, of tasks to perform on short notice, our initial reaction is typically this: What will happen if, instead, we do nothing? If, for example, our lawmakers do not amalgamate Cayman’s various public utilities regulators into one single oversight body, is there some societal ailment that will go uncured – or can it reasonably be delayed until a less-hectic date? It is also important to realize that despite the sheer number and volume of bills lawmakers will debate this session, there isn’t any scheduled discussion on the following handful of topics which should be at the forefront of any conversation about governance in the Cayman Islands: public education, law and order, and the status of major public sector capital projects. TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2016 • CAYMAN COMPASS FAYE FLAM Race is perhaps the worst idea ever to come out of sci- ence. Scientists were respon- sible for officially dividing human beings into Euro- peans, Africans, Asians and Native Americans and pro- moting these groups as sub- species or separate species al- together. That happened back in the 18th century, but the division lends the feel of sci- entific legitimacy to the preju- dice that haunts the 21st. Racial tension proved a major point of contention in the first 2016 presidential de- bate, and yet just days before, scientists announced they’d used wide-ranging samples of DNA to add new detail to the consensus story that we all share a relatively re- cent common origin in Africa. While many human species and sub-species once roamed the planet, there’s abundant evidence that beyond a small genetic contribution from Ne- anderthals and a couple of other sub-species, only one branch of humanity survived to the present day. Up for grabs was whether modern non-Africans stemmed from one or more migrations out of Africa. The newest data suggests there was a single journey – that sometime be- tween 50,000 and 80,000 years ago, a single population of hu- mans left Africa and went on to settle in Asia, Europe, the Americas, the South Pacific, and everywhere else. But this finding amounts to just dot- ting the i’s and crossing the t’s on a scientific view that long ago rendered notion of human races obsolete. “We never use the term ‘race,’” said Harvard geneti- cist Swapan Mallick, an au- thor on one of the papers re- vealing the latest DNA-based human story. “We’re all part of the tapestry of humanity, and it’s interesting to see how we got where we are.” That’s not to deny that people vary in skin color and other visible traits. Whether you’re dark or light, lanky or stocky depends in part on the sunlight intensity and climate in the regions where your ancestors lived. Nor is it to deny that racism exists – but in large part, it reflects a misinterpretation of those superficial characteristics. “There is a profound misun- derstanding of what race really is,” Harvard anthropology pro- fessor Daniel Lieberman said at an event the night after the presidential debate. “Race is a scientifically indefensible con- cept with no biological basis as applied to humans.” Consider the fact that most of the race boxes people tick off on census forms were invented by creationists, such as Swedish biologist Carolus Linnaeus. In 1758, he declared that humans could be divided into races he described as white (European), red (Native American), black (African) and yellow (Asian). He also attrib- uted various unflattering per- sonality traits to all the races except for whites. In subse- quent decades, scientists of European ancestry argued over whether God created the races separately or whether they diverged from a common creationist origin. In the 19th century, scientists used race not just to classify people but to jus- tify slavery by painting Afri- cans as inferior, according to Joseph Graves, a University of North Carolina geneticist who spoke at Harvard this week. Graves – who is the au- thor of several books, in- cluding 2005’s “The Race Myth” – said a key turning point occurred when Charles Darwin published “On the Or- igin of Species” in 1859. From his travels around the world, Darwin realized that there was no scientific reason to divide people into four races. It made just as much sense to him, he wrote later, to divide them into anywhere between two and 63 races. But not everyone took Dar- win’s side. Another influential figure in 19th century science was Swiss-American biologist Louis Agassiz, whom Graves describes as a “giant” – both in his accomplishments and his sway over his contempo- raries. Even after Darwin pub- lished his book, Agassiz con- tinued to promote the notion that Africans and Europeans were different species. Agassiz proposed that the children of mixed couples would be in- fertile, as are the offspring of horses and donkeys. He was wrong, just like he was wrong in never accepting evolution. Darwin’s powerful idea didn’t put an end to scientific racism – the eugenics move- ment of the Progressive Era, for example, tried to cloak racism in evolutionary theory – but in general, 20th-century researchers pushed racism to the scientific fringes. (Histo- rians have shown that Hitler could only fake the scientific credibility of his racist ide- ology.) And in the 1980s, sci- entists used DNA to trace all humans back to an origin 200,000 years ago in Africa. This is recent in evolutionary time, given that our lineages split from that of chimpanzees perhaps 7 million years ago. Refining the story, con- temporary scientists have an- alyzed DNA collected from diverse populations – Aborig- inal Australians, Papua New Guineans, Basques, Bedouins and Pygmies. The very nature of the project acknowledges that these groups are distinct enough that their DNA mat- ters in deciphering the human story – but not so distinct that they represent separate races. Bones and teeth scattered through the Middle East and Asia show people left Africa in many waves, but according to this latest DNA analysis, only one of those waves made a substantial contribution to the current population of humans. Why are people still so de- termined to believe that ra- cial categories are distinct, unchanging and rooted in bi- ology? “It’s not rational,” said Graves. He said one reason Americans are stuck in the 19th century when it comes to race is that many teachers are un- prepared to teach human evo- lution or refuse to out of fear. Graves sometimes quizzes his students by showing them an image of a man and asking them to guess where he comes from. It appears to show someone most Ameri- cans would identify as a black man, and Graves says people assume he’s from Africa or an African American community in the U.S. But he’s from the Solomon Islands, which are in the South Pacific. Faye Flam is a Bloomberg View columnist. © 2016, Bloomberg View From his travels around the world, Darwin realized that there was no scientific reason to divide people into four races. It made just as much sense to him, he wrote later, to divide them into anywhere between two and 63 races. Why biologists don’t value race 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 find their own way”5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2016 FIND YOUR BEST DEALS DREAM CAR AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE OVER 10,000 CARS IN STOCK Tel : +81 42 440 3440 | Email : top@beforward.jp www.beforward.jp Shipped to George Town Cayman Islands DREAM CAR AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE DREAM CAR AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE Dive pioneers join scuba Hall of Fame JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The inventors of one of the first diving regulators and the man who led the first explorations beneath the North Pole were among the pioneers honored at the In- ternational Scuba Diving Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday. Described by Leslie Leaney, the organization’s executive director, as Olym- pians of the sport of diving, five international and four local heros of the sport were recognized at the event at the Marriott Grand Cayman Beach Resort. Organizers also an- nounced Friday that a new exhibit honoring the pioneers of diving and including early dive artifacts will open next month at the Cayman Islands National Museum. Among those honored were Steve Broadbelt, the owner and founder of Ocean Frontiers dive operation in East End; Anthony Scott, a pi- oneer of the sport on Cayman Brac; and Wallace Rivers, one of the first Caymanians to work in the dive industry. Gerald Wilcocks received a posthumous nomination for his contributions to diving, including bringing the first recompression chamber to the Cayman Islands – a po- tentially lifesaving piece of equipment for divers suf- fering from the bends. The international hon- orees include Stuart Cove from the Bahamas, who pi- oneered shark interac- tion diving for tourists and worked on multiple movies including the James Bond film “For Your Eyes Only.” Philippe Cousteau, the second son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who worked with his famous father on multiple documentaries before his death in a flying boat crash in 1979 at the age of 38, was also recognized. Canadian Dr. Joe Ma- cInnis, the leader of multiple research expeditions under the Arctic Ocean, was another of the international nomi- nees. Dr. MacInnis was also the expedition physician for film director James Camer- on’s record-breaking subma- rine dive to the depths of the Mariana Trench. Bob Barth, who was in- volved with the U.S. Navy’s experimental dive research, in a speech read to the audi- ence by Mr. Leaney, said he was glad to still be alive to receive the accolade. Mr. Barth was involved in the navy’s Genesis and SEALAB programs, pio- neering “saturation diving” techniques that helped him become one of the first divers to go beyond 600 feet. He paid tribute to his fellow Hall of Famers, calling them “brothers and sisters of the sea.” Deborah Bravo Velazquez collected the award Friday on behalf of her late father Ramon Bravo, a writer and filmmaker famous for his tele- vision shows in Mexico. A special pioneers award went to the Japanese creators of Ohgushi’s Peerless Respi- rator, one of the earliest pieces of diving equipment. Professor Nyle Monday of San Jose State University, Cali- fornia, who has led efforts to have the invention recognized, said he was pleased to see be- lated recognition for Ohgushi Kanezo, Watanabe Riichi and Kataoka Kyuhachi. Invented in 1916, the respirator was widely used by commercial divers in Asia and Russia in the early days of diving. One of the respirators will be on display at the new Hall of Fame museum ex- hibit in Cayman when it opens in November. Mr. Leaney paid tribute to all the new Hall of Fame inductees. “The Hall of Fame can be compared to the Olympics,” he said. “We have a sport that is not competitive, we don’t have a champion or an MVP or gold medals every four years.” But he said the Hall of Famers are the gold medalists of the sport of diving, though their contributions are mea- sured in lifelong careers rather than in minutes and seconds of competition. Local inductee Mr. Scott said he never imagined as a young man working nights tending bar and days as a dive instructor at the Buccaneers Inn on the Brac that he would one day be inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame. He said he was privileged to have been among the first divers to experience the “beau- tiful and abundant coral” in the waters around the Brac and “grateful and blessed” to be honored at Friday’s event. Anthony Scott, one of the pioneers of diving on Cayman Brac, was among the local honorees at the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame event. From left, Hall of Fame Executive Director Leslie Leaney with Nyle Monday, Stuart Cove, Deborah Bravo Velazquez, Bill Macdonald and Tom Ingram. Leslie Leaney, left, with Bill Macdonald, who accepted an award on behalf of Philippe Cousteau. - PHOTO: MAGGIE JACKSON Peter Milburn, left, and local honoree Wallace Rivers - PHOTO: MAGGIE JACKSONDISTRICT DAYS 6 District Days West Bay TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2016 • CAYMAN COMPASS 50 years ago: Parsons-Bodden wedding draws a crowd In the Oct. 5, 1966 edition of the Caymanian Weekly, a precursor of the Cayman Compass, news from West Bay included: “On Sept. 29, Miss Nella Jane Parsons became Mrs. MacArthur Bodden at a cer- emony performed by Rev. John Croft at the Pilgrim Holiness Church West Bay. “The congregation was ushered in by McTear Ebanks and Delano Bush. On the arm of her brother, Goldburn Bodden, the bride entered the church beauti- fully dressed. “The bride was at- tended by flower girls Pa- tricia Bodden and Leandra Mendoza. The bridesmaids were May Parsons, maid of honor, dressed in gold; Carol Bodden, in yellow; Oralee Parsons in tur- quoise; Marva Bodden in blue; Mary Borden in rose pink; and Blanche Parsons in pink. Waiting on the groom were Lowell Panton as best man, Eugene Ebanks, Brian Bothwell, Ladner Watler, Kelvin Thompson and George Bodden …. “A reception was held at the home of Mrs. Vincent Garvin and a dance at the Blue Horizon completed a very happy occasion.” In the same issue, West Bay correspondent Leila Yates wrote: “Mrs. Roman Welds re- turned on Sept. 29 from Ja- maica where she met her husband who was on the S.S. Ore Conway. “Mr. Lenard Bodden ar- rived on Sept. 25. He was an employee on the Conway. His father Mr. Augustus Bodden arrived on the 29th from the same ship. “Donavon Gregory, son of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Ebanks of West Bay, celebrated his first birthday on the 26th. “After spending four weeks’ holiday at home, Miss Anna Deane Powery returned to Shortwood Training College. We wish her success in her studies. “Mrs. Ertis Ebanks, her son Rodney, and her mother, Mrs. Marion Christian, ar- rived on the 2nd from New Jersey, having had an en- joyable visit with relatives there. Mr. Stanley Orrett ar- rived the same day from his job in the U.S. “Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Moore (Cleo) are the happy parents of their first child, a daughter born on Sept. 25. “The family of the late Mrs. Lena Yates wish to ex- press their sincere apprecia- tion to all who so thought- fully sent cards, floral tributes and other expres- sions of sympathy during their recent bereavement. “Through this medium the family of the late Charles Orrett wish to thank all rel- atives, friends and well- wishers who sent wreaths, cards, telegrams, letters and other tokens during their re- cent sad bereavement. “Eddington Ebanks was drafted on the Aug. 18 at the same time as Clifton Smith volunteered. These two men have always been close friends here in Cayman from school days. It had been some time since they have seen each other. They were, therefore, pleas- antly surprised on finding each other at the U.S. Army training centre at Ft. Ben- ning, Georgia, where they now serve under the same training brigade and bat- talion. They are both marksmen in the M-14 rifle. Since they have both qual- ified for aircraft mainte- nance, they hope to be stu- dents at the same training institute after basic combat training. “Mr. Henry Hydes left on the 29th to join the Paris Is- land in Jacksonville.” Butterfly garden is host to a variety of species The blooms are getting more plentiful at Cayman Turtle Centre’s butterfly garden, heralding the arrival of butterfly breeding season, as well as visits from a va- riety as migrant butterflies. The garden opened to vis- itors in November 2015 and features a pergola, benches and a pathway through a col- orful array of native wild- flowers. Signs educate visi- tors about the butterflies of Cayman, the importance of pollination and highlight a butterfly of the month. The garden is also a learning tool for students vis- iting the facility on educa- tional field trips. Butterflies and day-flying moths can be seen at the garden throughout the day, but the best viewing times tend to be late mornings as the sun warms up the cold- blooded insects, and early af- ternoons as the temperature begins to slowly decline from the peak of the day. Since the garden opened, many of Cayman’s native but- terfly species have been re- corded visiting the garden and surrounding area. But- terfly guide sheets are avail- able at the aviary for $2, and the staff can assist with any butterfly related inquiries. “Butterflies are more than just pretty things,” said the Cayman Turtle Centre’s ter- restrial exhibits curator Geddes Hislop. “Along with bees and nectar feeding birds and bats, they are critical for pollination, the environment’s mechanism by which trees and other plants multiply and spread to form meadows, mangrove wetlands, wood- lands and forests that sustain habitat, promote plant biodi- versity, preserve soil and pro- vide food and medicine for humans and wildlife.” Mr. Hislop noted more than 80 percent of all the plants on Earth need to be pollinated in order to form fruits and seeds. More than one-third of the plants that people grow for medicine, food, clothing or to feed livestock, need to be polli- nated by insects in order to produce a crop. According to the refer- ence book “Butterflies of the Cayman Islands,” more than 50 species of butterflies and skippers have been recorded on Grand Cayman, and more than 30 on each of the Sister Islands. Five sub-species are endemic to the Cayman Islands, including the spec- tacular Cayman swallow- tail (Heraclides andraemon tailori) and the Cayman pygmy blue (Brephidium ex- ilis thompsoni), possibly the world’s smallest butterfly. “To look for local but- terflies or to attract them to your garden, they do not only need the nectar-pro- ducing flowering plants for the adults, but they also often require a separate plant species as the larval food plant on which to lay their eggs and feed their cat- erpillars,” said Mr. Hislop. He said the garden’s key to making a suitable home for butterflies is its mix of native wildflowers, which represent what might be con- sidered weeds. “Plants with colorful local names such as Spanish needle (Bidens alba), cat- bush (Turnera ulmifolia), lantana (Lantana camara), vervine or blue porter weed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis), donkey weed (Stylosanthes hamata) and pride of Bar- bados (Caesalpinia pulcher- rima) adorn the garden and attract a variety of feeding and breeding butterflies,” said Mr. Hislop. “By allowing a section of your garden to grow a mix of these native wildflowers, you will encourage your own resident flying jewels. Do not worry about your flower beds or vegetable garden, cater- pillars are often very spe- cific about which plants they feed on and their nat- ural food plants are often well adapted to bounce back quite well after being com- pletely defoliated.” Butterflies in your garden Mr. Hislop said some of the more common garden butterfly species to be seen in Cayman include the white peacock (Anartia jatrophae), Mexican and Gulf fritil- lary (Euptoieta hegesia and Agraulis vanillae), and the queen butterfly (Danus gil- lippus), one of the local rep- resentatives of the monarch family of butterflies. The great southern white (Ascia mo- nuste) is famous for creating the large “snow” swarms oc- casionally seen in North Side. Some of the smaller butterfly species include the cres- cent spot (Phyciodes phaon), dotted hairstreak (Strymon istapa), Lucas’s blue (Cycl- argus ammon erembis) and other members of the tiny blue butterflies that often go unnoticed by the ca- sual observer. With the garden marking its one-year anniversary in November, plans for future enhancements include pos- sibly enclosing the garden under a mesh structure to create a butterfly house. The queen butterfly is the local representative of the monarch family. A cabbage white butterflyDISTRICT DAYS 7 District Days West Bay The following life story was read by Leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush at the funeral service for West Bay resident Thomas Ewart Ebanks, who passed away on Sept. 14. The service of thanksgiving was held on Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Church of God Chapel in George Town. Friends, what we have read in the tributes in the program, and what you will hear from me in the eu- logy – is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There are no exagger- ations of Mr. Thomas Ewart Ebanks, and today, I want to add that we can say of his good wife – that he had one of the best in the commu- nity. It is said, and it is true that behind every good man “stands a good woman.” Ms. Edith is that – stalwart in every way. You don’t have to be talking to her long to un- derstand that you are talking to an intelligent lady, and I’m fortunate to count her as one of my good friends and con- fidantes, and so we can pay tribute to this lady for her life as a wife, mother and family woman, a friend to a host of people in our islands. Kerry and myself wish to ex- tend our condolences to Ms. Edith and her family in these, their hours of great loss. Mr. Thomas Ewart Ebanks was born to Dallis Glen and Rosel Ebanks in West Bay on Aug. 28, 1920. His father died when he was 2 years old and his mother died two years later, leaving three children, an older sister and a younger baby brother. He was raised by his grandparents Betty and Tommy Ebanks with the help of other relatives. As a young boy Mr. Ewart attended the all-age school in Bosun Bay until the age of 13 years. On completion of his schooling, he went to the Mosquito Cays from time to time to catch turtles and for shark fishing for the shark- skin trade with the United States. In between those trips, he was farming. When World War II began, young Mr. Ewart signed up as a member of the Cayman contingent and went to Trin- idad in May 1941 at the age of 20 to join the Trinidad Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Three months after he ar- rived in Trinidad, he was sent to Bermuda as a member of the regiment to repair ships. He worked at repairing three ships, namely: the O’Vera, Kencora and Elecitis. On the day they were scheduled to leave Bermuda on the O’Vera, there was a fire on the ship that caused a further delay of another month. After the repairs were completed and the ship was back in Trinidad, Mr. Ewart was assigned to a patrol vessel looking for enemy sub- marines. To assist with this detection, they were using ASDIC gear and would pa- trol every day back and forth across the channels. Later he was assigned to another ship by the name of H.M.S. Day Light, which was a mine- sweeper, and he also served as a sailor on a rescue tug. While the ship was at sea, his duties included alter- nating four-hour watch shifts with eight hours off. When they were in port, the ship- mates constantly had to be chipping, painting and doing any repairs that were needed to the ship, while also partic- ipating in vigorous training, including marching, marks- manship and drills. Mr. Ewart served in the Navy for 4½ years, returning home only once on a two- month rest and recupera- tion after two years. After the war, he returned home in August 1945, and started to do construction work. Soon after his return home, he met his future wife and they were engaged in June 1946. In November of that year, Mr. Ewart traveled to the United States seeking employment and was hired by the Suwannee Shipping Company, where he stayed working on their ships until November 1948. On Dec. 27, 1949, he was united in marriage to Edith Orrett, daughter of Charles and Lillian Orrett. To this union was born seven chil- dren, four daughters and three sons. In 1951, Mr. Ewart went back to the U.S., and con- tinued to work with the same shipping company for an- other year. On Nov. 22, 1952, he returned to the Cayman Islands, on the first flight that landed at the Owen Roberts Airport. He stayed at home in Cayman with his wife and young family until November 1954, when once again he re- turned to the United States and joined the Bermuth Ship- ping Company. Mr. Ewart’s seaman’s career also continued on U.S. ships with the ship- ping Company Lembache & Young Shipping. In 1956 he left for what would be his final trip to sea before returning home in 1958, thus ending his sea- man’s career. After his shipping liveli- hood, he went into full time construction and worked as a carpenter assisting Mr. Elroy Arch to build some of the famous hotels of the day, like the West Indian Club on Seven Mile Beach. He later worked with Mr. Jimmy Powell and Mr. VanDyke Bush during the condo boom on Seven Mile Beach. He built many houses as head car- penter, including those of his daughters Roselle, Rhonda and Debbie. He was also in- volved with the construction of the old Wesleyan Church on Northwest Point Road, the West Bay Chapel Church, as well as the church hall on the Town Hall Road. He also assisted with the Church of God Chapel on Walkers Road. Mr. Ewart also helped to renovate several homes, in- cluding his own and, as a skilled carpenter, he built kitchen and bathroom cabi- nets for many homes. From his very skilled car- pentry ability, he enjoyed making replica schooners. He was also a barber, with a dedicated clientele and con- tinued to cut hair up until the age of 95 years. Mr. Ewart enjoyed a very healthy life until November last year when he suffered three strokes in close suc- cession and had his first stay in hospital. He became a Christian in 1973 and a member of the Chapel Church of God. He and his wife later wor- shipped at the Church of Christ on Batabano Road, until he became ill in No- vember of 2015 and was bedridden. Mr. Ewart was recognized over the years by many of the churches in West Bay for his dedica- tion to the community of West Bay, commitment to his church and to marriage. When the Cayman Islands Veterans Association was formed, Mr. Ewart joined and was an active member until he became ill. His par- ticipation in the association included attending all their meetings, Christmas and so- cial functions, services and any special occasions, as well as attending all the na- tional holiday events, in- cluding National Heroes Day, Queen’s Birthday celebration and the Veterans Remem- brance Day parades. He was honored for many years to pin the first poppy on the governor, who is the honorary patron of the vet- erans, and to lay the wreath at the war memorial in re- membrance of all veterans. He did this with great pride for the past sev- eral years until November last year, and shortly there- after suffered a debilitating stroke. On Heroes Day, Jan. 24, 2011, Mr. Thomas Ewart Ebanks along with other surviving veterans of World War II, were honored by the government and given the most prestigious “Com- mander, Medal of Honour” (CMH) Award for their ded- ication and participation during WWII. Most of them were known as the “Trinidad Boys,” having served in WWII as part of the Trinidad Royal Navy volunteer reserve. Mr. Ewart was also an avid sports fan with cricket being his favorite sport. In earlier days, he would watch the game being played, in front of his home and lis- tening on the radio, and in recent times he spent hours watching the game on TV. He liked all three versions of the game. Mr. Ewart was also present at most, if not all of the special Cricket Crazy Games. Although not a presence there in the last 10 months, today we can also fondly re- member Mr. Ewart as a fix- ture sitting on the front porch of his home, waving to anyone and everyone as they walked or drove by his yard. Some days he could be seen cutting his lawn or maintaining his house or sit- ting under his guinep tree in a swing. On Saturdays, he could often be found in his most unique and cool Barber Shop, which was at the back of his house, cutting hair. Mr. Ewart never did re- cover from the strokes to help himself in any capacity, and last week Tuesday eve- ning, he took ill and rapidly faded, to leave us the fol- lowing afternoon, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. He was preceded in death by his son, Don Evert Ebanks, whom they lost at the tender age of 16 by a car accident, and his brother Mr. Dallis Ebanks, who also died at a relatively young age. He is survived by, and will always be remembered and greatly missed by his loving and faithful wife Edith of 66 years, and their children, daughters Mrs. Patricia Nee- some, Mrs. Roselle Jackson, Mrs. Rhonda Conolly and Miss Deborah Ebanks, sons Thomas Charley Ebanks and Lennie Ebanks, sons-in-law Hank Jackson, Alan Nee- some and Kenross Conolly, and daughter-in-law Riselda Ebanks [as well as] grand- children Charley Philip Ebanks, Melanie Jackson, Karyn Jackson, Alyssa Clif- ford, Robert Neesome and Darron Conolly, great-grand- childen, Che, Nadia and Jakob, sister Mrs. Christell Rivers, and any nieces, nephews, a host of other rel- atives, friends and his vet- eran family throughout the islands and overseas, and caregivers Carol Burey, Do- reen Peddie and Chimonie (Symone) Bent. CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2016 OBITUARY Thomas Ewart Ebanks remembered Thomas Ewart Ebanks Ewart and Edith Ebanks with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Community CALENDAR ■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR is published TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS. It is available to charitable or nonprofit organizations. Items should be submitted at least three working days before publication. Information must include name of sender, signature and contact number. ■ Items may be faxed to 949-2662, brought to the Cayman Compass office on Shedden Rd. or emailed to cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com at least three days in advance of publication. TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2016 • CAYMAN COMPASS EASTERN AVE Drive Thru Rain or Shine 949-7104 ELGIN AVE • C ENTENNIAL TOWERS • C OUNTRYSIDE VILLAGE Puritan has gone Eco- friendly with the “Cadillac” of dry cleaning machines the Union HL-860! It’s a lean, GREEN cleaning machine!!! Puritan now offers Eco friendly dry cleaning with the revolutionary DF2000 Green Solvent that’s dominating the cleaning industry. DF-2000 ... leaves clothes cleaner, brighter, and odor free!! With odor absorbing Prewash Detergent and a secondary detergent that moisturizes and conditions your fabrics, like a day at the spa, cleaning is completed with top fi nishing agents, leaving your clothes with body, style, feeling and looking like new!! Your garments are then hand fi nished by the island’s most experienced garment fi nishers. Treat your clothes to Puritan’s new, Eco friendly cleaning system. Puritan Cleaners … meeting the world’s green standard, with over 58 years of service, in the Cayman Islands. WE ARE LOCATED AT 4 CONVENIENT LOCATIONS. FREE PICK UP AND DELIVERY OPEN EARL Y! TUESDAY, OCT. 4 WASTE MANAGEMENT: The public can learn about the draft outline business case for the proposed Integrated Solid Waste Management System during an open house at the Government Administration Building in Grand Cayman, 5-7 p.m. A questionnaire being set up on the Ministry of Health website www.ministryofhealth.gov.ky will be provided. A copy of the consultation draft outline business case is also available on the website. Comments should be made by Oct. 7. REVIVAL: Revival continues tonight and tomorrow at First Assembly of God, 195 Old Crewe Road, with special guest Dennis Wilson, 7:30 p.m. All are invited. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 5 WASTE MANAGEMENT SISTER ISLANDS: The public can learn about the draft outline business case for the proposed Integrated Solid Waste Management System at open house sessions in Cayman Brac at the Aston Rutty Civic Centre from 5-7 p.m.; in Little Cayman at the National Trust House from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. A questionnaire being set up on the Ministry of Health website www. ministryofhealth.gov.ky will be provided. A copy of the consultation draft outline business case is also available on the website. Comments should be made by Oct. 7. THURSDAY, OCT. 6 DISCUSSION FOR ARTISTS: Special discussion for artists at the National Gallery. Doors open at 5 p.m. Discussions begin at 5:30 p.m. Using the National Gallery’s temporary exhibition, “Speak to Me” as a platform, artists are invited to share their views on the language of art. Free. The public is invited to sit in. Wine and nibbles will be served. For additional details or to RSVP, email education@nationalgallery. org.ky or call 945-8111. BRAC POST OFFICES: Post offices on Cayman Brac will close at noon in order to facilitate a staff training session. SATURDAY, OCT. 8 800M SEA SWIM: CIASA stages the second race of the 2016-17 Open Water season at Governors Beach. The traditional 800m swim is open to all. A 400m swim for the 12 and unders is not a timed event. Start time is 4 p.m. for the 800m, 4:45 for the 400m. Registration is 3-3:45 p.m. For CIASA members, 800m fee is $15 for adults and $10 for children; for non-CIASA members, 800m fee is $20 for adults and $15 for children. The 400m swim is $10. There will be trophies for the top three finishers in each age group. The children in the 400m race will receive participation ribbons. There will also be T-shirts and refreshments. SUNDAY, OCT. 9 MEMORIAL 5K: The Lions Club of Tropical Gardens Brenda Tibbetts Lund Memorial 5K walk/run and the 10K run take off from SafeHaven Drive/ Crighton Drive (starting and ending near the Holiday Inn Resort) at 6 a.m. Spot prizes, medals and trophies awarded. Pre-registration at the Lions Club of Tropical Gardens Pink Shop in Elizabethan Square 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and on Oct. 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. TUESDAY, OCT. 11 STEM CONFERENCE: The public is invited to the reception and opening session of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Carib Conference at UCCI from 6 p.m. Free. CHAMBER COURSE: Employment, The Hiring Process, from 9-11 a.m. at the Chamber of Commerce, Governors Square; $175 for members, $225 for future members; register online at www.caymanchamber.ky. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 12 MARATHON TIPS: Join the Intertrust CI Marathon team and guest speakers, nutritionist Andrea Hill and Cayman Physiotherapy, as they offer tips on marathon nutrition and a physiotherapist’s guide to recovery and injury prevention. 5:30-6:30 p.m. at The Westin. CHAMBER COURSE: Project Management Fundamentals. Wednesday, Oct. 12-14; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fidelity Financial Centre, 2nd floor, 1 Gecko Link; $1,107 for members, $1,350 for future members; register online at www.caymanchamber.ky. THURSDAY, OCT. 13 CHAMBER COURSE: The Exceptional Presenter, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Chamber of Commerce, Governors Square; $150 for members, $225 for future members; register online at www.caymanchamber.ky. FRIDAY, OCT. 14 STEM CONFERENCE: The public is invited to demonstrations and exhibits at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Conference at UCCI, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Free. SATURDAY, OCT. 15 CHAMBER COURSE: Introduction to Project Management. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fidelity Financial Centre, 2nd floor, 1 Gecko Link; $287 for members, $350 for future members; register online at www.caymanchamber.ky. TUESDAY, OCT. 18 ZIKA PUBLIC MEETING: Doctors and government officers invite the public, especially pregnant women, to a meeting at the Bodden Town Civic Centre, 5:30-7 p.m. RUN2ZERO: Cayman AIDS Foundation hosts its fourth annual 5K and 10K Run2Zero Community Awareness Walk/Run on Oct. 23. Today is the deadline to take advantage of group rates for all organizations that register 10 or more people. The group rate is $15 per person; individuals are $25. Contact noel@caf.ky or visit the CAF office Unit # 21 Caymanian Village, North Sound Road, or call 946-3029. SUNDAY, OCT. 23 ANNUAL CUT-A-THON: Eclipze Hair Design & Day Spa hosts the annual Cut-A-Thon in support of breast cancer awareness. Volunteers from various salons and spas will be at Eclipze, suite 6103-D, 10 Market Street, Camana Bay from 2-6 p.m. offering services such as wet cuts, mini manicures, eyebrow threading and a $1-a-minute massages at a reduced rate. All proceeds donated to The Lions Club of Tropical Gardens Breast Cancer Awareness Fund in aid of Breast Cancer Month. TUESDAY, OCT. 25 ZIKA PUBLIC MEETING: Doctors and government officers invite the public, especially pregnant women, to a meeting at Sir John A. Cumber Primary School Hall, West Bay, 5:30-7 p.m. SATURDAY, OCT. 29 ARTISAN MARKET: Pedro Castle. Hershey Halloween Event, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visual Arts Society annual Christmas arts and crafts sale, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Contact artisansmarkets@ visualartcayman.com. TUESDAY, NOV. 1 ZIKA PUBLIC MEETING: Doctors and government officers invite the public, especially pregnant women, to a meeting at the North Side Civic Centre, 5:30-7 p.m. TUESDAY, NOV. 8 ZIKA PUBLIC MEETING: Doctors and government officers invite the public, especially pregnant women, to a meeting at the East End Civic Centre, 5:30-7 p.m. GENERAL INTEREST PARADE OF LIGHTS: The annual holiday event featuring a Christmas concert, boat parade and spectacular fireworks display is set for Dec. 3 at Camana Bay. Anyone interested in participating in the parade should phone 333-6560 or email c27paradeoflights@gmail.com. For more Community Calendar events, visit www.caymancompass.com/events. Marathon runners can get tips on nuitrition, recovery and injury prevention at a session hosted by the Intertrust Cayman Islands Marathon team at The Westin on Oct. 12.The islands’ most-trusted news source 9 CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2016 Happy 21st Birthday in Heaven Ty Love Mom, Dad, Sis and the rest of family Tyler Ramoon October 4, 1995-February 20, 2015 In Loving Memory On your Heavenly 21st Birthday Our Darling Son & Brother This day will be a celebration of the short time you were here. You will always be remembered with great love and many tears. But to only feel pain and sorrow would not be fair to you. Your life meant so much more to us, more than words could say. You were here so brie y, we wonder if you knew all the ways you've touched our world and our hearts and everyone who knew you. There will always be a big void in our lives and a hole in our hearts that will never heal. Our souls will grieve forever. Will we forget or stop loving you? No! No! Not now....not ever. As this day is upon us, oh, how our hearts still hurt. But even as we mourn your death, we will always celebrate your birth. on you. I can formulate a good enough argument, but they [the government] have the majority.” Premier Alden McLaugh- lin’s office has released a list of two dozen bills to be considered in the meeting that begins Tuesday, and has commented pub- licly in recent weeks on a number of the laws pending before parliament. Financial services Several bills brought be- fore this week’s legislative meeting address various regulatory aspects of the fi- nancial services sector. None has prompted more contro- versy than the Non-Profit Organisations Bill. The proposal, which started as the Charities Bill in 2010, seeks to deal with the monitoring of nonprofits through audits and the regu- lation of those organizations via government registration. The legislation currently defines a nonprofit as any organization seeking public contributions as its primary purpose for philanthropic activities. The bill does not apply to charitable or vol- untary organizations that are already regulated by a government entity, trusts that are registered under the Banks and Trust Compa- nies Law and any other enti- ties that are exempt through an order of Cabinet. Entities with gross annual revenues of at least $250,000 that re- ceive at least 30 percent of their earnings in charitable contributions must be au- dited and report the results to government. Those that receive under $250,000 per year may still be audited on a case-by-case basis. The exemption powers given to Cabinet under the bill, if it is passed, are a major concern for Bodden Town MLA Alva Suckoo, a former government back- bench lawmaker who left the Progressives political party at the end of last year. “[This bill] gives Cab- inet the authority to over- ride the regulatory body that’s created within the law,” Mr. Suckoo said. “Cabinet can effectively pardon [a] nonprofit en- tity if they break the law. This law allows Cabinet to become judge and jury. It’s dangerous.” Successive government administrations have been under pressure to pass a law regulating charitable contributions, which have been used in other coun- tries as covers for entities that try to support money laundering or terrorism fi- nancing. Cayman is facing a mid-2017 review by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force that will evaluate its preventive measures in those areas. Lawyers bill Another effort to update regulations for local attor- neys also seeks to comply with international stan- dards and has drawn a considerable number of public comments. Various iterations of the Legal Practitioners Bill have been attempted, with an eye toward modernizing the local practice of law and complying with internation- ally accepted anti-money laundering and terrorist fi- nancing rules. The current bill is based on a law that took effect in 1969. The legislation creates a new regulatory body for lawyers, called the Cayman Islands Legal Practitioners Association. This is envi- sioned as an industry “self- regulator” with eight at- torneys appointed as its members. Five of the mem- bers must be Caymanian. If the bill is passed, the associ- ation will be responsible for promotion and training of Caymanian attorneys. It also must ensure all attorneys practicing in the Cayman Is- lands are suitably qualified. The bill also creates a separate business staffing plan regime for local law firms, including rules that seek to ensure Caymanian lawyers are “properly con- sidered” for promotions, in- cluding in overseas op- erations at the various law firms. It is in the attempt to regulate offshore activities of Cayman Islands law firms that the Progressives-led ad- ministration must be par- ticularly careful, Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush said. “We must take a step back … and look at the bigger picture when consid- ering these changes in the context of Cayman func- tioning as a key player in the global financial services industry,” Mr. Bush said, adding that he would not support the legislation as it currently stood. He pro- posed pushing the bill back until December to allow for more input on the issue. For George Town MLA Winston Connolly, the issue to be resolved is one of a more local concern. “We need to modernize how lawyers practice, their obligations code of conduct … no one is arguing that,” Mr. Connolly said. “People are missing the part where Caymanians – one set of Cay- manians – the Caymanians that are born here, are not represented in the highest jobs in the profession.” The party line Wholesale revisions to the Cayman Islands Elec- tions Law proposed by the administration could force independent lawmakers to join a political party, or form one of their own whether they want to or not. “It just doesn’t make any sense at all,” North Side MLA Ezzard Miller said. According to the re- written section 22 of the Elections Bill: “Any group of persons whose activities in- dicate they come together to contest an election, shall register as a political party.” In circumstances where such a group carries out ac- tivities that “indicate that they have come together to contest an election,” the su- pervisor of elections may conduct an investigation to determine whether the group’s activities indicate that it is, in fact, a political party. If the supervisor de- termines this is the case, the supervisor will then desig- nate the group as a political party – with or without its consent, the bill states. “Where a group of nom- inated candidates desig- nated as a political party are aggrieved by the desig- nation, that group of nom- inated candidates may, within seven days of the no- tification of the designation, appeal to the Grand Court against the decision of the supervisor [of elections],” the bill states. In such a case, the Grand Court would be required to hear the ap- peal within 14 days. No ap- peal can be made of the Grand Court’s decision, ac- cording to the bill. The des- ignation of a political party, according to the bill, can be done following the nomina- tion of candidates, which oc- curs about six weeks before an election. “I guess they think they’re going to tie up me and [East End MLA] Arden [McLean], fighting us about whether we’re a political party,” Mr. Miller said Monday. “They can call us a political party all they want, we’re not a political party. It’s useless. It makes no sense.” Public utilities If a number of related bills governing the operation of Cayman’s public utilities sector and the petroleum sector are approved, Cayman will adopt a completely dif- ferent way of regulating the companies that provide elec- tricity, water and telecom- munications, and petrol. The Utility Regulation and Competition Bill seeks to establish a “one-stop- shop” for utility regula- tory issues, dissolving the Information and Commu- nications Technology Au- thority, the Electricity Reg- ulatory Authority and the Petroleum Inspectorate. The Water Authority-Cayman would lose its economic reg- ulatory function under the new proposals. Under the new regulatory agency, the current over- sight bodies will be merged into one office overseen by a nine-person board of direc- tors. The amalgamation, first proposed in 2014, was sug- gested in the Ernst & Young consultancy report, seeking to save government $250,000 per year in operating costs. Procurement The Procurement Bill (2016) – made public in Sep- tember – sets up an en- tirely new process for public bids for anything from pur- chasing supplies to the con- struction of public build- ings, focusing on a tendering process at the “department level” – meaning a lower- level committee process will first review the proposals. Those reviews will then be passed on to a new entity called the Public Procure- ment Committee for a sec- ondary review. Although the local polit- ical leadership and Cayman’s deputy governor will have a hand in appointing mem- bers of the new Public Pro- curement Committee, the bill seeks to place layers between their direct involvement in public bids by having senior civil servants appoint mem- bers of the initial bid com- mittee. The three-person “de- partmental” bid committee will review offers for any project and then pass its rec- ommendations on to the pro- curement committee, which will review it and either concur or disagree with the initial decision. The issue of political control in the procurement process arose after former Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick noted in 2011 that certain elected officials appeared to be interfering in public tendering. Planning A handful of amend- ments to the Cayman Is- lands Development and Planning Law and regula- tions will allow for taller structures, up to 10 sto- ries, in hotel/tourism zones in the islands without the need for greater property setbacks from the sea or the road. The changes will also extend the time allowed for challenges to structures built without planning per- mission and will allow for more extensive enforcement on dilapidated properties. The changes proposed for the planning law regu- lations are the result of a Grand Court decision this year that threw into ques- tion whether taller build- ings in tourism zones should be built farther back from the water line. Lawmakers: Mass of bills to change ‘lives of generations’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly buildingNext >