ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2018 High of 84 Low of 72 Slight with wave heights of 1 to 3 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 HIRING AUTHORITY: IT MUST NOT BE DELEGATED OR USURPED BUSINESS | PAGE 10 CUC GROWS ANNUAL OPERATING INCOME BUT NET EARNINGS DOWN WEBSTER GETS SIX YEARS FOR INDECENCY CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Former political candidate Errington Web- ster was sentenced Tuesday to serve an imme- diate prison sentence of six years, following his convictions after trial last year for three counts of indecent assault and one count of gross in- decency involving a young teenaged girl. Justice Charles Quin said there were sev- eral aggravating features to the offenses, in- cluding the difference in age between Mr. Webster, 55, and his victim, who was 13 at the time of the incidents. The incidents leading to the charges oc- curred over a six-month period in 2015/16. During that time, Mr. Webster bought the girl food, clothing, and a cellphone that cost $600. He agreed during his trial that he had done so, but said it was because he was counseling her. The judge said there had been a significant degree of planning and grooming by the de- fendant, who had targeted a particularly vul- nerable young girl. In addition, because of his position of leadership in the community, there was an abuse of trust. The offenses came to light after the girl made a video on her phone of Mr. Webster touching himself and asking her to touch him and spit on him while they were in his truck parked on an isolated road. The jury saw the video. The girl’s evidence was that two of the in- decent assaults had also occurred in the truck on the same road, while the first took place in Mr. Webster’s home. What was “deeply unattractive,” the judge said, was that Mr. Webster blamed everybody but himself for his convictions. He blamed his attorney, the jury, the judicial system, and the victim herself. APPEAL COURT MAKES RULING IN MADOFF CASE The Cayman Islands Court of Ap- peal has made a judgment that dic- tates how assets connected to Bernie Madoff’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme should be distributed, after liquidators for two funds presented differing views as to how the funds should be divided among investors. For the full story, turn to page 10. Billboards, sirens proposed for emergency alerts JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A combination of elec- tronic billboards, text messages and radio and television in- tercepts has been proposed to help alert the public in emer- gency scenarios. The new system was put for- ward after widespread criticism of the level of communication from officials during a fire at the Jackson Point fuel depot that prompted a mass evacuation of neighboring homes last year. Similar concerns were expressed about the speed of emergency communications when a tsu- nami scare impacted Grand Cayman in January. A discussion paper re- leased Tuesday by utilities reg- ulator OfReg examines cost-ef- fective options to improve the situation, that could be imple- mented this year. The proposed Emergency No- tification System also includes sirens for high-risk areas like CUC and the fuel depot. A high-tech system that would allow officials to send in- stant messages to all smartphone users in the Cayman Islands is not part of the current plans but is still considered a viable long- term option. That system, similar to the U.S. Amber Alerts, would cost more than $1 million to im- plement. The current proposals involve using a combination of existing communications chan- nels in an effort to reach as many people as possible. The paper states, “The Emer- gency Notification System would Glass House yard turns into parking lot BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Nearly 30 vehicles were parked in the yard of the old government administration building, the “Glass House,” in George Town on Tuesday, taking up an entire side of the property on Elgin Avenue. White “no parking” signs were promi- nently displayed on two utility poles at the site, but it appeared those signs referred to the yellow-striped access lane next to the back lot entrance of the Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service station. In any case, vehicles were seen parked in both the ac- cess lane and on the Glass House lawn Tuesday morning. Part of the curb next to the western side of the old administration building lot has been removed, allowing vehicles to access the area and much of the lawn had turned to a dirt path from the vehicles’ use. Gov- ernment Facilities Management Director Troy Whorms said the RCIPS and the RCIPS only had been given this dedicated area for parking. “Their parking needs exceed their parking capacity,” Mr. Whorms said in re- sponse to Cayman Compass questions about the matter. The Compass observed some individ- uals parked in the impromptu lot Tuesday morning walking to the neighboring govern- ment administration building, not the police station. Mr. Whorms said the enforcement PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » The impromptu parking area outside the former government administration building was full on Tuesday morning. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 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) ACTS OF VIOLENCE (R) 12:45 I 3:00 I 5:10 I 7:25 I 9:35 JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (PG13) 1:00 I 3:45 I 6:30 WINCHESTER (PG13) 12:40 I 3:05 I 5:30 BLACK PANTHER (PG13) 12:40 I 3:30 VIP I 6:45 I 8:00 I 9:15 9:35 VIP RED SPARROW (R) 12:30 VIP I 3:40 I 6:30 VIP I 9:45 GAME NIGHT (R) 2:30 I 4:55 I 7:20 I 9:45 Yello aims to recycle old directories Yello is enlisting the com- munity to aid in its efforts to promote recycling. Yel- lo’s annual community recy- cling program, “Yello2Green,” launched on March 5 and will run through March 25. The program is run an- nually throughout Cayman, and it has saved more than 190,000 directories from the George Town landfill, ac- cording to the company. Old phone books that are collected over the next three weeks will be converted to reusable material. Yello2Green recycling con- tainers are being placed in convenient locations throughout Grand Cayman, such as at four Foster’s Food Fair IGA locations, Hurley’s Su- permarket and the Yello office. At the end of the program, directories will be sent by Tropical Shipping to Green Fiber, a manufacturer that creates products out of re- usable materials. After their conversion to reusable mate- rial, the phone books will be used in home insulation. According to Yello, the goals of the program are to lead the community to in- crease environmental aware- ness and protection, to educate children on the im- portance of recycling, and to reduce waste in the landfill. Toward that end, the Yello2Green School Chal- lenge will encourage pri- mary school children to engage in a friendly chal- lenge. The school that col- lects the most directories per student body will win. Prizes will be awarded for first place ($1,500), second place ($1,000) and third place ($700). All participating schools will reward the class that collects the most directories with a celebratory Subway sandwich party. The student who collects the most direc- tories will win a $100 gift certificate for school sup- plies. Eleven schools on Grand Cayman and three schools on Cayman Brac are participating. For information about how to get involved in Yello2Green, contact Melanie Shambaugh at 814-1762 or via email at mshambaugh@yellomg.com. More information is available on www.findyello.com.Students at Cayman Prep help in the 2016 Yello2Green recycling project. CORRECTION In a story Monday, March 5 entitled “Police force increases 10 percent in one year,” the Compass incorrectly reported that eight auxiliary constables had graduated to police constables. The auxiliary constables graduated as auxiliary constables. CHILDHOOD AID OFFERED Applications for finan- cial help for preschool are now available through the Ministry of Education. The Early Childhood As- sistance Programme is for Caymanian children who will be aged 3 and 4 on Sept. 1, and helps pay for schooling from Sept. 1 to June 30, 2019. Education officials are requesting that parents apply early in order to make use of the funds. Application forms and information can be down- loaded from the minis- try’s website, www.edu- cation.gov.ky. Forms are also available at the Gov- ernment Administration Building, the Department of Education Services and all early childhood centers. For more information, contact Renee Barnes at 244-5735, Turnette Stewart at 244-5724 or email ecap@gov.ky. Judge, police help oust Trump Hotels from Panama property PANAMA CITY (AP) – Execu- tives with President Donald Trump’s family hotel busi- ness on Monday abandoned the management offices of a luxury hotel in Panama that has been the scene of a tense, 12-day standoff over a business dispute with the hotel’s owners. Trump’s security guards also left the property. The action took place as a Panamanian judicial official and armed police escorted into the offices the owner of most of the units of the 70- story, Trump-branded hotel in Panama City. The legal dispute involving Trump’s company was expected to continue, but Monday’s de- velopments meant that Trump had effectively sur- rendered physical control of the property. “This was purely a com- mercial dispute that just spun out of control,” said Or- estes Fintiklis, a private eq- uity investor and the head of the hotel’s owners’ associa- tion, shortly before entering the hotel management’s of- fices. “And today this dispute has been settled by the au- thorities and the judges of this country.” A Panamanian judicial of- ficial told the AP a statement would come later in the day. The intervention re- solves the standoff between Trump’s family hotel busi- ness and Fintiklis, who sought to take physical con- trol of the property on be- half of the hotel owners. Though the owners tried to fire Trump’s company last year, the Trump Organiza- tion had disputed the ter- mination as legally invalid – and refused to hand over the property. Already the subject of lit- igation and arbitration com- plaints, the dispute esca- lated last month, when the Miami-based Fintiklis came to the property with termi- nation notices for Trump’s management team, only to be turned back by Trump secu- rity officials. A legal complaint filed by Fintiklis said that late that same evening, he and others in his party wit- nessed Trump’s management team destroying hotel doc- uments, which Trump offi- cials have denied. For more than a week, Trump’s hotel business staved off efforts by Fintiklis and his allies to gain control of the property, with rival security teams skirmishing over physical control of key infrastructure including the administrative offices and the hotel’s closed-circuit se- curity system, which was housed in the condo as- sociation within the same building. Initially invited by Trump’s managers, the Panamanian police repeat- edly visited the hotel to keep the peace. The fight ended quietly when a Panamanian judi- cial official accompanied by police came to help en- force Fintiklis’ claim to the property. More than a half dozen of Trump’s security of- ficials were seen leaving the hotel. The whereabouts of the Trump hotel management team could not be immedi- ately determined, but Fin- tiklis declared the fight over. “Today Panama has made us proud,” he said, adding that he intended to apply for Panamanian citizenship. A representative of the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a re- quest for comment. Monarch butterfly numbers down in Mexico MEXICO CITY (AP) – The number of monarch butter- flies wintering in Mexican forests declined for a second consecutive year, a govern- ment official said Monday. Alejandro Del Mazo, Mex- ico’s commissioner for pro- tected areas, said the mon- archs clumped in trees covering about 6.12 acres (2.48 hectares) this winter. That was down about 14.7 percent from the 7.19 acres the previous winter. The monarch butterflies’ migration is measured by the area they cover in pine and fir forests west of Mexico City. Millions of the butter- flies make the 3,400-mile migration from the United States and Canada each year. Jorge Rickards, director of the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico, which participated in the annual study, said a partic- ularly busy hurricane season across the insects’ migration route could have been a factor. “These climate phe- nomena without a doubt have an impact on the migra- tion,” Rickards said. He also mentioned a March 2016 wind storm and cold snap that devastated the core of the butterfly reserve. Monarch expert Lincoln Brower, a biology professor at Sweet Briar College in Vir- ginia who co-authored a re- port about the 2016 storm, pointed to the effects of that storm’s felling of thousands of trees. The salvage logging permitted by the government to remove the downed trees to reduce the risk of forest fires continued to damage the fragile ecosystem, he said. In a September 2017 ar- ticle in American Entomolo- gist, Brower wrote that “forest thinning reduces the micro- climatic buffering provided by the forest canopy during the winter season, thus in- creasing the mortality risk to the overwintering monarchs.” The monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico have been in decline since the winter of 1996-1997 when they covered about 44 acres of forest. There have been several rebound years, but each has generally been less than the preceding upswing. Increased use of herbicides in the United States have hurt the prevalence of milkweed, which monarch caterpillars feed on, risking their survival. Homero Aridjis, an envi- ronmental activist who has worked to protect the butter- flies’ winter habitat, said the government has supplied in- sufficient data to allow inde- pendent scientists to analyze the colonies. He said new ways to measure the butterfly population are necessary.The islands’ most-trusted news source 3 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2018 Cayman Islands BLOOD BANK Did you know that one pint of blood donated can save up to three lives? And the Cayman Islands Blood Bank is always looking for new donors. Here is how you can help. Saturday March 10th Car City will be hosting a blood drive for the Cayman Islands Blood Bank from 9am til 3pm at CAR CITY SERVICE CENTER IN INDUSTRIAL PARK. Come make a difference by donating funds or becoming a blood donor and you may receive a complimentary oil change on all Car City brand vehicles. Did you know that only 2% of the population donates blood? Let’s see if we can change those numbers. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO LEND A HAND, LEND AN ARM. AND WE WILL LEND A WRENCH CAR CITY BLOOD DRIVE CAR CITYCAR CITY BLOOD DRIVE SATURDAY MARCH 10 FROM 9AM TO 3PM CAR CITY SERVICE CENTER IN INDUSTRIAL PARKThe 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” What Deputy Governor Franz Manderson knows, and former Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks ought to know, is that department heads – not appointed commissions – MUST be empowered to make hiring decisions. They cannot be delegated to – or usurped by – outside bodies. This basic tenet of running organizations is immutable and indisputable. No CEO in the private sector and no chief officer in the public sector can take responsibility – or be held accountable – for the performance of the organization if this basic tenet of management is infringed upon. Another way of stating this principle, perhaps in a more practical way because it applies to everyone from the rawest recruit to the loftiest manager, is this: “Never accept a position in which you are given the responsibility – but not the authority – to execute your duties.” Which brings us to the current dispute raging between, on the one hand, Mr. Ebanks and the Civil Service Appeals Commission which he chairs and, on the other, Christen Suckoo, chief officer of the Ministry of Education, and Franz Manderson, deputy governor and head of the Civil Service. The details of this saga are straightforward and undisputed: • The chief officer, on behalf of the education ministry, sought to hire a full-time Human Resources director to address the needs of the nearly 1,000 employees in the Ministry of Education. The position had been filled by an “acting” HR director, an expatriate. • During the recruitment process, a number of appli- cants, including some Caymanians, applied for the position. All of the leading candidates were interviewed and a decision was reached. The “acting director,” that is the expatriate, was recommended by the recruit- ment panel for the position. Both Mr. Suckoo and Mr. Manderson supported the panel’s decision. • However, an unsuccessful candidate, a Cayma- nian, appealed the decision to the Civil Service Appeals Commission which, in effect, overturned the panel’s hiring decision and ordered Mr. Suckoo and Mr. Manderson to hire the Caymanian applicant. The finding of the Civil Service Appeals Commission not only was unprecedented but trespassed into territory rightly reserved for the management of a government department. The order further stated that the Caymanian applicant must be offered the post as of Feb. 15, 2018, and that she receive additional “back pay” dating to September 2017 when the position was first awarded. And the order did not stop there: It further instructed that if the Caymanian applicant turned down the position, it must then be offered to the second most successful Caymanian who applied. If neither accepted the position, the job must be readvertised. This overreach by the Appeals Commission must not, and cannot, be tolerated. Opportunistically, Bernie Bush, an elected member representing West Bay North, has inserted himself into this brouhaha, recklessly charging racism, gender discrim- ination, and bias against Caymanian applicants. Surely Mr. Bush knows that it is both inappropriate and impermis- sible under the Cayman Islands Constitution for elected members to interject themselves into the hiring prac- tices of the Civil Service. Specifically, the Constitution sets forth that the public service is a reserved power for the Governor which, in this instance and routinely, is del- egated to the Deputy Governor. Proper sanction by the House of Mr. Bush’s breach of this constitutional edict needs to be forthcoming. Mr. Manderson, now acting governor, has received legal advice regarding the unassailable principle that he, as de facto head of the Civil Service, has ultimate and irrefutable hiring power in the Service. Having been overseer of the Civil Service himself, certainly Mr. Ebanks knows that no politically appointed commission can be determinative in hiring decisions. He needs to step back from his position – or step down from his office. Hiring authority: It must not be delegated or usurped WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS With tariff proposals, Trump misses trade basics Why does Virginia import oranges from Florida rather than grow its own? Why does the U.S. import almost all of its coffee and cocoa beans from countries in trop- ical climates rather than grow its own? Why does the U.S. import most of its pri- mary aluminum rather than produce its own? The obvious answer is that it’s much cheaper to im- port these commodities – and, as every first-year eco- nomics student should know, trade increases living stan- dards among both buyers and sellers – because bigger mar- kets normally lead to lower costs, and different locales have comparative and abso- lute advantages in producing certain goods and services. With his steel and alu- minum tariff proposals, Pres- ident Trump seems to have missed some of the trade ba- sics Adam Smith and David Ricardo taught the world more than two centuries ago. Imported aluminum ac- counted for 64 percent of all aluminum used in the U.S. last year. By far, the biggest foreign supplier to the U.S. last year was Canada. Aluminum is the most widespread and useful of all metals. It is lightweight, cor- rosion resistant, highly con- ductive and reflective, easily formed, durable, and recy- clable. It is widely used in transportation, packaging, construction, and electrical and machinery products. Alu- minum is produced primarily from bauxite ore, which is then chemically extracted by a refinery into alumina. The alumina is then smelted to produce pure alu- minum metal. The smelting process is energy intensive, typically accounting for about 40 percent of the cost of pri- mary aluminum. As a result, aluminum smelters are typ- ically built near low-cost sources of electrical energy. More than half of all alu- minum now consumed each year is produced from sec- ondary aluminum – that is, aluminum scrap. The reason being it is very easy to re- cycle aluminum, which can be done at approximately 10 percent of the energy cost of producing primary alu- minum. About two-thirds of U.S. aluminum production is from secondary production. Even though there are only a couple of firms left in the U.S. that produce primary aluminum, there are many that produce secondary alu- minum and thousands that produce aluminum products from primary and secondary aluminum. A tariff on pri- mary aluminum imports may be beneficial for those couple of producers, but it is insuf- ficient to cause more com- panies to invest in smelters, and it raises costs for all of the aluminum product pro- ducers and consumers. In 2016, the top six alu- minum producing countries accounted for 77 percent of the world’s smelter capacity (primary aluminum), with the Chinese accounting for 54 percent, while the United States ranked number 6. The U.S. has higher energy costs than Canada (because Canada has abundant, low- cost hydropower), so much of the North American primary- aluminum production has migrated to Canada. The aluminum industry in the two countries is highly integrated, with consider- able cross-ownership and marketing relationships. When properly viewed as one (Canada and the U.S.) produc- tion and marketing area, North America is self-sufficient in primary, secondary and alu- minum-product production. The world is plagued with excess primary-aluminum production capacity because of the great incentive for each company and country to build the most efficient smelter in the world as a way of driving down their relative costs. China foolishly continues to build new smelter capacity even though it has no inherent energy cost advantage and, in fact, is reputed to have higher production costs than the U.S. China, by selling some of its aluminum below full costs, is in effect giving away some of its product – which is a gift to aluminum product producers and final consumers. The Chi- nese worker is subsidizing Americans who drink bever- ages from aluminum cans. American and other pro- ducers of primary aluminum are obviously unhappy that the Chinese are selling below full cost – which hurts their workers and stockholders. But this is a small group compared to all of those em- ployed in the aluminum- product industries and the final consumers of aluminum products. China’s below-cost sales may enable Ford to sell its aluminum pickup truck at a saving of $200 per truck to the final consumer. All of those American buyers of the trucks now have more money in their pockets to buy other goods and ser- vices – like meals in restau- rants, where more American workers are employed. The U.S. Department of Commerce produced a report in January, “The Effect of Im- ports of Aluminum on the National Security,” which pro- vided much of the rationale for the proposed aluminum tariff. The report focuses on domestic U.S. smelter ca- pacity rather on North Amer- ican capacity (which is the relevant area). The report also largely ignores the enormous U.S. secondary-aluminum ca- pacity. The Chinese account for about 3 percent of U.S. aluminum consumption – which is no national secu- rity threat given the ability of the U.S. and all of our friends to satisfy its absence in a matter of weeks. The proposed aluminum tariff makes no economic or political sense – a re- ally bad idea. Richard W. Rahn is chairman of Improbable Success Productions and on the board of the American Council for Capital Formation. © 2018, The Washington Times, LLC. RICHARD W. RAHN5 HEALTH NEWS 5 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2018 Get started today. Learn how at cibcfcib.com The CIBC logo and “Banking that fits your life.®” are registered trademarks of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, used by FirstCaribbean International Bank under license. A CIBC FirstCaribbean Internet Banking user account is required to activate the card security features of the CIBC FirstCaribbean Mobile app. My card does that I can freeze my Visa credit card in a snap. Forgot Password? Locations I Apply I FAQs I Terms & Conditions Log On REWARDS MONITOR Visa Gold Rewards Freeze My Card? You have enabled the Freeze My Card functionality, all attempted transactions will be blocked. Cancel | Accept Locations I Apply I FAQs I Terms & Conditions If I misplace or lose my card, I can stop unauthorised use by tapping on my CIBC FirstCaribbean Mobile app. So I have one less thing to worry about. #mycarddoesthat More than 500 undergo Rotary health checks A free islandwide health screening hosted by Rotary Central on Saturday led to 538 people undergoing the checks, dozens of whom were found to have undiagnosed conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes. Seven of those who under- took the tests were referred to the hospital emergency room for immediate treatment, said Zelta Gayle, Rotary’s health initiative chairperson. “Despite screening less than last year [610], it was astonishing to note that this year reaped a significantly higher number of abnormal results,” Ms. Gayle said. She said important post- screening follow-up tele- phone calls were being made to individuals who showed high blood pressure or blood sugar results. The annual screenings, carried out this year at seven supermarkets and hardware stores, aim to target individ- uals who may not regularly visit a doctor or who have never undergone a blood pressure or blood sugar test. At this year’s screenings, 37 were found to have pre- viously undiagnosed high blood sugar levels, and 71 had previously undiagnosed high blood pressure levels. Also, 28 people were discov- ered to have uncontrolled di- abetes and 46 had uncon- trolled hypertension. Of those who underwent the screenings, 322 were found to have normal blood pressure or normal blood sugar levels. According to Rotary Cen- tral, over the past years, more than 7,000 have received free health screenings, many of whom have been referred to the emergency room because of the severity of their pre- viously undiagnosed con- ditions; or to their general practitioners for more thor- ough investigations and treatment of their newly-di- agnosed chronic illnesses. Because there is an on- site physician available for consultations at the free screenings, serious condi- tions besides highly elevated blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels also have been identified. These include conditions such as symptomatic bradycardia (low heart rate) and deep vein thrombosis. “The event would not have been a success over the past eight years without the ded- icated partnership of the staff of the Health Services Authority and the establish- ments who host the event,” Ms. Gayle said. Members of the public receive health screenings at Saturday’s islandwide checks, hosted by Rotary Central. HSA OFFERING FREE KIDNEY, HEALTH SCREENINGS JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedia To mark World Kidney Day and International Women’s Day 2018, the Health Services Authority is hosting a free health screening clinic focusing on kidneys and women’s health on Thursday. Chronic kidney dis- ease affects approximately 195 million women world- wide and is currently the eighth leading cause of death in women, with close to 600,000 deaths each year, according to the of- ficial World Kidney Day website. There are more than 93,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list in the U.S. According to the Living Kidney Donor Network, 4,500 people die every year waiting for a kidney trans- plant, as there are not enough organs available. The Health Services Authority encourages the public to take advantage of the free health screening clinic at the Atrium of the Cayman Islands Hos- pital on Thursday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Clinical professionals, including a Health Services Authority physician and dietitian, will be in atten- dance to check blood pres- sure, glucose, cholesterol, weight, height and an- swer questions. World Kidney Day is observed annually on the second Thursday of March. It is a global educational awareness event that fo- cuses on the significance of kidney health all over the world, as well as the im- pact of kidney disease and its associated health prob- lems. Aside from educating the public, World Kidney Day also aims to remind medical professionals how important their role is in detecting kidney dis- eases and kidney-related health issues, such as di- abetes and cardiovas- cular disease. In most cases, chronic kidney disease can go un- detected due to the absence of symptoms. According to Consumer Health Digest, kidney disease is treatable if detected early enough; hence early detection and early prevention are both crucial aspects in beating the disease. A systematic and accurate screening of patients plays a crit- ical role in treating people suffering from chronic kidney disease.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS The Family Of The Late Condolences can be registered at boddenfuneralservices.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page. Jan Elin Panton regret to announce her passing on Thursday, 1 March 2018. A funeral service will be held at 3:00 PM Saturday, 10 March, 2018 at the Gun Bay United Church, Gun Bay, East End. Viewing will be from 2:30 PM prior to the service. Interment will follow in Gun Bay Cemetery. CALYPSO COWBOY IN COURT FOR WOUNDING Charges sent to Grand Court CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Dexter Kelvin Alonzo Bodden, the singer/guitarist known as Calypso Cowboy, appeared in Summary Court on Tuesday facing charges of wounding. Details of the charge allege that, on Dec. 20, 2016, he unlawfully and maliciously caused grievous bodily harm to a named man with in- tent to cause grievous bodily harm to him. A second charge alleges wounding without intent. The charges arose from an incident at Mr. Bodden’s home address. When he first appeared in court two weeks ago, defense attorney Karin Thompson advised that Mr. Bodden had been shot not long before. Cayman Com- pass records indicate he was shot outside his home on the evening of Jan. 15 this year. Wounding with intent is a charge that should be transmitted “forthwith” to Grand Court, but this did not happen at Mr. Bodden’s February appearance. Magistrate Valdis Foldats remedied the situation by sending the charges to the higher court and directing Mr. Bodden to appear there on Friday, March 23. Dexter Bodden He had told the probation officer interviewing him that what the victim’s conscience did from here on, “only the Almighty can help her with that.” The judge said there was a complete lack of em- pathy for the victim and a complete rejection of respon- sibility for the impact of the events on the victim. A victim impact report in- dicated that the girl no longer trusted men and did not like being in their company. She felt that everyone was judg- mental toward her, so she no longer trusted people. The writer of the report said that the girl had suffered trauma but fortunately remained strong-willed, so hope- fully she would overcome her suffering. Justice Quin noted that the maximum sentence in Cayman for indecent assault is 10 years and he imposed a term of five years for each of these charges against Mr. Webster. The maximum for gross indecency is 12 years and he imposed six years. All sentences are to run concurrently. Crown counsel Darlene Oko, who had conducted the prosecution’s case, asked last week for a “sexual harm pre- vention order” to be made in respect of Mr. Webster’s be- havior after he is released from prison. The law making such an order possible was passed in May 2017. Justice Quin found that he did not have the jurisdiction or the power to make such an order because Mr. Webster’s offending had occurred be- fore the law was passed. He said it was a funda- mental rule of English and Cayman law that no statute shall be construed as being retrospective unless it is spe- cifically stated. U.K. legisla- tion authorizing sexual harm prevention orders specifi- cally said that it pertained to acts, behaviors, findings and convictions, including those that had occurred before the law was amended. “We have no equivalent in our law,” the judge said. If the intent of the Legislative Assembly was for the new amendment to operate retro- spectively, it should have had a provision similar to the U.K. law, he said. Without such a provision, it was his view that he did not have power to make an order. In handing down the six- year sentence, the judge said Mr. Webster would received credit for the time he has been in custody since his conviction. Defense Attorney Jonathon Hughes asked that he also receive credit for the time he was under house ar- rest before his trial. The judge asked him and Ms. Oko to confer and see if they agreed on how much time that was. Ms. Oko had previously advised the court that she would be seeking costs from Mr. Webster because the Crown had to bring two ex- pert witnesses to rebut his defense at trial – that grape- fruit juice had interacted with his blood pressure med- ication and produced a state of automatism, such that he would not have known what he was doing. That hearing on costs has not yet been held. utilise inexpensive, available technologies to provide early warnings and alerts prior to disasters (when possible) as well as real time emergency instructions during disasters, thus aiding Hazard Manage- ment and first responders in more efficiently managing public health and safety. “The need for an inno- vative Emergency Notifica- tion System has been dem- onstrated in the last twelve months, with the fuel depot fire at Jackson Point Ter- minal and the recent tsu- nami warning.” The plan includes SMS messages, to be sent out to all known local numbers; FM radio/cable TV alerts auto- generated to interrupt regular programming to broadcast the emergency notification; social media broadcasts and the development of a mo- bile phone app. SMS broadcasting has proved ineffective in recent tests because it took too long, in many cases, for the mes- sages to get through. But the paper suggests it can still be a useful tool in combination with other methods. It highlights 12 different avenues for broadcasting emergency messages, in- cluding the use of electronic billboards at key traffic intersections. “Combined, the channels create an innovative Emer- gency Network System with layers of redundancy meant to increase penetration,” it states. In a statement released by OfReg alongside the dis- cussion paper, CEO J. Paul Morgan, said, “At OfReg, part of our mandate under the law is to protect the consumer. The ENS could potentially save lives through the timely delivery of emergency mes- sages. There can be no argu- ment that this is the highest form of consumer protection.” of parking there was based on an “honor system” at the moment and facilities man- agement was still working out a solution. “Facilities Management will continue to ‘sticker’ per- sons that are not parked in the approved areas,” he said. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention.” There have been a number of ideas over the past seven years since the old Glass House shuttered concerning how to use the 1970s-era building and its surrounding property, but nothing specific has ever been announced. The current government ad- ministration building next door on Elgin Avenue opened in early 2011. Those suggestions include a private-sector proposal to build a public park on the site, which is located between the new administration building and the George Town Police Station on Elgin Avenue. That plan would have required the building’s demolition. Other plans submitted to government have included ideas to refurbish the inte- rior and lease the building back to government, but that idea was determined to be infeasible. In October 2015, West Bay MLA McKeeva Bush asked whether the Glass House could be used for a new Royal Cayman Islands Police Service headquarters, since the George Town Police Sta- tion has been condemned by building inspectors and needs to be replaced. Mr. Bush was told at the time that it would not be safe to use the Glass House for that purpose. There is a budget, over the next three years, to construct a new central police station in George Town. The Cayman Islands gov- ernment plans to spend more than $15 million over 2018, 2019 and 2020 on new po- lice stations for both George Town and West Bay. According to figures given to lawmakers by Premier Alden McLaughlin during last year’s budget debate, a total of $1.2 million will be spent in each year from 2018 through 2020 to construct the new police station in West Bay. The government also plans to spend $1 million per year in 2018 and 2019, and then plans to spend $10 mil- lion in 2020, on construction of a new central police sta- tion in George Town. The figures are included in the government’s cap- ital projects plan for the next three years. The govern- ment has not yet drawn up a budget for the year 2020, but the construction projects plan in the current budget is extended out to 2020. “We do need a new cen- tral police station above all else,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “That is the principle focus of the government with respect to our plan for the police ser- vice at this stage.” Glass House yard turns into parking lot CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Billboards, sirens proposed for emergency alerts Errington Webster Webster gets six years for indecency CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CUBA CONDEMNS U.S. CUTS TO EMBASSY STAFF HAVANA (AP) – A senior Cuban official on Monday condemned Washington’s decision to make the with- drawal of 60 percent of the U.S. Embassy staff perma- nent in response to mys- terious ailments affecting American diplomats. Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, the new director of U.S. issues at the for- eign ministry, said the de- cision was motivated by politics and had nothing to do with the safety of diplomats. He told reporters that the cuts would hurt consular services and make travel more difficult for ordinary citizens. He said it might also erode long-standing co- operation on migration. The State Depart- ment made the cuts per- manent last week. It ini- tially scaled back staff in October in response to hearing loss and other ail- ments affecting at least 24 U.S. citizens. U.S. investiga- tors have not determined a cause and Cuba denies any wrongdoing. A State Department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, called the Cuban complaint “ridiculous.” “Let’s remind Cuba: They are obligated under the Vienna Convention to protect our diplomats. It is very serious that 24 of our U.S. government colleagues suffered health attacks, some with serious and on- going symptoms. Secretary Tillerson had to protect his staff by limiting our work at the U.S. Embassy in Havana to emergency services,” she said. “While our investigation is ongoing, rather than find excuses, Cuba should focus on helping to locate who or what is responsible for the harm caused to American citizens,” Nauert added. Vehicles were seen parked in both the access lane and on the Glass House lawn Tuesday morning. The judge said there had been a significant degree of planning and grooming by the defendant, who had targeted a particularly vulnerable young girl. The new system was put forward after widespread criticism of the level of communication from officials during a fire at the Jackson Point fuel depot. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2018 Greek police arrest 5 in neo-Nazi crackdown Greek anti-terrorism police have cracked down on a violent neo-Nazi group, arresting five people linked to a string of arson attacks on far-left and migrant-related targets. Officers confiscated Molotov cocktails, 50 kilograms of explosives, shotguns, knives, cudgels and drugs. North Korea reportedly willing to hold nuclear talk with US RUSSIAN CARGO PLANE CRASHES IN SYRIA, 32 DEAD MOSCOW (AP) – A Russian military cargo plane crashed as it was descending to land at an air base in Syria on Tuesday, killing all 32 people onboard, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The Russian military said an An-26, with 26 passengers and six crew members on- board, crashed just 1,600 feet from the runway. The mili- tary blamed the crash on a technical error. Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, leases the Hemeimeem mili- tary base in Syria, near the Mediterranean coast. The base is far from the front lines of the conflict, but came under shelling in De- cember. The Russian military insisted the cargo plane did not come under fire, while saying it would conduct a full investigation. The military did not imme- diately identify the victims. President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the families of those killed in the crash, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was quoted as saying by Russian news wires. Peskov said Putin had received a briefing by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. It was the second Russian military plane to crash in Syria this year, after a Su-25 ground attack jet was struck by a portable air defense missile over the northern Idlib province last month. The Antonov An-26 is a twin-engine transport plane designed in the late 1960s in the Soviet Union. Large num- bers have remained in service in Russia and many other countries around the world. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jung Un has expressed a willingness to discuss nu- clear disarmament with the United States and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests during such talks, a senior South Korean official said Tuesday after re- turning from the North. Kim also agreed to meet with South Korea’s presi- dent at a tense border vil- lage in late April, presiden- tial national security director Chung Eui-yong said after talks with Kim in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital. North Korea’s reported willingness to hold a “candid dialogue” with the United States to discuss denucle- arization and establish dip- lomatic relations follows a year of increased fears of war on the Korean Peninsula, with Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanging fiery rhetoric and crude in- sults over Kim’s barrage of weapons tests. The Trump administration also pushed through some of the harshest sanctions the already hugely sanctioned North has yet faced. Trump tweeted Tuesday that “possible progress” was being made in the talks with North Korea, and that all sides were making serious ef- forts. He added: “May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!” There is still skepticism whether the developments will help establish genuine peace between the Koreas, which have a long history of failing to follow through with major rapprochement agree- ments. The United States has made it clear that it does not want empty talks with North Korea and that all options, including military measures, remain on the table. The North has repeatedly said in the past that it will not negotiate over its nuclear pro- gram and vowed to bolster its nuclear and missile arsenals. Its apparent about-face might be an attempt to win conces- sions as its economy struggles under the weight of sanctions, some analysts said, or a way to buy time to better develop nuclear missiles targeting the mainland United States. Many experts believe North Korea will not easily give up a nuclear program that it has doggedly devel- oped, despite years of esca- lating international pressure, to cope with what it claims is U.S. hostility. Chung led a 10-member South Korean delegation on a two-day visit to North Korea. They were the first South Ko- rean officials to meet the young North Korean leader since he took power after his dictator father’s death in late 2011. Chung’s trip also was the first known high- level visit by South Korean officials to North Korea in about 11 years. It followed a series of co- operative steps taken by the Koreas during last month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olym- pics hosted by South Korea. If talks with the United States happen, Chung said North Korea “made it clear that it won’t resume strategic provocations like additional nuclear tests or test-launches of ballistic missiles” while the talks continue. North Korea told the South Korean envoys that it would not need to keep its nuclear weapons if military threats against it are removed and it receives a credible se- curity guarantee, Chung said. He said the North prom- ised not to use its nuclear and conventional weapons against South Korea. Chung said the two Ko- reas agreed to hold their summit at a Seoul-controlled facility inside the border vil- lage. He also said Kim and liberal South Korean Presi- dent Moon Jae-in will estab- lish a “hotline” communica- tion channel between them to lower military tensions, and would speak together before the planned summit. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, shakes hands with South Korean National Security Director Chung Eui-yong in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday. – PHOTO: AP8 WORLD&REGIONAL WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS Puerto Rico governor to reduce taxes, raise wages SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Puerto Rico’s governor pledged Monday to reduce taxes, raise pay for police of- ficers and implement work requirements for those on welfare to help the U.S. terri- tory recover from Hurricane Maria amid the island’s 11-year-old economic crisis. The annual address by Gov. Ricardo Rossello lasted more than an hour and fo- cused on crime, housing, labor, health and energy as anger and frustration grows across the island of 3.3 mil- lion people over an increase in crime and what many be- lieve are slow hurricane-re- covery efforts. More than 15 percent of power customers remain in the dark nearly six months after the Category 4 storm, and the Atlantic hur- ricane season begins in less than three months. Rossello announced he would reduce a sales-and- use tax for processed food from 11.5 percent to 7 per- cent as well as lower taxes on individuals and corpo- rations. He said he also plans to help secure prop- erty deeds for hurricane vic- tims who did not have them and as a result could not ob- tain federal funding to re- pair their homes after the storm caused more than $100 billion in damage. “It’s been a year of in- tense work, overcoming great challenges and diffi- culties,” Rossello said. “We all have lessons to learn from this hurricane experi- ence with no precedence.” He said his administra- tion had to depend on the U.S. Army Corps of Engi- neers to help restore power because of the government’s fiscal crisis and the lack of money at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which is $9 billion in debt. “We’ve stumbled greatly in this assignment,” said Rossello, who has re- peatedly criticized the Corps’ work pace. As he spoke, one legis- lator who represents a mu- nicipality south of the cap- ital placed a sign on his desk that read, “Caguas wants power.” The Corps has said that it is dealing in part with rough terrain and a lack of supplies and that it is moving as quickly as it can. During his address, the governor recognized the widow of one of two police officers who died during the hurricane and a man who welcomed 47 neighbors seeking shelter inside his home, along with 30 pets. Rossello said his admin- istration has to learn how to better channel help from the private sector so it reaches hurricane survivors quicker. And he said the death count after the hurricane should have been more effective and accurate. He recently announced that experts at George Washington Univer- sity are reviewing all deaths amid criticism that the of- ficial toll of 64 victims was extremely low. The governor recognized the spike in violent crime during his address, saying he would reassign officers and consolidate police stations to fight an increase in killings. Authorities said 142 killings have been reported so far this year, compared with 121 last year in the same period. Rossello said he would give all officers a $1,500 an- nual pay increase, buy nearly 300 patrol cars with updated technology and increase pa- trols across the island. “We have started the year with an alarming increase in murders,” he said. “There is no magical solution for such a complex problem.” In a meeting with some reporters before the ad- dress, Rossello said Puerto Rico needs to access a por- tion of the nearly $5 bil- lion that Congress ap- proved in October for states and territories affected by the hurricane. “We have been waiting five months for that loan and it still has not been able to materialize,” he said, stressing several times during his address that state- hood would lead to equal treatment for Puerto Rico in terms of federal funding. Opposition legislators dismissed Rossello’s address as empty, with Denis Mar- quez of the Puerto Rican In- dependence Party noting the governor did not address the fiscal and economic crisis. “They’re talking about how to decorate the Titanic when it’s sinking,” he said. “We should be tired already of this situation.” NORTHERN IRELAND PARTY REJECTS EU PLANS ON IRELAND BORDER BRUSSELS (AP) – The Northern Ireland party that props up the government of British Prime Minister The- resa May insists that Euro- pean Union proposals to avoid a hard border in Ireland after Brexit are “not acceptable.” Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster said after a meeting with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, that there can be no division between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. to accommodate for a soft border with the EU. The border on the island will be the only land border after the U.K. breaks away as of March 2019 and main- taining open trade and pas- sage is proving to be one of the more intractable issues during the Brexit talks. And the DUP fears that as the EU seeks to keep the Irish border as transparent as pos- sible, it is at the same time erecting obstacles between Northern Ireland and Britain. “What we’re concerned about is to have a barrier between ourselves and the rest of the United Kingdom. That is the critical point for us,” Foster said, adding that 72 percent of Northern Ireland goods go to the rest of the U.K. “The single market that matters to the people of Northern Ireland is the U.K. single market,” she said. “It would be an economic catas- trophe if we allowed a border between ourselves and the rest of the U.K.” Barnier assured her that all constitutional rules of the U.K. would be respected. “The EU is looking for practical solutions to avoiding a hard border, in full respect of the constitu- tional status” of Northern Ire- land, he tweeted. The border on the island will be the only land border after the U.K. breaks away as of March 2019 and maintaining open trade and passage is proving to be one of the more intractable issues during the Brexit talks.9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2018 Premier Health BRITISH CAYMANIAN INSURANCE AGENCIES LIMITED BritCay House, 236 Eastern Avenue, George Town.Tel. 949-8699 12 Kirkconnell Street, Stake Bay, Cayman BracTel. 948-1760 www.britcay.ky A member of Colonial Group International Ltd. : insurance, health, pensions, life British Caymanian Insurance Agencies Limited acts solely as an agent on behalf of Colonial Medical Insurance Company Limited and it does not act as an insurance broker on behalf of its customers. 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Smart health insurance delivers 99.7% financial accuracy with claims settlement. *based on total claims for Bermuda, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands 2016 Wreckage of famed US carrier from World War II discovered BANGKOK (AP) – A piece of prized World War II U.S. naval history, the wreckage of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, which was sunk by the Japanese in a cru- cial sea battle, has been discovered by an expedi- tion funded by Microsoft co- founder Paul Allen. The expedition team an- nounced that the wreckage of the Lexington, crippled by the enemy and then scuttled on May 8, 1942, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, was found Sunday on the seabed in wa- ters about 2 miles deep, more than 500 miles off Austra- lia’s east coast. “To pay tribute to the USS Lexington and the brave men that served on her is an honor,” Allen said on his web page. “As Americans, all of us owe a debt of gratitude to ev- eryone who served and who continue to serve our country for their courage, persistence and sacrifice.” The battle helped stop a Japanese advance that could have cut off Australia and New Guinea from Allied sea supply routes and crip- pled two Japanese carriers, leading to a more conclusive U.S. victory at sea a month later at the Battle of Midway. The sea battle is also fa- mous for being the first in which the opposing ships did not come in sight of each other, carrying out their at- tacks with carrier-launched aircraft. Allen’s teams have made several previous im- portant shipwreck discov- eries, including three other U.S. Navy vessels, an Italian destroyer, and the Japanese battleship Musashi. The ship that found the Lexington, the Research Vessel Petral, has equipment capable of diving to about three and a half miles. It was deployed in early 2017 in the Philippine Sea before moving to the Coral Sea off the Aus- tralian Coast. The Lexington, which had been affectionately dubbed “Lady Lex,” was badly dam- aged by bombs and tor- pedoes, but the order to abandon ship was given only after a secondary explosion set off an uncontrollable fire. Some 216 crew members lost their lives, but 2,770 others were safely evacuated before its sister ship, the destroyer USS Phelps, fired torpedoes to send it to the bottom of the ocean. Allen said on his Twitter account that the ship went down with 35 planes, 11 of which had been found so far by his expedition. Allen has said he under- takes such ventures in part to honor his father, who served in World War II, by finding and preserving the artifacts of that conflict. News of the discovery evoked another father-son relationship, as the current commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet offered his congratula- tions on Twitter. “As the son of a survivor of the USS Lexington, I offer my congratulations to @Paul- GAllen and the expedition crew of Research Vessel Pe- trel for locating the ‘Lady Lex,’ sunk nearly 76 years ago at the Battle of the Coral Sea,” Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. said. “We honor the valor and sac- rifice of the Lady Lex’s Sailors – all those Americans who fought in #WorldWarII – by continuing to secure the free- doms they won for all of us.” Harris linked the history to current U.S. interests in the Pacific, where China in re- cent years has begun to chal- lenge traditional American naval hegemony, aggressively staking maritime territorial claims in waters also claimed by other nations, including Japan, Vietnam and the Phil- ippines. U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are strong symbols of America’s force projection, and one this week is making a friendly visit to Vietnam, the first since the Vietnam War ended more than four decades ago with a Com- munist victory. “Alongside our allies, friends and partners, bound together by shared values, the United States is com- mitted to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, which has brought security and economic prosperity to all who live in this critical re- gion,” said Harris, currently visiting Australia. In this 1942 file photo, crew abandon the USS Lexington as the aircraft carrier sinks in the Battle of the Coral Sea during World War II. – PHOTO: AP SPACEX RACKS UP 50TH LAUNCH OF FALCON 9 ROCKET CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – SpaceX is marking the 50th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, its satellite-de- livery workhorse. The latest Falcon took flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, early Tuesday, suc- cessfully hoisting a massive communications satellite for Spain’s Hispasat corporation. The orbiting satellite is al- most as big as a city bus. No attempt was made to recover the first-stage booster. Waves offshore were too rough for a barge landing. SpaceX has been flying the Falcon 9 since mid-2010. Fifty launches in less than eight years is a pretty good clip, by rocket standards. SpaceX founder Elon Musk says via Twitter that he cannot believe it’s already been 50 launches and that just 10 years ago, the com- pany could not even reach orbit with the little, orig- inal Falcon 1. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off early Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. – PHOTO: APNext >