ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2017 High of 90 Low of 78 Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 IDEAS THAT MAKE ‘THE HEART BEAT FASTER’ LOCAL | PAGE 5 NCVO HOLDS SUCCESSFUL TELETHON SEVEN MILE BEACH WATERFRONT WALKERS ROAD TOWN CENTRE PLAZA RED BAY BACON CHEDDAR RANCH CHEDDAR BBQ BACON BACON CHEDDAR RANCH NEW CRISPY CHICKEN NEW CRISPY CHICKEN PRESELL + INSERT MAN CHARGED IN RUCKUS OUTSIDE MAY POLITICAL EVENT BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Half a dozen traffic offenses have been levied against a driver who witnesses said attempted to disrupt a Progressives party political event in early May. The suspect is due to appear in court Oct. 30. He is accused of leaving the scene of an accident, careless driving, driving without insurance, driving without being qualified, use of an unregistered vehicle and speeding. The Royal Cayman Islands Police Ser- vice said the suspect, whom they did not name, was charged on Oct. 11 with the var- ious traffic offenses. He was arrested in June in connection with the incident. According to multiple witnesses the Cayman Compass spoke to after the May 9 event, the man was revving a motor- cycle and shouting curses outside a meeting being held by Progressives party candidate Marco Archer, who was supported by other party candidates and district residents during the event. Following the obscene display, the mo- torbike driver sped off along Crewe Road away from the Progressives party head- quarters and collided with a Cadillac near the intersection with Ella Ray Gar- dens, police said. The motorbike collision caused the Ca- dillac driver to strike a parked car on nearby Ella Ray Gardens Drive. The Cadillac’s driver suffered minor in- juries. No one was in the Toyota. Police did not locate the suspect until more than a month after the crash. SENIORS TREATED TO TEA PARTY A group of Cayman Islands seniors participated in a tea party event last week at the Pines Retirement Home. Hosted by the staff of the Pines, the event is part of Older Persons Month, being coordinated by the Department of Children and Family Services. For the story and photos, see page 6. Cute but deadly: Sugar gliders threaten native species JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com When a small, cute looking, bug-eyed possum, known as a sugar glider, escaped on a Cayman Airways flight earlier this year, it sparked concerns about the potential impact of ex- otic pet smuggling. Now leading conservation advocates point to an unfolding ecological disturbance on an- other island on the other side of the world as evidence of the potential consequences of im- porting banned animal species into the country. In the Australian island of Tasmania, sugar gliders are an invasive species and pose a threat to the ecosystem, akin to Cayman’s problem with non-na- tive green iguanas. Rare native swift parrot pop- ulations have been decimated, and environmental watchdogs in Tasmania are being forced to spend public money to protect the species from extinction. Christine Rose-Smyth, chair of the National Conserva- tion Council, said the crisis in Tasmania showed the impor- tance of controlling the import of non-native species to the is- land. Exotic animals, even cute ones, are not welcome. “In the case of the sugar glider that was smuggled into the Cayman Islands, that is a situation were no applications were made to the Conservation For the love of Cayman’s health More than 1,200 attend Healthcare Conference KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com “Does anyone have any diet restrictions or things you’re following?” Ritz-Carlton ex- ecutive pastry chef Melissa Logan asked her audience on Friday at the Cayman Islands Healthcare Conference. “I can tell you, I do.” Ms. Logan said she was re- cently told by her nutritionist to go on the “auto-immune protocol diet,” requiring her to forego dairy, gluten, eggs, grains, and processed sugar. As a pastry chef, that made her dig deep to come up with recipes like the one she made at a cooking demonstration on Friday: a pineapple and Thai basil sorbet. Such healthier dishes are ‘Foodie Physician’ Dr. Sonali Ruder delivers the keynote address at the Cayman Islands Healthcare Conference as Deputy Governor Franz Manderson and Premier Alden McLaughlin look on. – PHOTO: KEN SILVA PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » Chief Officer for the Ministry of Health Jennifer Ahearn, Governor Helen Kilpatrick and Health Services CEO Lizzette Yearwood attend the Cayman Islands Healthcare Conference sponsors’ dinner at the Wharf restaurant on Friday. – PHOTO: MAGGIE JACKSON2 REGIONAL NEWS MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS 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. - MONDAY - THE SNOWMAN (R) 3:50 VIP I 7:00 I 9:35 VIP I 9:45 BLADE RUNNER 2049 3D (R) 3:15 I 6:30 2D I 9:25 AMERICAN MADE (R) 1:20 THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US (PG13) 12:35 I 6:45 I 10:00 THE FOREIGNER (R) 12:55 I 3:35 I 7:10 I 9:55 TYLER PERRY’S BOO2! A MADEA HALLOWEEN (PG13) 1:00 VIP I 1:10 I 4:00 I 6:50 VIP I 7:15 I 9:50 THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE (PG) 12:50 I 3:55 MY LITTLE PONY (PG) 4:15 Funeral held for US soldier at center of Trump fight COOPER CITY, Fla. (AP) – Mourners Saturday remem- bered not only a U.S. soldier whose combat death in Af- rica led to a political fight between President Donald Trump and a Florida con- gresswoman but his three comrades who died with him. Some of the 1,200 mourners exiting the church after the service said the por- trait of Sgt. La David Johnson, 25, was joined on stage by photographs of his slain comrades. The four died Oct. 4 in Niger when they were attacked by militants tied to the Islamic State. Johnson’s family asked reporters to re- main outside for the service. “We have to remember that one thing: that it wasn’t just one soldier who lost his life,” said Berchel Davis, a retired police officer who has six chil- dren in the military. He said the preacher and Rep. Fred- erica Wilson both made that a part of their talks. “That was a good gesture on ev- eryone’s part.” He and others said the fight between Trump and Wilson was never mentioned during the service. Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35, of Puyallup, Washington; Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39, of Springboro, Ohio; and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29, of Lyons, Georgia, were killed along with La David Johnson in Niger. La David Johnson’s preg- nant widow, Myeshia, had held the arm of an Army of- ficer as she led her two young children and her family, dressed in white, into the Christ the Rock Community Church in suburban Fort Lau- derdale. The modern hymn “I’m Yours” could be heard coming from inside. Johnson’s sister, Angela Ghent, said after the service that “it don’t feel real” that her brother was killed. “It hasn’t hit me yet, I haven’t had time to grieve,” said Ghent, who last spoke to her brother a few weeks before he died. She said she was glad mourners got to hear about her brother’s love for bikes and cars, not just his mil- itary service. The fight between Trump and Wilson had taken the focus off Johnson, whose widow is due to have a daughter in January. Sgt. Johnson told friends she will be named La’Shee. The couple, who were high school sweet- hearts, already had a 6-year- old daughter, Ah’Leeysa, and 2-year-old son, La David Jr. An online fundraiser has raised more than $600,000 to pay for the children’s education. Johnson’s mother died when he was 5; he was raised by his aunt. His family enrolled him in 5000 Role Models, a project Wilson began in 1993 when she was an educator where African-American boys are paired with mentors who prepare them for college, voca- tional school or the military. “We teach them to be a good man, a good husband and a good father. Sgt. Johnson typified all of those character- istics,” said mourner Carlton Crawl, a public school con- sultant who is one of the pro- gram’s mentors. In 2013, a year before he en- listed, Johnson was featured in a local television newscast for his ability to do bicycle tricks, earning the nickname “Wheelie King.” He said he learned his tricks by going slow. “Once you feel comfortable, you could just ride all day,” he told the interviewer. The war of words be- tween the president and Wilson began Tuesday when the Miami-area Democrat said Trump told Myeshia Johnson in a phone call that her hus- band “knew what he signed up for” and didn’t appear to know his name, a version later backed up by Johnson’s aunt. Wilson was riding with John- son’s family to meet the body and heard the call on speak- erphone. She was principal of a school Johnson’s father at- tended. Trump tweeted Wilson “fabricated” his statement and the fight escalated through the week. Trump in other tweets called her “wacky” and accused her of “SECRETLY” listening to the phone call. Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, entered the fray Thursday. The retired Ma- rine general asserted that the congresswoman had de- livered a 2015 speech at an FBI field office dedication in which she “talked about how she was instrumental in get- ting the funding for that building,” rather than keeping the focus on the fallen agents for which it was named. Video of the speech contradicted his recollection. SAN JUAN’S MAYOR WORKS TO RIGHT PUERTO RICO WHILE TAKING ON TRUMP SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Tucked deep beneath the bleachers at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente Col- iseum, a hulking con- crete sports and concert venue, past half a dozen security checkpoints and down a tiled hallway, there stands a double row of small rectangular dressing rooms. The hideaways, outfitted with cots, have been home to Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, key staffers and, in some cases, their families, since Hurricane Maria bru- tally pinwheeled through Puerto Rico on Sept. 20. Cruz, whose blunt and pro- vocative criticism of the federal response to the storm has made her an ob- ject of White House scorn - but also earned her many admirers - sarcastically calls the converted sleeping area “The Trump Tower Presidential Suites.” One evening, Cruz re- calls, an observant staffer in the “suites” asked why she was wearing her pa- jamas inside out. “Because,” she re- sponded, “my world is inside out.” More than four weeks into a crisis that seems likely to stretch for months, if not years, the 54-year-old Cruz has positioned her- self as the face of the is- land - tearful, then angry, then frustrated, then hopeful, then resolute - a made-for-live-streaming omnipresence with a mile- wide emotional range. Like Ray Nagin, the New Or- leans mayor whose des- perate cries for help played an early role in jolting the nation to attention about Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Cruz has demanded that people listen. But unlike the often-be- fuddled Nagin, Cruz has gone about the task with a blend of message disci- pline and media savvy fit for the digital age. Number of US victims in Cuba attacks rises to 24 Two more U.S. officials con- firmed injured by mysterious attacks in Cuba Injuries have been con- firmed to two more State De- partment personnel stationed in Havana, bringing to 24 the number of verified cases linked to mysterious and un- explained attacks on U.S. Em- bassy staff in Cuba. State Department spokes- woman Heather Nauert said Friday that the new med- ical assessments involved in- cidents that happened ear- lier this year. “They do not reflect new attacks,” she said, noting that the most recent medically con- firmed case happened in late August. Nauert acknowledged also that the number of vic- tims may grow. “Our personnel are re- ceiving comprehensive med- ical evaluations and care,” Nauert said. “We can’t rule out additional new cases as med- ical professionals continue to evaluate members of the em- bassy community.” The State Department has said Americans who worked at the embassy were targeted for attacks that began late last year and continued at least until late summer this year. The victims include diplo- mats, intelligence officers and their spouses. Their symptoms, some- times verified months after the attacks, include hearing loss, balance problems and traumatic brain injuries. In some cases, the embassy per- sonnel fell ill after hearing un- usual noises, either in their residences or in hotels. That has led to speculation they may have been the victims of some form of sonic attack, but investigators have not been able to replicate it or conclu- sively prove it. The Cuban government, which has denied having any- thing to do with the injuries, has allowed FBI agents onto the island to investigate, in ad- dition to conducting its own investigation. But neither has been able to pinpoint a cause, much less the source of it. The maladies have led to the greatest crisis in U.S.- Cuban relations since the two countries normalized their re- lationship in 2015 and reestab- lished embassies. The United States has ordered all but es- sential personnel to leave Ha- vana and prohibited almost all U.S. officials from traveling there unless they are investi- gating the cases or doing nec- essary work at the embassy. Washington also has ex- pelled more than half of the Cuban diplomats based in the United States and issued a travel warning advising Ameri- cans not to visit Cuba. President Donald Trump has suggested that he be- lieves Cuba is responsible for what has happened to the em- bassy personnel. State Depart- ment officials have been more circumspect, saying Cuba has not met its requirement under the Vienna Convention to pro- tect diplomats. © 2017, The Washington Post Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz hands out solar lamps to residents as part of her regular outreach efforts. - PHOTO: DENNIS M. RIVERA PICHARDO La David Jr., 2, is presented with an American flag that was placed over the casket of his father, Sgt. La David Johnson, during his burial service in Hollywood, Florida on Saturday. - PHOTO: AP3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2017 Personal Insurance BRITISH CAYMANIAN INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED BritCay House, 236 Eastern Avenue, George Town, P.O. Box 74, Grand Cayman KY1-1102 Tel. 949-8699 12 Kirkconnell Street, Stake Bay, P.O. 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CALL 949-8699 or visit www.britcay.ky SAVE $250* when you insure your home! 10% discount on car insurance if you have home insurance Free $500,000 public liability (home insurance) Free $10 million liability protection (car insurance) Interest free monthly payment option cgigrp coverwithoutaddedcosts! $250* CERTIFICATE WITH BUILDINGS INSURANCE *$250 BritCay gift certificate applies to new buildings insurance policies only Prosecutors’ ruling on Bridger case put off until November BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com A final decision on whether criminal charges will be filed against former Cayman Islands corruption investigator Martin Bridger is expected in early November. According to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Ser- vice, the completed case file – including a review done by outside counsel – has been sent to Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryll Rich- ards for a ruling, which is expected during the first week of November. RCIPS officials had ex- pected the decision on charges to occur by the end of August, but the matter has been further de- layed since then. Mr. Bridger, now in his 60’s, was the lead investigator involved in the Operation Tempura debacle between 2007-2009 here in Cayman. The former U.K. Metropol- itan Police officer arrived in Cayman in September 2007 to investigate allegations of col- lusion between a newspaper publisher and a top-ranking member of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service. The original allegations against the publisher and the se- nior RCIPS officer turned out to be bogus. The investiga- tion then shifted its focus to how local police commanders had carried out their inves- tigation of those allegations, leading to the suspension of three senior officers. The Tempura investiga- tion, which cost more than $10 million after more than two years, ended with no criminal convictions. Var- ious spin-off probes that re- sulted from the investigation have also ended. Mr. Bridger’s matter is the final issue left before the local legal system in connection with the cor- ruption probe. The allegations made against Mr. Bridger surfaced long after he left the islands. It was In August 2014 that then-RCIPS Commissioner David Baines alluded to the possibility that Mr. Bridger could be in some legal trouble over certain state- ments he made following the case, particularly criminal al- legations Mr. Bridger made in early 2013 against the ter- ritory’s former governor and current 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.” It is the investigation of the allegations referred to by Mr. Baines that has taken the last four years to resolve. During that time, Mr. Bridger said he had never been for- mally interviewed by RCIPS investigators. “If I was interviewed, all the facts concerning Oper- ation Tempura from Sep- tember 2007 to date could form part of my defense,” Mr. Bridger said in a statement to the Cayman Compass in Au- gust. “I am aware that such an interview could result in the exposure of some indi- viduals and the [U.K.] Foreign and Commonwealth Office to further scrutiny. “The fact that after four years I remain under crim- inal investigation continues to have a debilitating effect on my post-retirement career and my family.” BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com An American federal dis- trict court has thrown out a lawsuit alleging fraud against Cayman Islands real estate brokerage firm RE/ MAX after a judge found the matter could not be properly heard in that jurisdiction. According to records filed with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Il- linois [Chicago], the joint of- ficial liquidators of a com- pany named Caribbean Island Developments Ltd. and a number of its investors alleged RE/MAX and indi- vidual defendants defrauded 30 people out of more than US$5.6 million. The suit al- leges the defendants did this by selling them luxury condos on Grand Cayman in a development which was never built. Attorneys for RE/MAX, its broker/owners Kim Lund and James Bovell, one of its agents Oliver De Hart, as well as developer Michael Beggs, denied all claims filed in the lawsuit, which they stated were “without merit.” They argued the case in Illinois should be dismissed essen- tially because it was brought to an improper venue, namely the United States. Mr. Lund said last week that a similar allegation had already come to court in Cayman years ago and was dismissed in 2014 due to the plaintiff’s failure to provide security for costs. The U.S. lawsuit was filed in 2015. U.S. District Court Judge Andrea Wood agreed with the defendants’ position in an opinion issued Oct. 11. “The entire dispute cen- ters on a Cayman Islands company, a Cayman Islands franchise, and the project on Grand Cayman, and at least some of the claims are gov- erned by Cayman Islands law,” Judge Wood wrote. “There is no reason for such a dispute to be litigated in the Northern District of Illinois.” In going through the argu- ments made by the parties in the case, Judge Wood noted that none of the primary par- ties to the claim and only one of the witnesses involved re- sided in the Northern Dis- trict of Illinois. Moreover, she said it ap- peared that the attempts to bring a similar claim in Cayman had failed, partly due to the Caribbean Is- land Developments Ltd. in- vestors’ decisions indicating that they were not willing to contribute toward funding a Cayman lawsuit. The decision to dismiss the claim was made, the court stated, without prej- udice to the joint liquida- tors acting on behalf of the investors to pursue claims in another “more appro- priate forum.” US court dismisses fraud lawsuit against RE/MAX Martin BridgerThe 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. Two birds with one stone? Kids’ play! Why stop there? A bold proposal circulating in the Cayman Islands’ political and business communities encom- passes no fewer than five major infrastructure projects. The proposal, which appears to have been drafted by Italy based international construction and engi- neering company Grandi Lavori Fincosit (GLF), would: • Move the cargo port from the George Town harbor to Breakers • Create a backup anchorage for cruise ships, including larger Oasis-class vessels • Replace the Jackson Point fuel terminal with a new fuel-storage facility in a less densely populated area • Extend the East-West Arterial Road from Hirst Road in Newlands toward East End; and • Generate a large amount of aggregate which could be used for other projects — for example, extending the runway at Owen Roberts International Airport to accommodate larger passenger jets. Be advised that the new cargo port plan is separate from and unrelated to ongoing discussions around creating a cruise berthing facility in George Town. Nev- ertheless, they may move forward in parallel, if not in tandem. Ideally, the cargo and cruise port functions would never have been commingled in the first place. Cranes and containers do not mix well with flip-flops and piña coladas. The Compass understands that local attorney and former MLA Cline Glidden Jr., no stranger to cruise port discussions, is representing an as-yet unnamed company involved in the cargo port proposal. While it is premature to say whether this plan would be the best way to check a few projects off Cayman’s infra- structure “wish list” — or if the project plan is even feasible — we admire its scope and bold vision. For years, there have been discussions about sep- arating the cargo and cruise ship ports. We agree with Speaker of the House McKeeva Bush, who told the Compass the idea is worth consideration: “In my mind’s eye, it would be a project for the next 50 years,” he said. This proposal calls for dredging an area in Breakers to create a deepwater harbor on land owned largely by the Dart group of companies (which, we are told, does not have direct involvement in the plan at this time). It’s not far from the area where the Dart group pre- viously had proposed to relocate the landfill, an idea that was killed by intense political pressure (“No Dump In Bodden Town”). In terms of scale, scope and impact on the neigh- boring community, comparing the new port plan to Dart’s old landfill proposal is like comparing a sky- scraper to a sand castle. But just because a project is disruptive does not mean it is not worthwhile. In spheres as diverse as evo- lution and development, disruption is often necessary. Too often, the knee-jerk response to daring or visionary proposals for Cayman has been to look backward, not forward, and to yearn wistfully, and feebly, for the “good old days,” which, candidly, are never coming back. Respecting — even honoring and celebrating — our past is not a substitute for planning and building our future. It will take more, and more ambitious, ideas for Cayman to keep pace — and hopefully outpace — the rapidly evolving global economy. Of course, whenever we think about “big thinking,” all of these proposals come with one big caveat: The bigger the idea, generally speaking, the bigger the price tag. Until the funding or financing is in place, we are still in the “window shopping” phase — nice to have but we may not be able to afford it. Ideas that make ‘the heart beat faster’ MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS The fatal conceit of planning for the future WASHINGTON — Kevin Has- sett evidently has not received the memo that economics is “the dismal science.” The ebullient chairman of the US president’s Council of Eco- nomic Advisers is relishing the intellectual feast of ap- plying to policymaking the predictive tools of a science that was blindsided by the Great Recession. Economists, like other sci- entists, learn things even when — actually, especially when — they are surprised. What must surprise Hassett today is that acrimony has infected even economists’ ar- guments. When he predicted that 2017 would be “the big- gest supply-side policy year in American history,” he was not just thinking of the ad- ministration’s deregulations, which proceed apace, but was counting an unhatched chicken — tax reform. Con- cerning which: Speaking recently to the Tax Policy Center and the Tax Foundation — left- and right- leaning, respectively — Has- sett defended the adminis- tration’s tax plan, although important provisions remain undecided. He criticized the TPC for a premature analysis that used “imagined num- bers” to anticipate the conse- quences of a bill still being written. And he said that while the plan allows for a $1.5 trillion revenue loss in a decade “statically scored” (i.e., not allowing for the plan’s stimulative effects), the TPC analysis “ignored any growth effects from tax reform and suggested there would be none,” and “makes assump- tions that would deliver” a $2.4 trillion revenue loss. He questioned the TPC scoring for this number “when there is agreement that the bill has to score” $1.5 trillion. This detonated Harvard professor and former Trea- sury Secretary Larry Sum- mers. While praising “civility in public policy debates,” Summers poured vitriol on Hassett, calling his analysis “some combination of dis- honest, incompetent and ab- surd.” Summers was incensed about this Hassett contention: If cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 per- cent would mean that corpo- rations would bring home the 71 percent of foreign-earned profits now kept abroad, over eight years “the median U.S. household would get a $4,000 real income raise.” Summers says that Hassett’s assertion that the corporate rate cut “will raise wages by $4,000 in an economy with 150 mil- lion workers is a claim that workers will benefit by $600 billion or 300 percent of the tax cut.” Hassett’s compara- tively laconic and heroically patient response is: Summers ignores the “deadweight loss” from taxes on production — the eco- nomic activity that does not happen because of those taxes. Because Summers mistakenly assumes that the only economic factor af- fected by cutting corporate taxes is government rev- enue, he mistakenly con- siders it impossible to re- duce government revenue by $1 and have workers gain more than $1. But corporate tax reductions are not trans- fers of money from govern- ment to workers, they are cat- alysts for increased economic output, making American in- vestment more attractive and America more competitive. The size of the economic pie isn’t fixed. Hence the bipar- tisan support for aspects of Barack Obama’s 2012 pro- posal for cutting corporate taxes. And Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer sup- ports some cuts because workers gain from increased competitiveness. The debate is about not whether but how much heavy corporate taxa- tion suppresses workers’ com- pensation by blocking various channels to wage growth. Hassett and the Council of Economic Advisers’ platoon of PhDs might be mistaken about this or that. Dealing with a dynamic economy’s multitudinous variables, they understand the fatal conceit of thinking that even the imme- diate future can be planned. From the 1862 Homestead and Morrill acts through the GI Bill and the Interstate Highway System, the federal government has planned the long-term knowledge, skills and infrastructure prereq- uisites for economic growth. These, however, are easier for government to plan than are short-term consequences of fiscal and monetary policies. It is said that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. In her prepared remarks to University of Vir- ginia Law School gradu- ates last May, Catherine Ke- ating, CEO of Commonfund, said: “Don’t count too much on your plan. The world just moves too fast today.” It used to take 25 years for a new product, like the automobile or the TV, to reach 25 percent of the U.S. population. “Face- book did it in five years, and some mobile games have done it in months. It took Hilton Hotels almost 100 years to acquire 800,000 hotel rooms. Airbnb acquired a million rooms in just six years. How do you plan for that? You can’t. Don’t even try.” Hassett’s job is to try. And the stakes are as high as America’s political tempera- ture: If growth does not surge, distribution conflicts will. George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com. © 2017, Washington Post Writers Group GEORGE F. WILL GEORGE 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 • MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2017 NCVO holds successful telethon SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The many talents of Cayman citizens took center stage on Saturday night, when the National Council of Voluntary Organisations held its annual radio/telethon fun- draiser. The telethon raised more than $137,000 to beat last year’s total and fund a host of NCVO programs over the next year. Many talented Cayman artists, singers and bands performed at the Prospect Playhouse on Saturday night, and their work was broad- cast on both Radio Cayman and Cayman 27. The show ran from 7 p.m. all the way to midnight, and Janice Wilson, chief executive officer of the NCVO, was tasked with both organizing the event and with announcing the incoming do- nations on the broadcast. “It’s loads of fun. Live TV is a blast,” she said Sat- urday night. “You never know what’s going to happen. Ev- eryone’s having lots of fun and we’re raising money. It’s going really well so far. We’re really happy.” Ms. Wilson said Sunday that several big corpora- tions – like Dart, Pink La- dies Volunteer Corps, Ernst & Young and Butterfield Bank – pitched in with large do- nations. One family made an anonymous donation of $5,000, and the NCVO nearly reached its target goal of $140,000. Hundreds of people donated, said Ms. Wilson, and dozens of people volun- teered their time to make the telethon happen. There were musical acts performing, vol- unteers at the phone bank taking donations and even a table full of people taking pledges from people in person at the playhouse. “We’ve got a bunch of volunteers,” said Ms. Wilson on Saturday. “The telephonists are from Ernst & Young, but we’ve also got Butterfield and Maples helping us on the phones and with the pledges. We’ve got a bunch of different hosts coming on from all the Hurley’s media stations and Cayman 27.” NCVO programs include a foster home, a preschool and an early learning center, and Ms. Wilson said she was thrilled that the com- munity responded to fund the organization’s work in the community. “It’s been really good,” she said during the tele- thon. “We’ve had some big corporate donations, which have been wonderful, and lots of family donations, $10 here and there from some little kids, and thousands of dollars from larger orga- nizations. We’re really, re- ally happy with the re- sponse so far.” Social media fakes of premier proliferate BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Islands Premier Alden McLaughlin is ap- parently being imperson- ated all over the internet. Over the past year, a number of reports have been made to various social media sites regarding fake accounts pretending to be operated by, or on behalf of, Mr. McLaughlin. The most recent example was reported to Instagram the week of Oct. 9 to 13. The account in this case was obviously a fake. The name attached to it was the “Hon. Alden McLaughli” [sic] and the page contained more than a dozen photos of the premier, most of which came from official events, such as press conferences or media photo ops. Mr. McLaughlin’s press secretary Tammie Ch- isholm confirmed last week that the Instagram account was bogus and that it had been reported to the com- pany. By Friday, the Ins- tagram page was still in operation and had nearly 500 followers. Other attempts to im- personate the premier have been more sinister. In October 2016, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Fi- nancial Crime Unit issued a public warning about a fake Facebook page, purporting to belong to Mr. McLaughlin. Police said that page, which had nothing to do with the premier, was being used in attempts to fraudulently solicit dona- tions and bank account numbers from individuals who were “friended” by the fake account. The page was re- moved from Facebook and RCIPS investigators noted it appeared no one had been defrauded. “However, new fraudu- lent pages may appear,” a police statement noted. In July, a bogus Twitter account purporting to rep- resent Mr. McLaughlin was also confirmed as a fake. The false account @ Ky1McLaughlin was sending out tweets and inter- acting with users. The ac- count’s profile described the owner as being Alden McLaughlin, “Premier of the Cayman Islands since 2013. McLaughlin serves as leader of the People’s Pro- gressive Movement in the Cayman Islands.” Mr. McLaughlin is hardly the first Cayman Is- lands or international pol- itician to be impersonated on social media. Likely the most well- known incident in Cayman occurred during 2011, when a Twitter account opened under the user name ‘McK- eevaBush345’ operated as an “impersonation,” ac- cording to a statement from then-Premier Bush’s press secretary. The Twitter ac- count used an official pho- tograph of the former pre- mier, as well as containing a “bio” that reads in part: “I’m from West Bay aka Republic/Gazza. “That means ‘me alone run tings’, if you don’t know then you’d better ask somebody.” Westin celebrates $50 million renovation SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Westin Grand Cayman is ready to show its new face to the world. The luxury hotel nes- tled along Seven Mile Beach recently completed a two- phase renovation that cost $50 million, and it welcomed the community Friday night to see the final product. All of the hotel’s 343 rooms and suites were up- dated, and extensive effort was put into reshaping the corridors, public spaces, pool deck and retail gallery. Even the elevators in the hotel are new, and the lobby bar fea- tures floor-to-ceiling glass windows that offer a view of the ocean. The Westin staged a Busi- ness After Hours event Friday night, allowing partners, in- vestors and community members to see the new ren- ovations and tour the newly refurbished rooms. Morty Valldejuli, a vice president and managing di- rector for Pyramid Hotel Group, welcomed the groups to the hotel Friday night and thanked everybody who was a part of the reno- vation process. “As you know, it takes a village to put something like this together,” said Mr. Vall- dejuli. “It’s been the culmina- tion of years since 2016 when we started Phase One plan- ning and construction.” The Westin now has four one-bedroom suites and four two-bedroom suites, including two dubbed the “Presidential Suite.” The Pres- idential Suite comes compete with a 1,500-square-foot ter- race looking out onto the ocean, complete with ameni- ties like a grill, fire pit and foosball table. An overhead view of the Westin’s pool and beachside bar area. Bona Fide and several other musical acts came together to raise money for the NCVO. – PHOTOS: SPENCER FORDIN A group of volunteers waits to accept walk-in donations for the NCVO on Saturday night.DISTRICT DAYS 6 District Days George Town MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS 50 Years Ago: Ad agency represents Cayman In the Oct. 25, 1967 edi- tion of The Caymanian Weekly, a precursor of The Cayman Compass, there was news of an adver- tising agency representing the Cayman Islands in- terests abroad. “Did you know that the Cayman Islands have an Advertising Agent in New York? We are most fortu- nate in being represented by a very large firm in that city at no cost to us! “All advertising agen- cies get their percentage from the advertisers and normally no large con- cern would be interested in such small business, but Mr. Robert M. Miller of Lee- Myles Associates Inc. came here first as a tourist and liked the islands so much he is anxious to help us. “He was here from the 18th to 21st on business, the main purpose of his visit being to have discus- sions with the Advertising Committee of the Tourist Board about our advertising programme for 1968. “Mr. Miller has sub- mitted to the Tourist Board examples of new ideas for next year and also went into the programming of the ads. On Saturday morning, he had an appointment with His Honour the Adminis- trator to acquaint him with the suggestions put forward. “The assistance of some- body as well-known and as skilled in advertising as Mr. Miller is indeed most helpful and should be of great value in enabling us to promote tourism in the North American Continent.” Seniors enjoy a day at the Pines JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com Seniors were treated to an afternoon of tasty treats and entertainment in the Olive Miller Garden at the Pines Re- tirement Home on Thursday. It was the sixth Depart- ment of Children and Family Services-planned event on Grand Cayman marking Older Persons Month. Women from the Pink La- dies Volunteer Corps served up an assortment of delec- table sweets and savory ap- petizers for about 100 se- niors, while Dexter Bodden, also known as “The Calypso Cowboy,” entertained with musical performances. Mr. Bodden took music requests specially requested by seniors. Birthday celebrants for October were also recognized. “Our seniors deserve the best that we can give,” said Lynda Mitchell, the manager of the Pines. “Hosting the tea party and letting them know how much we truly adore them made this a very special event for them and The Pines Retire- ment Home and staff.” She said putting our se- niors first, celebrating them throughout the month of Oc- tober, made this event even more exceptional. “The se- niors appreciated treats served by The Pink Ladies, and they were well enter- tained by guitarist Dexter Bodden. We look forward to next year’s event,” she said. The Tea Party was hosted by the staff of the Pines Re- tirement Home. “The Department of Chil- dren and Family Services throughout this October is tapping into the talents and highlighting the contribu- tions of older persons in the Caymanian society,” said Lea- nora Wynter-Young, social worker manager at the De- partment of Children and Family Services. Older Persons Month 2017 officially opened with a church service at the Agape Family Centre on Sunday, Oct. 1. Guitarist Dexter Bodden entertains seniors.Pines resident Olive Miller makes her selection. Pink Lady Sandy Webster serves seniors cakes.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2017 Council, the Department of Agriculture or the De- partment of Environment. If they had been, it is very unlikely that such applica- tions would have been ap- proved,” she said during a meeting of the council on Wednesday. “In Tasmania right now, the environmental protec- tion people are desperately trying to put up nest boxes for indigenous parrots that are under severe threat and are actually in danger from sugar gliders entering the nests and eating the chicks,” she added. Researchers from the Australian National Uni- versity are currently testing culling techniques to target sugar gliders, a non-native species believed to have been introduced to Tas- mania as pets within the last 200 years. Dr. Dejan Stojanovic told the Australian media that his team had discovered that sugar gliders were eating approximately half of the adult female swift parrots that nest in main- land Tasmania every year, as well as their eggs and chicks. He said the swift parrot population was in “free fall” and headed for extinction without intervention. Speaking at Wednes- day’s meeting, Ms. Rose- Smyth said the situation flagged a potential risk to the Cayman Islands, where the indigenous Cayman parrot is the national bird. “I just want to take the opportunity to make people aware of the dangers they can pose to our native flora and fauna when they think about bringing in a non na- tive animal without proper certification,” she said. The man and woman accused of smuggling the sugar glider into Cayman in June have been on bail since their arrest. Cus- toms Collector Charles Clifford has said he ex- pects the Director of Public Prosecutions to de- cide by Wednesday, Oct. 25, whether or not crim- inal charges will be pur- sued. The man who was arrested was identified in an earlier report as Jimel McLean, son of East End MLA Arden McLean. needed in the Cayman Is- lands, which is facing a rising problem of heart dis- ease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. According to speaker Dr. Sonali Ruder, an author and nutritionist known as the “Foodie Physician,” about one in three people in the U.S. are overweight or obese. “These are American sta- tistics, but it’s pretty much the same in the Carib- bean,” she said. Moreover, the rates of obe- sity-related ailments among Caymanians is exponentially higher than non-Cayma- nians in the territory: Mau- reen Cubbon, the wellness director at the health center Bestlife, said the rate of heart conditions is nearly six times higher among the Caymanian population than the non-Cay- manian population in the ter- ritory, the rate of diabetes is three times higher, and cancer is nearly three times higher. About 40 percent of Cay- manian children are over- weight or obese, which ex- ceeds the 33-percent rate in the U.S., Ms. Cubbon added. “Unfortunately, we know that many Caymanians are leading unhealthy lifestyles. We smoke, are overweight – sometimes even obese – and we are not getting the recom- mended amount of fruit and vegetables,” lamented Health Minister Dwayne Seymour. Throughout the three-day event, multiple speakers from a variety of backgrounds pro- vided numerous tips for how people can combat those troubling statistics. “You should have a well- balanced diet with lots of nutrient-dense whole foods – foods with minimal pro- cessing,” advised Dr. Ruder. While that advice may be well-known, it’s hard to follow when people are eating out at restaurants, where they do not see the ingredi- ents going into their meals. Therefore, one of the most ef- fective measures people can take to ensure their meals are nutritious is to cook at home, and to get children involved in the process, she said. “Take your kids grocery shopping, let them pick the ingredients. Let them help pack their lunch. Basically, just get them in the kitchen with you,” said Dr. Ruder. “And eat together.” Dr. Ruder was the keynote speaker on Thursday night. The next day, a panel was held to discuss some myths and facts about nutrition. Cayman Clinic physician Dr. Virginia Hobday said one of the most pervasive myths she sees is that people think skipping breakfast is a good way to lose weight. In fact, “It increases hunger later in the day, en- courages sudden urges to eat, and to eat larger por- tions,” she said. Dentist Dr. Keelin Fox said she often hears her patients tell her that they have “soft teeth.” The enamel on teeth is actually the hardest sub- stance in the human body, she explained. “It’s quite rare for people to have soft teeth un- less you have a rare condi- tion,” she said. Most of the topics dis- cussed were about the con- sumer side of the health equation, but Department of Agriculture Assistant Director Brian Crichlow also talked about Cayman’s farmers. With little hope of competing with farms in the U.S., local farmers are finding their niche by satisfying demand for healthier food such as free-range poultry, fresh eggs and vegetables. “We have farmers doing well with kale. Five years ago, our farmers hardly knew any- thing about kale,” he added. An audience member asked why government is not limiting imported foods in order to protect local pro- ducers. Mr. Chrichlow said it’s not government’s policy to limit competition, but that consumers can play their own part to help. “If it’s mango season and you go to the supermarket and see imported ones, go to the manager and say, ‘Where is it?’” he advised. “They’ll listen. Dollars talk.” At the closing of the conference, Ministry of Health Chief Of- ficer Jennifer Ahearn said 130 flu shots were administered during the event, 40 people signed up to be blood bank donors, nearly 200 people had body composition tests, and 400 people had their blood tested. Mr. Seymour said more than 1,200 people at- tended the conference – “a re- cord,” he said. “In Tasmania right now, the environmental protection people are desperately trying to put up nest boxes for indigenous parrots that are under severe threat and are actually in danger from sugar gliders entering the nests and eating the chicks.” CHRISTINE ROSE- SMYTH, chair, National Conservation Council CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Cute but deadly: Sugar gliders threaten native species For the love of Cayman’s health CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Ritz-Carlton pastry chef Melissa Logan demonstrates how to make pineapple Thai basil sorbet. - PHOTO: KEN SILVA Gunman arrested after taking hostages at UK bowling alley LONDON (AP) — A gunman who reportedly held two employees at a bowling alley hostage was ar- rested Sunday night after armed police moved in. He was treated at the scene and taken to a hospital for treatment. The two people being held were released un- harmed, police and ambu- lance officials said. Details about the gun- man’s condition were not re- leased. He has not yet been charged or identified. Earlier, police in central England had warned the public to stay away from Bermuda Park, the shopping center where the bowling alley is located in Nuneaton, about 7.5 miles north of the town of Coventry. Warwickshire Police said the problem was not terrorism-related, but pro- vided no details. Mehdi Amshar, chief ex- ecutive of the MFA Bowl bowling alley chain, told Sky News that he was in- formed the two employees were being held at gun- point at the company’s Nu- neaton branch. Amshar said he believed the gunman was an ex-hus- band or former boyfriend of an employee, but he couldn’t be sure. Police did not con- firm those details. All customers were able to leave the prem- ises and were un- harmed, Amshar said. “All our staff, the rest of our staff, are safe and they made sure that all the customers have left the premises so everybody is in safety, with the excep- tion of the two people who are missing,” he told the broadcaster before the hos- tages were freed. A witness from a nearby restaurant, Carl Lenton, de- scribed what he saw outside as the alarm spread. “There were police cars arriving, there was a heli- copter, police dogs, armed police stood all around the bowling alley, around the outside of it,” Lenton said. The police response may have been heightened by concerns about a possible extremist attack. Britain’s official terrorist threat level is set as “severe,” indicating an attack is thought to be highly likely. Gun crimes are rare in Britain, which has strict firearm control rules. One man who said he was at a children’s party at the bowling alley said he initially thought it was a joke when a staff member told him to leave because a gunman was inside. “I looked up and there was a guy, probably 20 or 30 feet away, walking to- wards us with a sawn-off shotgun sort of slung over his shoulder,” Lawrence Hallett told Sky News. He added the man was “ba- sically shouting and had a very aggressive de- meanor about him.” Police at Bermuda Park deal with a hostage-taking incident. - PHOTO: AARON CHOWN/PA WIREThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Russian opposition leader leaves jail, goes to rally Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, was released from jail Sunday after serving a 20-day sentence for calling an unauthorized demonstration. After his release, he traveled to Astrakhan, to address a rally. Navalny plans to run for president against Putin in March. MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS Former US presidents call for unity at hurricane aid concert Trump has no plans to block scheduled release of JFK records WASHINGTON (AP) – Presi- dent Donald Trump says he doesn’t plan to block the scheduled release of thou- sands of never publicly seen government documents re- lated to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. “Subject to the receipt of further information,” he wrote in a Saturday morning tweet, “I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.” The National Archives has until Thursday to disclose the remaining files related to Kennedy’s 1963 assassi- nation. The trove is expected to include more than 3,000 documents that have never been seen by the public and more than 30,000 that have been previously released but with redactions. Congress mandated in 1992 that all assassina- tion documents be released within 25 years, but Trump has the power to block them on the grounds that making them public would harm in- telligence or military opera- tions, law enforcement or for- eign relations. “Thank you. This is the correct decision. Please do not allow exceptions for any agency of government,” tweeted Larry Sabato, di- rector of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of a book about Kennedy, who has urged the president to release the files. “JFK files have been hidden too long.” The anticipated release has had scholars and arm- chair detectives buzzing. But it’s unlikely the documents will contain any big revela- tions on a tragedy that has stirred conspiracy theories for decades, Judge John Tun- heim told The Associated Press last month. Tunheim was chairman of the inde- pendent agency in the 1990s that made public many as- sassination records and de- cided how long others could remain secret. Sabato and other JFK scholars believe the trove of files may, however, pro- vide insight into assassin Lee Harvey Oswald’s trip to Mexico City weeks be- fore the killing, during which he visited the Soviet and Cuban embassies. Oswald’s stated reason for going was to get visas that would allow him to enter Cuba and the Soviet Union, according to the Warren Commission, the investi- gative body established by President Lyndon B. Johnson, but much about the trip re- mains unknown. Longtime Trump friend Roger Stone, who wrote a book alleging that Johnson was the driving force behind Kennedy’s assassination, had personally urged the presi- dent to make the files public, he told far-right conspiracy theorist and radio show host Alex Jones this past week. “Yesterday, I had the op- portunity to make the case directly to the president of the United States by phone as to why I believe it is essential that he release the balance of the currently redacted and classified JFK assas- sination documents,” Stone said, adding that “a very good White House source,” but not the president, had told him the Central Intel- ligence Agency, “specifically CIA director Mike Pompeo, has been lobbying the presi- dent furiously not to release these documents.” “Why? Because I believe they show that Oswald was trained, nurtured and put in place by the Central In- telligence Agency. It sheds very bad light on the deep state,” he said. After the president an- nounced his decision, Stone tweeted: “Yes ! victory !” The files that were with- held in full were those the Assassination Records Re- view Board deemed “not be- lieved relevant,” Tunheim said. Its members sought to ensure they weren’t hiding any information directly re- lated to Kennedy’s assassina- tion, but there may be nug- gets of information in the files that they didn’t realize were important two decades ago, he said. “There could be some jewels in there because in our level of knowledge in the 1990s is maybe different from today,” Tunheim said. The National Archives in July published online more than 440 never-before-seen assassination documents and thousands of others that had been released previously with redactions. Among those docu- ments was a 1975 internal CIA memo that questioned whether Oswald became mo- tivated to kill Kennedy after reading an AP article in a newspaper that quoted Fidel Castro as saying “U.S. leaders would be in danger if they helped in any attempt to do away with leaders of Cuba.” AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The five living former presidents put aside politics and appeared together for the first time since 2013 at a concert on Saturday to raise money for victims of devastating hurri- canes in Texas, Florida, Lou- isiana, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Democrats Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and Republicans George H.W. and George W. Bush gath- ered in College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M Uni- versity, to try to unite the country after the storms. Texas A&M is home to the presidential library of the elder Bush. At 93, he has a form of Parkinson’s disease and appeared in a wheel- chair at the event. His wife, Barbara, and George W. Bush’s wife, Laura, were in the audience. Grammy award winner Lady Gaga made a surprise appearance at the concert that also featured country music band Alabama, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer ‘Soul Man’ Sam Moore, gospel legend Yolanda Adams and Texas musicians Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen. The appeal backed by the ex-presidents has raised $31 million since it began on Sept. 7, said Jim Mc- Grath, spokesman for George H.W. Bush. President Donald Trump offered a video greeting that avoided his past criticism of the former presidents and called them “some of Ameri- ca’s finest public servants.” “This wonderful effort re- minds us that we truly are one nation under God, all unified by our values and de- votion to one another,” Trump said in the greeting, played during the concert. Four of the five former presidents — Obama, George W. Bush, Carter and Clinton — made brief remarks that did not mention Trump. The elder Bush did not speak but smiled and waved to the crowd. They appealed for na- tional unity to help those hurt by the hurricanes. “The heart of America, without regard to race or re- ligion or political party, is greater than our problems,” said Clinton. The last time the five were together was in 2013, when Obama was still in office, at the dedication of George W. Bush’s presidential li- brary in Dallas. There is precedent for former presidents joining forces for post-disaster fun- draising. George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton raised money together after the 2004 South Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina the next year. Clinton and George W. Bush combined to seek donations after Haiti’s 2011 earthquake. “It’s certainly a triple, if not a home run, every time,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “Presidents have the most powerful and prolific fun- draising base of any politi- cian in the world. When they send out a call for help, es- pecially on something that’s not political, they can rake in big money.” Amid criticism that his administration was initially slow to aid ravaged Puerto Rico, Trump accused island leaders of “poor leadership,” and later tweeted that, “Elec- tric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurri- canes” while saying that Fed- eral Emergency Management Agency, first-responders and military personnel wouldn’t be able to stay there forever. But Rottinghaus said ex- presidents are seen as less polarizing than the cur- rent president. “They can’t get away from the politics of the moment,” he said of current White House occupants. “Ex-pres- idents are able to step back and be seen as the nation’s grandfather.” Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 25, unleashing his- toric flooding in Houston and killing more than 80 people. Shortly thereafter, all five ex-presidents ap- peared in a commercial for a fundraising effort known as “One America Appeal.” In it, George W. Bush says, “People are hurting down here.” His father, George H.W. Bush, then replies, “We love you, Texas.” Hurricane Irma subse- quently hit Florida and Hur- ricane Maria battered Puerto Rico, while both devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands. In this Nov. 22, 1963 file photo, President John F. Kennedy waves from his car in a motorcade approximately one minute before he was shot in Dallas. The National Archives has until Oct. 26, 2017, to disclose the remaining files related to Kennedy’s assassination, unless President Donald Trump intervenes. - PHOTO: AP Former presidents, from right, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter gather on stage at the opening of a hurricane relief concert in College Station, Texas, on Oct. 21. All five living former U.S. presidents joined to support a Texas concert raising money for relief efforts from Hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria’s devastation in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. – PHOTO: AP9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2017 PALM ROAD MEDICAL Dr. Brian Michael (Diabetes & Thyroid Specialist) will be visiting Grand Cayman from October 23th - 27th 2017 For appointments call 946-7256 Chestnut Centre, 8 Palm Rd, off Smith Rd Indonesia seeks answers from US as top general denied entry JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – In- donesia’s government is seeking clarification from the U.S. after the Indonesian military chief was denied entry to the country, an offi- cial said Sunday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the Indonesian Embassy in Washington had sent a diplomatic note to the State Department. Nasir said the U.S am- bassador to Indonesia was not in the country and his deputy has been summoned to provide more informa- tion on Monday. Military chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo and his wife had planned to leave Indo- nesia on Saturday evening but were told by their air- line shortly before depar- ture that U.S. Customs would deny their entry, said military spokesman Wuryanto, who goes by one name. Nurmantyo had been in- vited by Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, to attend a conference in Washington on extremist organizations. Wuryanto said that Nur- mantyo, his wife and an en- tourage of four officials had U.S. visas and that Nur- mantyo last visited the U.S. in February 2016. The U.S. Embassy in Ja- karta said in a statement Sunday that Ambassador Jo- seph Donovan had apolo- gized to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi for any incon- venience to Nurmantyo. It said the embassy was in touch with Nurmantyo’s staff about the matter, working to facilitate his travel. “We remain committed to our Strategic Partnership with Indonesia as a way to deliver security and pros- perity to both our nations and peoples,” the embassy’s statement said. Relations between the U.S and Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, are gener- ally friendly. Indonesia’s military has a checkered human rights re- cord, but Nurmantyo him- self has not been accused of rights abuses. Nasir said any possible In- donesian response would de- pend on the U.S. explanation. Chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo Japanese prime minister heads to landslide victory TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s ruling coalition appeared headed to an impressive win in national elections on Sunday, in what would represent at least a partial comeback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. A victory would boost Abe’s chances of winning an- other three-year term next September as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. That could extend his pre- miership to 2021, giving him more time to try to win a re- luctant public over to his longtime goal of revising Ja- pan’s pacifist constitution. In the immediate term, a victory likely means a con- tinuation of the policies Abe has pursued in the nearly five years since he took office in December 2012 — a hard line on North Korea, close ties with Washington, including defense, as well as a super- loose monetary policy and push for nuclear energy. Japanese media projected shortly after polls closed that Abe’s LDP and its ju- nior partner Komeito might even retain their two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament. In unofficial results late Sunday night, the ruling co- alition had won 264 seats in the 465-seat lower house, and other parties had 109 seats, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said. Final results may not be tallied until Monday. Abe said the results indi- cate that voters support his policies and want to see his political leadership continue. “I think the results re- flected the voters’ preference for a solid political founda- tion and their expectations for us to push polices for- ward and achieve results,” Abe told NHK. Abe’s support ratings had fallen to around 30 percent in the summer after accusations of government favoritism to people connected to him, sparking talk that he might be vulnerable as leader of his party and prime minister. “I will humbly face the victory and continue to work humbly and sincerely,” he told NHK, noting lingering public distrust over the scandals. Abe dissolved the lower house less than a month ago, forcing the snap elec- tion. The lower house chooses the prime minister and is the more powerful of the two chambers of parliament. Analysts saw Abe’s move as an attempt to solidify his political standing at a time when the opposition was in disarray and his support rat- ings had improved somewhat. His plan was briefly up- staged by the launch of a new opposition party by pop- ulist Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, but initial excitement faded and Koike herself decided not to run for parliament. NHK projected that her Party of Hope would win just 38 to 59 seats. Koike called the results “very severe” in a televised interview from Paris, where she is attending a confer- ence of mayors. She said some of her remarks might have been taken negatively by voters, and that she would take the blame. Projections indicated that another new party, the Consti- tutional Democratic Party of Japan, could outpoll the Party of Hope and become the big- gest opposition grouping. The Constitutional Democrats are liberal-leaning, while both the Party of Hope and Abe’s Lib- eral Democratic Party are more conservative. Abe’s party and its na- tionalist supporters have ad- vocated constitutional revi- sions for years. They view the 1947 constitution as the legacy of Japan’s defeat in World War II and an impo- sition of the victor’s world order and values. The charter renounces the use of force in international conflicts and limits Japan’s troops to self-defense, although Japan has a well-equipped modern military that works closely with the U.S. Any change to Japan’s constitution, which has never been amended, requires ap- proval first by two-thirds of parliament, and then in a public referendum. Polls in- dicate that the Japanese public remains opposed to amendment. END OF AN ERA AS HONG KONG STOCK TRADING FLOOR TO CLOSE HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong’s last remaining stock market floor traders are taking their final orders as the exchange prepares to shut its trading hall. The bourse’s operator, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, says it will close the trading hall by the end of the month and turn the space into a showcase for the city’s financial markets. Yip Wing-keung, a trading manager at bro- kerage Christfund Securi- ties, donned his red trading jacket for the last time Friday, his final day on the floor. He and the other few floor traders left have been moving out ahead of the closure. The shutdown marks the end of an era for the stock market, which sym- bolized the city’s ascent as an Asian finance hub. Activity on the floor, one of a few such venues left worldwide, dwinded as stock dealing became fully computerized. “I feel sadness and re- gret,” said Yip, who has been a floor trader since the hall was opened in 1986 after four previous exchanges were merged. “Hong Kong is one of the world’s financial cen- ters, but if we don’t have the stock market trading hall, it will be a little sor- rowful. This is my own in- dividual reflection.” Yip said the floor traders resisted the clo- sure. They sent a protest letter to the government but it was in vain. “We wrote it but were overruled,” he said. “We can’t stop the times from changing.” Hong Kong’s stock ex- change, Asia’s third biggest by volume, follows other global peers like Tokyo, Singapore and London that have eliminated their trading floors In the U.S., floor traders at the New York Stock Ex- change still provide the backdrop for financial TV news reports and bell- ringing ceremonies. But Chicago and New York commodity futures trading pits, where traders used old-fashioned “open outcry” techniques, have shut in re- cent years as volume fell to 1 percent of the total. Hong Kong Exchanges stopped updating stats for floor trading in 2014, when it accounted for less than 1 percent of monthly turnover. In the 1980s and 1990s the hall housed more than 900 trading desks. The ex- change’s most recent count showed only 62 dealing desks were leased, with about 30 traders showing up on an average day. On a visit to the hall this week, only about seven traders could be seen. Back in its heyday, floor trading was com- puter-assisted but dealers still needed to talk to each other to complete transac- tions, either by phone or in person, depending on how far away they sat from each other, Yip said. “If they were too far you had to use the in- ternal phone line, but If you couldn’t get through, you had to run over to them,” he said. “So you saw lots of people running back and forth.” These days, Yip just punches orders into his computer. “Now it’s more com- fortable” but relationships with other traders are not as good as they used to be, said Yip. He doesn’t look for- ward to returning to his head office. “It won’t be so free,” he said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and Vice President Masahiko Komura mark the name of a victor in the parliamentary lower house election in Tokyo, Sunday. - PHOTO: APNext >