ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2018 High of 87 Low of 76 Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 REVERSING OUR DISTURBING INCREASE IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS LOCAL | PAGE 3 MORE THAN 1,000 CASES OF PERMANENT RESIDENCY DECIDED Government hiring fight could go to court BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com A long-brewing battle over hiring for a high-profile Ministry of Education job could end up in the Grand Court, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson said Tuesday. The dispute, which has been taking place behind the scenes since October 2017, involves a situation where a non-Caymanian was hired to fill the role of ministry human resources di- rector over two Caymanians who also applied for the job and who both scored higher during a panel interview for the position. The Caymanian applicant who scored the highest in the interview took her case to the Civil Service Appeals Commission on Oct. 23, 2017, stating that she should have been hired for the post over the non-Caymanian. She argued that the ministry had “acted un- fairly or in a biased manner” in making the hiring decision. The non-Caymanian had been the acting human resources director in the ministry for the three years before taking on the job full time. On Dec. 20, 2017, the appeals commission, chaired by former Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks, agreed that there was evidence that the ministry “acted unfairly toward the [Cay- manian job applicant] during the selection phase of the recruitment process.” The commission sought a response before making its ruling in the case, but according to documents reviewed by the Cayman Compass, Education Ministry officials did not respond to emails or phone calls concerning the ap- peal. The commission stated its “disappoint- ment” in the ministry’s failure to acknowledge its various communications about the appeal. The commission ordered that the Caymanian applicant be offered the post as of Feb. 15, 2018 and that she receive additional compensation DECADE OF PENSION REPORTS ABSENT FROM PUBLIC VIEW BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com During the past decade, as successive Cayman Islands governments sought to amend laws related to private sector retire- ment savings plans, the government regulator for those plans was not able to release vital public information about the pension system. Annual reports providing details of the growth of private sector pension investments, the amounts paid into and out of those invest- ment funds, and the number of companies that were delinquent in paying into pension funds have not been released in the Legisla- tive Assembly since the government’s 2007- 2008 budget year. The reasons for this delay in reporting re- quired private sector pensions data depends on whom you ask. “The National Pensions Board prepared many of these reports, but they were not ac- ceptable to successive ministry [staff] and ministers, because they spoke the truth about the malregulation of the pensions regime,” former National Pensions Board member Wil- liam Adam said. “Therefore they were not sent to the Legislative Assembly. “What is known is that the malregulation has caused employees to lose literally tens of millions of their pension funds,” Mr. Adam said in response to Cayman Compass ques- tions on the matter. Current Department of Labour and Pen- sions Director Bennard Ebanks denies Mr. Ad- am’s allegations of poor administration and said that despite the global financial recession in 2008-2009, the private sector pension funds being managed in Cayman have grown from Mosquito Research and Control Unit appoints new director The Mosquito Research and Control Unit announced on Tuesday that it has ap- pointed James McNelly as its new director. Mr. McNelly will join MRCU next week from the Mosquito Control Division of Volusia County, Florida, where he has been director for more than six years. He replaces former director Bill Petrie, who left last year to become head of the Miami- Dade Mosquito Control Division. Nancy Barnard, who has been acting director in the interim, will return to her duties as deputy chief officer in the Min- istry of Health, Environment, Culture and Housing, according to the announcement. “We are delighted to an- nounce the appointment of Dr. McNelly, who has a wealth of experience in mosquito control,” said Jennifer Ahearn, the chief officer in the Ministry of Health, Environment, Culture and Housing. “Dr. McNelly was the successful candidate following a rigorous recruitment process. We are very fortunate that we have been able to attract someone with such depth of knowledge, who has been running a similar- sized mosquito control program with many challenges that we also face in the Cayman Islands.” Mr. McNelly has a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of Delaware, a mas- ter’s degree in ecology from Rut- gers University, and a Ph.D. in Students learn about the water table The Water Authority – Cayman and Cayman Water Co. brought their joint education program to John A. Cumber Primary School in West Bay Tuesday, teaching students about desalination and how it has made seawater Cayman’s most precious natural resource. The students learned about reverse osmosis and the safety of drinking tap water as opposed to bottled water, and were taught how they can help minimize their impact on the environment. Manual Thomaz of Cayman Water and Hannah Reid of the Water Authority ran the students through a slideshow and took questions when their presentation was done. For more on this story, see page 5. James McNelly is the new Mosquito Research and Control Unit director. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS • Matinees Daily (matinee price before 6pm) • Seniors $8.00, Mon-Fri Before 6pm • Additional charges apply per 3D/VIP tickets Cayman Cinema @cbcinema6cbcinema6 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. - WEDNESDAY - 640-FILM (640-3456) GAME NIGHT (R) 12:35 I 4:05 I 7:00 I 9:55 ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ (PG13) 12:50 I 4:00 I 6:30 I 10:00 THE 15:17 TO PARIS (PG13) 4:50 I 10:05 FIFTY SHADES FREED (R) 1:10 I 7:15 WINCHESTER (PG13) 1:40 I 3:45 I 7:30 I 9:30 BLACK PANTHER (PG13) 12:45 VIP I 3:00 I 3:50 VIP I 7:00 VIP 9:15 I 10:00 VIP JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (PG13) 2:00 I 7:10 Agriculture Show winners announced JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands Ag- ricultural Society has an- nounced the winners of this year’s Agriculture Show. The grand prize raffle draw winner was Donovan Kellyman, who won $20,000 at the Feb. 14 event, held at the Agriculture Pavilion grounds in Lower Valley. Hamlin Stephenson, a member of the Cayman Is- lands Agricultural Society and owner of Hamlin’s Farm, was again named Farmer of the Year. He has been awarded the accolade sev- eral times in past years. Mr. Stephenson was also named Livestock Farmer of the Year 2018. Crop Farmer of the Year went to Davey Ebanks and Champion Exhibitor Crop Farmer is William Ebanks of Willie’s Farm in North Side. Meanwhile, the George Town Heritage Committee came away with top honors for the Best District Exhib- itor. The East End Heritage Committee placed second and North Side Heritage Committee third. In the annual Beautiful Baby Competition, Liam Ju- lian Nelson Watler won first place in the 0-9 months cat- egory; Taz Myrie was first in 10-18 months; Krys- tine Henry was first in the 19-24 months; and Jahzaria Bodden came first in the 25-36 months category. Sage Costa was se- lected as Miss Agriculture Queen, and Ariana Chambers was named Miss Agricul- ture Princess. Chef Elardo MacDonald won the Fruit and Vege- table Carving Competition and was also first in the Ice Carving Competition. Gianna Whittaker won the Baking Competition. Abigail Wisdom won second place and Lovane Douglas third. Marvin Hutchinson won the Hot Wing Competition. Winners of the Cake Dec- orating Competition went to Abigail Wisdom in first place, Lovane Douglas in second place, and Genesis Carbajal and Dana Jackson in joint third place. The Cook-Off Competi- tion winners were George Town’s Joshua McLean and Diandra Thompson in first place; Northside’s Amber McLaughlin and Mohyundra Brown in second place; and Bodden Town’s Bradley McLaughlin and Anaya Davis-Eden in third place. Hamlin Stephenson was named Farmer of the Year 2018 at this year’s Agriculture Show. - PHOTO: JEWEL LEVY CORRECTION A story titled “Man fined $5,000 for ganja” that appeared in Feb. 27 edition of the Cayman Compass had the incor- rect name for the magistrate in the case. Defendant Gregory Bent was fined and placed on a suspended sentence super- vision order by Magistrate Angelyn Hernandez. VENEZUELA’S MADURO TO OPPONENT: LET’S TAKE IT TO THE STREET CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – A prominent Venezu- elan politician appeared to be breaking ranks with the opposition coalition on Tuesday by challenging leader Nicolas Maduro in the upcoming presiden- tial election. A campaign consul- tant for Henri Falcon said the former governor and retired military officer was prepared to declare his candidacy. Falcon would be the only major politician so far to take on socialist Presi- dent Maduro, who leads the oil-rich country beset by historic economic and political crisis. Officials loyal to Maduro recently approved the pres- idential vote for April 22 – a far earlier date than usual – after the breakdown of negotiations with the op- position over the elec- toral process. The United States and several of Venezuela’s Latin American neighbors crit- icized the move, saying conditions for a fair elec- tion are lacking. Javier Corrales, a pro- fessor of Latin American politics at Amherst College in Massachusetts, said Fal- con’s decision may cause tension among opposi- tion politicians, but it will have no practical down- side for them. “If Falcon loses – and he probably will – the op- position will be able to say there were irregularities,” Corrales said. “If he wins, it will be a collective good for the opposition.” El Salvador’s military not opening archives for missing kids SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) – More than 25 years after the end of its civil war, fam- ilies in El Salvador are still searching for an estimated 3,000 children who disap- peared in the fighting. The country’s military has so far refused to open its ar- chives from that period to allow an investigation into the whereabouts of children separated from their families during combat between guer- rillas and government forces. In a decision released in January, El Salvador’s Su- preme Court backed the de- mand of Nicolasa Rivas for a probe into the disap- pearances of her daugh- ters, Gladys Suleyma and Norma Climaco Rivas, who were 6 and 7 years old when they went missing in San Vicente province in 1982. Rivas blames the military for taking her daughters. The U.N. Truth Commis- sion created with the signing of the peace agreement in January 1992 estimated there were 5,000 forced disappear- ances during the war. Fami- lies and human rights advo- cates have documented about 3,000 more cases and esti- mate that about 3,000 of all the disappeared were minors. The Supreme Court’s de- cision ordered the armed forces to release informa- tion related to a military op- eration called “Mario Azenon Palma.” It was during that operation that Gladys and Norma disappeared, ac- cording to their mother. The Defense Ministry has said “after having searched the institutional archives it has been established that no documents or reg- istries of any kind related to the alleged operation have been found.” The court responded that if the military continues to re- fuse, it will ask President Sal- vador Sanchez Ceren to exert pressure on it to open the ar- chives. It also asked the pros- ecutor’s office to investigate the sisters’ disappearance. Eduardo Garcia, executive director of Pro-Busqueda, a group dedicated to the war’s missing minors, said the operation’s existence has been confirmed by the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights. “To think of reconciliation in the country it isn’t enough to say that the wounds are healed,” Garcia said. “The wounds are merely sup- pressed. There are living people who are being de- nied freedom.” The truth commission found that during the 1980- 1992 war, government forces tried to isolate guerrillas and their supporters, cutting off access to food and medicine. When soldiers moved against communities and guerrillas fled, women, the elderly and children often fell behind. Fighters would return to look for their families, but often could not find them. Relatives and activists say children were sometimes taken by soldiers. “We fled with a bunch of families when we were de- tected by the elite battalions. The army bombed us, shot at us and deployed troops,” said Jose Lainez Ayala, a 61-year- old also from San Vicente. When the fighting was over, Lainez said, he returned to find the dead body of his 8-year-old daughter but there was no sign of his 6-year-old. “We couldn’t find her because the army took her.” In its ruling supporting Rivas’ call for an investi- gation into the fate of her daughters, the Supreme Court said there was suffi- cient information to conclude “they were involuntarily dis- appeared at the hands of sol- diers.” Pro-Busqueda said its own investigations indi- cate that soldiers took chil- dren and adopted them as their own, though it’s not clear how many. “In some cases they were cared for and in others they were used as ser- vants,” Garcia said. Pro-busqueda Executive Director Eduardo Garcia holds portraits of Salvadoran mothers who lost their children during the civil war in El Salvador and who have not yet found them, in San Salvador, El Salvador. - PHOTO: AP GRAND COURT JURY NOTICE All Grand Court ju- rors who are in the Jan- uary 2018 session are ad- vised the report date of Wednesday, Feb. 28, has been changed. The new date to report for jury duty is Monday, March 5, at 9:45 a.m. Call the Jury Information line at 244-3899 for the most up-to-date information or email jury@judicial.ky.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2018 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K A excellent drafts Final letter sized.pdf 2 02/10/2015 11:57 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K A excellent drafts Final letter sized.pdf 2 02/10/2015 11:57 ...IN THE CARIBBEAN Rated A (Excellent) at A.M. 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T: +1 (345) 949-9744 E: Aleisha.Lalor@caribbeanalliance.com www.caribbeanalliance.com Our customers enjoy extensive coverage and competitive premiums on every personal and commercial insurance product. Home • Contents • Motor • Liability • Business • Marine More than 1,000 cases of permanent residency decided BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Islands immigra- tion officials have dealt with more than 1,000 applications for permanent residence since last June, clearing most of the backlogged applicants who had been waiting years for a decision regarding their legal status. There were still 263 resi- dence applications awaiting decision as of Feb. 5, however, well more than half of those applicants have been asked for additional information from the Immigration De- partment before their cases will be heard or reheard. A further 53 applications were withdrawn by the resi- dency applicant and another 28 were dismissed by immi- gration officials because they were filed too late. Considering the rate at which applications are being reviewed, it is possible those outstanding matters could be resolved within a few weeks. Permanent residence is a legal status that allows a non- Caymanian to remain in the islands for the rest of their lives. There are several ways to obtain it, but the backlog of applications that has been troubling the British territory since early 2015 involves in- dividuals who have lived and worked in the islands for at least eight years on work per- mits or government contracts before seeking resident status. As of Feb. 5, a total of 591 residency applications had been awarded while 374 were refused; an approval rate of about 61 percent. The rate of PR approvals fell slightly through the first two months of this year. Be- fore that time, the approval rate for applications was around 65 percent. At least some of the 374 applicants who were refused have appealed their cases to the Immigration Appeals Tri- bunal and some have been successful in those matters. The Cayman Compass has sought to obtain the out- come of appeals cases via the Freedom of Information Law, but the newspaper has not yet received a response from immigration officials. HSM law firm partner Nicolas Joseph told clients in a letter sent in late January that the firm was handling at least 19 appeals of PR denials and that the appeals tribunal was now hearing those matters. “We received confirmation of success on the first such appeal earlier [in January],” Mr. Joseph said. “The appel- lant (and his family) have all been granted PR without the tribunal finding it neces- sary to consider many of our grounds of appeal, and – as with all unsuccessful PR ap- plicants – there appears re- grettably to be no shortage of such grounds.” Mr. Joseph also noted there had been some delays in implementing permanent resident status, as well as some other immigration sta- tuses, after determinations were made in applicants’ favor by the Immigration Ap- peals Tribunal. “As appeals are won, there continue to be hurdles in the implementation of those de- cisions,” he said. “Although, legally, permanent residence, Caymanian status, and work permits are being granted by the Immigration Appeals Tri- bunal and even through the Grand Court, the Immigra- tion authorities seem unable to implement those awards in a timely manner. We are experiencing delays in having [appeals tribunal] determi- nations actioned, but hope- fully that will soon be a thing of the past.” Remaining cases Of the 263 residency cases remaining to be decided, 110 were missing certain infor- mation when filed and an- other 86 were deferred by ei- ther the relevant immigration board or immigration staff. Typically, the deferred cases will be re-heard within a short period. A further 41 applications have been scheduled for hearing and only 26 have not yet been considered by immi- gration officials. Defendants elect to be tried by judge alone MILO DACK mdack@pinnaclemedialtd.com Trial began on Monday for two West Bay residents charged with the 2015 rob- bery of Mitzi’s Fine Jewelry in which over half a million dollars worth of jewelry was reported stolen. Madeinys Ebanks- Pol and Adrian Adela Gea pleaded not guilty to the robbery charge: that on Nov. 18, 2015, at the store on West Bay Road, they stole jewelry valued at ap- proximately $516,201 be- longing to Mitzi Callan, and that they did so by using force against a named person, the clerk in the store. Mr. Gea, on his own, is charged with possession of an imitation firearm with intent to commit an of- fense, namely robbery. He has pleaded not guilty to this charge also. The defendants elected to be tried by judge alone and Justice Ste- phen Hellman is hearing the matter. In an opening address on Monday, Crown counsel Scott Wainwright said it was the case for the prose- cution that Ms. Ebanks-Pol acted as a “lookout” while Mr. Gea entered the store with the imitation firearm to carry out the robbery. A witness testified Tuesday morning that she had noticed Ms. Ebanks- Pol behaving suspiciously inside a car parked outside Mitzi’s store. The court heard the witness had been walking past the store on her lunch break on the day of the rob- bery. She said the defen- dant had beckoned her over and had asked to use her cellphone. The witness said she refused to lend her the phone, after noticing, she said, that there were sev- eral phones in the car. She then walked on. When she became aware later that a rob- bery had taken place at the store, she contacted police, she said. Ms. Ebanks-Pol is rep- resented by attorney Keva Reid. Mr. Gea is represented by attorney Nicholas Dixey. The trial was expected to continue into next week. TRIAL BEGINS FOR JEWELRY STORE ROBBERY As of Feb. 5, a total of 591 residency applications had been awarded while 374 were refused; an approval rate of about 61 percent.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. 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 findtheirownway” If you are discussing your investment portfolio, a 114 percent increase over two years would be cork- popping news. But when the topic is car crashes, it’s time to hit the brakes and seek answers as to why our roadways are so dangerous and deadly. The doubling in the number of traffic accidents recorded by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service between 2015 and 2017 is certainly cause for a signifi- cant “course correction.” According to a Compass analysis of crash reports, published in Monday’s newspaper, police reported a total of 2,362 accidents in the Cayman Islands last year. In 2015, police reported “only” 1,102 accidents. For such small islands, those figures are not only large, but also dangerous and deadly: In three years, 26 people died in car accidents in Cayman, and 85 people were seriously injured. Of course, not all roads, intersections and junctions are created equal. Accidents tend to cluster around certain “problem areas.” (Many of our readers will probably be able to think of two or three treacherous spots they navigate on their daily commutes.) For example: Last year, there were 67 accidents on a single quarter-mile stretch of Godfrey Nixon Way (between the Butterfield Roundabout and Eastern Avenue). On adjacent Eastern Avenue in that same year, there were 109 accidents on a strip of asphalt less than a mile in length. Perhaps the least shocking news that will appear in the pages of the Compass this year is that the But- terfield Roundabout is by far the most “accident-prone intersection” in the country. From 2015-17, there were 71 reported collisions in that roundabout. In the grander scheme, pound-for-pound and mile- for-mile, Cayman is a far deadlier place to drive than either the United States or Great Britain. (According to 2015 statistics, the most recent available, Cayman’s vehicle death rate was 18.3 per 100,000 people, compared to 10.9 for the U.S. and 3.8 for Great Britain.) That is somewhat astonishing, given Cayman’s mostly good road conditions, flat and predictable topography, and a maximum speed limit of 50 miles per hour. Excluding those physical, geographic and policy conditions, one variable remains at the forefront: Human behavior. Police said they do not have a rational explanation for the recent rise in accidents but pointed toward an increase in the number of vehicles on island and the ubiquity of construction projects. To those factors, we will add a few of our own: • Inadequate traffic control: Law enforcement’s lack of consistent enforcement of traffic rules, including of speeding and drunk driving, sends the message that “anything goes” on Cayman’s roads • Inconsistent safety standards: Despite rules requiring regular inspections of vehicles, our roads are rife with damaged, malfunctioning or obviously illegal vehicles. (Exhibit A: Cayman’s roving gangs of “menacing motorbikers”) • Simple lack of courtesy: We would posit that if Cayman’s drivers dropped their aggressive atti- tudes and behaved more courteously toward their fellow drivers, crashes in Cayman would drop pre- cipitously, and almost immediately, by at least 20-25 percent. Reversing our disturbing increase in traffic accidents WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS WASHINGTON – Andrew Cilek might be – this is just a hunch – unaware that 2018 is Brooks Brothers’ bicenten- nial. Judging by what he wore when he went out to vote in Minneapolis on Nov. 2, 2010, his preferences in shirts run less to button-down Oxford cloth than to chatty T-shirts. The question the U.S. Su- preme Court will consider on Wednesday is whether Cilek’s expressive shirt impermis- sibly interfered with Minne- sota’s interest in maintaining “peace, order and decorum” at polling places. Minnesota forbids voters from wearing in a polling place political badges, but- tons or other insignia de- signed to “influence and im- pact” voting, or “promoting a group with recognizable political views,” even if the things worn do not refer to any candidate or issue on that day’s ballot. Nine other states have similar laws, and all 50 states have “speech-free zones” around polling places. Cilek’s T-shirt featured the Gadsden Flag (“Don’t Tread on Me”) and a small tea party logo. He also sported a button, from a group wor- ried about voter fraud, that read “Please I.D. Me.” He was temporarily prevented from voting, so, being a real – that is, litigious – American he went to court. The Supreme Court has found no constitutional infir- mity in campaign-free zones, but Minnesota’s law as Cilek experienced it seems to man- date a First Amendment-free zone, which he says is un- constitutionally overbroad. Minnesota has admitted that its law also would forbid ap- parel bearing the logos of, for example, the Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, which do indeed have “rec- ognizable political views.” These might (to use the lan- guage of campus speech po- lice) “trigger” in people who see them … what? Polit- ical thoughts perhaps tan- gentially related to can- didates or propositions on the ballot? A lower court upheld the law used against Cilek’s T- shirt as furthering Minne- sota’s legitimate interest in polling-place “peace, order and decorum” and “the in- tegrity of its election pro- cess” and – the nanny state never sleeps – to protect voters “from confusion and undue influence.” What is more offensive, the paternal- istic condescension of the government assuming that “confusion” will somehow discombobulate voters who glimpse, say, an “American Legion” or “NAACP” sweat- shirt, or the government’s hu- bris as censor of influence that is “undue?” It is one thing to ban, as the court has allowed, ac- tive “solicitation of votes” in or close to a polling place. It is, however, a bit much for Minnesota to forbid pas- sive expression of political – very broadly defined – alle- giances not associated with any person or issue being voted on. What about a shirt emblazoned with the words “America is the land of op- portunity?” Those words, which a guide for Univer- sity of California employees says can constitute a “mi- croaggression,” could trigger fainting spells among voters at polling places sniffing for the reek of unchecked white privilege. And what about a T-shirt with a pristinely unpolit- ical message (e.g., “I despise cocker spaniels”) that might disturb some sensitive souls in a polling place? The Su- preme Court can try to enunciate what is unimagi- nable – clear standards con- cerning every conceivable language use in a hypersen- sitive America. Or the court can give its squint of strict scrutiny to all such polling- place laws, many of which will not pass muster. Oth- erwise, polling-place offi- cials will have broad discre- tion to lay down the law, if it can be dignified as law, on an ad hoc basis concerning what is and is not a “rec- ognizable” political view or “undue” influence. The First Amendment was ratified in 1791. One hun- dred and twenty-eight years passed before the court con- fronted a case – three cases, actually – squarely con- cerning freedom of speech. Dealing disgracefully with residues of Woodrow Wil- son’s wartime semi-total- itarianism, the court held: During wartime, the govern- ment can restrict speech that could “create a clear and present danger” of evils that Congress has the power to prevent. And the guarantee of free speech does not pro- tect printing leaflets urging disruption of the war ef- fort. And Wilson’s adminis- tration did not violate the amendment when it impris- oned Eugene Victor Debs – he had received 6 percent of presidential vote as the So- cialist Party’s candidate in 1912 – because he made an anti-war speech. Nowadays, the court fre- quently adjudicates speech controversies because gov- ernments eagerly em- brace sinister rationaliza- tions for “balancing” free speech against competing values, to the detriment of free speech. Hence the court should affirm Cilek’s admi- rably prickly resistance to Minnesota’s officiousness. Today more than ever, with freedom of expression in- creasingly threatened, an American’s default position regarding restrictions should be: Don’t tread on me. George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com. © 2018, Washington Post Writers Group. Don’t tread on this US voter’s T-shirt GEORGE F. WILL GEORGE Today more than ever, with freedom of expression increasingly threatened, an American’s default position regarding restrictions should be: Don’t tread on me.5 LOCAL&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2018 WB students get a lesson in water SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com Nobody left this lecture without quenching their thirst for knowledge. Students from John A. Cumber Primary School in West Bay were treated to a presentation on Cayman’s most precious resource – the water supply – from a pair of prominent experts on Tuesday. Hannah Reid, the corpo- rate communications director of The Water Authority – Cayman, and Manuel Thomaz, general manager of Cayman Water, explained in detail to the students how seawater goes from wells 150 feet un- derground and eventually travels through pipes to arrive at their kitchen sinks. The students, all aged 7 and 8, listened in rapt at- tention as Ms. Reid and Mr. Thomaz spoke about the modern innovation of desali- nation plants and how it af- fects the Caribbean. Mr. Thomaz, for instance, told the students that if they were to collect rainwater for a year, they would need a tank the size of West Bay to hold it. Since that is not feasible – and since Cayman does not have abundant freshwater resources – desalination is the only choice. “It doesn’t need to be raining to have water in our taps,” Mr. Thomaz said. “There’s an almost unlimited supply of water on this island, because we have salty water all around us.” Ms. Reid told the students that they can make a major impact on the environment by turning off the faucet while they brush their teeth and by urging their parents to drink tap instead of bottled water. The lecture included a slideshow, and Mr. Thomaz took the difficult science and related it to topics the chil- dren could understand. For example, he taught them about osmosis by saying that if you put a gummy bear in water, the water would natu- rally fight through the mem- brane to expand the candy. “Reverse osmosis,” he said, “is just getting the water back out of the gummy bear.” One of the slides taught students elemental facts about water around the world, including that people in Africa and Asia walk an av- erage of 3.7 miles to collect potable water. Two-thirds of the water in any home is used in the bathroom, according to the slides the children saw on Tuesday. The Water Authority and Cayman Water have been con- ducting their joint education program since 2016, and have visited schools with the hope of teaching students about the local water table. School visits can be arranged by emailing ksingh@cwco.com or corporate.communications@ waterauthority.ky. Tours of the Water Authority facility can be arranged by filling out a request form at www.waterauthority.ky/ arrange-a-school-visit. Puerto Rico: Treasury cuts disaster relief loan SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Puerto Rico’s governor said Tuesday that the U.S. Trea- sury Department has cut a $4.7 billion disaster re- lief loan available to the U.S. territory by more than half, and he demanded help from Congress. Gov. Ricardo Rossello said federal officials re- duced the amount to $2 bil- lion without providing an ex- planation nearly five months after Congress approved the loan. He warned the move puts Puerto Rico in a “dan- gerous financial dilemma” and that his administration could be forced to cut some essential services as the is- land continues to struggle after Hurricane Maria. “Any material interrup- tion to Puerto Rico’s public services will only exacerbate outmigration of its population to the mainland and further deepen and prolong Puerto Rico’s decade-old fiscal and economic crisis,” he said. Tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans fled to the U.S. mainland after the Category 4 storm, which hit as the island was struggling to restructure a portion of its $73 billion public debt load amid an 11- year recession. Rossello said it seems the Treasury imposed certain loan restrictions to make it “extremely difficult for Puerto Rico to access these funds when it needs federal assis- tance the most.” He also said Treasury officials told his ad- ministration last week that they do not intend to for- give the loan. Congress had approved the loan in October to help Puerto Rico recover from the storm, which killed dozens of people and caused up to an esti- mated $94 billion in damage. Some 15 percent of power customers remain in the dark, and more than 700 families are still living in hotels across the island. Last week, Puerto Rico’s power company ob- tained a $300 million emer- gency loan that will help keep it operating only through late March, according to a federal control board overseeing the island’s finances. The board said it plans to request more loans in upcoming weeks. It is unclear why the $4.7 billion federal loan was reduced. A Treasury spokesperson did not im- mediately return a mes- sage for comment. In January, officials with the Treasury Department and the Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency sent Puerto Rico officials a letter stating they were temporarily with- holding the loan because they did not believe the gov- ernment was facing a cash shortage as it had previously warned. Federal officials said the money would be released via the Community Disaster Loan Program once the is- land’s central cash balance decreased to a certain level. Congress had approved the loan in October to help Puerto Rico recover from the storm, which killed dozens of people and caused up to an estimated $94 billion in damage.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS for pay she would have re- ceived if she had been hired for the human resources job at the date it was first awarded, in late September. If that Caymanian appli- cant did not accept the job, the commission ordered, it should be given to the second most successful Cayma- nian who applied. If neither Caymanian ap- plicant accepted the job, it should be re-advertised, the commission said. Stating that the commis- sion’s ruling in the hiring dispute was “unprece- dented” during his time in office, Mr. Manderson sup- ported the ministry’s hiring decision and “signed off” on the non-Caymanian appli- cant’s employment. “I support the decision of the [ministry] chief of- ficer [Christen Suckoo],” Mr. Manderson said Tuesday. “The Caymanians who ap- plied were not really able and capable of taking up the role at this time and the position was offered to a non-Caymanian. “Both the Ministry [of Ed- ucation] and the civil service have a proven track record of hiring and promoting Cayma- nians within the civil service. I expect in the not too distant future, we will have a Cay- manian in [the ministry HR] role,” he added. Any such order made by the Civil Service Appeals Commission, in order to have legal effect, needs to be en- forced by the deputy gov- ernor. Mr. Manderson said his office was considering taking the entire issue to the Grand Court and that legal advice had been received on the matter. Interview process A panel report done as part of the interview process for the ministry job in May 2017 considered a total of five shortlisted applicants for the human resources position. The ultimately successful candidate scored a 44.5 on the review, the second- lowest out of the five short- listed candidates. The highest scoring Caymanian applicant received a score of 49. The interview process was partly based on a 15-minute presentation to the hiring panel on “leadership strate- gies essential for successful change management.” Of the successful non- Caymanian applicant, panel reviewers said: “[He] has built the necessary relation- ships with staff and stake- holders, in addition to ex- tensive knowledge and on the ground information he has gained while acting in this role. “There are presently three Caymanians within the human resources unit with the potential to vie for the post of HR director, once trained and upscaled. [He] has committed to training and upscaling these indi- viduals in order to increase their suitability to applying for the post of HR director in the future.” Of the highest-scoring Caymanian applicant, the panel said: “Although the panel was impressed with [the applicant’s] HR back- ground and enthusiasm, [she] unfortunately lacked the experience in managing large HR teams and an in- depth knowledge of budget management, which is a cru- cial aspect of this role.” Of the second-highest scoring applicant, it was said: “[She] has held senior roles throughout govern- ment, [but] does not possess any current HR experience.” Commission ruling In addition to seeking to award a Caymanian appli- cant the job, the Civil Ser- vice Appeals Commission commented on what it felt was “the apparent lack of any systems to identify and consider Caymanian candi- dates” for opportunities to ‘act’ in the human resources role, such as those provided to the non-Caymanian ap- plicant who was ultimately successful in being hired full-time to the position.” It also noted that Deputy Governor Manderson him- self reviewed and en- dorsed the hiring of the non-Caymanian. “The commission is un- aware of any statutory or other basis on which this re- view and endorsement were conducted and, accordingly, gave no significance to it,” the Dec. 20 ruling stated. The commission also stated that “any finan- cial or legal repercussions” arising from the hiring deci- sion were the government’s responsibility. approximately $526 million in invested assets as of mid- 2008 to about $1.2 billion in- vested currently. Mr. Ebanks said the de- partment is now trying to turn in all the outstanding annual reports – nine years’ worth – to the Legislative Assembly by the first quarter of this year. The assembly is expected to start meeting on March 14. “The delays in the filing of the annual reports are due to a variety of factors, including the need to modernize the presentation of the reports, a decision to expand the con- tent of the reports, as well as the impact of staffing levels and changes within the de- partment,” Mr. Ebanks said. “The reports were not deemed to be acceptable as the overall presentation and profession- alism of the annual reports was an issue. “A decision was made to not table individual reports, or release a subsequent report, without the previous report in order to give proper context, whether that context was fa- vorable to pensions or not.” Mario Ebanks, who for- merly held Mr. Bennard Ebanks’s position at the De- partment of Labour and Pen- sions, said he was informed of the unpublished reports when he took over the office in 2012. “I cannot explain why this [delay in reporting] was al- lowed to happen, given that the National Pensions Law requires the annual reports,” Mr. Mario Ebanks said. “Much of that information would also be available to the public if employees who are mem- bers/participants of pension plans were to attend the an- nual general meetings of their respective pension plans – particularly the six multi-em- ployer pension providers. “However, attendance, par- ticipation, and close oversight by pension plan members has historically been pathetic,” Mr. Mario Ebanks said, adding that in absence of govern- ment reporting, the 2016 amendments to the National Pensions Law required that “more robust” information be given to plan members by the administrators. From Mr. Mario Ebanks’ perspective, the issue came down to resources: “My con- cern was always that from its inception, sufficient resources were never allocated to the National Pensions Office. Ad- ditionally, it was not clear whether the decision-makers and funders of the National Pensions Office truly under- stood the exact roles, chal- lenges, skills needs and tech- nological systems which the office needed in order to prop- erly do its job.” “Pathetic” attendance was also noted prior to the pas- sage in the Legislative As- sembly in May 2016 of the amended version of the Na- tional Pensions Bill, 2016. That legislation underwent a period of lengthy public con- sultation. Then-Employment Minister Tara Rivers, who had responsibility for the subject under the 2013-2017 Progres- sives-led administration, noted a series of public meetings held on the issue, public radio and television appearances where government officials ex- plained the relevant changes and the receipt of more than 450 comments on the proposal from 40 different sources. The public meetings held in July and August 2015 received “little turnout” according to at- tendees from the various pen- sion administrators. Despite a low meeting turnout, some of that com- mentary led to significant amendments to the pro- posed legislation and showed the government “very much tried to balance the inter- ests and concerns expressed” in drafting the bill, Minister Rivers told the Legislative As- sembly in May 2016. The amendments to the National Pensions Law, which had not seen such wholesale overhaul since the legisla- tion was first enacted in 1998, sought to address a number of issues brought on by years of underfunding, rampant delinquency in payments to workers’ accounts, uneven enforcement and sometimes slack oversight. entomology from North Caro- lina State University. Before working in Florida, he was the director for en- vironmental sciences with the Illinois-based mosquito control services and prod- ucts firm Clarke from 2008 to 2011, and regional man- ager for the company’s en- vironmental mosquito man- agement program for the preceding eight years. Before that he was the mosquito and black fly sur- veillance project coordinator for Rutgers University, and an entomologist with the Cape May County Mosquito Com- mission in New Jersey. He is also a past president of the New Jersey Mosquito Con- trol Association. According to the Mosquito Research and Control Unit, the mosquito control unit Mr. McNelly directed in Florida is similar in size to the one here and faces many of the same challenges relating to the con- trol of nuisance mosquitoes. During the past few years, Mr. McNelly’s team has con- tended with multiple im- ported cases of mosquito- borne Zika and chikungunya, as well as cases of West Nile virus and malaria, according to the announcement. Government hiring fight could go to court CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “The Caymanians who applied were not really able and capable of taking up the role at this time and the position was offered to a non- Caymanian.” DEPUTY GOVERNOR FRANZ MANDERSON Decade of pension reports absent from public view CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Mosquito Research and Control Unit appoints new director “I cannot explain why this [delay in reporting] was allowed to happen, given that the National Pensions Law requires the annual reports.” MARIO EBANKS, former director, Department of Labour and Pensions PAPUA NEW GUINEA QUAKE ASSESSMENT HINDERED BY SEVERE DAMAGE WELLINGTON, New Zea- land (AP) – Severe damage to phone networks and roads from a powerful earthquake in Papua New Guinea was hindering ef- forts to assess the extent of the destruction Tuesday, although officials in the re- mote central region feared dozens of people may have been injured or killed. The government had not confirmed any deaths after the magnitude 7.5 quake struck the Pacific na- tion’s central highlands re- gion early Monday. After- shocks were continuing to strike the area. Hela Provincial Admin- istrator William Bando told The Associated Press that phone networks were out, power lines were down and roads were blocked by landslides. He said the quake was a disaster on a scale he has not expe- rienced before. “There are mas- sive, massive disrup- tions,” Bando said. He said he’d been hearing reports of dozens of deaths and injuries but could not confirm them. The National Disaster Centre said it was carrying out a rapid assessment by ground and by helicopter in order to give information to the government. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said authori- ties were assessing the damage and getting ready to provide relief. “There are communities that have suffered from this natural disaster, and we are sending our soldiers and other government agencies to support our people in their time of need,” O’Neill said in a statement. The quake also dis- rupted work at oil and gas plants, mines and coffee plantations. A man views a house that collapsed in a strong earthquake, Tuesday in Halagoli, Hela Province, Papua New Guinea. Severe damage after Monday’s powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Papua New Guinea is hindering efforts to assess the destruction. - PHOTO: AP7 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2018 DRIVE THRU OPEN LATE FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS Now serving you from 2 locations: Savannah and Seven Mile Beach Smoky BACON POTATO Smoky BACON CHEESEBURGER POTATO . COMBO . SANDWICH . L IM I T E D TIME ONLY Upgrade ANY combo . © 2017 Quality Is Our Recipe, LLC SMOKY MUSHROOM BACON CHEESEBURGER CONTAINS EGG, MILK, AND WHEAT. FRIED ONION TANGLERS ARE COOKED IN THE SAME OIL AS MENU ITEMS THAT CONTAIN FISH. SMOKY MUSHROOM BACON POTATO CONTAINS MILK AND SOY. Courts near end of process to put public records online SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands court system is close to final- izing its effort to put court records online. Court administrator Su- zanne Bothwell confirmed to the Cayman Compass on Monday that the court’s web designers are in the final stages of uploading all public registers into electronic format. That new development was slated for launch in ei- ther December or January, but the process took longer than anticipated. The court began uploading registers onto its platform back in late January, and Ms. Both- well plans to meet with web designers imminently to dis- cuss the final aspects. According to the court ad- ministrator, all public reg- isters going back five years will be freely available to the public on the court’s web- site. The court also plans to have a kiosk at the court of- fice available for viewing of court documents for people that do not have access to a computer at home. Ms. Bothwell indicated last year that the only fees associated with the ser- vice will be for people who are interested in purchasing court documents. The push to put court re- cords online follows a dispute last year about the availability of records to the public. The court initially issued a public advisory last year stating that only handwritten notes could be taken when inspecting court record in person, and in- terested observers were briefly halted from photocopying re- cords without express permis- sion from the clerk of court. The court also expressed concerns last year about pub- lications obtaining and pub- lishing court records for profit, which may have expedited the decision to push records on- line for public perusal. The push to put court records online follows a dispute last year about the availability of records to the public. GRANDFATHER HIT BOY REPEATEDLY WITH BELT CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A grandfather who ad- mitted to hitting a 6-year- old boy with a belt had no conviction recorded against him after Magis- trate Valdis Foldats heard details of the case. Defense attorney Jon- athon Hughes explained that the boy was his cli- ent’s grandson. The child had been throwing stones at a neighbor’s window and the defendant spoke to him and told him to stop. A little while later, he heard the noise again and saw the boy throwing stones again. He took a belt and hit the boy across the back of his legs “three or four or five times.” The incident was re- ported to police after the boy’s aunt saw marks on him. The belt did not break the boy’s skin, but photographs did show bruise-like marks. The defendant was ini- tially charged with assault causing actual bodily harm and cruelty to a child. These charges were not proceeded with after the man pleaded guilty to common assault. Mr. Hughes said his client had enrolled in a parenting class after the incident so he could learn how to discipline his grandchildren. The magistrate and the attorney referred to back- ground details in a social inquiry report. The defen- dant had assumed care for the boy and his sib- lings after their father, his son, died. He looked after them financially and as a father-figure. When the children mis- behaved, the man spoke to them or disciplined them by taking away a privilege. The incident with the belt was “a one-off,” the magis- trate concluded. Mr. Hughes pointed out that the defendant had no previous convictions. He had grown up in a culture that did not see anything wrong with using a belt for discipline. The magistrate agreed that “In the past, corporal punishment was the norm. Times have changed. Adults hitting children is a se- rious matter.” He said the word needed to get out. The de- fendant was directed to complete the counseling program he had started and to keep the peace for 12 months or pay $950. SeaPerch Challenge returns to Camana Bay for third year The 2018 Cayman Islands SeaPerch Challenge Under- water Robotics Competition is to return to Camana Bay for its third year. Twenty-one teams from seven high schools across Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac will participate in a se- ries of in-pool technical events at the Camana Bay Sports Complex Pool, located at Cayman International School, Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. High school students have been practicing their engi- neering skills in preparation of this event, which is hosted by Dart Minds Inspired, Ma- ples and Calder, and the Wom- en’s International Shipping and Trading Association. They are competing for the chance to represent their school at the In- ternational SeaPerch Challenge on June 1 at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth. The participating schools are Cayman International School, Cayman Prep and High School, Clifton Hunter High School, Hope Academy, John Gray High School, Layman E. Scott Senior High School (Cayman Brac) and St. Ignatius Catholic School. Dart Minds Inspired hosts an interactive training ses- sion for staff involved in the schools and provides schools with Remote Operated Vehicle kits that students are required to build, test and operate. In addition to this, students are tasked with research applica- tions such as monitoring ma- rine life and collecting and testing water samples. SeaP- erch participants are also re- quired to document their design, construction and modification process in an engineering journal that is graded by the judges ahead of the competition. John Gray High School will be defending its title as the Cayman Islands SeaPerch champions, having placed first for the past two years. 2017 champions, the JGHS “Aqua Lasers” – Diamond White, Davonte Howell, Alvan Boxwell and Caleb Feare – finished sixth out of 73 teams in the Middle School Divi- sion at last year’s Interna- tional SeaPerch Challenge in Atlanta, Georgia. Their engi- neering journal placed fifth overall, demonstrating their advanced knowledge and un- derstanding of marine engi- neering concepts. Members of the public interested in seeing the underwater robots firsthand are welcome to stop by the Camana Bay Sports Complex anytime between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Admission is free. For more about SeaPerch and other Dart Minds Inspired events, email mindsinspired@dartcayman.com. Last year’s SeaPerch Challenge champions were, from left, Alvan Boxwell, Davonte Howell, Diamond White and Caleb Feare. - PHOTO: DEJAVU CAYMAN Police: Woman kicks officer, gets pepper sprayed Second woman also pepper sprayed A rowdy scene outside a West Bay bar over the weekend led to two arrests after police said they used pepper spray against two women during a struggle. The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service responded to a report of fighting outside Kel- ly’s Bar on Birch Tree Hill Road just before midnight Friday. Police said a 22-year-old woman, who appeared to be very drunk, was banging on the bar’s door and shouting curses. Police officers informed the woman that she was being arrested for disorderly con- duct, after which police said she kicked the officer who was trying to handcuff her. Police used pepper spray on the woman “to subdue her” and also used the spray on a second woman who “be- came aggressive toward the officers while they were sub- duing the initial suspect.” The 22-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest, assaulting police and disorderly con- duct. The second woman, 54, was also arrested on suspi- cion of disorderly conduct. Both suspects were re- leased on police bail.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS Trump reaches deal with Boeing President Donald Trump reached an informal, $3.9 billion deal with Boeing to provide the next generation presidential aircraft. The agreement includes two 747-800 aircraft, plus the cost of modifications to support the president, including external stairs and large galleys. Prosecutors: Ex-South Korean president deserves 30 years SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Prosecutors on Tuesday de- manded a 30-year prison term for former South Ko- rean President Park Geun- hye for alleged bribery, abuse of power and other crimes in a landmark corruption case that marked a stunning fall from grace for the country’s first female leader and con- servative icon. In the final trial session before a verdict is issued, prosecutors also demanded a fine of 118.5 billion won ($110 million) and said Park has shown no remorse for “disrupting constitutional order and damaging the pub- lic’s trust in state power.” Park did not attend the session at the Seoul Cen- tral District Court, which will issue its verdict on April 6 – 11 months after the trial began. “The defendant thor- oughly destroyed the dreams and hope of people – this in- cident left a permanent scar in South Korean history and yet it also provided the op- portunity for people to re- store democracy and rule of law with their own hands,” prosecutor Jeon Jun-cheol told the court, according to a pool report. “A stern punishment by the court is needed to send a message to the public and politicians that the tragic his- tory should not be repeated,” he said. If the court finds her guilty, Park would be the third South Korean presi- dent convicted of crimes. The others were former mil- itary generals involved in a 1979 coup and a 1980 ci- vilian massacre. Park has been boycotting the court sessions since Oc- tober in protest of its deci- sion to extend her detention by another six months. Park’s lawyers then resigned en masse and she has reportedly been refusing to meet with state-appointed lawyers who have since been defending her in court. On Tuesday, Park’s law- yers argued that the prosecu- tors have been unable to fully prove their charges against Park. They said it’s unclear whether the companies were pressured into providing money to foundations con- trolled by Park’s close con- fidante or whether the pay- ments were linked to specific business favors. “The president did not threaten the companies and the companies weren’t vic- tims who paid money be- cause they were scared,” said lawyer Park Seung-gil. He said businesses will always try to maintain a friendly re- lationship with the govern- ment even when they aren’t seeking something defi- nite in return. “To put it in a bad way, it could be described as a close and cozy relationship between government and business. But while it would be simple for everyone if we could define what hap- pened as bribery or ex- tortion or both, the whole body of truth isn’t clear- cut,” he said. Park has continuously de- nied any wrongdoing, and she is expected to appeal if convicted. The court could force Park to attend her verdict. As usual in South Korean crim- inal trials, the court can set a new date for the ruling if she does not show up and take steps to summon her, including issuing an ar- rest warrant, if she refuses to appear for the second time. Some legal experts say the court could also directly issue a verdict without her presence in court. Following massive pro- tests by millions and im- peachment by lawmakers in December 2016, Park was formally removed from of- fice and arrested in March last year amid allegations that she colluded with long- time friend Choi Soon-sil to take tens of millions of dollars from companies in bribes and through extor- tion. The court sentenced Choi to 20 years in prison earlier this month, and more severe punishment was ex- pected for Park. Current South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who took office last May in a by-election, has said he will not use his powers to pardon Park. Former Cabinet minis- ters, senior presidential aides and business executives have been charged in the scandal. Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for of- fering more than $6 mil- lion in payments to founda- tions controlled by Choi in exchange for business fa- vors. Samsung scion Lee Jae- yong was initially sentenced to five years in prison for of- fering bribes, but some of his convictions were overturned on appeal and the sentence was suspended. In jail, Park reportedly has seen only a few visitors and her lawyers. Before she began boycotting the trial sessions, she sat mostly expressionless in court, sometimes burying her face onto the desk, appar- ently out of fatigue. It’s hard to imagine a more absolute fall for Park, who won the 2012 presiden- tial election by more than a million votes. She enjoyed overwhelming support from conservatives who remember her father, staunch anti-com- munist dictator Park Chung- hee, as a hero whose aggres- sive industrial policies lifted the nation from the devasta- tion of the 1950-53 Korean War and rescued millions from poverty. Critics see the elder Park as a brutal dic- tator who tortured and exe- cuted dissidents. As president, the younger Park was criticized for what opponents saw as her re- fusal to tolerate dissent and her alleged mishandling of a 2014 ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people, mostly schoolchildren. The scandal involving Choi fur- ther destroyed Park’s care- fully crafted image as a self- less daughter of the nation and inspired an angry public to push for her ouster. After she was removed from of- fice, voters elected the first liberal national govern- ment in a decade. To stubborn supporters, Park remains the wronged “mother of the nation.” Amid a heavy police presence, hun- dreds of Park supporters – mostly in their 50s, 60s and 70s – marched in streets near the court in southern Seoul on Tuesday, glumly waving South Korean and U.S. flags and shouting for her im- mediate release. There were no immediate reports of major clashes. Park’s saga is the latest addition to South Korea’s long line of tarnished presi- dential legacies. Former presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae- woo were convicted in 1996 for corruption and also on charges stemming from a 1979 coup and a bloody sup- pression of pro-democracy protests that killed hun- dreds in the southern city of Gwangju in 1980. Both were freed on a special presiden- tial amnesty in 1997. In this Oct. 10, 2017 photo, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, left, arrives to attend a hearing on the extension of her detention at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea. - PHOTO: AP Police: Kim Jong Nam told friend he feared for life SHAH ALAM, Malaysia (AP) – A police investigator testified Tuesday that the estranged half brother of North Ko- rea’s leader told a friend in Malaysia that his life was in danger six months before he was killed at an airport. Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam have been charged with mur- dering Kim Jong Nam by ap- plying the banned VX nerve agent to his face in a crowded Kuala Lumpur airport ter- minal on Feb. 13 last year. They allegedly conspired with four North Korean men who fled Malaysia the same day. Chief police investigator Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz told the court that Kim’s friend provided a driver for him during his trip to Kuala Lumpur last year after Kim told him that “my life is in danger” and “I am scared for my life” six months before he was killed. He didn’t say why Kim feared for his life. If they are convicted, the two women could face the death penalty, but not if they lacked intent to kill. Defense lawyers say the women be- lieved they were playing a prank for a hidden-camera TV show and had previously been paid to conduct similar pranks. Prosecutors contend the women knew they were handling poison. Aisyah’s lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, also asked the po- liceman if Hong Song Hac, one of four suspects believed to have fled back to North Korea, was an official with the North Korean Embassy in Indonesia at the time. Wan Azirul ini- tially said he did not know but then agreed when shown a document provided by the Indonesian foreign ministry. Gooi told reporters later that police had failed to in- vestigate the background of the four other suspects. He said the involvement of an- other North Korean Em- bassy official reinforced the belief that the embassy and its government were in- volved in the plot. The court heard earlier that a North Korean Embassy official in Kuala Lumpur met with the four suspects at the airport before they left and helped them to check in. The court was also told that a car used to take the suspects to the airport was bought by the embassy in the name of one of its citizens just months earlier. Kim, the eldest son in the family that has ruled North Korea since its founding, had lived abroad for years after falling out of favor. It is thought he could have been seen as a threat to the rule of his half brother, Kim Jong Un. Malaysian officials have never officially accused North Korea of involvement in Kim’s death and have made it clear they do not want the trial politicized. The trial is to resume March 14. Defense lawyers say the women believed they were playing a prank for a hidden-camera TV show and had previously been paid to conduct similar pranks. If the court finds her guilty, Park would be the third South Korean president convicted of crimes. The others were former military generals involved in a 1979 coup and a 1980 civilian massacre.9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2018 The Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture, and Lands would like to publicly acknowledge all those Civil Servants who work within its Ministry and were recognised on National Heroes Day. This year’s Heroes Day theme was Sports and several staff members have worked passionately in the field and earned a distinguished recognition. In addition to the Hon. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, Minister for Sports being recognized as a Pioneer in Sports. The following employees from the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture and Lands were recognized for their outstanding contributions to Sports: Mr. Collin Anglin Mr. Daniel Jencude Augustine Mr. Gary Dion Brandon Mrs. Latasia Brown-Conolly Ms. Merta Araceli Day, GMM Mr. Redver Kenneth Francis Ebanks Mr. Thomas Chester Ebanks, Jr. Mr. Roy Ashley Ebanks Ms. Lavern Rozelda Ebanks Mr. Joel Francis Ms. Dania Algania Gall-Bennett Mr. Kevin Mario Goring Mr. Michael Paul Hundt Mr. Brian Rae Martin Ms. Sharon Marie Martin, Cert. Hon. Mr. Charles Elbert McLean, GMM Mrs. Lyneth Alynta Monteith Ms. Mollyann Cecelia Moore Mr. Andy Cecil Myles, GMM Mr. Clint Myrie Lt. Col. Bobeth O’Garro Mr. Harold Mitchum Sanford Mr. Ernie (Gillie) Edison Seymour, GMM Ms. Shari Georgina Smith Ms. Paul Swaby Ms. Nicole Camille Thompson Mrs. Julie Welds-Kandler Ms. Cherry Ann Whittaker Mr. Kenrick Anthony Williams Mr. Tyrone N. Yen Yen Minister O’Connor-Connolly also wishes to encourage the public to take the time to thank their coaches and recognise them as unsung daily heroes, “Coaches are always there to support students and take them to the next level. Coach Jerry Harper was that coach for me, and I will forever be grateful for his belief in me and encouraging me to work hard and not let other people’s opinions hold me back. ” The Ministry of Sports acknowledges the difficulty in recognizing every contributor to the field of sports and would like to use this opportunity to thank anyone who was not officially recognised at the ceremony. Additionally, the Ministry expresses its gratitude to all those involved in the festivities, and a very special thanks to the sports associations, food vendors and exhibitors who provided a great afternoon for the attendees. 2018 Honouring Contributions in Sports Russia-ordered ‘pause’ goes into effect east of Damascus BEIRUT (AP) – A brief, Russia-ordered “humani- tarian pause” went into ef- fect on Tuesday as Syrian and Russian forces set up a corridor to allow civil- ians to leave a rebel-held enclave near Damascus, but by the end of the five- hour pause, no civilians had crossed over from the em- battled territory. The lull gave a brief re- spite to the estimated 400,000 residents of besieged eastern Ghouta, which has been under intense attack by the Syrian government for weeks. The United Nations and aid workers criticized the unilateral arrangement, saying the situation was not such that convoys can go in or people in need of medical evacuations can come out of the enclave. The enclave’s residents also fear their region would meet the same fate as the eastern, rebel-held half of the city of Aleppo, where a similar Russian-ordered pause in 2016 called on res- idents to evacuate the area and for gunmen to lay down their arms. A full ground assault followed, finally bringing Aleppo under gov- ernment control. Footage on Tuesday from a crossing point manned by the Syrian military between eastern Ghouta and Da- mascus showed preparations were under way to allow ci- vilians to leave, including small buses waiting at a parking area and soldiers milling about. Syria’s state- run Al-Ikhbariya TV said a restaurant was also set up there, but there were no signs of anyone emerging. Russia’s state news agency Tass said Rus- sian military police on the ground have set up the hu- manitarian corridor with the Syrian troops. The Wafideen crossing point is near Douma, one of the largest towns in eastern Ghouta, and is about 20 ki- lometers (12 miles) from the center of Damascus. Al-Ikhbariya’s journalist on the ground said mortar shells had targeted the crossing, preventing civilians from leaving. It was not im- mediately possible to verify the claim. A least a couple of mortars were heard as the broadcast was live, some ap- peared to be outgoing from government areas. The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said about five shells from government areas fell on the enclave. One shell fell in an area where the government had began a ground offen- sive, and it was not clear if it was fired by the government or the rebels. Russian Gen. Viktor Pankov told Tass that resi- dents cannot leave because of the shelling. The Russian five-hour hu- manitarian pause, ordered by President Vladimir Putin, comes as a U.N. cease-fire failed to take hold in eastern Ghouta. Residents and aid groups criticized such unilat- eral truces for lacking inter- national monitoring and con- sensus of all the parties. Ingy Sedky, spokeswoman for the International Com- mittee of the Red Cross, said humanitarian corri- dors need to be well planned and must be implemented with the consent of parties on all sides. “This is essential so that people can leave safely, if they chose to do so,” she said. “And for those who decide to leave, all measure should be taken to provide assis- tance, protection and shelter to them. And those who re- main must be protected from any attacks.” The U.N. coordinator for humanitarian affairs also said conditions were not con- ducive for any aid deliveries. “We have reports this morning that there is con- tinued fighting in eastern Ghouta, so clearly the situ- ation on the ground is not such that for example, con- voys can go in or medical evacuations can come out,” Jens Laerke said at a U.N. briefing in Geneva. The enclave’s residents fear they could face harass- ment and possibly arrest if they go into government areas, after years of living in the rebel-held enclave. A weekend resolution unanimously approved by the U.N. Security Council for a 30-day cease-fire across Syria failed to stop the carnage in eastern Ghouta where more than 500 people have been killed since last week. At least 34 people were killed on Monday by air- strikes and shelling, ac- cording to the Syrian Obser- vatory for Human Rights. The U.N. estimates that nearly 400,000 people live in dire conditions from the siege in eastern Ghouta, which has been under inten- sive bombing by government forces for weeks. Aburrahman of the Obser- vatory said violence has dra- matically declined in eastern Ghouta overnight but re- ported a number of shells on Tuesday morning. It was not immediately clear where they landed or who fired them, he said. Firas Abdullah, a Douma activist, said a bomb landed in the town after the pause began, as well as three ground missiles. Civilians caught in the vi- olence have mocked Putin’s order of a five-hour open cor- ridor, saying it gives only a couple of hours of calm be- fore violence resumes. The Army of Islam, which is the largest insurgent group in Ghouta, said the Russia-or- dered pauses circumvents the U.N. resolution. “The only ones who will leave are the occupiers and Assad’s regime, we are the owners of the land,” Mo- hammed Alloush of the Army of Islam told The As- sociated Press. Russia’s military cam- paign to support Syrian President Bashar Assad has helped turned the tide of the war in the Syrian gov- ernment’s favor. Abu Ammar Dalwan, an Army of Islam member in Ghouta, said government shelling continued after the cease-fire and helicopters were flying overhead. He de- nied his group was shelling the Wafideen corridor. Dalwan said Ghouta resi- dents had decided to stay fol- lowing years of violence, even though they had the option of leaving through tunnels which were operational until the recent assault began. Dalwan said evacuating people under the threat of shelling amounted to a war crime. “We want the inter- national community to stop such a war crime,” he said.Next >