High of 86 Low of 76 Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 NEW YEAR’S EVE MUSIC BAN MUST BE OVERTURNED LOCAL | PAGE 5 CAYMAN BOXERS THRIVE AT CARIBBEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – THURSDAY DECEMBER 21, 2017 Holiday office hours Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! The management and staff at BritCay extend sincere season’s best wishes to you and your family. BRITISH CAYMANIAN INSURANCE CO. LTD. BritCay House, 236 Eastern Avenue, George Town, P.O. Box 74, KY1-1102 Tel. 949-8699 A member of Colonial Group International: insurance, health, pensions, life Call 949-8699 www.britcay.ky Holiday early closing at noon, December 22nd and 29th Dancing, music ban jeopardizes New Year’s Eve parties at hotels KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com A prohibition on Sunday dancing and live music at restaurants and bars will also apply to hotels this New Year’s Eve, Liquor Licensing Board Chairman Noel Williams confirmed on Wednesday. The prohibition is not a liquor board de- cision, but a result of a 40-year-old law – the Music and Dance (Control) Law prohibits places that sell food or refreshments from having dancing or the playing of music on their premises during Good Friday, Christmas Day and Sundays. The law provides an exemption for ho- tels, but only those that “are not open to the general public and with which no charge is made for admission.” In other words, hotels can have parties with live music and dancing for their guests, but are not supposed to sell tickets to the public, said Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams did not comment further on the policy – which was confirmed by government on Tuesday, and would require a legislative amendment to change – but it has seemingly jeopardized New Year’s Eve party plans in the islands’ hotels. The hotels, for their part, have either been tight-lipped or have expressed uncertainty about the issue. When the Cayman Compass contacted the Westin on Seven Mile Beach, a worker at the restaurant said that the hotel had originally planned to have three different bands playing for New Year’s Eve, but may have to cancel that plan after finding out about the prohibition. The worker said her manager, food-and- beverage director Carl Goldner, was in a meeting discussing the issue. Mr. Goldner did not respond to Compass inquiries before this issue’s press deadline. Down the road at The Ritz-Carlton, the hotel is advertising a New Year’s Eve Ball with “jazz artists inspired by the music of the legendary Rat Pack crooners,” as well as the “sounds of a live DJ on beautiful Seven POLICE TARGETING DUI AT TRAFFIC STOPS The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service is stepping up activity to address the increase in drunken driving around the holidays. “We will intensify our traffic operations as the season continues,” Acting Chief Inspector Everton Spence said in a news release. As they have in past years, officers will be conducting high visibility patrols and traffic stops across the islands with the aim of cracking down on drunk driving and other traffic of- fenses. The increased effort during December has been dubbed Operation Winter Guardian. Police spokesman Mikhail Campbell said so far in December, 23 people have been ar- rested for DUI. The most arrested in any single month in 2017 was in March, with 29. Police officials said they have made 31 ar- rests in the past 10 days as a result of the ef- fort. More than half of those, 18, involved sus- picion of driving under the influence. Other arrests were for insurance, registration and li- cense violations, along with multiple arrests for leaving the scene of an accident. Officials said they are concerned about the degree of intoxication observed among those arrested. Four of the 18 people arrested for DUI had blood-alcohol levels that were more than twice the legal limit of 0.1 percent. Two were measured at .241 percent and .249 percent. Mr. Spence said it is up to drivers to use good judgment. “I want to urge those who have been irre- sponsible in their driving to change their be- havior before they lose their license for a year,” he said, “or worse, have a serious accident with lifelong consequences. Health City hosts Christmas giveaway About 100 gifts – dolls, building blocks, Hot Wheels cars and more – were distrib- uted to 30 children at Health City on Tuesday evening at the hospital’s annual IMPACT 345 Christmas party that featured Santa and music by local musi- cian Barefoot Man. Eleven of the kids were pa- tients in the hospital’s Have a Heart program, which provides cardiac surgery for children in Caribbean nations and around the world. The others were com- munity kids identified as being in need, but who were not on any social services registries. Holly Thompson, who founded IMPACT 345, a teen volunteer organization, said six of its members were on hand to help distribute the gifts. “This year we were able to give more to the local chil- dren,” Ms. Thompson said. “This year [donors] were espe- cially generous.” Santa and Barefoot Man were the highlights of the IMPACT 345 Christmas party at Health City on Tuesday evening. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 »Next >