High of 89 Low of 78 Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 WHAT TO DO? THE PRISON IS FULL, THE COFFERS ARE EMPTY LOCAL | PAGE 3 RCIPS GUN AMNESTY TAKES 18 WEAPONS OFF STREET ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – THURSDAY JULY 5, 2018 PremierHealth Think of a number, then think of a health plan. BritCay settled 257,684 health claims in 2017. 97% in 5 working days and 60% automatically. Premier Health is number one for great numbers! 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. Call 949-8699 www.britcay.ky cgigrp BRITISH CAYMANIAN INSURANCE AGENCIES LIMITED BritCay House, 236 Eastern Avenue, George Town, P.O. Box 74, KY1-1102 Tel. 949-8699 www.britcay.ky A member of Colonial Group International Ltd. : insurance, health, pensions, life More money provided for poor relief BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands government is plug- ging an additional $2 million into the poor relief budget this year, fearing the current funding provided for some of the public wel- fare efforts will run out by next month if more money is not provided. On Tuesday, members of the Legislative Assembly’s Finance Committee agreed to in- crease the budget for poor relief vouchers by some $1.35 million to cover the last five months of 2018. The vouchers for things like food purchases are granted on both a tempo- rary and permanent basis depending on the evaluation of the recipient’s situation done by government’s Needs Assessment Unit. Rental assistance for the needy was also increased by some $1.3 million to provide monthly housing. Funds were taken away in other areas of the poor relief budget to compensate for the increases, but the total amount on increased spending came to about $2 million more than government first planned to pay. The increase in poor relief payments and rental assistance has taken the Progres- sives-led coalition government somewhat by surprise, in light of recent economic fore- casts in Cayman. “There’s no question that the economic situation continues to improve … it’s vastly improved from three to four years ago,” Pre- mier Alden McLaughlin said Tuesday. “Yet the number of applications for assistance … con- tinue to increase year on year. “There is clearly cause for concern.” Mr. McLaughlin said a number of factors could be at play in the poor relief payments increase. The first, and perhaps most signifi- cant issue, is the retirement of an aging Cay- manian workforce that may have earned little to no retirement income. “They are creating a significant demand on the service for [rental] assistance as they lose their regular income and the pensions that PUBLIC SERVICE LARGER, LESS CAYMANIAN BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands public service had more overall employees than ever by the end of 2017, according to a human resources re- port released by the government last week. A total of 6,250 people worked for either the central government civil service or its as- sociated statutory authorities and govern- ment-owned companies by Dec. 31, 2017. That is about 5 percent more employees than the public sector had during mid-2016, the last time it reported on its membership. The majority of the new hires appeared to be non-Caymanians, as the percentage of Cay- manians employed within the government ser- vice fell from about 74.5 percent in mid-2016 to 73.5 percent at the end of last year. The entity that hired the most employees within the civil service was the Department of Education, bringing on 54 new employees during late 2016 and 2017. Several statutory authorities increased their staffing numbers significantly during the same period, including the Cayman Islands Airports Authority, the Cayman Islands Mon- etary Authority, the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands and the Cayman Turtle Centre. According to the report, the number of non-Caymanians employed by the civil ser- vice and related authorities increased by 274 people between July 2016 and December 2017. The number of Caymanians working in the service increased by 181 people during the same period. Cayman’s auditor general noted in a recent report that the central civil service employed more staff at the end of 2017 than it did in On Cayman Brac, hospital staff must be ready KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com Several customers chatted idly last Thursday at Faith Hospital’s pharmacy while waiting for their prescrip- tions. Down the hallway, nurses checked charts for the five people receiving care at the inpatient unit, and a sole person received treatment at the dialysis unit. With only a little more than 2,000 people to serve on Cayman Brac, on many days the hospital’s activity matches the island’s tran- quil atmosphere. But it does not take much for that to change, according to Dr. Srirangan Velusamy, the director of the Cayman Islands Health Services Authority’s Sister Islands Health Services. To handle incidents ranging from car crashes to diving ac- cidents to medical complica- tions from a disproportion- ally large elderly population, Faith Hospital workers have to be ready for anything, said Dr. Velusamy. Last Wednesday was a pro- totypical example of just how Faith Hospital lab technician Jay-R Lim Aquino checks the bloodwork of a patient. Faith Hospital’s medical laboratory was accredited by the U.S.-based Joint Commission International earlier this year. Faith Hospital’s small staff of doctors and nurses have to fill multiple roles to meet the needs of Cayman Brac’s aging population. - PHOTOS: KEN SILVA PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 »2 LOCAL NEWS THURSDAY JULY 5, 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. - THURSDAY - 640-FILM (640-3456) UNCLE DREW (PG13) 2:00 I 4:50 I 7:15 I 10:15 JURASSIC WORLD: THE FALLEN KINGDOM (PG13) 1:00 VIP I 1:20 3D I 4:00 VIP I 4:20 7:00 VIP I 7:20 I 9:50 VIP I 10:00 3D OCEANS 8 (PG13) 1:15 I 7:05 I 9:40 SICARIO 2: DAY OF THE SOLDADO (R) 1:45 I 4:10 I 9:20 UPGRADE (R) 4:40 I 7:30 I 10:10 INCREDIBLES 2 (PG) 12:45 3D I 3:30 I 6:30 3D Cayman talent heads to California MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com Chance Thompson is trying to make Antonio Dennis laugh, and doing a pretty good job of it. Performing a comic mono- logue she wrote about a clue- less woman who does not understand the concept of stalking, even after being served with a restraining order, Ms. Thompson is more than a little agitated as she pleads with the person re- jecting her at the other end of her cellphone call. “How am I supposed to be in a relationship when every time I get close to you, you put me behind bars?” she cries. “I love it,” says Mr. Dennis as Ms. Thompson finishes her short performance, but he has a suggestion. “Where you get desperate, can you get desperate-er?” Ms. Thompson, 17, a re- cent graduate of Clifton Hunter High School, laughs and says she thinks she can. It’s one of several tips, ranging from diction to physical cues, that Mr. Dennis provides during a re- cent hour-long coaching ses- sion in a private home in Savannah. He is in the pro- cess of preparing a team of nine local performers for the World Championships of Performing Arts, being held July 6-15 at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, California, just south of Los Angeles. The Cayman performers will be participating in the singing, acting and mod- eling categories of the com- petition, which draws con- testants from across the globe. The event’s website indicates participants from 70 different countries. This is the first time the Cayman Islands has been represented in the event. Mr. Dennis, who is based in Ja- maica, says he decided to put a team together after working as entertainment coordinator at the Wyndham Reef Resort and being im- pressed by the talent he was seeing on the island. In October, he auditioned 50 performers and chose 20 to initially work with. That number was eventu- ally winnowed down to the seven who will be traveling to California. “I think I have a winner for sure,” he said. “There are several team members who I think are capable of winning the whole thing.” Mr. Dennis has some ex- perience to back up such statements. In 2015, he coached Jamaican Francois Medley to a grand champion win at the event. “I let them know the com- petition is going to be stiff and they have to get their head in the game and be- lieve they can beat someone from the New York Film Academy,” Mr. Dennis says. More than trophies are involved in the 10-day com- petition, Mr. Dennis says. Those that do well are awarded scholarships to col- leges and arts academies. A one-day boot camp provides coaching from international experts. There is also the prospect of being spotted by a Hollywood agent. “When you’re doing your boot camp classes, there are people looking for the next pop star or for scholarship [recipients],” says Melody Allenger, 15, a student at St. Ignatius who will be singing and acting. Ms. Allenger says she grew up in a musical household. She has per- formed with her parents and on her own in various Cayman venues. The event in Long Beach, she says, is something else. “It’s a very big deal,” she says. “This is my first time going away and competing in my main talents.” Singer Erica Assai, 20, says she is excited at the chance to show off her talents at a large inter- national event. “I never thought an op- portunity like this would pop up in the Cayman Is- lands,” says Ms. Assai, who has been performing since she was 12. “I thought, ‘This is the chance for someone to be the Rihanna of the Cayman Islands.’ “This competition means a whole lot to me,” she adds. “This will be the first time I’ve performed outside of the Caribbean.” She will be performing several songs she composed herself, or rather, she will be singing portions of those songs. The performances are limited to 60 seconds. But there are multiple catego- ries in each genre in which to compete. Most of the con- testants will be performing in at least a half-dozen cate- gories, with a different song or script each time. The Cayman performers tapped a number of re- sources in order to finance the several thousand dol- lars it will cost to attend the event, including private and government donations – the Ministry of Culture pro- vided the team with $5,000 – and hard-earned per- sonal savings. Ms. Thompson says even if she does not win, it will be a great experience. “My goal is to get a schol- arship and go to UCLA to study film,” she says. “I want to be a film director.” This could be her best shot, she says. “I feel I have the oppor- tunity to get noticed, some- thing I wouldn’t normally get in Cayman.” Ongoing CPR and basic life support classes at St. Mat- thew’s University are not only teaching people how to save lives in an emergency, but are also raising funds for the Cayman Heart Fund. The university offers the classes throughout the year and a portion of the funds collected are donated to the Cayman Heart Fund to support its work at creating awareness about and tackling cardiac is- sues in the Cayman Islands. Dr. Qing Zhong, instructor and coordinator for the pro- gram, said in a press release: “Our goal is to work together with CHF to enhance the awareness of emergency care, as well as the successful rate of rescue of cardiac arrest and choking for medical staff and non-medical personnel in the Cayman Islands.” Qualified students receive a certificate authorized by the American Heart Association. “We are so pleased when students let us know that they are no longer afraid of an emergency situation and that the examples and one- on-one interaction made all the difference in feeling confident enough to help,” Dr. Zhong added. University Dean Dr. Am- itabha Basu explained in the release that the univer- sity has been providing basic life-saving training to local medical, paramedical staff members, students, and non- medical personnel since July 10, 2010. “There is an urgent need to make CPR training a must in schools and colleges and especially at the community level so that family members of those people, who fall under high risk zone for developing heart ailments, can give im- mediate medical assistance in times of emergency. Knowing how to give CPR properly can be a great asset and can save the life of a person when his or her heart stops beating,” Dr. Basu said. Cayman Heart Fund board chairman David Dinner com- mended the instructors on their commitment to saving lives in the Cayman Islands. Instructor Dr. Anup Rao de- scribed basic life support as an important life-saving tool, not to “treat” the person but to buy valuable time until emer- gency medical aid arrives. For more information about the Cayman Heart Fund or about CPR or basic life support classes at St. Matthew’s University, call 916-6324 or email info@caymanheartfund.com. Life-saving classes offered at St. Matthew’s CPR and basic life support class participants and instructor instructor Dr. Qing Zhong, third from left, show some of the equipment used in the classes. Erica Assai will perform her own songs at the World Championships of Performing Arts in California this month. - PHOTOS: MARK MUCKENFUSS Chance Thompson works on a one-minute soliloquy for the World Championships of Performing Arts. Jaedyn Hanna will sing in several different catagories of the competition in Long Beach, California.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY JULY 5, 2018 Minister: Beach access in every district BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Islands law- makers agreed this week to set aside $10 million to pur- chase land, including beach- front properties and beach access pathways, for fu- ture public use. The money was taken from the government’s Envi- ronmental Protection Fund, which is essentially a reserve bank account lawmakers can use only if authorized by a vote of the Legisla- tive Assembly. The Progressives-led ad- ministration has yet to iden- tify specific tracts of land that could be purchased and Lands Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly said her ministry still wants to take advice from district MLAs – including opposition repre- sentatives – regarding where public park land or beach ac- cess is needed. “All members of this par- liament have been given equal access and opportu- nity to submit [land] par- cels in their constituencies,” Ms. O’Connor-Connolly said. “I’m anxious to see ade- quate beach property in all of the districts. “Every single district should have a minimum of one, and where possible more, beach access … to be enjoyed by all persons in this jurisdiction.” Some opposition law- makers groused that they had just been notified of the gov- ernment’s intention to pur- chase additional public lands last Friday and were not im- mediately able to get lists to- gether to submit purchasing proposals to government. East End MLA Arden McLean asked how much money to purchase lands would be allocated to his dis- trict specifically. Ms. O’Connor-Connolly said the amount of money provided from the Envi- ronmental Protection Fund, while significant, was not likely to be spread evenly among all 19 constituencies in Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands. Rather, she said, the government would look at the most viable land purchase options and decide what to buy based on the funds available. Bodden Town West MLA Chris Saunders asked if gov- ernment would consider in- creasing the amount for public land purchases, “even for an additional $2 million to $3 million” out of the envi- ronmental fund. Finance Minister Roy Mc- Taggart said he was “uncom- fortable” making that addi- tional expense because he did not know how govern- ment would end the budget year at this point and the $10 million expense was already significantly reducing the En- vironmental Protection Fund. Once the $10 million is spent, the amount contained in the fund would reduce to about $45.8 million available. Before the 2016-17 budget year, the fund had close to $60 million. Financial Secretary Ken Jefferson said the proceeds of the fund are invested an- nually and do produce in- terest earnings, however, about $6 million was already earmarked out of the fund for use in the purchase of other land for environmental pro- tection purposes in a pro- cess now being directed by the National Conservation Council. That money is due to be spent during 2018. Although the environ- ment fund would be reduced, Premier Alden McLaughlin said he could hardly think of a better use of such a re- serve than to purchase envi- ronmentally unique lands, as well as beach access areas, for future generations of Cay- manians and residents. “The islands around us who have failed to do this, the social consequences have been grave,” Mr. McLaughlin said. Beach access fight The issue of dwindling public access paths to local beaches, particularly in Grand Cayman, has been a subject of hot debate over the last two years. In May, the Cayman Com- pass reported that govern- ment could face legal action after it refused to “register” about 200 existing beach access paths. Typically, beaches are ac- cessible in Cayman below the high-tide mark in the sand regardless of where they are located, but many paths to those beaches have been blocked by various de- velopments or by local land- owners who do not want people traipsing across their property. A concerned citizens group has identified ef- forts to officially register beach access pathways around Cayman going as far back as 2003. Beach access paths are recognized within the Cayman Islands Prescrip- tion Law once they have been used for 20 years, but the registrar of lands has deter- mined that existence of those areas is not recorded in the lands register unless a court confirmed it. In practice, pri- vate citizens have not had the time or financial resources to dispute instances where beach access paths have been shut off. Three members of the concerned citizens group have been granted legal aid to challenge the ruling of the registrar of lands. RCIPS gun amnesty takes 18 weapons off street A total of 18 firearms, in- cluding 11 long guns and seven handguns, were turned in to the Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service in June. The RCIPS firearms am- nesty period ended at 10 p.m. Saturday, June 30. In addition to the firearms, 896 rounds of ammunition were turned in. Police also collected a crossbow and a flare gun during the amnesty period. All of the weapons, except for one air rifle, were collected in Grand Cayman. Senior officers said Wednesday that they were pleased with the weapon col- lection, particularly the re- moval of seven handguns from Cayman’s streets. Of- ficers noted that 35 mur- ders which have occurred in Cayman since 2006 were committed with handguns. “In our view, this amnesty has been extremely suc- cessful, not only because of the number of firearms and ammunition handed in to po- lice, but because of the type and condition of these fire- arms,” said RCIPS Deputy Commissioner Kurt Walton. “In past years, the bulk of the firearms received were old and rusty rifles.” RCIPS Superintendent Brad Ebanks said: “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that right now on the is- lands a gun or a bullet may be just a little less available to those willing to use them to cause harm.” The am- nesty period offered clem- ency to anyone turning in a firearm between June 1 and June 30. Mr. Ebanks said police would consider hosting an- other amnesty next year, but noted no final decision on that had been made. RCIPS Deputy Commissioner Kurt Walton and Superintendent Brad Ebanks display the firearms taken during June’s gun amensty program. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY MAN ARRESTED FOLLOWING WEST BAY FIRE Police arrested a 32-year-old man on suspi- cion of arson after a resi- dence in which 12 people were living was destroyed by fire Tuesday. The suspect was a resident of the prop- erty, police said. Emergency services re- sponded to a report of the blaze at the home on North West Point Road around 1 p.m. There were no re- ports of injuries. The Red Cross de- ployed two volunteers to help the family mem- bers and tenants who had lost their home. According to a press re- lease issued by the Red Cross, the volunteers, Rans- ford Fagan and Richard Brown, recognized there were still undetected flames at the house when they vis- ited around 7 p.m. and called Fire Services back. Mr. Ransford drove the residents to the Red Cross Thrift Shop that night to get clothing, linen, towels, suitcases, kitchen sup- plies and other items and the volunteers helped settle them into tem- porary housing. POLICE RESPOND TO STABBING NEAR AIRPORT A male teenager was stabbed in the leg following an altercation outside the Cayman Airways head- quarters on Owen Roberts Drive Tuesday. The Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service re- sponded to the call about the incident shortly after 5:10 p.m. The teen was report- edly involved in an alterca- tion with two other males known to him. The pair fled the scene shortly after the incident. Police and emer- gency services attended to the victim, who was subse- quently transported to the Cayman Islands Hospital. Police are appealing for any potential witnesses to contact the George Town Police Station at 949-4222. Anonymous tips can be provided directly to the police service via Confidential Tip Line at 949-7777, or via website at www.rcips.ky/submit-a-tip. These access signs indicate where a path to the beach should be accessible by the public. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAYThe islands’ most-trusted news source 4 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” Over the months and years, various observations have matured from the status of “news” to become merely statements of fact about the Cayman Islands: The sun is warm. The sea is turquoise. Her Majesty’s Prison at Northward is full. Recently, however, it seems Northward’s over- crowding situation has evolved into a more acute affair. In May, the Compass reported that officials, seeking to relieve pressure on the prison, would shuffle “remand prisoners” awaiting court appearances to the police jail at Fairbanks. Now, they have announced a new “fix” – shifting “suitably selected” prisoners to the Immigration Detention Centre, also at Fairbanks. What’s next? Booking space at local hotels for overflow inmates? (Don’t laugh: That has been govern- ment’s solution for homeless families who have not yet located rental accommodations, and for the judicial administration needing room to conduct the landmark Saudi fraud trial known as the AHAB case.) Interim Prisons Director Steven Barrett told the Compass that moving Northward inmates to the IDC is the “most viable short-term option available” for dealing with chronic prison overcrowding. Unfortunately, he might be correct. Generally speaking, we see three options to address overcrowding at Northward: 1. Reduce the prison population through relaxed sentences, early release, decriminalization of certain activities (such as non-violent drug offenses), etc. 2. Divert inmates to facilities outside Northward (such as the police jail or Immigration Detention Centre); or, 3. Create space at Northward by expanding the prison (or building a larger prison elsewhere). The first two solutions are undesirable for a multi- tude of reasons, and are not true “solutions.” The third is unfeasible in the absence of a commitment of signif- icant funds the government appears not to have, and a viable long-term plan the government appears not to have made. Ministry of Home Affairs chief officer Dax Basdeo said that shifting prison inmates to the IDC “will in no way impact the department’s statutory obligations or compromise safety.” That’s a vague assurance, not a long-term plan. As government officials have repeatedly contended in the context of Cuban migrants’ complaints of poten- tial human rights violations, the IDC is not a prison, or at least was not intended to be one. Even if the 13 Cuban asylum-seekers currently housed at the IDC will not have their security threatened by their new neigh- bors from Northward, at the very least government’s action will provide the Cubans with another bullet point to append to their legal pleas before the court. As we have written before, it is government’s responsibility to ensure that all public facilities – including prisons – are adequate for present and future needs. Anyone paying attention to Cayman’s growing pop- ulation, packed court dockets and consistent supply of undereducated and unemployed young men (common characteristics of offenders) could foresee the inade- quacy of facilities at our prisons. Northward is full to capacity, our judicial dockets are jammed, our courthouse is crammed, and let’s not get started on our overflowing landfill, our inadequate roadways, or our partially completed construction projects, such as John Gray High School. Largely because of the operational costs of running the government (personnel costs and benefits, in par- ticular), capital projects have been ignored, neglected or interminably delayed. That imbalance is now – all too obviously – catching up with us. – EDITORIAL – What to do? The prison is full, the coffers are empty THURSDAY JULY 5, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS Restoring workers’ First Amendment freedoms WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court is especially admirable when correcting especially deplorable prior decisions, as with the 1954 school de- segregation decision rejecting a 1896 decision’s “separate but equal” doctrine. It did so again last month, overturning a 41-year-old precedent inim- ical to the First Amendment. Shortly before the court made this predictable ruling, a Wall Street Journal head- line revealed why it was nec- essary. The headline said: “Unions Court Own Mem- bers Ahead of Ruling.” Antic- ipating defeat, government- employee unions had begun resorting to persuasion – imagine that – in the hope of retaining members and con- vincing nonmembers to con- tinue making payments to the unions that the court says can no longer be obligatory. In 1977, the court upheld, 6-3, the constitutionality of compelling government em- ployees who exercise their right not to join a union to pay “fair share” or “agency” fees. These, which the union determines, supposedly cover only the costs of collec- tive bargaining from which nonmembers benefit. But the payments usually are much more than half of, and sometimes equal to, dues that members pay. The majority opinion in 1977 admitted some- thing that was too obvious to deny and so constitution- ality problematic that a fu- ture challenge was inevitable. That majority said: “There can be no quarrel with the truism that, because public employee unions attempt to influence government poli- cymaking, their activities … may be properly termed po- litical.” And one justice, con- curring with the majority, said “the ultimate objec- tive of a union in the public sector, like that of a political party, is to influence public decision-making.” (Em- phasis added.) Actually, everything public sector unions do is political. Therefore, the 1977 decision made compulsory political contributions con- stitutional. Which made the court queasy. By 2014, it was affirming the principle that doomed the 1977 decision and fore- told Wednesday’s: It is a “bedrock principle that, ex- cept perhaps in the rarest of circumstances, no person in this country may be com- pelled to subsidize speech by a third party that he or she does not wish to support.” Which is what the court now says regarding compulsory financial support of govern- ment-employee unions. Yet Justice Elena Kagan, in her uncharacteristically strident dissent, said: “There is no sugarcoating today’s opinion. The majority overthrows a decision en- trenched in this nation’s law – and in its economic life – for over 40 years. As a re- sult, it prevents the American people, acting through their state and local officials, from making important choices about workplace governance. And it does so by weapon- izing the First Amendment, in a way that unleashes judges, now and in the future, to in- tervene in economic and reg- ulatory policy.” How does Kagan err? Let us count the ways. The 1977 decision was no more entrenched than the 1896 “separate but equal” de- cision was for 58 years. The First Amendment exists to prevent the people’s repre- sentatives from making cer- tain kinds of choices (“Con- gress shall make no law … “). Wednesday’s deci- sion was not about “work- place governance” or “eco- nomic and regulatory policy.” It was about coerced speech. And about denial of an- other First Amendment guar- antee, freedom of association, which includes the freedom not to associate, through co- erced financial support, with uncongenial political organi- zations. And judges are sup- posed to be unleashed to wield the First Amendment as a weapon against officials perpetrating such abuses. Wednesday’s 5-4 deci- sion accords with President Franklin Roosevelt’s judg- ment that “the process of col- lective bargaining, as usu- ally understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.” In private sector bargaining, unions contest management concerning the distribution of companies’ profits. In the public sector, government gets its reve- nues from a third party – tax- payers. Because a majority of organized labor’s mem- bers are government em- ployees, the labor movement is mostly not horny-handed sons of toil. It increasingly is government organized as an interest group that pres- sures government to do what it has a metabolic urge to do anyway: grow. The deadliest dagger in the court’s decision was the stipulation that nonmembers’ fees cannot be automatically deducted from their wages – nonmembers must affirma- tively consent to deductions. So, public sector unions must persuade people. No wonder they are panicking. There is no sugarcoating today’s reality. Public sector unions are conveyor belts that move a portion of gov- ernment employees’ salaries – some of the amount paid in union dues – into polit- ical campaigns, almost al- ways Democrats’, to elect the people with whom the unions “negotiate” for tax- payers’ money. Progressives who are the- atrically distraught about there being “too much money in politics” are now theat- rically distraught that the court has ended coercing con- tributions that have flowed to progressive candidates. George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com. © 2018, Washington Post Writers Group GEORGE F. WILL There is no sugarcoating today’s reality. Public sector unions are conveyor belts that move a portion of government employees’ salaries – some of the amount paid in union dues – into political campaigns, almost always Democrats’, to elect the people with whom the unions “negotiate” for taxpayers’ money.5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY JULY 5, 2018 50 YEARS AGO: Parliament Association meets; chicks hatch on Brac In the July 4, 1968 edition of the Caymanian Weekly, a precursor of the Cayman Compass, the following story, titled “First Confer- ence of Caribbean Parlia- ments,” appeared: “Following the sugges- tion made in Grand Cayman during the Clerks Conference on the occasion of the 1967 Regional Conference during the month of May, the Bar- bados Government kindly offered and made a special grant to its Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamen- tary Association to meet the expenses of hosting such a Conference. “Approximately 38 del- egates attended including Speakers, Deputy Speakers, Presidents, Deputy and Vice Presidents, Clerks and Deputy Clerks. “The Conference was of- ficially opened by His Ex- cellency the Governor Gen- eral, Sir Winston Scott, G.C.M.G. Replies to the Gov- ernor’s speech were given by representatives from Ja- maica, Trinidad and To- bago, Guyana, Grenada and British Honduras.” In the same edi- tion, a story titled “First chicks hatched at KESONS Farm” appeared. “The first batch of chickens (515) to be hatched on the farm which is owned and operated by Capt. Keith Tibbetts and Sons, KENSONS Poultry Farm in Cayman Brac was successfully com- pleted on Saturday, June 15. “The farm supplies most of the eggs and chickens used on the Island and ex- ports small quantities of the eggs to Grand Cayman. “The chickens, which were considered good will be raised and slaughtered for market as broilers and fryers in about 9 weeks. This venture in poultry farming was brought about by the fact that the freight service (which brought chicken and eggs) to Cayman Brac was proving unsatisfactory.” Easy Street, once a haunted cow pasture JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com Local legend has it that Easy Street was possibly one of the most haunted places in all of Bodden Town. White ghosts, strange noises, feelings of creepiness and scared farmers were often re- ported years ago. Located off Condor Road just past the Bodden Town Primary School, the area around Easy Street was originally known as “Cane Ground.” “It was a cow pasture and the place was haunted,” said resident Freddie Watler, now 80. “Everyone that went in that direction, their hair stood on end. I experienced that,” he said. “One eve- ning I was going into Cane Ground to shoot rabbits [agouti] when I saw a person walking in front of me. I tried catching up with the person and they just disappeared.” Laurel Watler, 94, recalls no cane growing in the area. She said it was a large field where her grandfather Evans Wood and other men in the community raised cows. According to Mr. Watler, the area right next to Cane Ground was known as “Grass Piece,” which was also re- portedly haunted. It was a favorite planting ground for corn, pumpkins, cas- sava and other produce. Often, Mr. Watler said, there were quarrels between the farmers when the cows got in the plantation field and de- stroyed all the crops. Nowadays, the area has been renamed Easy Street, a seemingly fitting name for the area which residents now describe as a place to “chill out,” relax and leave your worries behind. The jewel in this ordinary street with only six well-kept homes is the group of diverse characters that gather there. Things can get quite loud on Easy Street, especially when there is a call over WhatsApp for a friendly game of dom- inoes. A chef, a policeman, a fisherman, a gardener, a deejay, a roadwork man and a hardware manager con- gregate at the home of Ce- cile Collins once a week for a friendly game of dominoes, to eat jerk chicken, fried fish and fritters, and chat. They claim it’s the best way to relax. “Many domino ‘six love’ [the ultimate score] have gone down easy on Easy Street,” Ms. Collins said. “Ain’t nothing easy on Easy Street,” said her hus- band James. Mr. Collins is the team leader of “Team Them,” the novice players who at times can surprise ev- eryone with a winning hand. The definition of “Easy Street,” for English-language rookies, is a situation with no worries – a situation of wealth and ease. This was what Marilyn Nasirun’s re- tirement plan involved when she named Easy Street more than 30 years ago. The 62-year resident from Almond Avenue in Prospect purchased the property from family to build her dream home. “Life had to be easy after building my second home and looking forward to a more relaxing life,” she said. “It turned out to be ‘a hard knock life.’ I thought I was retiring but I never worked more in my life,” Ms. Nasirun said. Ms. Nasirun said it was not easy acquiring Easy Street. First, it was hard finding and getting to the property through the bushes. Then she had to battle other landowners for a right-of- way to establish the road, and then she had to deal with the stresses of devel- oping the road. “The only thing I found easy about Easy Street was naming it Easy Street,” she said. The late Kent Rankin finished the development of Easy Street. Ironically, Ms. Nasirun never moved to Easy Street, but takes comfort in the fact that she can visit there any time she feels like it, as her son DJ Dax lives in her dream house and her sister keeps the Easy Street social calendar alive. Easy Street can be a quiet place during the daytime. - PHOTOS: JEWEL LEVY At night and on weekends, the street comes to life with dominoes, fried fish and good company. Tropical wave brings rainy weather to Cayman SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman was impacted Wednesday by a tropical wave, an atmospheric distur- bance that caused winds and rain but was expected to move out by the end of the day. The Cayman Islands Na- tional Weather Service fore- cast that wave would move over the western Caribbean and cause diminishing ef- fects on Cayman for the rest of the week. Winds were expected to reach 10 to 15 knots Wednesday, with wave heights reaching three to five feet. Those winds and waves are expected to remain at the same level on Thursday, but the weather service is only ex- pecting a 30 percent chance of showers and possible thun- derstorms. Similar condi- tions could exist in Cayman through Friday, depending on how quickly the tropical wave moves out of the area. Avalon Porter, a meteorol- ogist for the Cayman Islands National Weather Service, said that tropical waves typically originate over Africa and then track over the Atlantic Ocean. They can be the source for tropical depressions, trop- ical storms and hurricanes if the right conditions interact with the wave. “The reason we end up with all this weather right now,” Mr. Porter said, “is that it’s kind of interacting with an upper level trough that’s over the Yucatan area. Typically, if they move, they’ll just give you a few showers. But if there’s an upper level trough in the area, it will interact with that and flare up.”The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 Community CALENDAR ■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR is published TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS. It is available to charitable or nonprofit organizations. Items should be submitted at least three working days before publication. Information must include name of sender, signature and contact number. ■ Items may be faxed to 949-2662, brought to the Cayman Compass office on Shedden Rd. or emailed to cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com at least three days in advance of publication. THURSDAY JULY 5, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS FRIDAY, JULY 6 ART EXHIBITION: Today is the last day to view an exhibition of works by students who took part in the Walkers’ Art Clubs after school throughout the year. Approximately 100 students took part, from preschoolers to teens studying for their final exams. The exhibition at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands consists of more than 300 pieces and includes a cross section of mediums and styles. Admission is free. TUESDAY, JULY 10 MLA PUBLIC MEETING: Barbara Conolly, MLA for George Town South, invites all to attend a community meeting on the redevelopment of Smith Barcadere (Smith Cove). 6:30-9 p.m. South Sound Community Centre. For more details, contact 745- 0487. WEDNESDAY, JULY 11 BRAC SENIORS: Quarterly birthday party for senior citizens. Aston Rutty Centre. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. SATURDAY, JULY 14 MANGO SEASON AT MUSEUM: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the National Museum on the waterfront. Admission free. Local food and mango products on sale. Mango peeling competition. Catboat rides, kids activities. Rescheduled from July 7. TUESDAY, JULY 31 CONTRACTORS REGISTRATION: The Builders Board has extended until today the deadline for all local contractors to register with the board. For fees and registration forms that are available online, contractors should visit www.planning. ky/boards-all/builders-board. SUMMER CAMPS BRAC CULTURE: July 9-13, 16-20. YMCA at Heritage House 8:30 a.m. to noon. $50 per week. Extended camp 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. $40. Contact ysummercamp@ ymcacayman.ky. VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL: The First Assembly of God hosts their annual Vacation Bible School July 16–20, for ages 4-12 years. Cost is $50 per child. Call 945-2182 for further details. NATIONAL MUSEUM: For students ages 9 to 12. July 16-20, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The theme is Cayman Nature – Safeguarding Biodiversity. Students will learn about different habitats, flora and fauna, visiting Cayman Crystal Caves, Mastic Trail and Botanic Park. Cost of camp includes breakfast, lunch, snacks, admission to parks, a cap and T-shirt. To register, complete form at National Museum Gift Shop during regular hours or email shenicemcfield@ museum.ky Cost is $100 per child. A $50 deposit should be made upon confirmation. Balance due one week before the first day of camp. NATIONAL TRUST: For kids ages 6–12. July 23-27, July 30–Aug. 3. 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dart Family Park. Includes field trips. Email education@nationaltrust. org.ky to register. $275 for members, $300 for non- members. KIDSABILITY: A variety of programs for various ages, with activities from school readiness to bike riding. Contact www.kidsability.ky. ACTING CAMPS: Cayman Drama Society offers an acting camp for ages 8-11 the week of July 9–13 for $300. Camp for ages 12-16, July 30 to Aug. 3, $325. Both weeks run 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Prospect Playhouse. Register at www. cds.ky. GENERAL INTEREST SCHOLARSHIP OFFERED: The U.S.-based Collaborate to Educate Our Sons has announced its 2018 essay/poetry contest for scholarships for the 2018/19 academic year. At least four scholarships will be awarded. They are for tuition support to assist young men to achieve their goal of graduation from college/seminary. Essays should be submitted by email by 11:59 p.m. on July 31. Applicants can visit www. collaboratetoeducate.org for details. OLIVE MILLER EXHIBITION: At the Old George Town Library. Ms. Olive Miller is one of three Cayman residents who were recognized in the U.K. New Year’s Honors List. Betty Baraud and the late Dr. Bill Hrudey received MBEs, and are also featured in this exhibition, which is open until July 31. NEW LICENSE PLATES: The Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing has uploaded its list of new electronic license plates that are ready for collection. An additional 1,200 plates are now ready to be picked up from the DVDL office on Crewe Road. Vehicles owners are reminded that they must bring in the temporary/old plates, the windshield tag, as well as their logbook. The list can be viewed on the department’s website at www.dvdl.gov.ky. EARLY CHILDHOOD FEES: The Ministry of Education provides financial assistance for Caymanian children between 3 and 4 years of age before Sept. 1, 2018, to assist with fees at an early childhood center between September and June 30. Application forms can be downloaded from www. education.gov.ky or collected from the Government Administration Building, the Department of Education Services and all early childhood centers. Contact Renee Barnes at 244-5735, Turnette Stewart at 244- 5724 or email ecap@gov.ky. BETHESDA COUNSELLING CENTRE: Caters to all who seek help. Open Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 68 Mary St. Appointments available Saturdays and late evenings. Owned and operated by the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Call 946-6575. HUMANE SOCIETY BOOK LOFT: North Sound Road. Open Monday 12:30-4 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 5:30-7:30 p.m. Volunteers needed for front desk a few hours per week. Email humanesocietybookloft@ candw.ky or call 946-8053. Donations of books, games, CDs, stationery, DVDs, cards etc. in good condition always needed. COMMUNITY CHESS: Tuesdays 5-8 p.m., West Indies Wine Company. Join the Cayman Chess Club for a complimentary chess class and open challenges weekly. Anyone can learn to play and enjoy chess, even beginners. FARMERS ARTISAN MARKET: Noon to 8 p.m. Wednesdays. Visual Arts Society artists sell arts, crafts, paintings, prints, hand-crafted jewelry, ceramics and more at the VAS tents by KARoo Restaurant. For more information or to inquire about table space, email info@visualartcayman.com. ART OPEN CANVAS: At KARoo Restaurant in Camana Bay, Wednesdays 7-11 p.m. Artists of all levels are welcome to come and enjoy painting and socializing with other artists. Includes use of easels, lights, space, beverage ticket. No fee. For more information, contact info@visualartcayman.com or jar.was@gmail.com. CLUBS, ORGANIZATIONS ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: Meets daily to help with drinking problems. Call 926-9044 or visit www. caymanaa.org. NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: Is available for substance abuse help. Call the info line at 929–NANA (6262). AL-ANON GROUP MEETING: Are you troubled by someone’s drinking? Al-Anon Family Groups can help. Call 928-8843 or email caymanalanon@gmail. com for meeting times. OVERCOMERS OUTREACH: A Christ-centered 12-step recovery group addresses addictions and those affected by them. Meetings at Cayman Islands Baptist Church, Pedro Castle Road, Tuesdays, 7:15 p.m. For details, contact Vanessa Gilman at 946-2422, or visit www.overcomersoutreach. org. DEMENTIA/ALZHEIMER’S SUPPORT GROUP: This group meets on the last Wednesday of each month at ADACI’s office, 4th floor, Cardinall Plaza, 30 Cardinall Ave., George Town. All are invited to attend. Call 924-4170 or email info@ adacyman.com. GRAND CAYMAN TOASTMASTERS: Club meets each Thursday 6-7:15 p.m. on 3rd Floor, George Town Public Library. Visitors and guests welcome. The local contact is George R. Ebanks, 322-9369 or Grand Cayman Toastmasters club on Facebook. Email info@ toastmastersclub2686.org. ROTARACT BLUE OF CAYMAN: Meets Wednesdays 6 p.m., at Royal Palms Beach Club, West Bay Road. Contact rotaractblue@gmail.com or www.rotaractblue.org. LEO CLUB OF GRAND CAYMAN: Meets first and third Wednesdays of the month, 6:30 p.m. at the Lions Community Centre. For more information, contact Secretary Letisha Allen at 924-2819. THE LIONS CLUB OF GRAND CAYMAN: Meets every first and third Thursday 7:30 p.m. at the Lions Community Centre. For more information, email lionsclubgcm@hotmail.com. THE LIONS CLUB OF TROPICAL GARDENS: Meet every first and third Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Elizabethan Square (corner unit). Members of the public are invited to attend. ROTARY CLUB OF GRAND CAYMAN SUNRISE: Service club meetings 7 a.m. every Wednesday at George Town Yacht Club, 612 North Sound Road. Visit www. rotarysunrise.ky or contact info@rotarysunrise.ky. KIWANIS CLUB OF GRAND CAYMAN: Meets first and third Wednesdays of the month, 12:30 p.m., at The Wharf Restaurant. Projects include promoting well- being of children in the community and schools. Email president@kiwanis.ky or view www.kiwanis.ky. OPTIMIST CLUB: Meets first and third Thursdays at the Hibiscus Conference Room, Cayman Islands Hospital at 6:30 p.m. Learn more at www.optimistcayman.com. PARENT AND TODDLER PLAY GROUP: For children from 2 weeks to 4 years. Meets Mondays 9:30- 11:30 a.m. in the South Sound Community Centre. Children must be accompanied by parent or helper. Toys, activities, light refreshments provided. $6 per session per family. Email sspg@foxwood.ky. HEARTS THROUGH HANDS: Meets Wednesdays 9:30 a.m. to noon at The Family Life Centre, Room 10, Academy Way. Women make crafts for charity and missions. Call 946–3067 or 947–1863. THE WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTRE: Breast-feeding Clinics every Thursday 10 a.m. to noon in the Women’s Health Centre. No appointments, no fees. Phone 244–2649. CAYMAN BRIDGE CLUB: Meets Tuesdays 7 p.m. at Comfort Suites, West Bay Road; Fridays, 9 a.m. at the Rugby Club. For further information, contact Helen Haines at 947-3217 or Alex Wood at 947-3693. BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S CLUB: Meets third Wednesday of every month, Governors Square Boardroom at 5:30 p.m. Visit www.facebook.com/ BPWGrandCayman. BREASTFEEDING SUPPORT GROUP: MothertoMother meetings first Tuesday of every month, 3-4 p.m. outside Women’s Health Centre at the Cayman Islands Hospital. Children welcome. Contact Women’s Health Centre at 244-2649. For more Community Calendar events, visit www. caymancompass.com/events. A YMCA summer camp will be held at Heritage House on Cayman Brac on July 9-13 and July 16-20.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY JULY 5, 2018 quickly Faith Hospital can turn into a bustling hive of activity. That day, practitio- ners responded to four emer- gency calls all around the same time. For an 18-bed facility with only five doc- tors and a handful of nurses, “that was kind of a mass-ca- sualty situation for us,” said Dr. Velusamy. With the percentage of the elderly popula- tion on the Sister Islands more than double that on Grand Cayman, those situ- ations could become more commonplace.” To meet that challenge, Faith Hospital’s bare-bones staff needs a Swiss Army knife’s worth of skills. Dr. Velusamy exemplifies this, serving as the hospi- tal’s director and its only sur- geon. On busy days such as last Wednesday, his specialist gynecologist and anesthetist help in the emergency room. Nurses, too, go from working in delivery rooms, emergency rooms, the inpatient unit, and in any other area that may need assistance. “It’s a challenge for us to play multiple roles, and not many people are willing to do that,” Dr. Velusamy said. Recruiting people that have both a diverse skill set and a desire to live on a tiny island is one of Faith Hospital’s primary chal- lenges, he said. “Recruitment to Cayman Brac is much harder. We don’t have much over Grand [Cayman] besides clean air and safety – no cinema, KFC, etcetera,” he said. The lack of amenities on the Brac rules out most young nurses and doctors from working there, though Dr. Velusamy said that may be for the best, considering the high-pressured situations his staff can be put in. A doctor on call is basically “the cap- tain of the ship,” and can’t rely on someone with more experience when the going gets rough, he explained. While some healthcare professionals may be reluc- tant to live and work on the Brac, the ones who do often end up staying their entire lives, Dr. Velusamy added. This gives the hospital an ad- vantage over others when it comes to providing care with a personal touch, as the is- land’s doctors and nurses are attending to their neighbors and close acquaintances. Cayman Brac resident Yvette Dilbert is one of those who has spent a career at Faith Hospital. “I started here in 1973 be- fore it was officially open. I was in high school and came here as a volunteer. I worked as a practical nurse, RN, mid- wife, public health nurse, and in 2000 became hospital ad- ministrator,” she said. “Most people who aren’t going to stay here are gone within four years. But the ones that stay make this their home. We have a hard time de- ciding who’s the real Cay- manian and who’s the ex- pat who’s become a part of the community.” Being a lifelong Brac res- ident, Ms. Dilbert said she remembers when the is- land’s entire healthcare fa- cility comprised of a small government clinic in the Stake Bay area and a phar- macist that provided a va- riety of services. She said the need for the hospital came about in the midst of an economic boom on the island in the 1970s, when Cayman Brac was a major destination for tankers to make ship-to-ship transfers of oil en route to the United States. With no help from government, the seamen were instrumental in funding the hospital’s con- struction, along with help from churches and the do- nation of land from the late Captain Charles Kirkcon- nell – hence the hospital’s slogan, “By the people, for the people,” she said. After several years, gov- ernment took over the hos- pital, and in the 1980s the one-building facility was ex- panded, and in 1993 its new inpatient unit was built. “In my time here, I’ve just watched the changes. We’ve gone from the days where a patient will just walk in and say, ‘I’d like to see a doctor,’ and we’d take them, to where now they call and make appointments and we have a health information system we use to book pa- tients and access records,” said Ms. Dilbert. Airlift has been one of the hospital’s most recent improvements. Cayman Air- ways has traditionally been used for evacuations for heart attacks and other emergencies that cannot be treated on Cayman Brac, but that could take hours if planes are busy or there are other complications. A helipad installed be- hind Faith Hospital in 2016 now allows the Royal Cayman Islands Police Ser- vice helicopter to take pa- tients from there straight to Health City – shaving hours off of evacuation times, and potentially saving many lives, said Dr. Velusamy. Another one of Faith Hospital’s recent achieve- ments was when its labo- ratory received the “gold seal of approval” for inter- national quality standards for patient care and service delivery by the U.S.-based Joint Commission Interna- tional in April. Now, Dr. Velusamy said, he is concentrating on the Sister Islands’ preventative healthcare services by devel- oping a weight-management clinic and a “brain clinic” for patients at risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s. The Sister Islands Health Services director also said he’s lobbying the Health Services Authority for more nurses – “my nurses are overworking,” he said – and another building that would serve as a storeroom. “Space is the problem,” he said. “We have to find room for the speech ther- apist … We want to take some of the non-clinical areas in the hospital to a separate building. Our storeroom for medical sup- plies would be used for clinical areas.” 2008-2009 at the start of public sector austerity mea- sures enacted just after the global financial crisis. In 2009, there were 3,756 workers in the central gov- ernment service, according to public sector human re- sources records. That figure dipped to just below 3,500 people in mid-2015. However, in December of last year – two and a half years later – that number was back to 3,778 cen- tral government employees, the audit noted. Last week’s report noted that staff employed within the outside authorities and companies added another 2,472 people to the payroll for an overall total of 6,250. Auditor General Sue Win- spear commented on the employment growth in her evaluation of public sector workforce management, which pointed out the need for better oversight of hiring and advancement within the service. The report also fo- cused on the effect of var- ious “pay freezes” and other cost-saving attempts taken within the public sector over the past decade. “The size of the civil ser- vice has remained reasonably constant since 2010, while staff costs have increased from $216.6 million to $239.5 million over the five years from 2012/13 to 2016/17,” Ms. Winspear’s report read. Personnel costs for the current 2018 budget for cen- tral government were stated at $299.6 million. By 2019, they are expected to grow to $310 million. The audit focused only on the central civil service and did not take into account the operations of the 27 different statutory authorities and government-owned compa- nies that operate outside of central government. The government lifted its salary “freeze” in late 2016 and eased off a general mor- atorium on recruitment about a year ago. However, government’s figures show the growth in staff began well before last year. The central civil ser- vice went from 3,484 em- ployees in mid-2015 to 3,600 in mid-2016. By the end of the last year, the civil ser- vice staff grew to 3,778 – an 8.5 percent staff increase in 30 months. they had …. are grossly inad- equate to assist.” Last week, the premier said he was “scared” about what could happen in the next 10 to 15 years as a large number of older Caymanians retire who have not seen the full benefit of the private sector retirement system be- cause they only joined it for 10-20 years. Cayman’s first private sector retirement scheme began in 1998 and has long been considered in- adequate to fund a lengthy retirement period. While overall unemploy- ment has hovered between 4.1 and 4.9 percent over the past few years, Caymanian unemployment has remained stubbornly high – going above 7 percent during the last reporting period. In addition to the unem- ployed, Mr. McLaughlin said a number of local workers appear to remain “underem- ployed” – not working a min- imum of 37.5 hours per week. “If you believe the statis- tics … there is some signifi- cant underemployment,” the premier said. “All of these things are putting additional pressures on the rental as- pect of it, in particular.” The premier also floated the theory that with govern- ment earning operating sur- pluses over the last four years, the public may be aware that there is more cash available for economic assis- tance and are making an ef- fort to apply for it. “This too has encouraged people who would otherwise have said ‘it don’t make any sense to go, they nah ga help me,’” Mr. McLaughlin said. Deputy Opposition Leader Alva Suckoo noted that many of the government’s requested spending increases in finance committee involved things like poor relief, rental assis- tance and additional money to pay the healthcare costs of indigent Caymanians. “These are signs that all is not well,” Mr. Suckoo said Tuesday. Cayman’s overall un- employment rate increased nearly a full percentage point between fall 2016 and fall 2017. The rate went from 4.2 percent in the latter half of 2016 to 4.9 percent during the same time for 2017. The overall rate encompasses jobless figures for both Cay- manian and non-Caymanian residents and represents the portion of the total work- force that is actively seeking a job, but which has not at- tained employment. The Caymanian unem- ployment rate also increased during the same period, but only marginally. According to the government Economics and Statistics Office Labour Force Surveys, 1,406 Cayma- nians were unemployed in fall 2016, while 1,515 Cay- manians were unemployed in fall 2017. The Caymanian jobless rate was calculated at 7.1 percent (fall 2016) and 7.3 percent (fall 2017) during the same period. Faith Hospital’s laboratory received the “gold seal of approval” for international quality standards for patient care and service delivery by the U.S.-based Joint Commission International in April. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 On Cayman Brac, hospital staff must be ready for anything Public service larger, less Caymanian CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 According to the report, the number of non-Caymanians employed by the civil service and related authorities increased by 274 people between July 2016 and December 2017. More money provided for poor relief CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 When the idea of a hospital for Cayman Brac was first mooted, there were no government funds available to build it, so Brackers built it themselves, completing the hospital in 1972. Hence, the building still carries the legend ‘Faith Hospital, by the People, for the People.’The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Brazil police search Philips office Police have searched the offices of Philips in Brazil and are executing arrest warrants for two people linked to the company. Wednesday’s operation is part of an investigation into suspected fraud in the supply of medical equipment. Prosecutors allege that several companies formed a cartel to win and inflate contracts. THURSDAY JULY 5, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS UK anti-terror police join ‘unknown substance’ probe AMESBURY, England (AP) – British counterterrorism police were investigating Wednesday after two people were left in critical condi- tion, exposed to an unknown substance a few miles from where a former Russian spy and his daughter were poi- soned with a nerve agent. The Wiltshire Police force declared a “major incident” after a man and a woman in their 40s were hospital- ized after being found uncon- scious Saturday at a residen- tial building in Amesbury, 8 miles from Salisbury, where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned on March 4. Friends named the couple as Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charlie Rowley, 45. Police did not release their names, but confirmed their ages and said they were British nationals from the local area. London’s Metropolitan Police force said “given the recent events in Salis- bury,” counterterrorism of- ficers were working with local police on the inves- tigation. British media re- ported that samples of the mystery substance had been sent to the Porton Down defense research labora- tory for testing. Police cordoned off a home and other places the pair visited before falling ill, including a nearby church and a pharmacy, but health officials said there was not believed to be a wider risk to the public. A major incident is a des- ignation allowing British au- thorities to mobilize more than one emergency agency. The emergency services’ response echoes that in the case of the Skripals, whose illness initially baffled doc- tors after they were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury. Scien- tists at Porton Down con- cluded they had been poi- soned with Novichok, a type of nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Britain accuses Russia of poisoning the Skripals, a claim Moscow strongly de- nies. The poisoning sparked a Cold War-style diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West, including the ex- pulsion of hundreds of diplo- mats from both sides. The two Amesbury vic- tims were being treated at Salisbury District Hospital, where the Skripals spent weeks in critical condition. Police said authorities ini- tially believed the latest vic- tims might have taken a con- taminated batch of heroin or crack cocaine. “However, further testing is now ongoing to establish the substance which led to these patients becoming ill,” said Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills. “At this stage it is not yet clear if a crime has been committed. “ One line of inquiry is whether they came into con- tact with residue from the Novichok used to poison the Skripals. Sergei Skripal, 67, is a former Russian intelligence officer who was convicted of spying for Britain before coming to the U.K. as part of a 2010 prisoner swap. He had been living quietly in Salisbury, a cathedral city 90 miles southwest of London, when he was struck down along with his 33-year-old daughter Yulia, who was visiting him. Residents of the street at the center of the Ames- bury investigation – in a quiet neighborhood of newly built houses and apartments – said they had received little information about the unknown substance from authorities. “Amesbury’s a lovely place – it’s very quiet, uneventful,” said Rosemary Northing, who lives a couple of hun- dred yards away from the cordoned-off building. “So for this to happen, and the media response and the un- certainty, it’s unsettling.” Neighbors said police cars and fire engines descended on the home late Saturday. Student Chloe Edwards said she saw people in “green suits” – like those worn by forensics officers – and her family was told to stay inside their home for several hours. “We wanted to know what happened. And with the Rus- sian attack happening not long ago, we just assumed the worst,” said Edwards. Among the sites cordoned off was a Baptist church where the victims attended a community event on Sat- urday. Church secretary Roy Collins said about 200 people were at the neighborhood event, but “nobody else has suffered any ill-effects.” Police from 40 depart- ments in England and Wales had just returned home in June after months of working on the Skripals’ poisoning. Wiltshire Police spent about $10 million dealing with the aftermath of the poisoning and believe that Skripal’s front door was contaminated with the nerve agent. Doctors who treated the Skripals say they have made a remarkable recovery but they still do not know what the long-term prognosis is. Warm in blankets, Thai boys smile, joke with rescuer in cave MAE SAI, Thailand (AP) – Their skinny faces illuminated by a flashlight, the Thai soccer teammates stranded more than a week in a partly flooded cave said they were healthy on a video released Wednesday, as heavy rains forecast for later this week could complicate plans to safely extract them. The 12 boys and their coach are seen sitting with Thai navy SEALs in the dark cave. The boys, many wrapped in foil warming blankets, take turns introducing themselves, folding their hands together in a traditional greeting and saying their names and that they are healthy. The video lasting about a minute was recorded sometime Tuesday and was posted on the navy SEAL Facebook page Wednesday morning. The navy later released two more videos of the boys. The boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach disappeared after they went exploring in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in northern Chiang Rai province after a soccer game June 23. The teammates, who were trapped inside when heavy rains flooded the cave, were found by rescue divers late Monday night during a desperate search that drew assistance from experts around the globe. Authorities said the boys, who had also been shown Tuesday in a video shot by the British diver who discovered them, were being looked after by seven members of the Thai navy SEALs, including medics, who were staying with them inside the cave. They were mostly in stable condition and have received high- protein drinks. In all of the videos the boys have appeared in good spirits. In the most recent videos a navy SEAL is shown treating minor cuts on the feet and legs of the boys with antibiotic oint- ment. Several of the boys are seen smiling as they interact with the navy SEAL, who cracks jokes. Seeing the boys has boosted the mood of relatives, and officials are working to install an internet cable to the cave so that parents can talk to their children. Kian Kamluang, whose 16-year-old son Pornchai is inside, said she had thought it was a 50 percent chance that her son would be found. “It’s like he has been given a new life,” she said, adding that she’ll never let her son go into a cave or near water again. SEAL commander Rear Adm. Ar- pakorn Yookongkaew said Tuesday that there was no rush to bring the group out of the cave, since they are safe where they are. The cur- rent flooding situation means the boys would have to dive, which rescue experts have said could be ex- tremely dangerous. While efforts to pump out flood- waters are continuing, some Thai officials have indicated that heavy rains forecast for this weekend could force them to decide the boys should swim and dive out using the same complicated route of narrow passageways through which their rescuers entered. Chiang Rai provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said Wednesday that the boys have been practicing wearing diving masks and breathing, but he does not be- lieve they have attempted any practice dives. He said it is unknown when an extraction could be attempted, but it is unlikely to be Wednesday. “If it’s risky or not safe, we will not proceed yet,” Narongsak said. “It has to be 100 percent safe.” Authorities said they were still exploring other options, such as scouring the mountainside for other ways into the cave and finding faster ways to pump water from the cave. Cave rescue experts have said it could be safest to simply supply the boys where they are for now, and wait for the water to go down. That could take months, however, given that Thailand’s rainy season typi- cally lasts through October. The British Cave Rescue Council, which has members taking part in the operation, said in a statement that “although water levels have dropped, the diving conditions re- main difficult and any attempt to dive the boys and their coach out will not be taken lightly because there are significant technical chal- lenges and risks to consider.” Gary Mitchell, the group’s as- sistant vice chairman, said getting out of the cave requires about a ki- lometer (half a mile) of diving total, though not all in one stretch, and takes about three hours. “There’s air pockets along the way,” he said. “It’s confined spaces. It’s almost zero visibility. There’s currents to battle against in places as well. So it’s a really quite a stren- uous environment to be in,” he said. In this July 3, 2018 image taken from video provided by the Royal Thai Navy Facebook Page, Thai boys smile as a Thai Navy SEAL medic helps injured children inside a cave in Mae Sai, northern Thailand. - PHOTO: AP The Wiltshire Police force declared a “major incident” after a man and a woman in their 40s were hospitalized after being found unconscious at a residential building in Amesbury.9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY JULY 5, 2018 Europe could suffer collateral damage in US-China trade war FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – European businesses are un- settled as they watch the U.S. and China collide over trade. And for good reason: the nascent global trade war could represent the biggest single threat to the economic upswing that has helped the region get past its fi- nancial crisis. In theory, some European companies could benefit, jumping into market niches if Chinese businesses are kept out of the U.S. market. But that would only be a few companies or sectors. When your entire economy is heavily dependent on trade, an overall slowdown in global commerce caused by tit-for-tat import taxes provokes fear and under- mines confidence. And that is just what’s happening in Europe. By one measure, business confidence has fallen in six of the past seven months in Germany, where exports are almost half of annual economic output. “It’s worth all our ef- forts to defuse this conflict, so it doesn’t become a war,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday. The U.S. is due to put tar- iffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday. The Chinese will respond with tariffs on an equivalent value of U.S. products such as soy- beans, seafood and crude oil. Amid all this, Europe has its own trade dispute with the U.S. After the U.S. put tar- iffs on steel and aluminum from many allies, including the European Union, the 28-country bloc responded with import taxes on some $3.25 billion of U.S. goods. The Trump administration is also studying the option of putting tariffs on cars, which would significantly escalate the confrontation. The head of the EU’s ex- ecutive, Jean-Claude Juncker, will head to Washington in late July to try to per- sonally persuade Trump against further measures tar- geting Europe. The disputes over trade threaten to spoil the good times for Europe’s economy. Growth last year was the strongest in a decade, since before the global financial crisis. While that has eased in recent quarters, the economy is still strong enough to create jobs. The number of unemployed fell by 125,000 in May, leaving unemploy- ment in the 19 countries that use the euro at 8.4 per- cent, the lowest since 2008 and down from a high of 12.1 percent in 2013. “Trade tensions stoked by U.S. President Donald Trump are clouding the economic outlook in Europe,” wrote an- alysts at Berenberg bank in London. They rated the trade risk ahead of troubles from Italy’s heavy debt load or faster than expected interest rate increases from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Many European com- panies would suffer be- cause they both produce and sell goods in the U.S. and China, the world’s big- gest economies. For example, tariffs that China is expected to impose Friday on U.S.-made autos would hit German carmakers Daimler and BMW since they both make vehicles in the United States and export them to China. Daimler has already low- ered its outlook for profits, citing higher than expected costs from the new tariffs. BMW warned in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Friday that tariffs would make it harder for it to sell in China the vehicles it builds at its factory in Spar- tanburg, South Carolina, “po- tentially leading to a strongly reduced export volumes and negative effects on invest- ment and employment in the United States.” Last year, BMW exported 272,000 vehicles from the Spartanburg plant, more than half its total produc- tion. Of those, 81,000 – worth $2.37 billion – went to China. BMW says its exports re- duced the U.S. trade deficit by around $1 billion. By themselves, the tariffs that take effect Friday will not immediately have a dra- matic impact on global trade. The fear is that retaliation will spiral, hitting the total amount of global commerce. Even if the overall effect is to harm growth, there could be benefits for some Euro- pean companies and sectors. Economists Alicia Garcia Herrero and Jianwei Xu at the French bank Natixis say that European makers of cars, aircraft, chemicals, computer chips and factory machinery could in theory snare market share by substituting for Chi- nese or American products in the two markets. But that is only if Europe’s own trade dispute with the U.S. does not escalate – a big if. Europe is waiting to see whether the Trump admin- istration will go ahead sep- arately with tariffs on auto imports. European compa- nies like BMW, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, Volkswa- gen’s Porsche and Audi divi- sions, and Fiat Chrysler send $46.6 billion worth of ve- hicles every year to the U.S. Some 13.3 million people, or 6.1 percent of the em- ployed population of the EU, work in the automotive sector, according to the Eu- ropean Automobile Manufac- turers Association. “Europe cannot win any- thing” on an overall basis “for one obvious reason: we are net exporters,” said Garcia Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis and a senior fellow at European re- search institute Bruegel. “But we should not understate the view that some sectors could get something out of a U.S.-China trade war.” The Yang Ming shipping line container ship Ym Utmost is unloaded at the Port of Oakland on Monday, in Oakland, California. The Trump administration on Friday will start imposing tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports. - PHOTO: AP Germany: Merkel pledges ‘every effort’ to avert US trade war BERLIN (AP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that the European Union will make every effort to avoid a trade war with the United States, and underlined her coun- try’s commitment to raise defense spending gradually – another point of conten- tion with Washington. President Donald Trump’s administration has imposed tariffs on EU steel and alu- minum imports and is mulling whether to add tar- iffs on cars, trucks and auto parts, something that could be painful for Germany with its major auto industry. “It is worth every effort to try to defuse this conflict so that it doesn’t turn into a real war, but of course there are two sides to that,” Merkel told the German parliament, noting that the head of the EU’s executive Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, will soon travel to the U.S. She added that the good functioning of the world economy depends on coun- tries working together as partners, and also ques- tioned the value of mea- suring surpluses and defi- cits by trade in goods alone. If digital services were in- cluded, she said, it’s likely that the U.S. would have a trade surplus with Europe. “It is almost old-fash- ioned only to count goods and not to count ser- vices,” she said. The U.S. is also pressing Germany over what it con- siders insufficient defense spending ahead of NATO’s July 11-12 summit in Brus- sels. In 2014, NATO al- lies agreed to stop cut- ting defense budgets, start spending more as their economies grew and move toward a goal of devoting 2 percent of GDP to defense within a decade. Germany’s current spending amounts to 1.24 percent of GDP. Merkel said that, though spending is rising, “relative to what others are doing in terms of their gross do- mestic product, that is far from sufficient.” She added that “that is why we have committed to spend 1.5 percent of gross do- mestic product for this by 2025,” and defended Germa- ny’s position. “Germany is a reliable partner in NATO,” Merkel said. “We are the second-big- gest troop provider, we par- ticipate in many missions, and Germany will remain a reliable partner in NATO.” In a message to skep- tics at home, she added that “we can’t act as though the issue of defense weren’t a pressing one in our time.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers her speech during a budget debate at the German parliament Bundestag at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Wednesday. - PHOTO: APNext >