ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 High of 90 Low of 80 Slight to moderate with wave heights of 2 to 4 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION A POOR SUBSTITUTE FOR FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION WORLD & REGIONAL | PAGE 13 MONARCH AIRLINE FILES FOR INSOLVENCY 185333-Ad-Strip-SandCastles-3yearfixed-DEC.indd 19/22/17 5:01 PM Cayman Airways fined for flying undocumented passengers Auditors say airline does not pay BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Airways did not pay more than $450,000 in government fines and fees levied against it in 2016, some of which were im- posed on the airline for bringing in passengers who boarded without valid entry documents. The Immigration Department can fine any airline up to $2,000 for each passenger trans- ported to Cayman who does not have the re- quired valid entry visa or proof of citizenship. The fines are called carrier liability fees. According to an internal audit report com- pleted in March, about 41 percent of all car- rier liability fees assessed to airlines landing at Cayman Islands airports during 2015-2016 were charged to Cayman Airways. “[Those charges] as of at the audit date, re- mained unpaid,” the audit service noted. Cayman Airways was not the only airline operating in Cayman that did not pay. Auditors noted that only about one-third of the carrier liability fines for the year had been paid as of June 30, 2016 – the end of the government’s budget year. However, CAL represented the largest delinquency in the fees by far. “We further noted that receivables from [Cayman Airways] for procedural fines have been outstanding from the time each penalty was levied,” the audit report noted. When contacted for a response to the audit, Cayman Airways officials noted that the airline was “researching” the amounts assessed and that it would pay any outstanding amounts. “Any delay in payment of fines has not been intentional and CAL is working to DVDL INSPECTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO CARELESS DRIVING SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com Arek Ebanks, a Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing inspector who crashed a car he was checking, pleaded guilty to careless driving Monday and was sentenced to a $250 fine or one month’s imprisonment. Ebanks was charged with unlawfully driving a Toyota Supra on Crewe Road without due care and attention in July 2016. He had taken the car onto the road during an inspec- tion but ended up in a one-vehicle accident before returning to the DVDL. Crown counsel Stacy-Ann Kelly told Acting Magistrate Grace Donalds that Ebanks claimed his shoe got caught, causing him to accelerate and lose control of the car. He hit a light pole, causing a bulb to fall and strike an- other vehicle. Ms. Kelly said Ebanks had already made restitution to the driver of the other car. The magistrate sentenced Ebanks, who was not represented by defense counsel, to a $250 fine, giving a month to pay it. The inspec- tor’s driver’s license was also endorsed as part of his sentence. Three endorsements in three years makes a driver liable to disqualification. The DVDL, in an internal review, found that Ebanks had not breached his civil ser- vice code of conduct. He was temporarily placed on “desk duties” during the review and subsequently returned to his role as a ve- hicle examiner. High-rise sniper kills at least 58 at Las Vegas concert Deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history LAS VEGAS (AP) – A gunman on the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel-casino rained heavy fire down on a crowd of over 22,000 at an outdoor country music fes- tival, turning the expanse into a killing ground from which there was little escape. At least 58 people died. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. In addition to the dead, at least 515 people were injured, au- thorities said. Concertgoers screamed, ran in terror and scrambled for cover Sunday night in an attack that at first sounded like fire- crackers to many but turned out to be dozens of bullets in rapid- fire bursts, perhaps from a fully automatic weapon. SWAT teams using explo- sives stormed the gunman’s hotel room in the sleek, gold- colored glass skyscraper and found he had killed himself, au- thorities said. The gunman, identified as Stephen Craig Paddock, a 64-year-old retiree from Mes- quite, Nevada, had as many as Caymanians honored at accountants’ gala Twenty young Caymanians received awards at the 10th annual ‘Diamond Gala’ of the Cayman Islands Institute of Professional Accountants. The institute recognized nine Caymanians for completing their bachelor’s degrees in accounting, one for earning her master’s, and 10 who attained their professional accounting designations. For more, see page 7. – PHOTO: MAGGIE JACKSON PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 »2 REGIONAL NEWS TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS I 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 - FLATLINERS (PG13) 12:50 VIP I 3:45 I 6:40 VIP I 10:10 BATTLE OF THE SEXES (PG13) 1:10 I 4:10 I 7:00 I 9:50 LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE 3D (PG) 1:30 2D I 4:00 I 6:30 2D I 9:00 KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE(R) 12:30 I 3:30 VIP I 6:35 I 9:20 VIP AMERICAN MADE (R) 1:40 I 4:25 I 7:15 I 10:05 IT (R) 12:50 I 4:00 I 7:05 I 9:45 Puerto Rico’s love of cars hinders recovery Only five months ago, Puerto Rico claimed the Guin- ness world record for the lon- gest parade of classic cars: 2,491. Now, in the wake of Hurricane Maria, the island’s celebrated car culture has complicated the struggle to restore people’s lives and the commonwealth’s economy. Drivers desperate for gas- oline are waiting hours in lines that stretch half a mile or more. One in San Juan on Friday ran from Sixto Escobar Stadium, down the length of the Escam- bron beach, around a bluff overlooking the ocean, and past El Hamburguer and a KFC before arriving at a Shell station. It was vivid evidence that Puerto Rico has one of the highest rates of car owner- ship in the world, thanks to urban sprawl and the govern- ment’s failure to build public transportation that com- muters might actually use. “It’s ridiculous that there are so many cars on this little island,” said Lisa Rivera, 54, who works for a com- pany that runs Jenny Craig weight-loss programs. She spoke from her SUV as she sat in another line for gas. Governor Ricardo Ros- sello has tried to tamp down panic by giving a running tally of how many of the is- land’s 1,100 gas stations have reopened. At a news confer- ence Monday morning, he put the number at 759 and said the average wait had dropped from six or seven hours a few days ago to under an hour. “We have been able to reduce gas lines,” he said. Many drivers, though, are still struggling to fill their tanks. Everyone whose job was not blown away by Maria is anxious to get to work and get paid so they can rebuild their lives. Julio Diaz, 70, said he had driven with his wife from Toa Baja – using precious gas to make the 18-mile trip – because the lines were even longer there. In the car be- hind him, his daughter Zoe Diaz, who uses a wheelchair, was equally desperate. “I have to get around however I can,” she said. The Diazes and other drivers started lining up early Friday morning. Fi- nally, about 9:45 a.m., fuel trucks arrived to fill the station’s tanks. Puerto Ricans are iso- lated without cars. Lacking in widespread public transpor- tation, residents have turned to their own vehicles, said Hani Mahmassani, director of the Transportation Center at Northwestern University. “This is very much an auto- and highway-depen- dent island,” Mahmassani said. About 931,000 Puerto Ricans drive or carpool to work out of 3.4 million total residents, according to U.S. Census data. “There’s just no public alternative that’s re- ally available.” The island’s love of the car stems from urban sprawl that began in the 1940s – and an equally long history of a public transportation system that was almost impos- sible to use, said Edwin Me- lendez, director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College at the City University of New York. For decades, the only public transit came from buses. “To say that they were unreliable is actually treating them too generously,” said Melendez, an urban plan- ning professor who lived on the island until he was 26. They were used by students who couldn’t drive, by the old, by the poor and no one else, he said. Puerto Rico’s attempt to change that was the Tren Ur- bano, a 10.7-mile rail system that opened in 2004 and was intended to ease traffic be- tween San Juan and nearby cities. It was a flop, in part because it did not go places people wanted to go. “The idea was that you would build it and they would come,” Melendez said. “It was going to be this little island of urbanism, on the routes where they built this horrendous monster. It didn’t happen. All of the predic- tions were wrong.” That helps explain why the island has the fifth- highest number of vehicles per capita in the world, after New Zealand, Brunei, Ice- land and Monaco, according to data from the World Bank. Another measure: Puerto Rico has about 2.01 million cars, or roughly 57 vehicles per lane-mile of highway, compared with about 38 on the U.S. mainland, in part be- cause the island has fewer miles of highway, period, Mahmassani said. © 2017, Bloomberg Fyre Festival organizer pleads not guilty to wire fraud charges Fyre Festival organizer Billy McFarland pleaded not guilty to fraud charges stem- ming from the April event – dubbed as a luxury music extravaganza in the Ba- hamas – that turned into a weekend of chaos. The festival collapsed with concertgoers finding “luxury” accommodations were actually disaster-re- lief tents and instead of gourmet food they were fed cheese sandwiches. McFar- land was first arrested on June 30 on charges that he defrauded investors who bought a $1.2 million stake in Fyre Media. Authorities said McFarland provided false documents which in- flated Fyre’s revenue. He’s free on bail. McFarland, 25, on Monday appeared in Man- hattan federal court where he waived his right to be charged in an indictment re- turned by a grand jury. In- stead, he agreed to plead not guilty to a charging docu- ment filed by prosecutors, called an information. He is charged with two counts of wire fraud and two counts of making false state- ments to a bank. That suggests a plea deal may be close. Informa- tions are often used when a defendant makes a deal with the government under which he pleads guilty. Pros- ecutors said in court docu- ments in August that they were in plea talks with Mc- Farland. His lawyer, Ran- dall Jackson, on Monday de- clined to comment. © 2017, Bloomberg MEXICO BARS QUAKE-COLLAPSED SCHOOL FROM OPERATING MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexi- co’s Education Department has revoked the permits of an elementary and middle school where a wing of the building collapsed in the recent magnitude 7.1 earth- quake, killing 26 people. Education Secretary Au- relio Nuno said Monday that the privately run En- rique Rebsamen school in Mexico City, which has been closed since the Sept. 19 quake, will be prohib- ited from operating. “There is an open in- vestigation by the Mexico City prosecutor’s office, and until responsibility is assigned, we are going to maintain this prohibition,” Nuno told Radio Formula. He said that while what remains of the campus is unusable, authori- ties wanted to ensure the school did not try to re- open elsewhere. Prosecutors are investi- gating the school’s owner. Complaints have also been filed against government of- ficials who allegedly ignored warnings about unauthor- ized construction at the school that may have been responsible for the collapse. The Education Depart- ment offered Sunday to help families place their children in other schools. Nineteen children and seven adults died at En- rique Rebsamen. On Monday, Civil De- fense coordinator Luis Fe- lipe Puente announced via Twitter that the death toll from the quake had risen by two to 363, including 222 in Mexico City. Authorities are still in- specting schools to make sure they are safe, and Nuno said it will likely be two weeks before all are back in session. He said decisions on how stu- dents will make up the lost time will be left to state governments. Residents wait for gas in the Miranda neighborhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 27. - PHOTO: BLOOMBERG BUS CRASH IN WESTERN MEXICO KILLS 15 MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexican authorities say 15 people have died and about 30 were injured in a bus crash in the western state of Jalisco. State Civil Defense co- ordinator Trinidad Lopez told Milenio television Monday that 11 were killed initially and four more died at hospitals. The crash occurred Sunday night near Ato- tonilco, about 60 miles east of Guadalajara. Photographs posted to Twitter by Jalisco Civil De- fense showed the bus on its side in the grass alongside a rain-slicked highway.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 Ten-story luxury condos approved on Seven Mile Beach Pageant Beach hotel gets initial approval THREE REMANDED FOR IMPORTING GANJA KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Central Planning Au- thority has granted outline approval for the Howard Hospitality Group’s pro- posed $300 million Pag- eant Beach hotel, according to minutes from the body’s Sept. 27 meeting. HHG will have to receive final approval before it can break ground on the project – two 10-floor towers with roughly 450 rooms and var- ious amenities at the southern tip of Seven Mile Beach. If approved, the develop- ment would be the largest hotel on Grand Cayman. However, nearby resi- dents have raised a number of objections, including com- plaints about potential noise and the fact that no envi- ronmental impact assess- ment or traffic studies have been conducted. HHG Chairman Howard Sitzer said at last week’s meeting that he had taken res- idents’ concerns into account. A Planning Authority board member proposed that resi- dents meet with developers to hash out those concerns be- fore the next meeting, which hasn’t been scheduled yet. Police checking identification of defendants CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Three Jamaican na- tionals appeared in Summary Court on Monday morning ac- cused of importing 550 pounds of ganja into the Cayman Islands on the night of Sept. 28 in the South Sound area. The men are Cephas Solomon Reynolds, 42, of Westmoreland; Eyon Joshua Johnson, 45, of Westmoreland; and Linton Nightpole Pillarchie, 36, of St. Elizabeth. In addition to allegedly importing the illegal drug, they are charged with possession with intent to supply and illegal landing. Defense attorney Jona- thon Hughes said he would not be making any bail ap- plication at this time. He told Magistrate Valdis Fol- dats that he had not yet re- ceived any papers about the case from the Crown. Crown counsel Ken- neth Ferguson agreed that was the situation. He said police were looking for the “proper names” of the defendants. The magistrate told the men that their attorney needed more information about the charges before the case could go any fur- ther. He remanded them in custody until Oct. 16. JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A 10-story luxury condo- minium complex has been approved for the southern end of Seven Mile Beach, ending a four-year legal struggle over the height of buildings in Grand Cayman’s central tourism zone. Aqua, which features a multimillion-dollar home on every floor, will be the fourth 10-story building on Seven Mile Beach after The Wa- terColours complex and the twin towers of the Kimpton Seafire resort. Objections to the building’s height stalled the original ap- plication, culminating in a 2016 legal ruling that reversed the Central Planning Authori- ty’s decision to grant approval and cast doubt on the author- ity’s power to sanction any structures over seven stories. Though the Legislative As- sembly had raised the allow- able building height on Seven Mile Beach to 10 stories, it had not created accompanying regulations to dictate how far such buildings should be set back from the waterline. In those circumstances, Justice Seymour Panton ruled, the Central Planning Authority did not have the authority to approve 10-story structures. He wrote in his judgment that there cannot be an “anything goes” atti- tude in relation to buildings over seven stories. Government amended the regulations in September last year, and Bronte Development submitted a revised plan for the project earlier this year. Bronte says the new plan is for 10 full-floor condomin- iums, with 360-degree ocean views and expansive indoor and outdoor entertaining areas. The four-bedroom homes will be in the $3.5 mil- lion range, and the building will feature five-star con- cierge services, according to a spokesman for the company. Construction is expected to begin in January with a completion date in late 2019. The development, which is on a narrow strip of land between George Town Villas and Grand View condomin- iums, originally attracted op- position from both stratas. Bronte, in its submission to the Planning Authority, in- dicated it had held multiple meetings with the objectors and had revised its plans for the project – which ini- tially included two buildings – based on their feedback. There were still objec- tions to the second appli- cation, however, with some residents arguing that the buildings’ height was out of character with an area that is dominated by three- story buildings. “No buildings exceed the height of a palm tree,” ac- cording to one letter of ob- jection. “The area is the first peaceful section of beach that cruise ship visitors get to enjoy when they walk out of town.” In its submissions to the authority, Bronte argued that it was no longer eco- nomically feasible to develop low-rise buildings along Seven Mile Beach. The company stated: “The existing surrounding condo- minium developments were mostly constructed decades ago at a time when property on Seven Mile Beach had a very different price bracket and there was ample land available to build outwards, rather than upwards. “The most obvious way to conserve land availability and promote land utility is to develop upwards, rather than outwards. Land avail- ability within the Seven Mile Beach Hotel/Tourism Zone is almost nonexistent, and, even without a clear legislated mandate, normal economic factors would dictate that the density and heights of build- ings in that zone would in- crease for future develop- ments, as less and less land is available for development.” The developer argued that government had raised the al- lowable height for Seven Mile Beach to 10 stories precisely to allow for this type of de- velopment. “It would make an absolute nonsense of the ob- vious parliamentary intent to increase the heights of build- ings in the Hotel/Tourism zone to insist that any new building must conform to the heights of existing buildings in that area of the zone.” The Central Planning Au- thority approved the de- velopment last month and the deadline for appeals has now passed. James Lagan, director of Bronte Property Group, said the developer had used the extra time to fine- tune the design. “We felt there was a niche in the market for very high- end apartments; that is where the concept of 10 floors, one apartment per floor came from,” he said. Aqua, which features a multimillion-dollar home on every floor, will be the fourth 10-story building on Seven Mile Beach after The WaterColours complex and the twin towers of the Kimpton Seafire resort. An artist’s impression shows the planned hotel development at Pageant Beach. If the project gets final planning permission, it will be the largest hotel on Grand Cayman. This artist’s rendering shows a balcony at the Aqua development. Bronte says each condo will have 360-degree ocean views. An artist’s rendering of the Aqua development, which will feature a multimillion-dollar home on every floor.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. “Give light and the people will find their own way” Those words appear on Page 4 of every edition of the Cayman Compass as a daily reminder of jour- nalism’s higher purpose – not to entertain or to “sell papers” but to champion the free flow of informa- tion and an open and transparent government as a critical component of a democratic society. The motto, which forms part of our “masthead” – the list of our newspaper’s leaders and how readers can reach them – was written by Carlton Cole Magee. That 20th century U.S. newspaperman was a fearless “watchdog” who helped expose gov- ernment corruption related to Teapot Dome – the most serious scandal in U.S. politics until Watergate. His words became the official motto of the E.W. Scripps Company and a clarion call for journalists around the globe. Those 10 words sum up a truism about the officials and institutions who make laws and set policies in government offices in Cayman and abroad: Their authority is bestowed upon them not by superior force or providential intervention but by the “consent of the governed” – the people bound by those policies and laws. Government service is different from private sector employment. It is not work done for profit, product or pure self-interest. It is work undertaken on the people’s behalf, using the people’s money, to preserve society’s common interests. The people have more than a legal right – they have a natural right – to know what their government is doing. In the Cayman Islands, as in many other coun- tries, that right is codified in a Freedom of Informa- tion Law that seeks to promote or demand trans- parency in government. Too often, however, the FOI process becomes a substitute for the goal of ensuring the people’s right to know. Rather than operating as transparently as possible to the public, bureaucrats focus on com- plying with the bare minimum under the letter of the FOI Law. Officials have become well-versed in exceptions, exemptions, redactions and deadline extensions in the FOI Law, and how to use them to limit or subvert the free flow of information that belongs in the public domain. The United States sets the standard for FOI laws and the government’s “weaponization” of that tool. As the Associated Press reported recently, a growing number of U.S. governmental bodies are responding to public records requests with court writs: “Instead of granting or denying their requests, a growing number of school districts, municipali- ties and state agencies have filed lawsuits against people making the requests – taxpayers, govern- ment watchdogs and journalists who must then pursue the records in court at their own expense.… Even if agencies are ultimately required to make the records public, they typically will not have to pay the other side’s legal bills.” We support the spirit of Cayman’s FOI Law and its enforcement officers in the Information Com- missioner’s Office (now part of the Office of the Ombudsman). Last week, in honor of “Right to Know Day,” FOI officials released their annual report listing the number of open records requests, how long government took to respond and how many requests were resolved. In an ideal environment, those FOI reports would be extremely brief and contain extremely low figures. A truly transparent government would pro- actively inundate its citizens with information – no questions asked. Freedom of Information a poor substitute for free flow of information TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS Quantitative easing is alive and well As long anticipated, the US Federal Reserve will begin this month gradually winding down the $3.7 tril- lion in Treasury and mort- gage-backed securities it purchased in the wake of the financial crisis. But do not mourn the death of quanti- tative easing – the Fed will keep a much larger bal- ance sheet than in the past and in the future return to QE as a principal tool of monetary policy. Historically, the Fed reg- ulated interest rates by tar- geting the overnight rate commercial banks paid to borrow reserves held at the Fed by keeping a tight rein on excess reserves in the banking system and buying and selling short term Trea- sury securities. By regulating the fed- eral funds rate, the Fed could push up and down the en- tire yield curve and influence the availability of short- and long-term credit to busi- nesses and home buyers. More recently, as the Fed raised the federal funds rate target range from 0-0.25 per- cent to 1-1.25 percent from December 2015 to June 2017, the 10-year Treasury and 30- year mortgage rate hardly budged, because the Bank of Japan and European Cen- tral Bank were aggressively purchasing long-term bonds and other assets driving investors in their mar- kets to the United States in search for yield. Now, as the Fed seeks to gradually raise the federal funds rate to 2.5 percent by the end of 2019, Wells Fargo’s economists expect, for ex- ample, the 10-year Treasury and 30-year mortgage rates to increase only 70 and 62 basis points respectively. That is optimistic consid- ering that Japanese and Eu- ropean central bank easy money policies will continue to drive investors into U.S. asset markets and the recent history of international in- terest rate arbitrage. These days, the Fed actu- ally pays interest on required and excess reserves, permits the banks to hold more ex- cess reserves than in the past, and regulates the fed- eral funds rate by setting the rate paid at the upper end of its officially announced target range – currently 1.25 percent. Also changes in Fed oper- ations – such as permitting the banks to hold more ex- cess reserves and effectively offering interest-bearing de- posits to money-market funds, asset managers and hedge funds through their clearing houses – now re- quire the Fed to hold at least $2.5 trillion in assets, and Ben Bernanke estimates that figure will rise to $4 trillion over the next decade. When the next recession arrives and the Fed wants to boost bank lending, it will not be able to accomplish much by lowering the rate it pays banks and asset funds on their deposits at the Fed– the financial crisis taught us that banks worry about get- ting repaid a lot more than their cost of lendable funds. And it will not much af- fect rates on mortgage backed securities–as rates on those securities fall, bond buyers will flee to high quality European and Japanese debt pushing U.S. rates back up. The Fed will once again be forced to step into long- term credit markets directly by purchasing Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgage- backed securities to boost the housing market and longer-term Treasury debt to boost the availability of credit to businesses through the bond market instead of hesitant banks. This is not as radical or extraordinary as indicated by popular descriptions of QE in the wake of the finan- cial crisis. Whereas in past decades the Fed sought to influence the availability of housing and business credit by buying and selling short- term securities, it will now do so on a cyclical basis by buying and selling on the long end of the yield curve. Peter Morici is an economist and business professor at the University of Maryland, and a national columnist. © 2017, The Washington Times. Please do not close the Foster’s in the Strand (“Fos- ter’s IGA plans Camana Bay move,” Sept. 27). That store permits families staying along Seven Mile Beach to shop without the need of an automobile. Already there are shopping carts that line West Bay Road. How many will there be when people have to walk to Camana Bay and carry back groceries in the hot sun? Why is a gigantic store needed anyway? The Fos- ter’s at the Strand carries all one needs. I suggest the Planning Board look at the big picture and how the closing of the Foster’s at the Strand will impact stay-over guests in the Seven Mile Beach condos. What this move does is make the Dart organiza- tion residential building in Camana Bay more at- tractive while hurting Seven Mile Beach. Noreene Storrie LETTER TO THE EDITOR Do not close Foster’s in the Strand PETER MORICI PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way”5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 UCCI gears up for STEM conference Francis French, author of several books on Ameri- ca’s space program and the director of education at the San Diego Air and Space Mu- seum, will open the sixth an- nual STEM Carib Conference on Tuesday, Oct. 10, as the keynote speaker. Mr. French will talk about the science and determina- tion behind the Apollo 11 mission that landed the first man on the moon in 1969. Seminars during the four- day conference at the Univer- sity College of the Cayman Islands will go above and beyond traditional space technology, a press release states. One deals with the science behind teleporta- tion and warp drives, but also includes such subjects as alternative energy sources and Cayman’s farm-to-table movement. More than 40 ses- sions are scheduled. UCCI President Roy Bodden said in the press re- lease that this year’s confer- ence is the first to be held in cooperation with Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania. “There has been an ob- vious growing interest in this conference since its incep- tion,” he said, “and this is an- ticipated to grow even more with our partnership with HU.” The conference is de- signed to generate interest in science, technology, en- gineering and mathematics among primary and sec- ondary students. The final day of the con- ference will feature a family fun event from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. with more than 50 ex- hibits targeting primary school children. Organizers are also hoping teachers will be in- spired by seminars on as- tronomy, marine science, forensics, 3-D and bio- printing, and other science- related subjects. Mr. Bodden said lunch and break-time discussions can also foster important ideas among educators at- tending the event. Other highlights include displays by student win- ners of the Rotary Science Fair. The second-day keynote speech at 8 a.m. by Orane Barrett, an MIT alumnus and the chief executive of Kool Nerd Club, is titled “Benefits of Obtaining a Ca- reer of Passion.” Mr. Barrett’s speech, along with Mr. French’s keynote address and Friday’s family fun event, are free and open to the public. The conference will be held at UCCI’s Sir Vassel Johnson Hall. More information and a full schedule can be found at www.stem.ky. The keynote speaker at this year’s STEM Conference at UCCI will be Francis French, director of education at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. More RCIPS officers head to BVI A fresh contingent of Royal Cayman Islands Po- lice officers headed to the British Virgin Islands Monday morning, replacing the 16 officers who have been in the stricken eastern Caribbean territory for the past three weeks. The new group of offi- cers will be performing es- sentially the same security- related duties, backing up the BVI police force which is slowly recouping numbers since Hurricane Irma hit in early September. “The communities on BVI are at the beginning of a difficult process of recon- struction on their devas- tated islands, and they need our continued support as they gather the resources required for the task be- fore them,” said Police Com- missioner Derek Byrne. “We committed to providing po- licing reinforcements for approximately ten weeks, and we are extremely proud of the superb job our of- ficers have been doing in rugged conditions. “I am certain that the second contingent of officers will continue to carry out policing duties at the same high standard that their col- leagues have set, which re- flects on the professionalism of the RCIPS.” Mr. Byrne was expected to be on hand Monday night to welcome the returning group of Cayman officers from the BVI. “We are glad to be wel- coming them back home safe at the conclusion of a job very well done,” Mr. Byrne said. The majority of the BVI police force did not “desert” in Irma’s aftermath, ac- cording to Cayman gover- nor’s office chief of staff Matthew Forbes, and many have now come back to the service. In the immediate af- termath of the hurricane, Mr. Forbes said, many of the offi- cers chose to stay home and protect their families. Mr. Forbes told the Cayman Compass that the security situation in BVI is slowly improving, but more support from the British military and sister territo- ries will be needed in the coming weeks. Police: No foul play in security guard’s death SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service an- nounced Monday that foul play is not suspected in the death of a Security Centre guard who was found un- responsive at Eden Rock in George Town last month. The body of Melito Fer- nandes, a 36-year-old senior supervisor for The Security Centre, was found at the rear of the Eden Rock dive shop in the early hours of Wednesday, Sept. 20. Mr. Fernandez, a na- tive of Goa, India, was trans- ported to the Cayman Is- lands Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. The autopsy on Mr. Fer- nandes was delayed because the pathologist was off is- land. The RCIPS said Monday that the case is still being in- vestigated as a sudden or untimely death. The Security Centre re- leased an official state- ment on Sept. 20 regarding Mr. Fernandes. He was de- scribed by company Presi- dent and CEO Stuart Bos- tock as a valued friend and employee. “We are all devastated by the news, but must do ev- erything possible to protect his privacy, especially for his family in Cayman and back in India,” Mr. Bostock said as part of his statement. The next team of RCIPS officers gets ready to head to the British Virgin Islands Monday morning. The body of Melito Fernandes was found at Eden Rock on Wednesday, Sept. 20. - PHOTO: ALVARO SEREYDISTRICT DAYS 6 District Days West Bay TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS Primary students recognized for outstanding achievements On Friday Sept. 22, 2017. Sir John A. Cumber Primary School honored eight stu- dents from years 2 and 3 for their outstanding achieve- ments and progress made for the school year so far. These students were sin- gled out by their teacher for their consistency in ad- hering to instructions and rules, attentiveness, being re- spectful and responsible, and having a positive attitude to- ward learning. The students were congratulated by Prin- cipal Paul Samuel at a spe- cial awards assembly. He re- marked that it must have been a difficult task for the teachers because of the out- standing qualities that some students continue to demon- strate. He took the opportunity to encourage them to work to- ward this accomplishment. The students were awarded with certificates, followed by hot chocolate, brownies and a ‘chit-chat’ with Mr. Samuel. They all thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Raymani Ebanks said ‘I think it was awesome.” When asked what he would tell his friends about it his response was “I would tell my friends to listen to my teacher.” Ronn Connor, another re- cipient, said “It was fantastic, it made me feel good.” When asked what he learned he re- plied “I know that I must be respectful, be responsible and be safe.” Other awardees were Yasmin Rivers, Daniel Soler, Tyler Rodriquez, Zoie Bush, Anicaka Cameron and Chloe Williams. Hot Chocolate with the Principal Fridays is part of the Positive Behavior Inter- vention Strategies (PBIS) in- centive program the school uses to recognize, encourage and validate the consistent effort of the students who show respect, responsibility and do what they can be safe. The students show off their certificates: front row, Daniel Soler, Raymani Ebanks and Yasmin Rivers, and back row, Chloe Williams, Zoie Bush, Ron Connor, Anicaka Cameron and Tyler Rodriquez. West Bay grandparents celebrated at church event JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com Grandparents in the West Bay community were all smiles recently when Boatswain Bay Presbyte- rian Church recognized the vital role they play in the lives of their children and grandchildren. Pink and blue balloons decorated the church and the pews were filled with grandparents and grand- children dressed in their finest pinks and blues, as “Ancient of Days,” “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “Halle- lujah Praise Jehovah” were sung by the Paise and Worship team. More than 36 grandpar- ents ranging in age from 40 to 80 enjoyed the wor- ship in the church, and food and entertainment in the church hall. “Grandparents Day is an international event of the calendar. Every year the Boatswain Bay Presbyterian Church has many events, and we take pride in hon- ouring our grandparents as they have and continue to play an important role in our church, community and family life,” said church member Eziethamae Bodden. The children distrib- uted gifts and prizes to the grandparents. Varion Ebanks, 89, received a prize for being the oldest grandfather, and Nelba Ebanks, 76, for being the oldest grandmother. In their early 40s, Allon Powery, Darley Powery, Bridgette Powery and Ella K. Ebanks received gifts for being the youngest grandparents. Rupert and Victoria Ebanks received the prize for being the “Longest Mar- ried Couple” at 60 years. Rudy and Elvia Powery, married for 46 years, and Creston and Dolcy Powery, married for 44 years, also received gifts. Grandfathers Rupert Ebanks, Carlon Powery, Henderson Hunte, Lan- glie Powery, Darley Powery, Creston Powery and grand- mothers Koneray Miller, Ester Rivers, Judy Powery, Ingrid Ebanks and Ella K. Ebanks were rewarded for their involvement with the church. “It is great to be honored and it shows the great re- spect they have for us grand- parents,” Nelba Ebanks said. Story Time end to Literacy Month Nineteen four- to six-year-old students from Grace Christian Academy celebrated the end of Literacy Month by visiting Books & Books in Camana Bay Friday morning for a special Story Time session with representatives from the bookstore and Camana Bay. The students finished the visit by doing the adventure-themed scavenger hunt that has been running throughout September, and left with a goodie bag filled with pencils, bookmarks and children’s books.7 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 Unemployment rate stabilizes at 4.1 percent BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Fewer Caymanians were jobless during the first half of this year, according to the government’s Economics and Statistics Office Labour Force Survey for spring 2017. In the fall of 2016, govern- ment reported that more than 1,400 Caymanians were un- employed, compared to an es- timated 1,277 this spring. The corresponding unem- ployment rate for Caymanian workers fell from 7 percent in fall 2016 to 6.2 percent in spring 2017. Typically the unemployment rate is lower during the spring as more companies increase staff for the busy tourism season. Caymanian unemploy- ment stood at 5.7 percent during the spring of 2016. The overall unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 per- cent, which is about where it has been during govern- ment’s last two reporting pe- riods. That means nearly 96 percent of the people in the Cayman Islands labor force held jobs as of last spring. The territory’s total labor force grew by about 3 percent during the first half of 2017, with more than 43,000 people considered to be “in the job market” – whether fully em- ployed, partially employed (also called underemploy- ment) or unemployed. In addition to jobless Caymanians, there were 159 non-Caymanian permanent residents looking for work during the spring and 345 non-Caymanian residents who did not have permanent status looking for a job. Persistent trouble spots in Caymanian unemployment continued to plague the gov- ernment’s stated efforts to find a job for every Cayma- nian who is willing to work. “The unemployment rate for persons between 15 and 24 years (9.1 per- cent) remained the highest when compared to other age groups of the unemployed,” according to the statistics office survey. The overall unemploy- ment rate was slightly higher among women (4.5 percent) than among men (3.7 per- cent), the report stated. Nearly one-third of all those unemployed in Cayman had a post-high school edu- cation, the statistics office re- ported. “Among unemployed Caymanians, 24.1 percent had post-secondary edu- cation or higher,” the labor force survey read. Two-thirds of the unem- ployed individuals who re- sponded to the survey listed “unavailability of work” as the reason they were un- employed. About 16 per- cent said they were unable to work due to a short- term illness. About 93 percent of the unemployed Caymanians had worked within the past year, according to the survey. Underemployment People who were working, but who were not able to ob- tain full-time (37.5 hours per week) employment are listed among the “underemploy- ment” in the statistics of- fice survey. There were 1,729 of them during the spring of 2017. About 800 of these part-time workers were Cay- manian; nearly another 800 were non-Caymanians here on work permits. The largest numbers of underemployed were workers between the ages of 35 and 54, according to the survey. “The unemployment rate for persons between 15 and 24 years (9.1 percent) remained the highest when compared to other age groups of the unemployed.” LABOUR FORCE SURVEY Caymanians honored at accountants’ gala Young Caymanians en- tering the profession were celebrated Saturday night at the Cayman Islands Institute of Professional Accountants’ 10th annual awards gala at the Kimpton Seafire resort. The “Diamond Gala” rec- ognized nine Caymanians for completing their bach- elor’s degree in accounting, one for earning her mas- ter’s, and 10 who attained their professional accounting designations. Three special awards were also presented: Rising Star, Staci Scott; Out- standing Member, Sheenah Hislop; and Pioneer, Sydney Coleman. According to orga- nizers, this was the first year for the Rising Star and Out- standing Member, and the third year that a Pioneer was named. Previous Pioneers were Michael Austin, Paul Sleep, Paul Harris and Chris Johnson in 2015 and Linford Pierson in 2016. Addressing the audi- ence of more than 300, the association’s CEO, Sheree Ebanks, said, “We are es- pecially thrilled that we are recognizing the hard work and dedication of 10 newly qualified Cayma- nian accountants. “We hope those we recog- nize here tonight who have worked hard toward their undergrad and post-graduate degrees will continue down the path toward a career in accountancy.” Those who completed their bachelor’s degree were: Felicia Bodden, George Gorham, Brenda Hall, Susan Jarrette-Lobban, Robia Mc- Field, Glennelle Miller, Gregory Davis Quintero, Ravyn Rankin and Michael Sanford. Antonia Aguayo was honored for completing her master’s degree. The group who at- tained their professional accounting designations were: Michael Anderson, ACCA; Josh Bain, CPA; Sta- fano Fernandes, ACCA; Thomas Hanson, CPA; Andre Haughton, CPA; Danielle Hennings, CPA; William Hinds, CPA; Kerry Lopez, CPA; Mariah Tibbetts, CPA; and Vanessa Williams, CPA. Three special awards were also presented: Rising Star, Staci Scott; Outstanding Member, Sheenah Hislop; and Pioneer, Sydney Coleman. Staci Scott receives the Rising Star award from RBC Royal Bank (Cayman) Ltd.’s Rolan Heeralal. Rolan Heeralal of RBC Royal Bank (Cayman) Ltd., left, and CIIPA President Peter Small present Sheenah Hislop with the Outstanding Member award. Sydney Coleman, right, receives his Pioneer award from Rolan Heeralal of RBC Royal Bank (Cayman) Ltd. - PHOTOS: MAGGIE JACKSON Antonia Aguayo, who recently completed her master’s in accountancy, receives a certificate from Joel Dodson, CIIPA vice president.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS quickly address its obliga- tions in that regard,” a state- ment from the airline noted. Cayman Airways trans- ports more than 200,000 pas- sengers to the islands from 10 airports. The airline con- tracts with third-party com- panies to provide airline staff at the counters in nine of those locations, officials said. “Those contracted staff, along with CAL’s own staff, undergo rigorous company training, addressing general Cayman Islands immigra- tion requirements and pro- viding guidance as to where additional detail can be ob- tained when necessary,” the CAL statement continued. “Of the few violation[s] incurred, included are in-transit pas- sengers travelling from one country to another through Cayman, but being from a country that local immigra- tion regulations nonethe- less require a Cayman Is- lands entry visa.” In the future, the airline said, CAL would invest in a third-party system to pro- vide automated confirma- tion of visa requirements at check in to “ensure 100 per- cent compliance.” After-hours fees The other portion of the fines levied against Cayman Airways involve what are re- ferred to as “abnormal hours fees.” These accounted for the lion’s share of the fines ($368,000) that auditors said had not been paid by CAL. These are charges fairly re- cently added by immigration to flight operations at Cayman airports that occur before 7 a.m. and after 9:30 p.m. The only airline that operates at local airports after those hours is Cayman Airways, ex- cepting circumstances when a U.S.-based flight arrives later than scheduled. According to CAL, the Im- migration Department “im- posed” these charges in 2015 to offset the costs of its staff officers working after hours. “CAL has been forced to adjust its schedule to operate as much as possible within the 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. time slot, having a negative impact on its overall operation and the passenger experience,” the airline statement noted. 10 guns with him, including rifles, they said. Asked about the motive for the attack, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said: “I can’t get into the mind of a psycho- path at this point.” The sheriff said a check of federal and state databases showed Paddock was not on law enforcement authorities’ radar before the bloodbath. Aaron Rouse, the FBI agent in charge in Las Vegas, said investigators saw no im- mediate evidence connecting the attack to an international terror organization, despite a claim of responsibility from the Islamic State group. Country music star Jason Aldean was performing at the Route 91 Harvest Fes- tival when the gunman in the 44-floor Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino apparently used a hammer-like device to smash out windows in his room and opened fire, the muzzle flashes visible in the dark, authorities said. The crowd, funneled tightly into a wide-open space, had little cover and no easy way to escape. Victims fell to the ground while others fled in panic. Some hid behind con- cession stands, while others crawled under parked cars. Kodiak Yazzie, 36, said the music stopped briefly after the first shots, then started up again before a second round of pops sent the per- formers ducking for cover and fleeing the stage. “It was the craziest stuff I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Yazzie said. “You could hear that the noise was coming from west of us, from Mandalay Bay. You could see a flash, flash, flash, flash.” Monique Dumas, of British Columbia, Canada, said she was six rows from the stage when she heard what she thought was a bottle breaking, then a popping that sounded to her like fireworks. Couples held hands as they ran through the dirt lot. Faces were etched with shock and confusion, and people wept and screamed. Some were bloodied, and some were carried out by fellow concert- goers. Dozens of ambulances took away the wounded, while some people loaded victims into their cars and drove them to the hospital. The shooter appeared to fire unhindered for more than 10 minutes as Las Vegas po- lice frantically tried to locate the man in one of the Man- dalay Bay hotel towers, ac- cording to radio traffic. For several minutes, officers could not tell whether the fire was coming from Mandalay Bay or the neighboring Luxor hotel. Investigators gave few de- tails on the weapons used, but police during the attack reported over the radio that it was fully automatic fire. In an address to the country, President Donald Trump called the attack “an act of pure evil” and added: “In moments of tragedy and horror, America comes to- gether as one. And it always has.” He ordered flags flown at half-staff. Hospital emergency rooms were jammed with the wounded. Rep. Ruben Ki- huen, a Democrat whose con- gressional district includes a portion of Las Vegas, visited a hospital and said: “Literally, every single bed was being used, every single hallway was being used. Every single person there was trying to save a life.” Las Vegas authorities put out a call for blood donations and set up a hotline to report missing people and speed the identification of the dead and wounded. They also opened a “family reunification center” for people to find loved ones. The dead included at least three off-duty police officers from various departments who were attending the con- cert, authorities said. Two on- duty officers were wounded, one critically, police said. “It’s a devastating time,” the sheriff said. The sheriff said author- ities believe it was a “lone wolf” attack but want to talk to Paddock’s roommate, a woman Lombardo said was out of the country at the time of the attack. Paddock’s brother, Eric Paddock, who lives in Florida, told the Orlando Sentinel: “We are completely dumb- founded. We can’t under- stand what happened.” Mayor Carolyn Goodman said the attack was the work of a “crazed lunatic full of hate.” In its claim of responsi- bility, the Islamic State group said the gunman was “a sol- dier” who had converted to Islam months ago. But it pro- vided no evidence, and the ex- tremist organization has been known to make unsubstanti- ated claims of responsibility for attacks around the world. The Islamic State group also said it was responsible for a June attack on a Manila casino and shopping complex where 37 died, mostly from smoke inhalation – a claim rejected by authorities, who said the lone attacker was a heavily indebted Filipino gambling addict. On Monday, the U.S. Homeland Security Depart- ment said there was no “spe- cific credible threat” involving other public venues in the U.S. Attorney General Jeff Ses- sions offered the support of the FBI and other federal agencies but noted that the investigation is being led by the sheriff. That was seen as another possible sign the shooting was not thought to be an act of international terrorism. Interstate 15 was briefly closed after the attack, and flights at McCarran In- ternational Airport were sus- pended for a while. Nearly every inch of the Las Vegas Strip is under video surveillance, much of it set up by the casinos to monitor their properties. That could yield a wealth of material for investigators as they try to piece together the attack. Hours after the shooting, Aldean posted on Instagram that he and his crew were safe and that the shooting was “beyond horrific.” “It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night,” the country star said. Before Sunday, the dead- liest mass shooting in modern U.S. history took place in June 2016, when a gunman who professed support for Muslim extremist groups opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people. Sunday’s shooting came more than four months after a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande con- cert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. Almost 90 people were killed by gunmen inspired by Islamic State at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris during a per- formance by Eagles of Death Metal in 2015. Some automatic weapons are legal but heavily regulated in US The fusillade emanating from the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas Sunday night sounded to many as if it came from one or more automatic rifles, which fire continuously so long as the trigger is held down. Such guns are legal, so long as they were made before May 1986 and are registered with the federal government. If an automatic weapon, also called a machine gun, was made or imported after 1986, it may be legally owned only by licensed dealers, police and the military. Congress began regulating such weapons under the Na- tional Firearms Act in 1934, in response to criminals having greater firepower than the police. Owners of automatic weapons were required to pay a $200 tax, a large amount at the time, as well as pro- vide fingerprints and a photo- graph, undergo a background check and obtain approval from the chief law enforce- ment officer in the area. Ex- cept for the local police ap- proval, those requirements remain in place today, and the $200 charge has not changed. Semiautomatic guns, which fire only once for each trigger pull, may not be legally modi- fied to automatic. And anyone who wants to buy an auto- matic weapon must undergo the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms background check and registration pro- cess. But there are plenty of automatic weapons available for sale on the internet. Guns made before 1986 may be owned by anyone who passes a background check and regis- ters the gun. A letter from the ATF to the National Firearms Act Trade and Collectors Asso- ciation last year indicated that there were 490,664 automatic weapons in the ATF’s National Firearms Registration Transfer Record System. No official announcement has been made yet about what type of gun or guns were used by Stephen Pad- dock, the suspected Las Vegas shooter. “It certainly sounds to me like it could be a machine gun,” said Raymond Rowley, a retired ATF agent and law en- forcement consult, “but I’d be cautious. Echoes or ricochets could create an anomaly.” Rowley said “the use of a regulated machine gun in a crime is very rare.” He said Paddock could have legally registered and possessed such a gun, or it could be regis- tered but stolen, or smuggled into the country. Or it could have been illegally modified from semiautomatic to auto- matic. Rowley said the ATF undoubtedly was tracing the origin of the gun or guns and would have results soon. In 1986, Congress passed the Firearm Owners’ Protec- tion Act, which was signed by President Ronald Reagan. It restricted ownership of au- tomatic weapons to those made and registered before 1986, and said they may only be manufactured for use by a government agency. © 2017, The Washington Post CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Cayman Airways fined for flying undocumented passengers High-rise sniper kills at least 58 at Las Vegas concert CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers gather at streets near the venue after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday night. - PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 9 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. CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY, OCT. 3 OLDER PERSONS MONTH: Launch, Family Life Centre, 10 a.m. CISBA OPENING: Cayman Islands Small Business Association opens its office at 151 Mary Street, George Town. All are invited to join members for the official opening with food, wine and live music 5:30–7:30 p.m. RSVP 946-3147 or email cisbacayman@gmail.com. THURSDAY, OCT. 5 INTERIOR DESIGN WORKSHOP: Today is the deadline to register for the Visual Arts Society’s “Personalize Your Home” four-week Interior Design workshop: Oct. 5-26, from 7-8:30 p.m. (one make-up class if needed). At Watler House Studio, Pedro St. James. Redesign a room or plan a new home. Four-week workshop fee is $175 for members. Non-members, $200. Fee includes vision boards, use of studio, qualified interior designer. Contact info@visualartcayman.com or 546-9422. FRIDAY, OCT. 6 LITTLE CAYMAN OLDER PERSONS: Social, National Trust Building, 11 a.m. SATURDAY, OCT. 7 FOSTER CARE: If you are interested in foster care parenting and want to know more about what it requires, visit the Department of Children and Family Services’ Foster Care Information Booth at Foster’s Food Fair (Strand), 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CAYMAN CRAFT: The exhibition, REVIVE! – Celebrating contemporary and traditional craft from the Cayman Islands, opens to the public today at the National Gallery. ROADSIDE CLEANUP: West Bay Community Emergency Response Team will do a roadside cleanup at 6 a.m. in the vicinity of the West Bay Cemetery and Fire Station. Members of the community are invited to assist with this beautification project. Call 929-9932. SUNDAY, OCT. 8 REFEREE BEGINNERS COURSE: Become a football referee. Interested males and females between 18 and 33 should call CIFA office 949-5775 or email villan47@hotmail.com (Kenville Holder) to register. Course is Sunday, Oct. 8 and 15, 3 p.m. On the weekdays and Saturday, 6 or 6:30 p.m. George Town Primary School. Cost is free. MONDAY, OCT. 9 BRAC OLDER PERSONS: Island Tour, 9 a.m. TUESDAY, OCT. 10 STEM CONFERENCE: UCCI. Registration and reception, 6-7 p.m. Opening session, 7 p.m. Keynote speaker is Francis French, director of the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Free admission. THURSDAY, OCT. 12 OLDER PERSONS MONTH: A Night with the Stars Powered by CUC, Cayman Islands National Museum, 4 p.m. FRIDAY, OCT. 13 VOICES FOR HOSPICE: An evening of song and dance with the theme of “Nostalgia.” Harquail Theatre (venue change.) Champagne gala tonight. Tickets are $75. Doors open 6:30 p.m. Show 7:30 p.m. Contact 945-7447 or fundraising@ caymanhospicecare.ky. BRAC OLDER PERSONS: Bingo Nite. Free. Aston Rutty Civic Centre, 6-9 p.m. SATURDAY, OCT. 14 VOICES FOR HOSPICE: An evening of song and dance with the theme of “Nostalgia.” Harquail Theatre. Tickets are $50 for reserved seating. General seating at sides and balconies, $25. Doors open 6 p.m. Show 7 p.m. Contact 945-7447 or fundraising@ caymanhospicecare.ky. SATURDAY, OCT. 21 SMALL BUSINESS EXPO: The Cayman Islands Small Business Association invites the public to the annual Small Business Expo at UCCI Fellowship Hall. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free admission. Contact 946-3147 or email cisbacayman@gmail.com. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25 PIRATES WEEK FOOD HANDLERS TRAINING: The Department of Environmental Health will conduct two basic Food Handlers’ Certification Courses for Pirates Week food vendors today and tomorrow, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. All food handlers needing to update their certification before Pirates Week should register early, as there is limited space available. Cost is $15 per person and includes materials. Certification is valid for three years. To register, visit the DEH main office or contact 949-6696 or dehcustomerservice@gov.ky. GENERAL INTEREST GAMEBIRD SEASON: The Department of Environment reminds hunters that the season for white-winged doves opens on Oct. 1 and there is a 12 bird bag and possession limit. The season for blue-winged teal opened Sept. 1; there is a three bird bag and possession limit. GARBAGE COLLECTION: The Department of Environmental Health urges residents and business operators to ensure that garbage containers are accessible to sanitation crews at all times. Place garbage containers either at the front of the property or at a side that is accessible to the roadway. Receptacles must be stored in properly constructed enclosures and should not impede the flow of traffic. HURRICANE RELIEF: The Adventist Church has started a fund in aid of Hurricane Irma victims in the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas. Financial contributions may be made at the local office, 209 Walkers Road, during business hours, or at the nearest Adventist Church. Donations may also be deposited at the Royal Bank of Canada, to ADRA account number 500-6234. SPECIAL OLYMPICS: Volunteers needed for weekly sports training. Tuesdays – Track, bocce, football. Wednesdays – Lighthouse School swimming at Lions pool. Thursdays – Basketball. Saturdays – Adult swim. Golf is starting soon if interested. Contact Darrel Rankine, national director at soci@candw.ky or 916-2600. TOBACCO LICENCES: Tobacco license holders are reminded of the 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, deadline to apply for their annual license renewals. Annual registration renewal fees are $500 for a retailer, $750 for a cigar bar and $5,000 for a wholesale distributor. LEADERSHIP CAYMAN: The Chamber of Commerce is now accepting applications for the 2018 program. Improve your leadership skills by applying today. Deadline is Oct. 27. Call 743-9121 for further information or visit www.caymanchamber.ky/ leadershipcayman. SCHOLARSHIPS: The Chevening Secretariat is accepting applications for U.K. government scholarships to study in the U.K. in 2018/2019. Applications for Chevening Scholarships are open until Nov. 7, with applications to be submitted via www.chevening.org/apply. LAW SCHOOL PROGRAMS: Applications are being accepted for one of the new postgraduate programs offered by the Truman Bodden Law School – the master of laws in international finance, law and regulation; and the postgraduate diploma in international finance, law and regulation. Full details on the admissions procedure at www.lawschool.gov.ky. HUMANE SOCIETY THRIFT SHOP: The shop has moved to Plaza Venezia, 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. 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. 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. ARTISAN MARKET: Every Wednesday, noon–8 p.m. at Camana Bay Farmers Market. Visual Arts Society artists display arts, crafts, paintings, prints, hand-crafted jewelry and ceramics for sale with 3 tents on display by KARoo Restaurant/ Bar. For more info email info@visualartcayman.com. OPEN CANVAS: Every Wednesday. Visual Arts Society supports this event at KARoo Restaurant located in Camana Bay. 7-11 p.m. No fee. Easels provided for artist of all levels to come out and enjoy painting and socializing with other artists. info@visualartcayman.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. ROTARACT BLUE OF CAYMAN: Meets Wednesdays 6 p.m., at Royal Palms Beach Club, West Bay Road. Contact rotaractblue@gmail.com or www.rotaractblue.org. For more Community Calendar events, visit www.caymancompass.com/events. Dancers enjoy themselves at the Westin resort at an Older Persons Month Seniors’ Bash in 2015. Several events have been organized throughout October as part of Older Persons Month.Next >