ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – MONDAY JULY 10, 2017 WITH SWEET & SPICY BBQ SAUCE NEW! LONGER WAIT TIMES LIKELY AT AIRPORT BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Already struggling with long passenger lines on many weekends and holidays, the Owen Roberts International Airport on Grand Cayman may have increased wait times as new security measures are put in place. The security enhancements, to comply with June 28 direc- tives from the U.S. Transpor- tation Security Administra- tion regarding flights arriving in the U.S., require closer scru- tiny of electronic devices “larger than a cellphone,” according to the airports authority. The airports authority, which implemented the more strin- gent security checks Friday, asks all passengers to check in for flights at least two hours before PR applications: 8 approved, 10 denied Weekly meetings continue BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Eight permanent residence appli- cations have been approved since May and 10 have been denied, according to figures released Friday by the Cayman Islands government. Another 11 applications were “de- ferred” pending further information to be presented before the board on be- half of the applicants. Between May 11 and July 6, three applications were withdrawn and one was tossed out because it was filed too late. Two of the applications approved faced potential lawsuits by the appli- cants, who challenged the government over the three-year delays in pro- cessing their requests. The four meetings between May and July were the first to be held to consider permanent residence appli- cations in about two-and-a-half years, since legal questions arose over the system Cayman was using to process the forms. During the lapse period, somewhere between 900 and 1,000 residency applications were made and are now in a backlog. The hearings so far have not made much of a dent in the backlog, local immigration at- torney Nicolas Joseph said Friday. “My guesstimate is that about five or six [applications] are getting filed each week, 250 a year,” Mr. Joseph said. “That seems to be moderately higher than those being finally deter- mined [those granted or refused].” In the meetings held to decide res- idence applications thus far by the Smooth landing for Navy response team JAMES WHITTAKER, KAYLA YOUNG jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com, kyoung@pinnaclemedialtd.com Military trucks rolled onto the white sands of Seven Mile Beach on Friday as po- lice and Royal Navy helicopters hovered over- head in a show of strength from the British disaster response team currently operating in the Caribbean. Swimmers and sunbathers looked on as the 16,000-ton RFA Mounts Bay moored off the beach, unloading trucks and heavy equipment along with a crew of British Navy officers. Grand Cayman was the first stop for RFA Mounts Bay during the dock landing ship’s deployment in the Caribbean. Captain Christopher Clarke said the crew sought to fulfill a four-tiered mission in the region. “The first and foremost is security reas- surance to U.K. Overseas Territories and the wider region. We’re also ready for contingent disaster relief in the case of tropical cyclones or if anything worse happens. We get involved in counter-narcotic operations over the year,” Capt. Clarke said during a reception aboard the ship Thursday evening. “The final thing, which people forget, is we’re ready for contingent tasking around the world. If any conflict happens, we’re on five days notice to react to that event.” The training exercise on Friday and Saturday was a simulation of how the British armed forces could respond after a major hurricane. Lieutenant Oliver Fletcher of the Royal En- gineers said Seven Mile Beach would be a re- alistic access point for emergency crews in the event of a catastrophe that impacted the port in George Town. He said the beach exercise demonstrated that RFA Mounts Bay, which is on duty in the Caribbean Sea, could land heavy equipment and skilled personnel on Grand Cayman in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 9 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 9 » The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service helicopter hovers over Governors Beach on Friday as the British Royal Navy unloads heavy machinery and equipment as part of a disaster relief exercise. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 9 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL MONDAY JULY 10, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS Daily Matinees Every Day $8.00 Seniors, Mon-Fri Before 6pm Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 - MONDAY - SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any lm starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. 640-FILM (640-3456) SATURDAY, JULY 15th, 8PM SPIDER-MAN: HOME COMING 3D (PG13) 12:30 I 12:45 2D VIP I 3:30 I 3:45 2D 6:30 I 6:40 2D VIP I 9:30 2D I 9:35 BABY DRIVER (R) 12:50 I 3:35 I 6:35 I 9:45 VIP WONDER WOMAN (PG13) 12:20 I 3:25 I 6:30 I 9:35 DESPICABLE ME 3 3D (PG) 1:00 I 4:00 2D VIP I 7:10 2D I 10:00 TRANSFORMERS: LAST KNIGHT 3D (PG13) 12:30 2D I 3:15 I 6:45 I 9:20 2D US prosecutors: Illegal gold used in money-laundering scheme MIAMI (AP) – A man who considered himself the Pablo Escobar of gold smug- gling and two other former workers at a Miami-area re- finery imported more than $1 billion in illegally mined gold from South America in a vast money-laundering scheme from 2013 to 2016, U.S. prosecutors say. In a criminal complaint, the U.S. said that the three ex-employees of NTR Metals Miami and accomplices from several South American coun- tries coordinated the pur- chase of illegally mined gold originating from Pe- ruvian mines controlled by drug traffickers. “The international gold trade has become a common method for the laundering of illegal mining, narcotics and other criminal proceeds,” said the complaint filed by prose- cutor Francisco Maderal. Prosecutors identified the ringleader as Juan Pablo Granda, a 35-year-old U.S. citizen born in Ecuador who formerly was director of op- erations for NTR Metals Miami. FBI agents detained him at his mother’s home in Miami on March 15, after he was fired by NTR’s Texas- based parent company. Evidence in the complaint includes exchanges among the three men through mes- saging apps, such as What- sapp. In one of them, Granda boasted about his gold- smuggling operations by comparing himself to the Co- lombian drug lord Pablo Es- cobar, killed in 1993. “I’m like Pablo coming to get the coke,” Granda wrote, according to the complaint. Renato Rodriguez, once the company’s executive sales director for Latin America, and Samer Barrage, a U.S. citizen born in London who once oversaw NTR’s opera- tions in Miami, also were charged. The three have pleaded not guilty and now await a trial that U.S. District Judge Robert Scola set for January 2018. Prosecutors say the men purchased the illegal gold from early 2013 to 2016. During Granda’s bail hearing in March, Maderal said Granda alone coordinated the laundering of more than $1 billion in illegal gold. “In general, gold is a good medium for money laun- dering because it has uni- versal and readily ascertain- able value and is difficult to trace,” the U.S. said in its com- plaint. NTR Metals, a Dallas- based refining company, was not charged in the case. The company did not respond to requests for comment. In 2014, after a Peruvian government crackdown on il- legally mined gold, the drug traffickers who owned the il- legal mines began smuggling the gold into Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and other Latin American countries, and then exported it to Miami refineries, prosecutors said in the com- plaint. The U.S. government gained access to the cellphones of Granda and Rodriguez from NTR Metals, which had confis- cated the devices months be- fore the company was notified of the criminal investigation. NTR Metals requested that Granda and Rodriguez sur- render their cellphones after it began an internal investigation into a $304 million gold ship- ment that was stolen while on its way from Peru to the United States. During Granda’s bail hearing, Magistrate Judge An- drea Simonton said she con- sidered the text messages to be crucial evidence. “These are text messages from your client that are spe- cifically discussing gold smug- gling and mules carrying gold into other countries with, you know, certain explicit de- tails,” Simonton said. In one of the exchanges, authori- ties say, Granda sent pic- tures of young men he said were hired as “mules” to carry smuggled gold. Granda, Rodriguez and Barrage searched for clients using “smiling and dialing” cold calls, authorities added. Prosecutors said the three cultivated relationships with gold sellers by entertaining them and bringing to Miami. On a trip to Chile, Rodriguez and Barrage entertained a Chilean gold smuggler with alcohol and prostitutes, the complaint says. Defense lawyers for Granda and Rodriguez declined to comment about their cli- ents’ cases. Barrage’s law- yers did not respond to re- quests for comment. Flowers Sea Swim photo booth winner The Cayman Compass would like to congratulate Rolan Ramos on being a Pin- nacle Media contest winner. Mr. Ramos participated in the Flowers Sea Swim photo booth competition and, with more than 550 photo Facebook “likes,” took away a spectacular prize. He will enjoy a Red Sail Sports Swimmin’, Chillin’ & Grillin’ sail for 10, including a bar- becue lunch and a US$150 beverage tab. He also received dinner for four with wine pairings at The Beach House at The Westin Grand Cayman. Pictured with winner Mr. Ramos is Red Sail Beach At- tendant Carl-Lyle Young. The chance to win other great prizes is waiting at cay- mancompass.com/contests. US border city considers helping jail immigrants (AP) – The summer heat has reduced the river sepa- rating El Paso, Texas, from Juarez, Mexico, to a dry, brown plain, allowing hun- dreds of people to run across the riverbed recently to em- brace their relatives and take pictures. The four-minute visits were approved by border authorities on both sides, as part of an event called “Hugs Not Walls.” Meanwhile, each night El Paso’s jail – under contract with the federal government – takes in hundreds of immi- grants awaiting deportation. “It sends mixed mes- sages,” said El Paso County Commissioner Vincent Perez, who wants to end the coun- ty’s detention contract with the U.S. Marshals Service. “Our local jails can be used to enforce federal immigration law if they’re brought in by Border Patrol and ICE,” refer- ring to Immigration and Cus- toms Enforcement. The Trump administra- tion’s immigration crack- down and a new Texas effort to aid federal agents have forced El Paso to grapple with whether its county jail is being used to facilitate policies its residents vigor- ously oppose. Most El Paso residents trace their heri- tage to Mexico, and many U.S. citizens born and raised in Texas’ largest border city have family on the other side of the Rio Grande. El Paso’s leaders say they have great sympathy for immi- grants living in the U.S., le- gally or not, and yet the city plays an important role in the enforcement of im- migration laws. The U.S. Marshals typi- cally use El Paso’s jail space to hold inmates awaiting federal court hearings in El Paso, most of them from the surrounding region, as part of a long-standing agreement with the county. Top local of- ficials and some advocates say detaining immigrants in El Paso is more humane than pulling out of the con- tract. They argue those who are held locally have better access to lawyers and their families instead of pushing them to distant county jails or private detention facilities. Two facilities that might take inmates in El Paso’s place are more than 80 miles away, making them nearly inacces- sible to families without a car or a driver with a license. “We are fighting for ending immigrant detention, but this proposal doesn’t ac- complish that,” said Fer- nando Garcia, executive di- rector of the Border Network for Human Rights, the El Paso-based nonprofit group that organized the “Hugs Not Walls” event. “If they cancel the con- tract, what is going to happen with those immigrants in El Paso County?” Garcia said. “They’re going to take them somewhere else.” El Paso is also among the cities and civil rights groups that are suing the state over its new law targeting so- called sanctuary cities. The law requires police officers to ask about a person’s immi- gration status during routine stops. Police chiefs and sher- iffs who do not cooperate with federal requests to hold criminal suspects without legal status for possible de- portation could be charged with a crime. Federal judges in San An- tonio and Austin heard ar- guments in the case in June. Those suing the state are seeking to stop the law be- fore it would go into effect in September. The state is backed by the Trump admin- istration, which sent a lawyer to argue in support of the law at one hearing. A woman rushes over to greet her mother, whom she had not seen in 21 years, during a brief meeting in the Rio Grande river bed as part of the Hugs Not Walls family reunification event on the U.S-Mexico border on Saturday. - PHOTO: AP3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY JULY 10, 2017 Home Options BRITISH CAYMANIAN INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED 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. 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Motor deductibles from £200 SAVE 10% on car insurance with home insurance FREE Roadside recovery (comprehensive insurance) cgigrp coverwithoutaddedcosts! $250* CERTIFICATE WITH BUILDINGS INSURANCE *Choice of $250 BritCay gift certificate OR Storm Kit applies to new buildings insurance policies only FREE STORM KIT... with new home insurance policies. 5 gallon bucket 100’ rope Lantern/flashlight (rechargeable) AM/FM Radio (rechargeable) First Aid Kit Large tarpaulin 6-in-1Game Set (chess, checkers, backgammon, tick-tac- toe, dice, playing cards) ‘Hero’ employee intervenes in East End dive shop stabbing Young woman seriously injured, suspect arrested BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com A teenage employee at an East End dive resort was stabbed repeatedly Thursday evening inside the busi- ness by a suspect who po- lice said had been released on court bail earlier this year in connection with a separate criminal offense. The attack was reported at 6:20 p.m. at Ocean Fron- tiers and occurred near the administration desk for the Compass Point resort when a 28-year-old man entered the business and had words with a young woman working there. The dispute escalated and eventually led to the woman being stabbed about half a dozen times, according to witnesses. One witness, Tim Johnson, a tourist on holiday from Pennsylvania, said the inci- dent could have been much worse if one of the young woman’s co-workers had not intervened, first going out for help and then coming to the aid of her stricken col- league – and getting struck in the head with a broomstick in the process. “She was a hero to inter- vene like that, a lot braver than me,” Mr. Johnson said. “She was young too, maybe around the same age [as the victim].” The 18-year-old stabbing victim was taken to hos- pital Thursday evening with serious injuries, but Royal Cayman Islands Police Ser- vice officers said Friday that she was expected to survive. Her co-worker suffered rela- tively minor injuries from the blow to the head, police said. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder the same evening as the attack at an address in Bodden Town after he fled the scene of the stabbing. He was known to the teenage victim, police said. Victim: ‘I did not do it’ Mr. Johnson, a frequent visitor to the Cayman Is- lands, said he was sitting on a bench outside the Ocean Frontiers shop waiting for a nighttime dive to get under way when he heard “a com- motion” inside the store. At first, Mr. Johnson said he didn’t think anything of it, but began to take notice when a distressed young woman exited the shop and went next door to the Eagle Ray restaurant to get help. At that stage, the dis- pute began to escalate and Mr. Johnson said he heard a woman’s voice inside the shop “turn to fear, anxiety.” “She kept saying ‘I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it,’ Mr. Johnson said. “The voice was very afraid. He was clearly accusing her of some- thing and insisting she had committed some infraction against him.” At this point, the female employee who went for help came back with several other staff members. Mr. Johnson said he followed her into the dive shop. “I saw the stabbing victim lying against the wall on the floor in the fetal position, she was in a very defensive pos- ture,” he said. The assailant, Mr. Johnson said, had taken a broomstick into his hand which he used to strike the other woman as she attempted to render assistance to her colleague on the floor. He said he did not see where the knife had gone. “When he hit her over the head, I got the impres- sion he wanted to kill her,” he said. “If he had a base- ball bat, she would’ve had a cracked skull.” Mr. Johnson said he ex- ited the building shortly af- terward and called 911. He saw the stabbing victim later, before the ambulance took her away. She had blood on her neck, he said. He said he did not know how the suspect ended up leaving the scene, but was told later that the man got into a vehicle and sped away. Court bail The suspect, who is not being identified by the Cayman Compass because he had not been charged with a crime as of Friday, is known to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service. He was granted bail ear- lier this year during an ap- pearance before the Sum- mary Court on charges of assaulting and threatening to kill police. Bail conditions, including wearing an electronic ankle monitor and a curfew, were set by the court. “She kept saying ‘I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.’ He was clearly accusing her of something and insisting she had committed some infraction against him.” TIM JOHNSON, crime witness POLICE RAID IN WEST BAY NETS DRUGS, FIREARMS Four weapons and what the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service described as a “large amount of ganja” were seized during a raid at a West Bay home Thursday. Police said a 40-year- old man was arrested at the home on suspicion of drugs and firearms offenses. Two air pistols, a revolver and a semiautomatic handgun were recovered, along with several rounds of ammuni- tion, police said. There was also a “large amount of cash” in both Cayman Islands and U.S. dollars, police said. The suspect had not been charged as of early Friday. MAN ARRESTED AFTER FIREARMS, AMMO FOUND A shipping container with a “large quantity of ammu- nition” inside, as well as a follow-up recovery of two unlicensed firearms at a Cayman Brac residence led to the arrest of their alleged owner on Friday. The 52-year-old Amer- ican man was taken into custody by customs officers on Cayman Brac. The ammunition was found during a routine in- spection of the shipping con- tainer among the man’s per- sonal belongings. Royal Cayman Islands Po- lice Service officers and cus- toms officers then found the two firearms at the suspect’s residence. Neither the am- munition nor the firearms was declared to customs, officers said. “It is a very serious of- fense to unlawfully possess or import any firearm or am- munition,” Assistant Customs Collector Tina Campbell said.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. Our modern age is rife with questions that could have been (indeed, often were) posed by genre writers such as Ray Bradbury, H. G. Wells or Philip K. Dick. We’d like to pose a few of our own: Is it truly safe to put our lives in the “hands” of self-driving cars? Is Amazon’s Alexa spying on our idle chatter? What happens when smart machines become smarter than the people who operate them? Many of the most critical questions brought about by advancing technology are related to work. What will workplaces look like as robots and computers increasingly are deployed to perform tasks that once demanded human intelligence or skill? How will it change our economies? Our communities? How can humans hope to compete? Those engaged in low-skilled jobs, such as fast- food workers or assembly line workers doing repeti- tive tasks, are already being heavily impacted by their robotic counterparts. Many McDonald’s fast- food restaurants already have “self-order,” user- friendly machines installed in their dining areas. In the United States, Henry Ford, who deployed the moving assembly line in 1913, no doubt would be astonished to learn that today 39 percent of all robots deployed in America have replaced humans on automotive produc- tion lines. The question, of course, in Cayman is how arti- ficial intelligence (more so than robotics) is likely to impact our leading industries, mainly the financial sector, which is already witnessing their operations being transformed by an amalgam of algorithms and systems that analyze “big data,” assess risk and make forecasts – once the domain of quick-thinking humans with sharp eyes and reliable “guts.” That is why we were somewhat relieved to read that experts aren’t predicting a “rise of the machines” in finance anytime soon. In a Bloomberg article pub- lished in the Cayman Islands Journal (a sister publi- cation to the Compass), managers of several major hedge funds clearly outlined the limitations of new technologies, which, they say, are valuable in aug- menting the work of human analysts – not replacing it. For years, banks and money managers have deployed technological tools to analyze data, spot anomalies and identify trends and opportunities. But the trend has accelerated as algorithms have grown more sophisticated and with advancements in machine-learning resulting in systems that can adapt – using what they have “learned” to fine-tune results and make predictions about what might happen in the future. Even so, as the hedge fund Winton wrote in a recent letter to clients, “The notion that human involvement in investment management should, or even could, be fully automated is wide of the mark.” This is particularly noteworthy because Winton’s founder, David Harding, built his firm (which today manages $30 billion in assets) on the foundation of the scientific method and a data-centric approach. Even a system that “learns” is far from perfect – as anyone who has used Siri or Google Trans- late can attest to. A computer program may be able to process large amounts of data almost instanta- neously, but it still takes a sharp-witted human at the helm to make insightful decisions about what to do with the data that’s been crunched. Frankly, while some see “big data” as the inevitable future, a sizable number of contrarians, buoyed the boondog- gles of predicting recent elections, predict “big data” is, in fact, a trendy “big dud.” What is clear among all this murkiness is that the best way to ensure a bright future for Cayman’s young people is to make sure each and every one of them has access to a high-quality education. By the time they reach working age, there may not be many job opportunities for phone answerers, paper shufflers or inventory arrangers. Almost certainly, it will be the low- skilled jobs that will disappear first. Our job today is to educate our young people so they can grow up prepared to engage in meaningful, valuable – and, most importantly, available – work. What work will look like in the ‘Age of AI’ MONDAY JULY 10, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS North Korea: The Rubicon is crossed CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER WASHINGTON — Across 25 years and five administra- tions, we have kicked the North Korean can down the road. We are now out of road. On July 4, North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile apparently capable of hitting the United States. As yet, only Alaska. Soon, every American city. Moreover, Pyongyang claims to have already fitted miniaturized nuclear war- heads on intermediate range missiles. Soon, on ICBMs. Secretary of State Rex Til- lerson’s initial reaction to this game changer was not encouraging. “Global action is required to stop a global threat,” he declared. This, in diplo-speak, is a cry for (multilateral) help. Alas, there will be none. Be- cause, while this is indeed a global threat, there is no such thing as global interests. There are individual national interests and they diverge. In this case, radically. Take Russia and China. If there’s to be external pres- sure on North Korea, it would come from them. Will it? On Tuesday, they issued a joint statement proposing a deal: North Korea freezes nuclear and missile testing in re- turn for America abandoning large-scale joint exercises with South Korea. This is a total nonstarter. The exercises have been the backbone of the U.S.-South Korea alliance for half a cen- tury. Abandonment would signal the end of an enduring relationship that stabilizes the region and guarantees South Korean independence. In exchange for what? A testing freeze? The offer doesn’t even pretend to dis- mantle North Korea’s nuclear program, which has to be our minimal objective. More- over, we’ve negotiated mul- tiple freezes over the years with Pyongyang. It has vio- lated every one. The fact that Russia and China would, amid a burning crisis, propose such a dead- on-arrival proposal dem- onstrates that their real in- terest is not denuclearization. Their real interest is cut- ting America down to size by breaking our South Korean alliance and weakening our influence in the Pacific Rim. These are going to be our partners in solving the crisis? And yet, relying on Chi- na’s good graces appeared to be Donald Trump’s first re- sort for solving North Korea. Until he declared two weeks ago (by tweet, of course) that China had failed. “At least I know China tried!” he added. They did? Trump himself tweeted out on Wednesday that Chinese trade with North Korea increased by al- most 40 percent in the first quarter, forcing him to ac- knowledge that the Chinese haven’t been helping. Indeed not. The latest North Korean missile is menacing not just because of its 4,000-mile range, but because it is road mo- bile. And the transporter comes from China. In the calculus of nuclear deterrence, mobility guaran- tees inviolability. (The enemy cannot find, and therefore cannot pre-empt, a mobile missile.) It’s a huge step for- ward for Pyongyang. Sup- plied by Beijing. How many times must we be taught that Beijing does not share our view of denu- clearizing North Korea? It prefers a divided peninsula, i.e., sustaining its client state as a guarantee against a uni- fied Korea (possibly nuclear) allied with the West and sit- ting on its border. Nukes assure regime sur- vival. That’s why the Kims have so single-mindedly pur- sued them. The lessons are clear. Saddam Hussein, no nukes: hanged. Moammar Gadhafi, gave up his nuclear program: killed by his own people. The Kim dynasty, pos- sessing an arsenal of 10-16 bombs: untouched, soon untouchable. What are our choices? Trump has threatened that if China doesn’t help we’ll have to go it alone. If so, the choice is binary: acquies- cence or war. War is almost unthink- able, given the proximity of the Demilitarized Zone to the 10 million people of Seoul. A mere conventional war would be devastating. And could rapidly go nuclear. Acquiescence is not un- thinkable. After all, we did it when China went nu- clear under Mao Zedong, whose regime promptly went insane under the Cul- tural Revolution. The hope for a third alter- native, getting China to do the dirty work, is mostly wishful thinking. There’s talk of sanc- tioning other Chinese banks. Will that really change Chi- na’s strategic thinking? Bour- geois democracies believe that economics supersedes geostrategy. Maybe for us. But for dictatorships? Rarely. If we want to decisively alter the strategic balance, we could return U.S. tac- tical nukes (withdrawn in 1991) to South Korea. Or we could encourage Japan to build a nuclear deter- rent of its own. Nothing would get more quick atten- tion from the Chinese. They would face a radically new strategic dilemma: Is pre- serving North Korea worth a nuclear Japan? We do have powerful al- ternatives. But each is dan- gerous and highly unpredict- able. Which is why the most likely ultimate outcome, by far, is acquiescence. Charles Krauthammer’s email address is letters@charleskrauthammer. com. © 2017, The Washington Post Writers Group 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&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY JULY 10, 2017 Security Centre financial controller jailed for 4 years SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The former financial controller for The Security Centre Ltd. was sentenced to four years, two months and 12 days in prison on Friday for stealing more than $421,000 from her employer. Patti Jane Ebanks pleaded guilty to one charge of theft and was given a 30 percent reduction from the total sentence of six years’ imprisonment. Justice Charles Quin said there was significant plan- ning in the crime and that Ebanks harmed innocent third parties by concealing her acts for three years. The judge noted that the sentence should not be regarded as a precedent for future cases, and he said the aggravating fac- tors outweighed the mit- igating ones. The court found that Ebanks, who had worked at The Security Centre since 2007, was able to steal from her company by filling out invoices, drafting checks and arranging for those checks to be cashed. Her bank state- ments showed that she had spent large amounts of money on online shopping. Ebanks abused her po- sition as financial con- troller for more than three years, from April of 2010 to June of 2013, and first ap- peared in Summary Court in March 2014, when she was 48. She faced 39 charges at that point, and after the case was transferred to Grand Court, she pleaded not guilty to 24 counts in Au- gust 2015. At that point, the charges against Ebanks in- cluded forgery, making docu- ments without authority and transfer of criminal prop- erty in addition to various counts of theft. The Crown withdrew that multi-count indictment in November 2016 and entered a new indictment with a single charge of theft. Ebanks pleaded guilty to that single charge, and the court paused for a social inquiry report and psychiatric report to be prepared before sentencing. Justice Quin took both of those reports into consider- ation Friday, and noted that the social inquiry report said the defendant was an “intel- ligent, charismatic person who clearly has numerous strengths.” He also noted that she has no prior convic- tions, and cited the probation report to say that the defen- dant seemed to suffer from addictions to alcohol and to spending and shopping. Moments later, Justice Quin said that in all cases in which substantial amounts of money are stolen, there’s one common denominator: “Pure greed.” Ebanks has not made any restitution, and the court said that the victim is free to seek repayment in civil court. Justice Quin found that Ebanks could have saved the court time and expense by pleading guilty earlier in the process, and he noted that executives at The Secu- rity Centre are of the opinion that the theft and late admis- sion of guilt were damaging to the company. Ebanks left a cloud of suspicion over other hard- working employees and made a serious breach of her position as financial con- troller, said Justice Quin, noting that the later a guilty plea is entered, the lower the reduction that can be ex- pected in sentencing. Justice Quin noted that the guilty plea had been entered with the promise of a significant reduction and factored that into his final sentence. Justice Charles Quin said there was significant planning in the crime and that Ebanks harmed innocent third parties by concealing her acts for three years. Charter boat runs aground with seven on board BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com A snorkel charter boat crashed into the ironshore in the Vista Del Mar area at the western end of the North Sound on Saturday night with seven people on board. Royal Cayman Islands Police Ser- vice Chief Inspector Raymond Chris- tian said the craft, named the Mary Girl, was being piloted “at speed” into the governors creek channel from the North Sound around 9:15 p.m. when it crashed. The boat ended up entirely out of the water on shore after the accident. The captain, a 27-year-old man, suffered facial injuries and was taken to hospital, police said. The other six people on the boat, including four teenagers, suffered “bumps and bruises” but were not seri- ously hurt, Mr. Christian said. SENIOR COURTS STAFF MEMBER APPOINTED A Caymanian asso- ciate at law firm Maples and Calder, and former Crown counsel, has been appointed interim senior deputy clerk of courts and registrar of the Financial Services Court. Janesha Simpson takes up her position on Monday, July 10. She last served in gov- ernment as Crown counsel with the Portfolio of Legal Affairs, handling criminal, civil and international mat- ters, while also serving as the Freedom of Information manager for the depart- ment, according to a press release from the Judicial Administration. In 2004, Ms. Simpson earned her law degree from the University of Liverpool and a Bar vocational course at Inns of Court School of Law in London before being called to the Bar of England and Wales. She earned a master of law degree from the London School of Eco- nomics in 2005. She under- took an articled clerkship with the Portfolio of Legal Affairs, and was called to the Cayman Islands Bar in March 2007. Ms. Simpson’s profes- sional development in- cludes obtaining a diploma in international trust man- agement and being certi- fied as an anti-money laun- dering specialist and an insurance practitioner. “We welcome Ms. Simpson and look for- ward to putting her exten- sive expertise to full use here at the courts,” said Judicial Administrator Su- zanne Bothwell. TWO WEEKS PASS, NO SIGN OF CAYMAN BOATERS Marine Unit water searches for two missing Cayman Islands boaters have ended unless addi- tional information is re- ceived, Royal Cayman Islands Police Service offi- cials confirmed last week. Monday marks 16 days since Chadwick Bodden of Bodden Town and Ed- ward Henricks-Hydes of West Bay were seen setting out for 60 Mile Bank on a 30-foot canoe. They were expected to return on June 28. Po- lice said their absence was reported to authori- ties on July 2. The RCIPS said it is concerned for the safety of the two men and asks anyone with information The Mary Girl ended up on shore after a Saturday night accident in Vista Del Mar. JAILED VENEZUELA OPPOSITION LEADER GIVEN HOUSE ARREST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Op- position leader Leopoldo Lopez was released from prison and placed under house ar- rest Saturday after more than three years in military lockup, a shock reversal that fueled hopes for a broader amnesty for dozens of jailed activists as the country slides ever deeper into political turmoil. Venezuela’s government- stacked Supreme Court said in a statement that it had granted Lopez the “humanitarian mea- sures” for health reasons and “serious signs of irregularities” in the handling of the case that it did not specify. A euphoric Lopez briefly greeted a few dozen sup- porters gathered outside his home in Caracas in the after- noon. Climbing atop a wall dressed in a white shirt, he clutched and kissed a Venezu- elan flag and raised his right fist in a show of defiance. Lopez vowed that he’s pre- pared to return to jail rather than give up his fight to remove President Nicolas Maduro. “This is a step in the march toward freedom,” Lopez said in a statement read by close ally and lawmaker Freddy Guevara. “I carry no resent- ment, nor will I give up my beliefs. My position against this regime is firm as are my convictions to fight for a real peace, coexistence, change and freedom.” As his backers celebrated, relatives of dozens of other jailed activists gathered at a Caracas jail in hopes that their loved ones might be released too in the coming hours. Speculation that Lopez’s transfer may have been part of a larger deal was sparked in part by a government truth commission statement saying that as part of its work to de- fuse tensions, it had asked the judicial system to eval- uate applying “alternative formulas” for those impris- oned for violent acts. Janesha SimpsonDISTRICT DAYS 6 District Days George Town MONDAY JULY 10, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS 50 years: Cuban plane violates Cayman’s airspace In the July 12, 1967 edi- tion of the Caymanian Weekly, a precursor of the Cayman Compass, the fol- lowing news story appeared on the front page: “On Wednesday last, 5th July, about 5 p.m. a Cuban twin turbo prop plane, an Illyashin 17 (sometimes re- ferred to Llyushan 17) No. G. 50 flew over the airfield in Grand Cayman at about 200 feet right across the threshold of the CBA as she came in to land. “The D.C. 3 pilot had been watching this plane for some time so was not taken by surprise. Air traffic con- trol operators in our tower made an attempt to speak to the pilot of the Cuban plane but he switched off his radio. “The plane approached Grand Cayman from the North and appears to have flown extremely low right around the coastline. “The Commonwealth Of- fice in London have been informed of this further vi- olation of international reg- ulations regarding air space and it is anticipated that the U.K. Government will lodge a formal protest with the Cuban authorities. “This is the 3rd and probably last 4th known violation during the past 7 months. There have been a few in the past but they seem to be getting more fre- quent as there was one just before Christmas, one in January and in March, and in June an aircraft passed over but it was so high that identification was difficult. “It is conjectured that the Cubans may either be in- terested in the reconstruc- tion of our airfield and are taking photographs of this or that they are curious about the Tropospheric Scatter System dish-type aerials erected in Cayman Brac and at Batabano in connection with our tele- communications system. “After flying around Grand Cayman, reports were received that Cayman Brac was also included in the Cuban exercise.” 68 St. Ignatius School graduates celebrate at June commencement St. Ignatius Catholic School Year 11 and 13 stu- dents celebrated their grad- uation during a standing- room-only ceremony in Loyola Hall on June 22. Supported by family, friends and members of the school and church commu- nity, 68 graduates received certificates reflecting their completion of the IGCSE or A Level programs. The certificates were pre- sented by Bishop Gerard Bat- tersby, auxiliary bishop from the Archdiocese of Detroit. A number of students re- ceived individual prizes for outstanding achievements. According to a press release from the school, the Year 11 Chamber of Commerce Stu- dent of the Year Award was presented to Giselle Ebanks and Viktoriya Bolgova, both honors graduates with dis- tinction, won multiple sub- ject prizes and involved in a number of extra activi- ties. Giselle, who graduated with the highest grade point in the history of the school (4.34), was also awarded the Ernst and Young Achieve- ment Award for Academic Excellence 2017. Ian Lomas of Ernst and Young presented Giselle with a framed certif- icate and a check for $1,000 toward further studies. In Year 11, Mr. Embleton presented the Principal’s Award for the Student Who Best Fosters Christian Ethos to Adrian Anglin and Marcos Bertran. Both boys have been altar servers at school and weekend Masses, partici- pated in youth ministry and were heavily involved in the school music programs. Elijah Samson and Amara Duncan were awarded the Home School Association Community and School Ser- vice Award for a range of contributions in school and in the wider community. The award was presented by Health Services Authority Chairman Martin Cooke. St. Ignatius alumna and current Kiwanis President Daniela McGowan presented the Kiwani’s Key Club Award for Outstanding Community Service to Sharon Roy. The Paul Howard Memo- rial Award for Excellence in Sport was presented to Callum Theaker for his ded- icated participation, lead- ership and sportsmanship. Alexandra Leon received the Carole Cameron Award for Greatest Progress after making significant improve- ments in her GPA over the past two years. Faye Lock- wood was the Year 11 recip- ient of the National Gallery Award for High School Visual Arts Achievement, presented by Tanya Whiteside. Year 11 subject prizes were presented to Giselle Ebanks (English Language, Science, French and Business Studies), Viktoriya Bolgova (English Literature, Religious Education and History), Dom- inic Owens (Accounting and Mathematics), Marcos Ber- tran (Geography and Music), Robert Rutkowski (Infor- mation and Communica- tions Technology), Michael Tomlinson (Spanish), Sarah Jackson (Physical Education), Shannon Azavedo (Art), and Laura Murphy (Drama). Fr. Suresh presented the Perfect Attendance Award to Year 11 graduate Carlton Wright Jr. Dart once again spon- sored STEM awards this year, for excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Chris Duggan, vice president and head of community development at Dart Enterprises, presented the awards to Robert Rut- kowski and Dominic Owens (Year 11) and Finley McDou- gall (Year 13). Jake Bennett received the Chamber of Commerce Sixth Form Award for Contribu- tion to the Life of the School, which recognized him for out- standing leadership and ser- vice in a number of areas. Finley McDougall was the re- cipient of the Chamber of Commerce Sixth Form Award for Highest Academic Attain- ment. He earned excellent examination results in Year 12, superb reports in Year 13, and an outstanding five subject prize. Daniela Granados earned the Principal’s Award for the Sixth Form Student Who Best Fosters Christian Ethos, for her impeccable character and contributions to the religious life of the school and the wider community. “Daniela showed wonderful leader- ship within school hours and devoted significant time on the weekends to assist with youth ministry events and re- ligious education classes in the parish, as well as Vaca- tion Bible School,” the school stated in the press release. Daniela was also the Year 13 recipient of the National Gal- lery Award for Visual Arts Achievement, presented by Tanya Whiteside. Year 13 A2 subject awards were awarded to Finley Mc- Dougall (Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Further Math- ematics and Music), Michael Watler (Marine Science, Geog- raphy and Business Studies), Janessa Prendergast (Law, English Literature and Reli- gious Studies), Christian Sig- sworth (French), Isaiah Rob- inson (Information and Communications Technology and Biology), Taylor Parchment (Drama), Joseph Marzouca (Ac- counting), Daniela Granados (Spanish), Paulann McLean (Art and Design) and Matteo Polloni (History). Joseph Mar- zouca took home the KPMG Accounting Prize for Year 13, presented by Sheena Hislop, while Janessa Prendergast captured the Campbells Law Prize, presented by St. Ignatius alumna Kristina Buckeridge. Before presentation of cer- tificates, Bishop Battersby and Peter Embleton, Head of Secondary, each addressed the graduating class and the audience, providing words of wisdom and a summary of the wonderful accomplish- ments from the 68 graduates. In their student addresses, Amara Duncan (Year 11) and Finley McDougall, Jake Ben- nett and Mariah McIntyre (Year 13), highlighted memo- rable moments of their years at St. Ignatius and thanked their parents, administration, and especially the teaching staff for ongoing support and guidance. Peter Embleton, Head of Secondary, presents the Year 13 Christian Ethos Award to Daniela Granados. Edward Todd of the St. Ignatius School Advisory Board presents the Year 11 Students of the Year Award to Viktoriya Bolgova, left, and Giselle Ebanks.7 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY JULY 10, 2017 It’s my It’s my It’s my It’s my “PRESS PLAY” Y SUMMER BREAK CAMP! JOIN THE ADVENTURE AT OUR SAVANNAH LOCATION! Character development… it’s not just kids play! Dates: 17 July - 25 August Fee: $140 per week Ages: 5 - 12 (ask about our CIT Programme for 13 - 17 year-olds) When: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (pre/post camp available 7:30 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. for additional fee) Contact: ysummercamp@ymcacayman.ky 345-929-1850 www.ymcacayman.ky INSPIRING YOUTH | BUILDING CHARACTER | STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY Solar limits, pricing under scrutiny TAD STONER tstoner@pinnaclemedialtd.com Solar power has come under scrutiny as local in- stallers challenge limits on how much renewable energy can safely be placed on Cay- man’s electricity grid and regulators study costs from Bodden Town’s 22-acre array. Caribbean Utilities Com- pany and Entropy Cayman Ltd, wholly owned by En- tropy Investment Manage- ment of North Carolina, on June 20 commissioned Cay- man’s first non-CUC source of electricity and utility- scale solar array. CUC has long said only 17 megawatts of renewable en- ergy could be placed on the national transmission and distribution grid, justifying the cautious pace of adopting alternative energy, allocated to the new 5 MW Bodden Town operation and the com- pany’s Consumer Owned Re- newable Energy program. The program was expanded in May by 50 percent from its old 6 MW cap – reached in March – to 9 MW, the fourth increase in the program’s six- year history. The remaining 3 MW, the company says, will be allo- cated pending results of its nearly year-long Integrated Resource Planning study, scrutinizing global economic trends, pricing pressures, en- ergy sources, reliability, envi- ronmental impact and devel- oping technology. The utility commissioned the Integrated Resource Plan- ning in August 2016 from Virginia-based Pace Global consultants. Initially due in January, but indefinitely de- layed, the study will recom- mend a 30-year resource-al- location strategy as part of Cayman’s long-range Na- tional Energy Policy, unani- mously adopted March 17 by the Legislative Assembly. The National Energy Policy calls for 70 percent of all power in Cayman to be generated by alternative sources by 2037. CUC has declined to com- ment on further CORE ex- pansion or the timing of solicitations for future util- ity-scale renewable projects, but said in late May the IRP would enable the company “to deploy strategies and pro- grams to increase the port- folio substantially from 17 MW … supported by the Na- tional Energy Policy.” James Whittaker, CEO of solar installer Greentech and president of the indus- try’s Cayman Renewable En- ergy Association, said CORE needs to be re-examined, “setting out a long-term allo- cation that will keep the pro- gram going for years to come instead or risking it to be stopped every 12-18 months.” “The problem with the way CORE has been operated and regulated is the uncer- tainty and volatility it brings to the industry,” he said. Shifting guidelines have “already been a factor in companies closing down and … been the basis for many upset customers.” The 17 MW limit, Mr. Whittaker said, has “always been based on guess- work,” looking to the Inte- grated Resource Planning study for “more clarity.” Already, however, CUC “has said publicly they expect there to be about 70 MWs of ‘distributed generation,’” in- dividually owned solar ar- rays on rooftops, parking lots, back yards and elsewhere. But he cautioned, “CUC will need to allow at least 200 MWs of renewables onto the grid in order for us to meet the [70 percent] require- ments of the NEP by 2037.” Meanwhile, J. Paul Morgan, CEO of OfReg, the Utility Regulation and Com- petition Office, on June 28 began a three-month inquiry into the pricing agreement between CUC and Entropy. Signed in 2015, capping years of talks, the power pur- chase agreement set a price of 17 cents for each kilo- watt hour. That figure is what the utility will pay Entropy, meaning consumer prices will range between 25 cents and 27 cents. Globally, solar costs have declined precipitously. Ac- cording to a formal OfReg statement, a 2014 Jamaica project set prices at the same 17 cents as Cayman, but a “new deal for a new solici- tation” in Kingston sets kWh prices at 8.4 cents; a Kauai, Hawaii, project at 11 cents – with government subsi- dies. Britain’s “Independent” cites a mid-May contract in Rajasthan, India, setting prices at 4 cents. OfReg said Mr. Morgan had “received many expres- sions of concern about the contracted price of US$0.17 per kilowatt hour that CUC will be paying Entropy for the energy delivered.” The inquiry, he said, would “provide insights into what was done right, and more importantly what was done wrong or could have been done better.” “We cannot compare Cayman to the U.S. or any other country for that matter, even other islands in the Ca- ribbean,” Mr. Morgan said, naming legal fees, shipping costs and the price of land as “significant costs to doing busi- ness in the Cayman Islands.” “All these factors impact the bottom line and would have been taken into con- sideration when setting the price,” he said, indicating changes were possible. “However, we don’t expect this price to remain fixed, and part of the analysis we are going to do involves de- termining how we can con- tinue to bring the price down to a point that will sat- isfy both the consumer and the provider.” The 25-year CUC-Entropy purchase agreement stipu- lates annual kWh price in- creases, starting at 17 cents in “year 1”; growing incre- mentally to 18 cents in year 5; 18.9 cents in year 8; 20 cents in year 12; and 24.3 cents in year 25, creating average costs of 20.4 cents per kWh during the life of the contract. An array of more than 20,000 solar panels is now operating in Bodden Town.8 LOCAL NEWS Check out these photos and others by visiting caymancompass.com/photogalleries or on facebook.com/caycompass (and don’t forget to tag yourself and your friends!) MONDAY JULY 10, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS The British Royal Navy sailed into Grand Cayman Thursday on board RFA Mounts Bay to test its di- saster recovery response and to take part in ex- ercises with the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, Fire Service and Hazard Management Cayman Islands. Cayman was the first of the British Overseas Territories the ship visited in its deployment to the Caribbean. RFA Mounts Bay was moored off George Town during its five-day visit to Grand Cayman. - PHOTOS: TANEOS RAMSAY Government Minister Tara Rivers goes for a ride on the Fire Service’s new boat. A Navy crew lays down a track on the beach to allow other heavy equipment to be offloaded. The RFA Mounts Bay’s Wildcat helicopter crew pose in front of their aircraft after taking part in an exercise with the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service at the airport on Friday. Operations coordinator Craig Harris surveys from the bridge of the ship. Crew members of the RFA Mounts Bay offload heavy equipment onto Governors Beach on Friday as police and Navy helicopters hover overhead.A view from the deck of RFA Mounts Bay. Trucks containing emergency hurricane supplies and equipment are pictured inside the RFA Mounts Bay hold.The islands’ most-trusted news source 9 CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY JULY 10, 2017 “For humanitarian and disaster relief operations, we need to be able to get all our kit and equipment from sea to shore efficiently,” he said. “With the capability that our engineers have, we can provide basic construc- tion support. I’ve got joiners, electricians, plumbers and plant operators, so we can fix storm-damaged build- ings, clear rubble and de- bris in the aftermath of a hurricane.” Hazard Management Cayman Islands Director McCleary Frederick said the weekend’s exercises were a testament to the progress that has been made since Hurricane Ivan in 2004. “[After Ivan], we didn’t know what [the U.K.] were capable of doing and they didn’t know what we needed or what resources we had. Whereas now, they have a better understanding of our capabilities and we have a better understanding of their capabilities,” Mr. Mc- Cleary said. The Navy ship is on patrol throughout the Caribbean region providing support to Britain’s over- seas territories and assisting drug interdiction efforts in the region. Lieutenant Fletcher said, depending on where the ship is situated, it is equipped to respond to an order for as- sistance from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office within 12 to 48 hours. Lieutenant Colonel Anton Gash, the British Defence At- taché in the Caribbean, said the Cayman Islands was the ship’s first port of call in the region. “Pound for pound, she is probably the most capable disaster response vessel anywhere. If you were de- signing a ship to do this task in the Caribbean, you would come up with some- thing that looks almost ex- actly like her,” he said of the RFA Mounts Bay. “This is a package we have put together from dif- ferent elements; The Royal Navy with our helicopter, Royal Fleet Auxiliary with the ship itself, the Royal Lo- gistic Corps for the ability to come ashore on the beach and the Royal Engineers for the ability to then go in- land and carry out the di- saster response. It is a be- spoke package.” He said Friday’s exercise went “like clockwork.” The crew and vehicles were guided to shore on a mobile landing dock be- fore setting up a command center on Governors Beach. A team of Royal Engi- neers then traveled to HMP Northward to assist with a two-day community project, clearing vegetation around the perimeter of the prison in an effort to make it more dif- ficult for people to smuggle drugs into the prison. Firefighters train for search and rescue Boats, WaveRunners, night vision to improve emergency response at sea JAMES WHITTAKER, KAYLA YOUNG jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com, kyoung@pinnaclemedialtd.com Firefighters received training from the British Royal Navy this weekend in oper- ating and handling a new boat and WaveRunners in search and rescue operations around Grand Cayman. The Cayman Islands gov- ernment bought a rigid hull inflatable boat and five Wa- veRunners and will use fire- fighters to assist in ma- rine emergencies. The police helicopter will also be upgraded with new night vision equipment to help track criminals and aid rescue missions along the coast- line after dark. Both initiatives follow rec- ommendations from a U.K. Coastguard Report in Feb- ruary which highlighted weak- nesses in the territory’s search and rescue capability. The report was commis- sioned after a high profile tragedy last year, when five boaters, including two chil- dren, were lost at sea. An ear- lier investigation vindicated police response to that incident but recommended a wider re- view of search and rescue ca- pabilities on the island. The upgraded helicopter comes as part of a joint project between the U.K. and Cayman Islands governments to enhance a wide range of re- sponse capabilities, said Mat- thew Forbes, head of the Gov- ernor’s Office. “The main reason we’re doing that is we want to bol- ster border security on the fight against guns and drugs but also for search and rescue as well,” Mr. Forbes said. The new equipment was delivered by the RFA Mounts Bay naval support ship, which docked in Grand Cayman over the weekend. The Atlantic 75 boat, from the British Royal Na- tional Lifeboat Institute, is designed for inshore search and rescue operations. It will be stationed at West Bay Fire Station and used to provide added cover and quicker re- action time to incidents on the south and west of Grand Cayman, according to the Governor’s Office. “At the moment we don’t have search and rescue capa- bility on this side of the island. The marine unit is on the other side. So if there is a problem here, they have to trailer the boat over,” Mr. Forbes said. “So this new boat is going to be stationed at West Bay Fire Station and the Fire Ser- vice is going to be trained to use it. That means we’ll have much quicker reaction time for any water-related inci- dence down this entire side of the island.” The five WaveRunners, equipped with rescue boards, will be split between the fire service and police to aid re- sponse in “inshore law en- forcement and surf rescue.” Home Affairs Minister Tara Rivers, who took a ride on the rigid inflatable boat, said, “It is great to see the deployment of this new equipment to boost our ability to save lives at sea. The fire service is well placed to play a key role in search and rescue both in terms of the location of the fire stations and the lifesaving skills that the fire officers already have.” Commissioner of Police Derek Byrne said the new night vision capability will im- prove the police air support unit’s ability to operate safely and effectively at night. “The upgrade provides us with the latest technology, which significantly boosts our ability to manage search-and- rescue and crime operations after dark,” he said. The project, jointly funded by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service and the U.K.’s Conflict Stability and Security Fund, will involve modifica- tions to the aircraft and pro- vide night vision goggles for the helicopter crew. Governor Helen Kilpatrick said in a statement that she was pleased to see early prac- tical outcomes stemming from the coastguard review. Smooth landing for Navy response team Caymanian Status and Per- manent Residency Board, the numbers released show an average of four to five ap- plications being determined during each meeting. The deferred applications, Mr. Joseph said, will have to come back before the board when the additional informa- tion sought is provided. “The rate of determina- tions is plainly going to have to increase dramatically if potential claimants are going to be persuaded that all pos- sible is being done to get through the backlog,” he said. Since last year, half a dozen people have filed for judicial review against the government over delays in their residence applications; three of those applications were recently granted. Government represen- tatives said last week that for the time being, they will publicly report the results of permanent residence de- cisions by the board every week, following its meeting on Thursdays. Government Informa- tion Services officials said the weekly reports are being made after numerous re- quests from local media regarding results of the applications. Backlog battle The Immigration Depart- ment has announced that all applicants for permanent res- idence, or their legal or busi- ness representatives, will be contacted to provide an up- date to those records before the applications are heard by the board. Once the update is provided, the department in- dicated, the board would do its best to hear the applica- tion within 30 days. Immigration advisers noted last week that it is im- portant for people to make application information as current as possible, partic- ularly if the person has not done so since the application was filed. Applicants from late 2013 who recently filed up- dates could have their cases heard by next week, the board indicated. Residence appli- cations will be heard in the order in which they were re- ceived, so applicants who filed in October 2013 would go first, followed by November 2013 and so on. The Immigration Depart- ment advised applicants who are updating their permanent residence documents to wait until they are contacted by government representatives. If the updates are filed too early, the information may be out of date by the time the ap- plication is considered by the board, officials said. Reviewing close to 1,000 permanent residence appli- cations will take significant time, according to Immigra- tion Ministry Chief Officer Wesley Howell. Many of the applications are hundreds of pages with detailed information about each applicant’s job, educa- tion, training, salary, personal finances, community involve- ment activities and invest- ment in the country, among a host of other areas. their scheduled departure. Cayman airport trav- elers will now have to place items such as iPads, iPad minis and Kindles in sepa- rate bins for screening, sim- ilar to what is done now with laptops. The United States TSA policy seeks to reduce the number of bags requiring manual inspection, the air- ports authority said. “While passengers get used to the new system, pro- cessing time may be a little slower than normal, espe- cially during peak travel pe- riods such as weekends and holidays,” airports security chief Shane Bothwell said in a statement Friday. The TSA security mea- sures were described in a press release from the U.S. Department of Homeland Se- curity on June 28. The measures include “heightened screening” of personal electronic de- vices, increased security around aircraft and pas- senger screening area and using additional technology, as well as K-9 screening, for passengers at “preclear- ance locations.” “These enhanced secu- rity measures will help to se- cure all commercial flights departing from 280 airports that serve as the last points of departure to the U.S.,” the U.S. Homeland Security state- ment read. “Those stake- holders who fail to adopt these requirement with cer- tain time frames run the risk of additional security restric- tions being imposed.” The additional restric- tions, according to reports in the U.S. press, could include requirements that personal electronic devices be placed in luggage and no longer allowed to be used in the plane’s cabin. The TSA was not specific about what threats the air- line industry faced that ne- cessitated the changes, only that a “spider web” of threats to commercial aviation have been seen in recent months and years. The additional se- curity will affect 105 coun- tries, an average of 2,100 daily flights and some 325,000 daily passengers, Homeland Secu- rity officials said. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 PR applications: 8 approved, 10 denied CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Longer wait times likely at airport The British Royal Navy delivered a new boat, right, to the Cayman Islands Fire Service. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAYNext >