High of 90 Low of 78 Slight with wave heights of 1 to 3 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 ‘MOTHER,’ KEEP YOUR PURSE SHUT TIGHT! SPORTS | PAGE 15 CAYMAN JUNIORS FARE WELL IN REGIONAL TENNIS ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – TUESDAY JULY 18, 2017 185309-Ad-Strip-SandCastles.indd 16/8/17 3:27 PM Joey Hew: Government must improve public transport JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com With two major highway expansions in process, Transport Minister Joey Hew said government is doing all it can to ease traffic congestion in Grand Cayman. But the new minister cautioned: “We can only build so many roads. At some point we are going to run out of space.” He said government will need to look at improving public transportation and poten- tially promote ride-sharing if the popula- tion and traffic congestion continue to grow. Traffic jams on roads around George Town are regular occurrences on weekday mornings and evenings, particularly during school term. A journey from Savannah to George Town, typically a 10-minute drive, can take as long as an hour in the mornings. Mr. Hew, speaking after the unveiling of a new road safety campaign last week, said the expansion of the Linford Pierson Highway and the Esterley Tibbetts Highway to four lanes would help reduce some of the impact. He also said the National Roads Au- thority is investigating reconfiguring some busy intersections, including the Hurley’s roundabout, in an effort to ease congestion. BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com A Cayman Islands visiting physician was badly hurt after she was struck by a taxi van at Owen Roberts International Airport Monday morning, Royal Cayman Islands Police said. The woman was struck on Owen Roberts Drive across the street from the Andy’s Rent- A-Car building around 10 a.m., police said. She was taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital in critical condition, medical per- sonnel confirmed. Her family members flew in from Jamaica later on Monday to visit her at the hospital. Hitting the road Visiting doctor struck, badly hurt, at airport Minister: ‘We can only build so many roads’ Riders in the Cayman Islands Cycling Association’s 27-mile Handicap Road Race set off from Bodden Town early Sunday morning. The race, along parts of North Side and East End and back to Bodden Town, attracted 29 cyclists. For more, see page 6. - PHOTO: JEWEL LEVY Nearly 70 percent of Cayman’s small Venezuelan population joined more than 7 million fellow coun- trymen to vote Sunday in opposition of President Nicolas Maduro’s plan to rewrite their nation’s Constitution. Venezuelans on Grand Cayman gath- ered at Pappagallo’s restaurant in West Bay to cast their vote. For more on this story, see pages 2 and 9. CAYMAN’S VENEZUELANS VOTE IN REFERENDUM KAYLA YOUNG kyoung@pinnaclemedialtd.com One of Cayman’s most controversial artists, Ronald “Foots” Kynes, has taken on gay rights and religion in his latest sculpture series, displayed on his property in Cayman Brac. The four-sculpture installment features several nude women, some performing sexual acts, and religious iconography that has stirred controversy among Cayman Brackers. Two of the works, “Eva in Eve” and “LGBT,” de- pict two women physically embracing. Mr. Kynes said the pieces are a tribute to gay rights and the right to choose. “That is their choice who they want to be with, whether you are black, white, green or yellow … It’s a matter of choice,” Mr. Kynes said. Another sculpture, called “ISIS, Islam’s Anti- Christ,” displays an upside-down cross adorned with skulls and the numbers 666. Mr. Kynes said the work is a statement against terrorism and extremism. “You have a lot of good people in the Islamic religion, plain and simple.… But ISIS is the anti- Christ of the world. It is just pure evil and wick- edness,” he said. Some Brackers, like Island Realty’s Dalkeith Ebanks, have taken issue with the works. Mr. Ebanks said he believes the installation violates building codes, as well as the dignity of women. Mr. Kynes’s property has long been the subject of legal debate, in part due to its designation as Land for Public Purposes. “There is the planning law. If you put something like this in your lawn, you need planning ARTIST’S LATEST WORKS OUTRAGE CAYMAN BRACKERS The taxi involved in Monday’s auto-pedestrian crash at Owen Roberts International Airport is pictured here at the accident scene. - PHOTO: BRENT FULLER PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 »2 LOCAL NEWS TUESDAY JULY 18, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS bile phones among other types of electronic equipment. All of those items were displayed to the public in Amerigo House in Elizabethan Square. No items were returned on Sunday, but people were in- vited to view the recovered equipment and show proof of purchase or ownership. Jodi- Ann Powery, a police media officer, said people with se- rial numbers or passwords capable of unlocking the equipment could apply to col- lect their items. The stolen property, all re- covered from the home of a man who has been charged with two cases of handling stolen goods, will remain in the hands of the police for the next few weeks. Many of the recovered items were kept in plastic and had been logged as evidence in that pending case. Police also recovered cable modems, turntables, stereo equipment, speakers and power tools. The recovered items filled several tables and parts of the floor at the room at Amerigo House, and the po- lice are still hoping to match them to their owners. A pedestrian was hospi- talized after being struck by a vehicle in George Town dis- trict on Saturday night. Police said they re- sponded to a 911 call shortly before 10 p.m. after a white 2007 Toyota HiAce van col- lided with the male pedes- trian, who had “walked out into the roadway” on Sham- rock Road in the vicinity Bimini Drive. The man was taken to the hospital by ambulance. He has serious but not life- threatening injuries, a press release states. Police said the driver, who had been traveling in the direction of South Sound, identified himself to police and provided his ve- hicle documents. No arrests were made. A police investiga- tion continues. Daily Matinees Every Day $8.00 Seniors, Mon-Fri Before 6pm Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. 640-FILM (640-3456) 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. - TUESDAY - HOUSE (R) 12:45 I 3:05 I 6:45 I 9:25 SPIDER-MAN: HOME COMING 3D (PG13) 12:55 2D I 3:25 2D VIP I 6:35 I 9:25 2D VIP BABY DRIVER (R) 3:35 I 9:25 DESPICABLE ME 3 3D (PG) 12:30 2D I 4:05 I 6:35 2D I 9:30 WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES 3D (PG13) 12:20 2D VIP I 12:20 I 3:35 2D 6:20 2D VIP I 9:00 TRANSFORMERS: LAST KNIGHT (PG13) 3:05 I 5:35 I 8:50 WONDER WOMAN (PG13) 12:30 I 6:20 ENTER TO WIN !! FREE KARATE MEMBERSHIP www.caymankarateacademy.com Royal Cayman Islands Police are searching for three older model vehicles that were stolen late last week from various locations around George Town. The first theft happened sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning and involved a 1998 white Mercedes-Benz that was taken from an address on Rock Hole Road. The Mercedes owner was off island at the time the car was taken. The owner told po- lice the number plates on the car were stolen two weeks before the vehicle was taken. The second theft was re- ported around 1:40 a.m. Sat- urday from South Church Street. Police said the black 2001 KTM-640 motorcycle was taken about an hour after it was driven home by its owner. Also Saturday, around 4:20 a.m., a white Ford F250 truck was reported stolen from Washington Boulevard near Eastern Avenue. The owner said he had driven there to attend a nearby bar and, when he returned, he could not find his vehicle. None of the vehicles had been reported recovered by press time Monday. CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Justice Michael Wood handed down a sentence of seven months imprison- ment on Friday for a man on a work permit who pleaded guilty to an indecent assault of a teenaged girl. Justice Wood empha- sized that the sentence of Jason Oliver Jackson was not to be cited as a prec- edent in future cases. He acknowledged that a sen- tence of seven months was lower than he would nor- mally pass, but he was also recommending deportation, which meant that Jackson could never return. Noting that Jackson had been on work permit, he commented that he did not see why the Cayman Islands should pay for Jackson’s continued incarceration. The defendant had already been in custody seven months. “The point is, I’ve been told it costs something like $70,000 to keep someone in Northward Prison [for a year,]” Justice Wood said. The sentencing starting point for an indecent as- sault of this nature was one year after trial, with a range from community service to two years. Jackson did not plead guilty right away, so his discount would be 25 percent instead of the usual 33 percent: the discount would have resulted in a prison term of nine months. “What’s the point of keeping him here?” the judge asked. Later he observed, “Plus, I’m aware the prison is ex- tremely full.” Details of the indecent assault were not aired in open court, since defense at- torney Prathna Bodden had submitted a written basis of plea and senior Crown counsel Nicole Petit had re- sponded in writing, with the judge reviewing submis- sions before court began. However, Ms. Petit did point out that Jackson was 36, more than twice the age of the 17-year-old complainant/victim and he had asked her mother the girl’s age. Jackson had been staying with the girl’s family as a lodger for about two weeks, having been introduced by a mutual acquaintance. After court adjourned, Ms. Petit explained further that the indecent assault occurred when Jackson went to the home, where the girl was alone, during his lunch break. She was small for her age and could not fight him off. She made her complaint immediately after the incident. Ms. Bodden said Jackson was genuinely re- morseful and was of pre- vious good character. She noted that his work permit had been canceled as soon as he was arrested. In considering any ag- gravating or mitigating factors, Justice Wood also pointed out that by his guilty plea, Jackson had saved the victim from having to give evidence. Older model vehicles stolen in George Town Man sentenced to seven months for indecent assault Police still looking for owners of stolen items PEDESTRIAN STRUCK BY VAN ON SHAMROCK ROAD SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service re- ported that 25 people viewed a cache of recov- ered stolen goods Sunday, with owners claiming three items. Several other people have contacted police to notify them that they were unable to make Sunday’s viewing. The items, all recov- ered in a police raid last month, included several laptops, tablets, televi- sions, watches and mo- A vehicle similar to the Ford F250 seen here was stolen early Saturday. A 1998 Mercedes similar to this vehicle was stolen sometime overnight Thursday. This motorbike was stolen early Saturday from South Church Street. Venezuelans in Cayman vote in referendum SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com Nearly 70 percent of Cay- man’s small Venezuelan pop- ulation voted Sunday in op- position of President Nicolas Maduro’s plan to rewrite their nation’s Constitution. More than seven million Venezuelans voted in sym- bolic rejection of that plan, and members of the na- tion’s expatriate community have hastened to add their voice from their countries of residence. Adriana Thomas orga- nized a gathering of the local Venezuelan diaspora com- munity Sunday at Pappa- gallo’s restaurant in West Bay, which is co-owned by Venezuelan Maria Testori. The Venezuelan popula- tion of Cayman is believed to be around 50 people, and 34 voted, including four on Little Cayman. “We tried to bring all our countrymen here together to vote against Nicolas Madu- ro’s plans to change the Con- stitution,” said Ms. Thomas. “There are even four Venezu- elans on Little Cayman who want to vote. You may say, ‘Only four votes?’ But for us, four votes against Nicolas Maduro is relevant.” Unidad Venezuela re- ported on its Facebook page Monday that 7,186,700 people voted with 95 per- cent of the vote counted, and nearly 700,000 of those votes came from outside Venezuela. Nearly 15 million people, by contrast, voted in the hotly contested 2013 Venezuelan Presidential election. The crowd at Pappagal- lo’s needed to show their Venezuelan identification in order to register their vote, and Ms. Thomas said the community was thrilled to see the support both at home and abroad. “It’s a lot of hope for Ven- ezuela. Hopefully, the out- come will be positive for us,” said Ms. Thomas of the opposition vote. “This is a small island, but we want the world to know we did our bit.” For more on the Venezuela referendum, see page 9. The Venezuelan population of Cayman is believed to be around 50 people, and 34 voted, including four on Little Cayman.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY JULY 18, 2017 JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Researchers at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute have surgically tagged 21 li- onfish in a unique project to track the movements of the invasive predators on Little Cayman’s reefs. Scuba divers are tagging lionfish at depths of between 65 and 110 feet. The process involves cap- turing lionfish in hand nets and surgically implanting acoustic tags in the abdomen of the fish. A bright blue ex- ternal ID tag is also at- tached to the top of the tail before the fish is released so it can be easily identi- fied and not accidentally speared by cullers. It is hoped that the tags will help improve under- standing of lionfish behavior and movement patterns. Alli Candelmo, who is leading the project along with Drew Butkowski and Tom Sparke, said researchers had to perform tricky sur- gical work in low light at depth with limited bottom time in order to fit the tags. “We have run into a number of obstacles during the project which have made it both exhilarating and frus- trating,” Ms. Candelmo said. “If someone had told me last year that I would be su- turing up a lionfish at 95 feet in the dark while my col- league chased a nurse shark around above my head, I would have laughed, but each day in the field is a new ad- venture and we continue to learn and adapt.” The implanted acoustic tags transmit data to re- ceivers that have been placed in an array along the northeast reef wall of Little Cayman. The data will reveal move- ment patterns of these lion- fish for the next six months, which will allow scientists to gain insight into the ver- tical and horizontal migra- tions of the fish. Ms. Candelmo said the project would help dictate how cullers tackle lionfish in Cayman’s waters. If lionfish are found to move predictably between deep and relatively shallow reef habitats, she said, stra- tegically scheduled culling efforts at recreational diving limits could be sufficient to control deep water popu- lations and limit the need for technical diving or al- ternative capture methods such as traps. “Preliminary data from the receivers have shown both horizontal and vertical movement by individual li- onfish,” she said. “Some of our lionfish have been re- corded quite deep. We are intrigued to see what the next six months reveals from each fish and are very excited for the outcome of this project.” Researchers will also use the data from the study in combination with data col- lected from lionfish culling efforts on Little Cayman from 2011, to develop a publicly available database accessible through an inter- active online map. The map will provide in- formation on densities and movement patterns of the Little Cayman lionfish popu- lation as well as site specific culling activity around the is- land, according to CCMI. The process involves capturing lionfish in hand nets and surgically implanting acoustic tags in the abdomen of the fish. Researchers dodge sharks to tag lionfish Alli Candelmo and Drew Butkowski implant an acoustic tag in a lionfish. Fitting the tags is a complex procedure at depth.The islands’ most-trusted news source 4 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. U.K. politicians are considering “loosening the belt” of fiscal restraint in our Mother country. They would be wise to think again. Eager to curry favor with voters, Conservative and Labour parties both have been dangling the juicy pos- sibility of spending increases before salivating bureau- crats. They argue that the country is suffering from “austerity fatigue” and that more public spending is the only cure. But the truth is their very use of the term “aus- terity” is a misnomer: In fact, government spending has grown by an average of 1.6 percent annually since 2010, according to a recent analysis from economist Dan Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute who spe- cializes in fiscal policy, and an editorial board member of our sister publication, Cayman Financial Review. (See column on right.) Even so, by restraining growth in government spending below the much more robust growth of the private economy (in other words, reducing the burden of government), U.K. officials have paved the way for a number of positive trends. Mr. Mitchell’s analysis, not surprisingly, has found positive correlations between spending restraint and deficit reduction, economic growth, employment and higher wages. And while he is careful to note that cor- relation is not causation – that is, the association of two events does not necessarily mean that one is the cause of the other – fiscal restraint clearly is a key factor in economic growth. Rather than succumb to the temptation to splurge taxpayer dollars, lawmakers should continue to show restraint – something too many politicians find it difficult to do. There are those who would argue that given recent economic growth, Mother England has too tight a grip on her purse strings. But fiscal restraint is not only a proper response to crisis, it is in and of itself good policy. As the London Times reports, “Ministers are pushing to delay or abandon a series of tax cuts to fund an increase in public sector pay …. At a meeting of the political cabinet last week, Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, Justine Greening, the education sec- retary, and Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the party chairman, are understood to have called for more money for public sector workers.” The Wall Street Journal weighed in: “The Prime Min- ister’s Tories now want to abandon their claim to fiscal discipline. Rather than blame a feckless campaign, wobbly Tory leaders have decided that voters are exhausted with ‘austerity’ and government employees are happy to step in with spending demands.” The very use of the term “austerity” provides a clue as to their motivations and inclinations – setting the expectation that routine increases in spending should be the norm, checked only in times of emer- gency. “Austerity” is a buzzword, much like the “Affordable Care Act” (aka “Obamacare”). It fits neatly into a headline or on a bumper sticker, but bears little resemblance to factual reality. Warns economist Mr. Mitchell: “Opening the spending spigot would be a terrible mistake. Especially to finance higher pay for bureaucrats.” We hope Premier Alden McLaughlin, Finance and Economic Development Minister Roy McTaggart and Minister for Financial Services and Home Affairs Tara Rivers shared a few wise words with “Mother” during their Joint Ministerial Council trip in London. The U.K. may be charged with overseeing Cayman’s financial affairs, but this may be one instance when the “child” is wiser than the “parent.” Living within one’s means should not be a radical concept – for individuals, households or nations. Rather than listening to bureaucrats looking for second helpings, ministers should familiarize them- selves with the benefits of fiscal fitness. Politicians may love to spend, but taxpayers should always remember it is their money the government is spending. – EDITORIAL – ‘Mother,’ keep your purse shut tight! TUESDAY JULY 18, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS Poised to fall off the wagon of fiscal sobriety One of my favorite charts shows how nations achieve great results when they en- gage in multi-year periods of spending restraint. The most important benefit is that the burden of govern- ment shrinks relative to the private sector, but it’s also worth noting that the symptom of red ink begins to disappear when there is a se- rious effort to deal with the underlying disease of exces- sive spending. But sharing this chart also a bittersweet experi- ence since it shows — in al- most all cases — that it is just a matter of time be- fore politicians go back to fiscal profligacy. This is why I’m a huge fan of a permanent spending cap, ideally as part of a na- tion’s constitution. Juris- dictions that have adopted this approach, such as Hong Kong and Switzerland, have very strong long-run fiscal performance rather than just temporary blips of good policy. At the risk of under- statement, it’s increasingly obvious that the United Kingdom needs this kind of permanent structural reform. I pulled together the data on government spending from the OECD, the IMF, and the UK government. They all have slightly different meth- odologies with slightly dif- ferent numbers, but they all tell the same story. Ever since 2010, the burden of government spending has expanded by an average of about 1.6 percent annually. Spending is still growing, needless to say, but the private sector has been growing faster, so British pol- icymakers have been satis- fying my golden rule. And because the produc- tive sector of the economy has grown faster than gov- ernment, this means that relative burden of spending has declined. That’s the good news. The bad news is that pol- iticians are tired of being responsible. They are sali- vating at the prospect of a new spending binge. Even Tory politicians now want to play Santa with other people’s money. Opening the spending spigot would be a terrible mistake. Especially to finance higher pay for bureaucrats. Even worse, they want to cancel tax cuts and/or impose tax hikes to finance more money for the bureaucracy. You won’t be surprised to learn that British bureau- crats (just like their American cousins) are not underpaid compared to workers in the economy’s productive sector. As Tim Worstall, senior fellow at the Adam Smith Insti- tute, explains, nor is bureau- cracy suffering from a lack of compensation. He writes, “We’ve just had a massive re- cession and thus we are in- deed worse off. That’s what a recession is all about. So the question should be: are we all sharing that pain? We are not. Public sector pay has fallen by less than private. The people paying the tax have suffered more than those who eat the tax – hardly a good argument in favour of tax-eater pay rises. ...It is also true, as the IFS points out, that public sector pay rose substantially in the 2000 to 2005 period. Pay rose more and then pay fell less. I simply can’t see an argument for a public sector pay rise or the lifting of that cap here.” My colleague at the Cato Institute, Ryan Bourne, is a citizen of the United Kingdom, and he points out that one of the problems is that bureaucrat pay levels are determined nationally, which makes no sense when the cost of living varies widely across the country. He writes: “...they should phase out na- tional pay bargaining where it remains in the public sector. Previous research by Allison Wolf has shown the high cost of having national pay scales and bargaining. ...Poorer regions...suffer as very high pay relative to the private sector crowds out pri- vate sector growth.” Ryan explains that Sweden successfully adopted this reform: “There, collec- tive bargaining was entirely replaced by individual con- tracts between staff and their local public sector em- ployer, with little fuss. If ap- plied here, managers would then have genuine flexibility in the creation of new posts. It would liberate them to set pay to reflect more accu- rately local conditions, while varying wages to fulfil diffi- cult positions.” Of course, the ideal situa- tion would be genuine feder- alism, with local communi- ties raising their own funds and then deciding how lav- ishly to compensate the bu- reaucrats they hire. The U.K. actually took a baby step in that direction years ago by giving greater au- tonomy to Scotland. I’ll close with a rather de- pressing observation. It was only two months ago that I suggested Tories might be poised to make big policy improvements in the United Kingdom. Now it appears that they’ll be competing with the Labour Party on how to spend other people’s money. The great Margaret Thatcher is probably spin- ning in her grave. Dan Mitchell is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute who specializes in fiscal policy, and is a member of the editorial board for the Cayman Financial Review. 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” The bad news is that politicians are tired of being responsible. They are salivating at the prospect of a new spending binge. Even Tory politicians now want to play Santa with other people’s money. DANIEL J. MITCHELL DANIEL J. MITCHELL5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY JULY 18, 2017 Police: Decision expected by August in Bridger probe BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com It’s been nearly 10 years since former U.K. Metropolitan Police senior officer Martin Bridger arrived in Cayman to investigate allegations of col- lusion between a newspaper publisher and a top-ranking member of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service. More than $10 million was spent, two criminal trials held and half-a-dozen police offi- cers lost their jobs. There were no convictions after the court cases, and the initial allega- tions against the publisher and the senior RCIPS officer turned out to be bogus. However, one final case re- mains in the Operation Tem- pura saga – the criminal in- vestigation related to Mr. Bridger, the former corrup- tion investigator. “The Bridger investigation file was submitted to the Of- fice of the Director of Public Prosecutions and a response is expected within four to six weeks,” the RCIPS noted in a statement to the Cayman Compass last week. Ten years later, the se- nior investigating officer has become the one being in- vestigated. He has not been charged with any offense. RCIPS officials have said all investigative records per- taining to the case, which now spans the administra- tions of three Cayman Is- lands governors, are still kept in a secure area. “In terms of confidential allegations made by members of the public, such records are secured and have been secured for years,” the police statement noted. “We are un- aware of anyone’s exposure as a result of these records.” Investigation drags on Mr. Bridger, now in his mid-60s, has been aware of an investigation against him in Cayman since at least 2014, but the reason for the investigation has never been made clear. In August 2014, then- RCIPS Commissioner David Baines alluded to the possi- bility that Mr. Bridger could be in some legal trouble over certain statements he made regarding the case, partic- ularly criminal allegations Mr. Bridger made in early 2013 against the territory’s former governor and cur- rent attorney general. The former U.K. lawman had al- leged to the U.K. Met Police and the RCIPS that former Cayman Governor Stuart Jack and Attorney General Sam Bulgin misled him about var- ious facts in the Tempura investigation. Former Governor Jack and Mr. Bulgin have publicly de- nied those allegations. Mr. Jack at one point commented that it was “high time” Mr. Bridger be held accountable for his statements. Mr. Baines said in 2014: “Whilst the criminal allega- tions made by Mr. Bridger failed, were unsupported and unproved after analysis of all of the available evidence, it is correct to say that his account and publishing of data within the media led to counter-allegations of crim- inal conduct being made in relation to his conduct. Those allegations remain under in- vestigation and are subject to continued inquiry.” A Grand Court ruling in a separate legal matter, pub- lished in 2015, did specify criminal allegations against Mr. Bridger via an affi- davit filed by former Crown counsel Douglas Schofield on Dec. 19, 2014. The affidavit states in paragraph 16: “[Commis- sioner] Baines has authorized me to advise the court that Bridger is currently being in- vestigated for the following offences (1) misconduct in a public office, contrary to common law, (2) providing false information to a public officer … (3) willfully mis- leading a police officer … (4) making a false report to a po- lice officer …. “In addition and in con- nection with the U.K. High Court civil action … Bridger is under investigation for po- tential criminal charges in ei- ther the Cayman Islands or the U.K. relating to (5) theft of police property, (6) han- dling and/or possession of stolen property, (7) breaches of the U.K.’s Data Protec- tion Act 1998.” Letter to premier In mid-2016, while still apparently under investi- gation, Mr. Bridger wrote a letter to Premier Alden McLaughlin stating that he wished all matters re- lating to Operation Tempura to be put “behind me.” Mr. Bridger released the letter to the local media shortly after sending it to the premier on July 1, 2016. “[The Cayman authori- ties] know that to allow all the facts to be independently scrutinized would run a very high risk of exposing wrong- doing by individuals, causing significant embarrassment for the FCO [U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office], the Cayman Islands government, etc.,” Mr. Bridger wrote. “Rep- utational damage would be at a premium. All of the ev- idence considered together clearly supports the assertion I made … that there has been a deliberate concealment of evidence, misrepresentation of the facts and that individ- uals holding high public of- fice have behaved unethically in their individual and col- lective desire to have matters swept under the carpet. “I wish to make you [re- ferring to the premier] aware that the attorney general and director of public prosecu- tions are, in my humble sub- mission, conflicted in pro- viding any advice to you on these issues. Premier McLaughlin cat- egorized Mr. Bridger’s state- ments as an “extortion at- tempt” and said during the Legislative Assembly that if anyone had evidence of cor- ruption in the Cayman Is- lands, they should present it to police. Mr. McLaughlin said that as long as he holds the office of premier, Mr. Bridger “will not re- ceive one red cent of my peo- ple’s money in settlement of any claim,” adding that Mr. Bridger could sue the gov- ernment over the matter if he wanted to. Mr. McLaughlin was re- elected in May and has formed a new coalition government, with himself as premier. “The Bridger investigation file was submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and a response is expected within four to six weeks.” RCIPS STATEMENT Four students from the Cayman Islands Further Edu- cation Centre will be working with the HSM Group law firm this summer. Keanuanna Melwood, Ga- briel Morla, Tianna Ramgeet and Tagh-Jay Wilson have been selected to join HSM’s summer internship program. The interns will gain ex- perience in such areas as Intellectual Property, Debt Collection and Immigra- tion. Attorneys Sophie Da- vies, Sarah Alison and Alistair David will oversee their progress. HSM has worked with CIFEC since 2012 and six graduates of that pro- gram are now part of the firm’s staff. “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to train the CIFEC stu- dents, especially the stu- dents who may be inter- ested in pursuing a career in law,” HSM managing partner Huw Moses said in a press release. HSM ADDS FOUR SUMMER INTERN STUDENTS Martin Bridger leaves the Grand Court in downtown George Town in 2015. - PHOTO: BRENT FULLER 100 Women in Finance raise $50K for Breast Cancer Foundation The charity 100 Women in Finance raised almost $50,000 at its recent Barefoot Beach Gala for the Breast Cancer Foundation. The gala at Royal Palms included a Veuve Cliquot Champagne tent and a Gelato & Co. cart. Raffle winners went home with prizes including return flights to Miami, courtesy of Cayman Airways; a two-night stay at EPIC, a Kimpton luxury Miami hotel; and two flights to anywhere JetBlue flies. Philanthropy Co-Chairwoman Nadia Hardie said, “This was one of the best attended galas we’ve had,” and thanked all sponsors for their support. Co-Chairwoman Leanne Golding also thanked the sponsors, including media sponsor Pinnacle Media, as well as all the people who attended. Worldwide, 100 Women in Finance has raised more than US$40 million for philanthropic causes in the areas of women’s and family health, educa- tion and mentoring. The Cayman branch of 100 Women in Finance aligns its yearly objectives to 100WF’s global theme, which ro- tates on an annual basis to ensure the greatest impact for local communities. For 2017, the theme is Women’s and Family Health. This year, 100WF will be the of- ficial sponsor of the Breast Cancer Foundation’s Wellness Program, which provides support and services to breast cancer patients and their families that may otherwise be un- available or financially out of reach. In Cayman, 100WF has more than 600 members; worldwide, the organi- zation has more than 15,000 profes- sional women in the finance and al- ternative investment industries. The group’s next fundraiser in Cayman will be its Corporate Mixology Competition on Sept. 21. Members of 100 Women in Finance present funds to members of The Breast Cancer Foundation. From left, Dawn Cummings of 100WF, James Bovell and Lydia Forbes of the Breast Cancer Foundation, Leanne Golding of 100WF, Janette Fitzgerald of BCF, Anne-Marie Leadbetter of 100WF, Kim Lund of BCF and Lise Baril of 100WF. From left, Gabriel Morla, Keanuanna Melwood, Huw Moses, Tianna Ramgeet and Tagh-Jay Wilson are excited about the HSM summer internship.DISTRICT DAYS 6 District Days Bodden Town TUESDAY JULY 18, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS In the July 12, 1967 edition of the Caymanian Weekly, a pre- cursor of the Cayman Compass, “Bodden Town Report” correspon- dent Floris McCoy wrote: “On July 6 at 7:30, Miss Blossom Berry, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Travers Berry of Bodden Town, was united in mar- riage to Mr. Albert Frederick. The very quiet wedding took place at the Manse Bodden Town and was conducted by the Revered Lewin Williams. “Blossom was given in mar- riage by her father. She wore a three-quarter length wedding dress of lace and taffeta and car- ried a bouquet of white. Her chief bridesmaid was Miss Twilia Mae Levy and the best man was Mr. Verdon Terry. Other attendants were Miss Hyacinth Watler and Mrs. Lewis Berry. “After the wedding, a reception was held at the home of the bride for the wedding group. We wish them a happy life together. “Those leaving Bodden Town: Mrs. Adele Mulock who was re- siding here. She will spend a few months in Miami. Mr. and Mrs. Edward Oliver of Wilton, Con- necticut, who spent one week at their residence and returned on Sunday. Mrs. Raymond Wood left for Jamaica. Mrs. Scobel Bodden and daughter Iris left for Jamaica, also Miss Ginger Solomon. They attended the graduation of Mr. Roy Bodden. Miss Hannah Carter went home to Honduras to spend her Summer holidays. “Coming in were: Mr. Avery Ebanks from sea. He is an em- ployee of Skou Shipping Co. Miss Dora Levy, who was gone from this island for 58 years returned to her hometown. She resided in Costa Rica and Nicaragua all these years and never ever re- alised that she would one day come back to her native land. “Mr. and Mrs. Haldale Bodden of Bodden Town announced the birth of their second son on the July 7, weight 8 lbs, ¾ oz. 50 YEARS AGO: Berry-Frederick wedding celebrated Novices take on top cyclists in handicap race JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com Novice riders took on more experienced and faster cyclists in a 27- mile handicap race that started off in Bodden Town Sunday morning. The race, starting in three groups of local and interna- tional cyclists, was the first for the Cayman Islands Cy- cling Association. “It was an exciting time for the 29 riders despite the very hot pace and hot day for the race,” said Craig Merren, president of the Cy- cling Association. The first group of cy- clists sprinted off from the EverGlo Bar and Restaurant parking lot at 7:18 a.m., fol- lowed closely by the second group and then finally the top riders, after receiving final instructions from Ed- ward Howard, the Cycling Association’s secretary. The three groups made their way through North Side, onto the Queen’s Highway, through East End and back to Bodden Town. The race saw Group 3, made up of riders from a Miami-based cycling club as well as some local competi- tors, overtaking the first team of novices and battling the second team for the sprint to the finish line. James Melen, riding with the second group of riders, was the first one over the finish line, clocking in at 1 hour, 8 minutes and 55 sec- onds, with an average riding speed of 23.5 miles per hour. Johann Prinsloo, also riding with Group 2, fin- ished second, less than 1 minute and 8 seconds behind Mr. Melen. Jamie Hughes, again with Group 2, finished in third place. A handicap race in- volves novice and slower riders getting a head start on top riders. The slowest group starts first, the second slowest group starts a few minutes behind, and so on. The time interval of 6 min- utes between the different groups was determined by Mr. Merren. The rider who crossed the finish line first won the race. Clocking in the times, Joanne Caputo thanked the riders who came out to par- ticipate. “It was my first handicap race and I had a great time – it was fun, in- teresting, and exciting – and you all gave me lots of work to do which truly made it worth my while to come out. I appreciate it,” said Ms. Caputo. U.S. cyclist Michael Tes- tori said he had been looking forward to the race de- spite the hot sun. He said he visits Cayman on an annual basis and had met quite a few of the Cayman cyclists, and had grown to love and appre- ciate the island. “With the price drop in airline tickets, I was able to convince five of my friends to come down and participate in the race and have a little vacation at the same time,” Mr. Testori said. Local rider Noland Stewart, who watched the event, said he found riding a very exciting sport. “It’s very challenging at times but a lot depends on the level you want to exist at.… I normally try to excel so I try to go for the com- petition aspect of the ride, it brings a lot of things to you, such as focus, good stability … but also what it does is keeps you trim,” said Mr. Stewart. He said riding on Cay- man’s flat terrain is quite a different experi- ence than riding in parts of the United States. “This 27-mile ride on a flat is pretty easy … when you do 27 miles on a hill, it’s pretty different and you have to put in 110 per- cent most of the time just simply because of the differ- ence in terrain.” Mr. Stewart said it’s al- ways exciting to travel and to represent his country, meet new people, gain knowledge and broaden his exposure when it comes to cycling. “In all, I find it to be a very challenging sport, it’s very motivating to those who want to do more than just go out and ride 10 miles per hour, here we are riding at an average of 22 to 24 miles per hour, which is a little more challenging than a recre- ational ride,” he said. Cycling Association history The cycling associa- tion was formed in 1982 by Robert Nunes, better known by cyclists as “Bobby,” an at- torney with over 20 years of experience in the national sports administration, in- cluding cycling in Jamaica. He was also the founder of the Jamaican Cycling Feder- ation back in 1968. He built up the association with in- dividuals such William Mc- Taggart, John Flemming and former Cabinet Minister Linford Pierson. Cyclist James Smith checks his timing after warming up.Cyclists receive final instructions from Edward Howard, the Cycling Association’s secretary. – PHOTOS: JEWEL LEVYThe islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY JULY 18, 2017 LESF GYM AND SAUNA IS FOR YOU! INFOLIFEEXT@GMAIL.COM “Keep on keeping on”…words to live by. Police accident investigators and other personnel examine the damage to a taxi after it struck a pedestrian Monday morning outside Owen Roberts International Airport. - PHOTO: BRENT FULLER Artist’s latest works outrage Cayman Brackers Minister: ‘We can only build so many roads’ Visiting doctor struck, badly hurt, at airport approval,” Mr. Ebanks said. “I just want this gone. All the preachers on the island have gone to the police sta- tion. They’ve got calls from residents here.” He said police requested he start a petition about the artwork. Given the large number of Cayman Brac residents that work for the government, however, Mr. Ebanks said many would not sign a petition. Attempts to address the matter through government have been similarly fruit- less, he said. “The district administra- tion said they are waiting on the ministry, and the min- istry says they are waiting for police,” Mr. Ebanks said. In addition to the sculp- tures, Mr. Ebanks said he and other Brac residents who had been critical of Mr. Kynes’s work had themselves become the subject of publicly dis- played ire by the artist. Mr. Ebanks’s name, alongside that of business partner and Deputy Premier Moses Kirk- connell and other prominent residents, is featured on a “wall of shame” that com- pares several government de- partments to Nazi Germany. “He got upset at me for speaking out against all of these different things, so he added my name, my wife’s name and my company name to the list,” Mr. Ebanks said. Mr. Ebanks said he is em- barrassed that tour guides will often drive visitors past the property to view Mr. Kynes’s work. Many of the sculptures and signs are vis- ible from the road. Mr. Kynes said he believes critics like Mr. Ebanks are a minority and that most visi- tors have enjoyed the pieces. “You’d be surprised the people who come here and they have no problem with it,” he said. “People drive by and yell ‘Yay, Foots,’ and give me a thumb’s up.” He contended many critics misunderstand the point of his work and are reacting out of fear of the unknown. Mr. Kynes described him- self as a loner on the island, with a limited social circle. “I’m basically a loner. I don’t get out much. I have a few people, the expats I deal with, and one or two Brackers,” he said. “Each day I don’t leave the driveway, that’s a good day because I’m in my own world creating my art.” He encouraged those with questions about his work to come to the property and an- alyze the pieces themselves. “To know me is to under- stand me. To understand me is to know me. When people don’t understand something, by human nature, they be- come afraid of it,” he said. Mr. Kynes is best known for his underwater dive-sit- einstallation, “The Lost City of Atlantis,” and his apoca- lyptic themes. He said the new high- ways also have the po- tential for expansion as Cayman grows. “Ultimately, we are building all these roads with the ability to go to three lanes, but at the end of the day we are going to have to focus on imple- menting a proper public transport system and en- couraging people to use greener, smaller vehicles, as well as car sharing and getting out there and get- ting healthy and riding our bikes to work sometimes. “We are going to have to do something about public transport, and through duty structures and other in- centives, start encouraging smaller vehicles and environ- mentally friendly vehicles in order to reduce the size and speed and amount of vehi- cles on our roads.” There were 36,134 reg- istered vehicles on Cay- man’s roads in 2015, the highest ever recorded. No data has been released for 2016. Figures available on the Economics and Sta- tistics Office website go back to 1999, when there were 22,828 licensed vehi- cles on the road. The taxi van driver was taken to hospital following the crash as well and was receiving treatment. Po- lice did not immediately state whether anyone else was in the van at the time of the crash. Social media photos of the woman lying in- jured in the road were cir- culated shortly after the crash. Police confirmed that the person pictured was the accident victim, but asked that the photos not be distributed. The pictures also showed some bags and luggage strewn about the street and what appeared to be a luggage trolley lying in the street as well. According to Health Services Authority Chief Executive Officer Lizzette Yearwood, the physician had arrived in Cayman Monday to fill in at the authority. Ms. Yearwood said it was a job that she did from time to time as needed at the authority to give local medical staff members a break. “She had just arrived for work [Monday], when she was struck,” Ms. Yearwood said. The police investigation following the crash blocked the main entrance into the busy airport for about four hours Monday. Airport traffic was re- routed around the crash scene via one of the side roads north of the air- port property. Cayman Islands Air- ports Authority officials were contacted Monday for comment on the accident, but nothing was provided by press time. “I just want this gone. All the preachers on the island have gone to the police station. They’ve got calls from residents here.” DALKEITH EBANKS, Cayman Brac resident CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Fake news becomes standard practice for governments Campaigns to manipu- late public opinion through false or misleading social media postings have become standard political practice across much of the world, with information minis- tries, specialized military units and political operatives shaping the flow of informa- tion in dozens of countries, a British research group re- ported Monday. These propaganda ef- forts exploit every major so- cial media platform – Face- book, Twitter, Instagram and beyond – and rely on both human users and computer- ized “bots” that can dramati- cally amplify the power of disinformation campaigns by automating the pro- cess of preparing and de- livering posts. Bots interact with human users and also with other bots. Though most social media platforms are de- signed and run by corpo- rations based the United States, the platforms are in- filtrated almost immediately upon their release to the public by a range of interna- tional actors skilled at using information to advance po- litical agendas, both within their own countries and often beyond, said the re- searchers from Oxford Uni- versity’s Computational Pro- paganda Research Project. “The government pro- paganda evolved with so- cial media and has grown along with it,” said Philip N. Howard, an Oxford pro- fessor and co-author of the report, called “Troops, trolls and trouble makers: A global inventory of organized social media manipulation.” The report draws on news accounts of social media pro- paganda in 29 countries to reach broader conclusions about the global growth of various techniques, including issuing false news reports, attacking journalists or coun- tering critical social media posts with messages sup- porting a government posi- tion or political view. These efforts are often, though not always, clandes- tine, with the origin of the social media posts obscured through phony account in- formation. Automated bot ac- counts often play key roles by automatically creating social media posts, responding to other users and echoing se- lect themes in a way that are very difficult to distinguish from ordinary human users. Bots can post far more often than human users, in some cases more than 1,000 times a day; human users dubbed “cyborgs” rely on similar au- tomation technology to bol- ster the power of their ac- counts as well. Twitter and Facebook, which owns Instagram, de- clined to comment on the re- port. Neither company was singled out in the report, though Twitter and Facebook have become particularly popular targets for social media manipulation because of their global reach. Howard said he and the report’s other lead researcher, Oxford’s Samantha Brad- shaw, were struck by how much of the propaganda ac- tivity and innovation hap- pened in Western-style de- mocracies, including Britain, the United States, Israel, Aus- tralia and Mexico. The report, citing a pre- viously published news ac- count, said that Israel had 350 social media accounts on multiple platforms, oper- ating in English, Hebrew and Arabic. A British propaganda campaign posts fake YouTube videos in an attempt to pre- vent Muslims from becoming radicalized and joining the war in Syria, the report said. And political forces in Mexico used bots and human users to attack journalists and spread disinformation over social media. In some cases, these ef- forts involved full-blown government bureaucracies, with a steady number of employees and fixed pay- rolls. Other times bands of online activists or ad- hoc groups of paid workers worked together for a single campaign before being dis- banded. Some efforts also get outsourced to private vendors that specialize in influencing opinion through social media. Though Russia leads the world in the sophistication of its online propaganda ef- forts, Howard said that ef- forts to support Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign broke new ground for using so- cial media to shape polit- ical opinion. Howard’s group and others have previously reported that Twitter bots supporting Trump were far more vocal and organized than bots supporting Demo- crat Hillary Clinton, partic- ularly in the closing days of the election. “It’s the presidential elec- tion cycles that put tens of millions of dollars into these innovations,” Howard said. “The big-money innova- tions happen in the United States and then get ad- opted everywhere.” Other researchers have documented the power of so- cial media to bolster Trump’s surprise electoral suc- cess and shown that some of those social media re- sources are now spreading to other nations. The spread of unflattering documents about French presidential candidate Em- manuel Macron – now de- bunked as phony – got key support in the final days of the May election from Twitter bots that also had supported Trump in the U.S., according to Emilio Ferrara, a re- searcher at the University of Southern California. He analyzed 17 million tweets, finding that bots based outside of France fo- cused on different issues than human Twitter users in France. His latest report, published this month, sug- gested the possibility of “a black-market for reusable po- litical-disinformation bots.” “The government propaganda evolved with social media and has grown along with it.” PHILIP N. HOWARD, author of the reportTUESDAY, JULY 18 SEAFARERS ASSOCIATION: General meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Seafarers Hall, 11 Victory Ave., Prospect. Buses will be provided from West Bay Town Hall at 6 p.m. A bus route in George Town leaves the Public Library parking area at 7 p.m., stopping at the Cayman Compass building and Airport Foster’s. The Bobo’s bus is blue. There is no charge. MOONLIGHT & MOVIES: “Minions” (2003, PG) will show at Camana Bay’s Gardenia Court. Free. 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY, JULY 19 STEEL PAN: Pan “N” Riddim Steel Band holds a fundraiser on Cardinall Avenue 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to help offset the cost of $5,000 to send students to Canada to compete in this year’s Caribana Parade. CHAMBER COURSE: Be Informed – New Trade Marks and Designs Laws Explained. 3-5 p.m. Chamber of Commerce, Governors Square. Free. Register online at www.caymanchamber.ky. THURSDAY, JULY 20 PUB QUIZ: 7 p.m. at Fidel’s, to benefit the Humane Society. FRIDAY, JULY 21 NEEDS ASSESSMENT UNIT: The unit will be closed for a one-day staff training session and will reopen as usual at 8:30 a.m. Monday, July 24. SUNDAY, JULY 23 GOSPEL MEETING: Starts today and continues through July 28. West Bay Church of Christ presents “Jesus Is The Answer” with guest speaker J.K. Hamilton from Mountain View Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas. Sunday, 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Monday to Friday at 7:30 p.m. THURSDAY, JULY 27 CHAMBER COURSE: Dealing with Difficult Customers. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Chamber of Commerce, Governors Square. $150 for Chamber members, $225 for future members. Register online at www.caymanchamber.ky. TUESDAY, AUGUST 8 CHAMBER COURSE: Immigration and Permanent Residency. 9–11 a.m. Chamber of Commerce, Governors Square. $175 for Chamber members, $225 for future members. Register online at www.caymanchamber.ky. SUMMER CAMPS, VBS VBS: The First Assembly of God holds Vacation Bible School July 17-21 for ages 4 to 13. The theme is Maker Fun Factory – Created by God, built for a purpose. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is $50 per child. Lunch and snack will be provided. Call 945-2182. VBS: Boatswain Bay Presbyterian Church invites all to VBS Monday, July 31, to Friday, Aug. 4, 9 a.m. till noon. The theme is “Created by God, built for a purpose.” The Bible School is for children 4 to 12 years. SUMMER OF ART: The National Gallery offers this series every Tuesday and Thursday from 2-4 p.m. in the Susan A. Olde Art Studio until Aug. 17. Space is limited to 20 students per session on a first-come, first-served basis (no pre-registration necessary). Sessions are free and all materials are provided. Summer camps and large groups can book art sessions and tours separately. For more information, visit www.nationalgallery.org. ky or email education@ nationalgallery.org.ky. MULTI-SPORT CAMP: The Camana Bay Sports Complex is offering young athletes a chance to improve at multiple sports, including volleyball, basketball, tennis, swimming and football. July 17-21. Ages 6 to 14. Cost is $125 for week 1 and $150 for weeks 2 and 3. Call 640-4000 or email camps@camanabay.com. VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL: Calvary Baptist Church holds Vacation Bible School for children ages 4 to 17. July 17-21. 8:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Bible stories, music, games, puppets, crafts and snacks. Call 949-0629. MUSIC CAMP: Cayman Music School is offering a camp for kids of all ages in ear training, instrument mastery, talent shows and more. Children will perform a musical recital at the end of each week. Ages 5 to 12. Cost is $55 per day or $250 per week. Till July 28, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Call 938-3838 or email info@caymanmusicschool.com. LEARNING CABOOSE: Offered through Church of God Chapel, Till July 28. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For ages 5 to 13. Cost is $250. Activities include arts and crafts, glass bottom boat, fishing, sports. Call 929-9222 or 949-1794. SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM: Light of the World Christian Fellowship offers tutorial programs in literacy and mathematics this summer with side focus on arts and crafts, educational games and field trips. Lunch and two snacks served daily. Till July 28. 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Call 926-1541 or 947-1949. KIDS ABILITY: Preschool and Kindergarten Readiness for ages 2.5 to 4.5. 8:30- 11:30 a.m. Till Aug. 11. $275 per week. Social skills camps for ages 5 to 7, 7-11. Weekly themed camps, till Aug. 11. Also baby play times. Contact info@kidsability.ky. IMMERSE: The Cayman Islands National Museum on the waterfront is holding a camp to brief children on the region’s rich maritime history. Cost is $100. Ages 9 to 11 for session running from July 17-21; Ages 12 to 14 for session running from July 24-28. ACTING CAMPS: Organized by Cayman Drama Society at Prospect Playhouse. 8 to 11 years, July 24-28. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $300 for the week. 12-16 years, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $325 for the week. Email training@cds.ky to book. HORSE CAMP: Coral Stone Stables, West Bay. For ages 7 to 16. Till July 28. 8 a.m. to noon. $250 per week; $50 per day. Children must be physically fit; no experience necessary. Contact Noland at 916-4799, coralstonestables@gmail.com. GENERAL INTEREST HUMANE SOCIETY THRIFT SHOP: The shop has moved to Venetia Plaza, next to China Village. The thrift shop is open Tuesday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., closed on Sunday and Monday. Phone 945-5596. DVDL REPLACES TEMP PLATES: The Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing is replacing all Temporary Registration Plates. Customers who have been contacted by the department are asked to collect their new registration plates. They are reminded to bring the temporary registration plates, windshield coupon (if not expired) and log book. CONTRACTORS REGISTRATION: The deadline for residential and building contractors is June 30; trade contractors’ deadline is Aug. 31. BETHESDA COUNSELLING CENTRE: Caters to all who seek help. Open Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 68 Mary St. Appointments available Saturdays and late evenings. Owned and operated by the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Call 946-6575. LOST DOGS: The Department of Agriculture and veterinary students of St. Matthew’s University provide an online list of dogs housed at the Department of Agriculture Animal Rescue Shelter in Lower Valley. Anyone missing a dog can check www.smustudents.webs.com. HUMANE SOCIETY BOOK LOFT: North Sound Road. Open Monday 12:30-4 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 5:30-7:30 p.m. Volunteers needed for front desk a few hours per week. Email humanesocietybookloft@ candw.ky or call 946-8053. Donations of books, games, CDs, stationery, DVDs, cards etc., in good condition always needed. RED CROSS THRIFT SHOP: The Thrift Shop opening hours are Tuesday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. Friday hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and closed evenings. Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. SPECIAL OLYMPICS: Volunteers are needed. Tuesdays at the Truman Bodden Complex at 5:30 p.m. for track/field, football and bocce. No experience necessary, just a smile and patience. Wednesdays at Lions Pool 10:15–11 a.m. You do not have to swim, just be able to walk in water chest-deep. Thursdays at First Baptist Church for basketball, 5:30–7 p.m. Saturdays, volunteers needed for Adult Special Olympic swim conditioning at CIS pool 9:30–10:30 a.m. Deck support and in-water swimming assistance needed. Contact Penny McDowall at 516-2578 or pjmcdowall@gmail.com. OPEN STUDIO: Every Thursday 10 a.m. till noon and every Monday 1-4 p.m. at Watler House Studio on grounds of Pedro Castle. Offered by Visual Arts Society to adults/youth who want to work independently in an inspiring atmosphere. For more information, email info@visualartcayman.com. COMMUNITY CHESS: Tuesdays 5-8 p.m., West Indies Wine Company. Join the Cayman Chess Club for a complimentary chess class and open challenges weekly. Anyone can learn to play and enjoy chess, even beginners. ARTISANS MARKET: Camana Bay every Wednesday, noon till 8 p.m. Visual Arts Society artists display arts, crafts, paintings, prints, hand-crafted jewelry and ceramics for sale. For details, email info@visualartcayman.com. OPEN CANVAS: Wednesdays. Visual Arts Society supports this event at KARoo Restaurant in Camana Bay. 7-11 p.m. No fee, easels provided. For more information, send an email to info@ongart.com or jar.was@gmail.com. MUSEUM TOURS: The National Museum provides guided tours for students and school groups free of cost. Students will gain an understanding of Cayman’s geological formation, flora and fauna, seafaring and rope-making heritage, political history and more. Contact the museum to book a tour in advance at 949-8368 or email info@museum.ky. CLUBS, ORGANIZATIONS ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: Meets daily to help with drinking problems. For more information, call 926-9044 or visit www.caymanaa.org. NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: Is available for substance abuse help. Call the info line at 929–NANA (6262). AL-ANON GROUP MEETING: Are you troubled by someone’s drinking? Al-Anon Family Groups can help. Call 928-8843 or email caymanalanon@gmail. com for meeting times. OVERCOMERS OUTREACH: A Christ-centered 12-step recovery group addresses addictions and those affected by them. Meetings at Cayman Islands Baptist Church, Pedro Castle Road, Mondays, 7 p.m. For details, contact Virginia Castillo at 946-2422, or visit www.overcomersoutreach.org. DEMENTIA/ALZHEIMER’S SUPPORT GROUP: This group meets on the last Wednesday of each month at the Catboat Club clubhouse, North Church Street. All are invited to attend. Call 924-4170 or email info@adacayman.com. TOASTMASTERS CLUB: Cayman has three chapters of Toastmasters International, geared toward development of public speaking and leadership skills. Grand Cayman club meets at George Town Public Library, 3rd floor, 6-7:15 p.m. every Thursday. Eloquent Speaker club meets 2nd and 4th Tuesday 6:30–7:45 p.m. at Savannah United Church Hall. Eminent Orators club meets 2nd and 4th Monday 6–7:30 p.m. at Cayman Academy Canteen. Contact George R. Ebanks at 916-0687/322-9369 or georger.ebanks@gmail.com. For more Community Calendar events, visit www.caymancompass.com/events. 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 JULY 18, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association will hold its general meeting on Tuesday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Seafarers Hall, 11 Victory Ave., Prospect. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAYThe islands’ most-trusted news source 9 Biggest snowfall in decades in Chile Chile’s capital was blanketed this weekend by the biggest snowfall in decades. Power was knocked out for tens of thousands of people in Santiago’s metropolitan area with some parts receiving up to 16 inches of snow. CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY JULY 18, 2017 Maduro foes: More than 7M vote in Venezuela referendum CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Foes of President Nicolas Maduro said more than 7 million Venezuelans cast symbolic votes rejecting his plan to retool the constitu- tion in a strong but not over- whelming showing that left the opposition facing tough choices two weeks before the socialist leader seeks to re- shape the political system. The vote was marred by violence when a 61-year-old woman was killed and four people wounded by gunfire after government supporters on motorcycles swarmed an opposition polling site in a church in western Caracas. Analysts said the 7,186,170 ballots the oppo- sition says were cast across Venezuela and around the world on Sunday was an im- pressive show of support. However, it fell short of the opposition’s 7.7 million-vote showing in 2015 legislative elections and the 7.5 million votes that brought Maduro to power in 2013. Opposi- tion leaders said that was be- cause it was only able to set up 2,000 polling places in a symbolic exercise the govern- ment labeled as illegitimate. Still, some supporters said they were disappointed. “I thought it was going to be more,” said Mariela Arana, a 56-year-old school counselor. “But these seven million people spoke and it was plenty.” David Smilde, a Tulane University expert on Vene- zuela, said the result would likely rally the interna- tional community even more strongly against the July 30 vote Maduro has called to elect members of the as- sembly that will rewrite Ven- ezuela’s 1999 constitution. The opposition says that vote has been structured to pack the constitutional assembly with government supporters and allow Maduro to elim- inate the few remaining checks on his power, creating a Cuba-style system domi- nated by his socialist party. Inside Venezuela, Smilde said leaders of the 20-odd groups in the Democratic Unity opposition coalition were now faced with choosing between tactics ranging from calling a general strike to forming a parallel government to simply working to rally in- ternational condemnation of Maduro’s plans. “Overall, this vote, I think, makes it difficult for the gov- ernment to just proceed as planned,” Smilde said. “I think it’s going to embolden the international community to reject it.” Canada and Mexico were among the countries that is- sued statements Sunday eve- ning lauding the opposi- tion exercise. Late Sunday, Foreign Min- ister Samuel Moncada said on Twitter that he was de- claring former Mexican Presi- dent Vicente Fox persona non grata and banning him from the country for conspiring to promote violence and foreign intervention. Fox traveled to Venezuela Saturday with a group of Latin American former presidents to show support for the referendum. Moncada offered no evidence to support his accusations. The opposition released only turnout numbers Sunday night, not tallies of responses to those questions, although virtually all who voted were believed to have answered “yes” to the central rejection of the constitutional rewrite. Pro-government para- military groups attacked voters outside the Our Lady of Carmen Church around 3 p.m., according to the oppo- sition mayor of the Caracas borough of Sucre, Carlos Oc- ariz. The chief prosecutor’s office said Xiomara Soledad Scott, a nurse, had been killed and four others wounded in the incident. Video posted to so- cial media showed massive crowds outside the church, then hundreds of people running in panic outside the church as motorcycle- riding men zoomed past and shots rang out. Maduro called for an end to violence that he blamed on the opposition. “I’m calling on the opposi- tion to return to peace, to re- spect for the constitution, to sit and talk,” Maduro said. “Let’s start a new round of talks, of dialogue for peace.” In smaller numbers in many parts of the capital, government supporters went to polling stations in a re- hearsal for the July 30 vote. Maduro and the military dominate most state institu- tions but the opposition con- trols the congress and holds three of 23 governorships. The country’s chief prose- cutor has recently broken with the ruling party. The opposition called backers to 2,000 sites across the country to fill out bal- lots featuring three yes-or- no questions. Do they reject the constitutional assembly? Do they want the armed forces to back congress? Do they support the formation of a government comprised both of Maduro backers and opponents? The opposition released only turnout numbers Sunday night, not tallies of responses to those questions, although virtually all who voted were believed to have answered “yes” to the central rejection of the constitutional rewrite. Iran detains president’s brother, sentences Chinese-American TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran has impris- oned a Chinese-American man for 10 years after accusing him of “in- filtrating” the country and detained President Hassan Rouhani’s brother over allegations of financial miscon- duct, authorities said Sunday. News of the detentions comes less than two months after relative moderate Rouhani beat a hard-line opponent to win reelection by run- ning in large part on his record of pursuing greater engagement with the West. They were announced by the judiciary, a pillar of hard- liners’ influence. The Chinese-American dual na- tional was identified as Xiyue Wang, a 37-year-old history researcher, ac- cording to Mizan Online, a website affiliated with the judiciary. He was not previously known to be among the handful of Americans detained in Iran. “It was verified and determined that he was gathering (information) and was involved in infiltration,” Ju- diciary spokesman Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejehi said during a routine press briefing. Ejehi did not identify Wang by name. But hours after he spoke, Mizan published an article attrib- uted to an unnamed source that re- vealed his identity and included several photos of him apparently taken from the Internet. The Mizan article said he was born in Beijing and entered Iran as a researcher. It pointed to graduate studies he did at Princeton Univer- sity in 2013 and 2014, and described him as a fluent speaker of Persian. In a statement, Princeton said Wang was arrested in Iran last summer while conducting research on the 1794-1925 Qajar dynasty for his Ph.D. in late 19th and early 20th century Eurasian history. “We were very distressed by the charges brought against him in con- nection with his scholarly activities, and by his subsequent conviction and sentence,” the statement read. The university said it’s been working with Wang’s family, the U.S. government, private counsel and others to secure his release. It said it was hopeful he would be freed upon appeal. A photo of Wang on Prince- ton’s history department shows him posing under a plaque at the entrance of China’s official Xi- nhua News Agency’s bureau in Kabul, Afghanistan. A short bio on the Princeton in Asia website said Wang had been a fellow in Hong Kong in 2008-2009, had completed a bachelor’s degree in South Asian studies at the Univer- sity of Washington and did Russian and Eurasian studies at Harvard. “For better or worse, he still can’t tell you what exactly he has been studying in the many years that have passed,” the site said. “What he does know is that his dream is to walk the ancient Silk Road from Xi’an to Rome one day.” Wang was arrested on Aug. 8, 2016 and is accused of passing con- fidential information about Iran to the U.S. State Department, Princ- eton’s Sharmin and Bijan Moss- avar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, the Harvard Kennedy School and the British Institute of Persian Studies, ac- cording to Mizan. It alleged he re- corded some 4,500 pages of dig- ital documents. The U.S. State Department was not immediately able to provide de- tails on the case. It said its citizens’ safety and security is a top priority. The U.S. does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Tehran and warns its citizens trav- eling there that they risk arrest or being barred from leaving Iran. “The Iranian regime continues to detain U.S. citizens and other for- eigners on fabricated national-se- curity related changes,” it said in a statement to The Associated Press. “We call for the immediate release of all U.S. citizens unjustly de- tained in Iran so they can return to their families.” Hossein Fereidoun, brother and top aide of moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, pictured on July 3. - PHOTO: AP Opposition members wave a Venezuelan flag outside a polling station during a symbolic referendum in Caracas on Sunday. - PHOTO: APNext >