ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – TUESDAY JULY 10, 2018 High of 91 Low of 79 Slight to moderate with wave heights of 2 to 4 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 OFREG: A REGULATOR IN NEED OF A REGULATOR? WORLD | PAGE 8 THAILAND: 4 MORE BOYS RESCUED FROM CAVE, 4 REMAIN TRAPPED Boris Johnson quits UK gov’t amid mounting Brexit crisis LONDON (AP) – British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a charismatic and divisive cheerleader for Britain’s exit from the Euro- pean Union, resigned Monday, adding to a crisis over Brexit that threatens to tear apart Prime Minister Theresa May’s government. May’s office said in a terse statement that the prime minister had accepted John- son’s resignation and would name a re- placement soon. Johnson, one of the best-known and most flamboyant members of the government, quit just hours after the resignation late Sunday of Brexit Secretary David Davis, the government’s top Brexit official. Davis said he could not support May’s plan to maintain close trade and regulatory ties with the EU, which he said gave “too much away, too easily.” There was no immediate statement from Johnson, another loud pro-Brexit voice within May’s divided government. Some euroskeptic lawmakers dream of replacing May with a staunch Brexiteer such as Johnson, a popu- list, polarizing politician who has never made a secret of his ambition to be prime minister. Minutes after Johnson quit, May defended her Brexit plan to lawmakers in the House of Commons – with Johnson absent from his usual place on the Conservative front bench. The plan seeks to keep the U.K. and the EU in a free-trade zone for goods, and commits Britain to maintaining the same rules as the bloc for goods and agricultural products. May said that was the “only way to avoid LAW COMMISSION LOOKS TO CROSS OFF ‘ARCHAIC’ OFFENSES BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Islands laws that make it an of- fense to practice certain types of worship, criminalize activities associated with being homeless, and which ban a number of publi- cations within the islands – despite many of those publications being available online – may soon be history. The Law Reform Commission is currently reviewing the Cayman Islands Penal Code, which contains most of the criminal offenses for which a person can be punished within the islands, at the request of Attorney Gen- eral Sam Bulgin. The code was first intro- duced in 1975 and has received only minor changes since. Faced with legal threats, C3 stops airing World Cup games KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com The telecommunications company C3 has stopped airing World Cup games after a brief legal dispute with Logic, the company that owns the exclusive rights to broadcast the tournament in Cayman. C3 allegedly aired the first game of the World Cup on June 14 – Russia’s 5-0 vic- tory over Saudi Arabia – on one of its chan- nels, CTV, according to a July 4 lawsuit filed by Logic against C3, which has since been withdrawn. Logic wrote C3 on that day, requesting that the company cease and desist its broad- cast of the World Cup. C3 replied shortly thereafter, indicating that it would cease its infringement of Logic’s copyrights, states the lawsuit. Nevertheless, C3 continued to air World Cup games on another channel, Fox, and aired the majority of the 57 games that had taken place by July 4, according to Logic’s lawsuit, which was obtained from the finan- cial services site OffshoreAlert. Cayman cyclists to ride length of Britain Guy Manning, second from left, who has previously climbed the highest mountains on seven continents and cycled across America as part of a relay team to raise funds for the Cayman Islands Cancer Society, will join three friends, from left, Andy Childe, Chris Smith and Jon Roney to cycle the length of Great Britain this month to raise more money for the charity. They will also be raising funds for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which helps to find cures for children with cancer. The four will cycle nearly 900 miles, from Land’s End in southern England to John o’ Groats in Scotland. For more on this story, see page 3. Boris Johnson 83-YEAR-OLD CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER OF WIFE William Lindberg Glasgow, 83, ap- peared in Summary Court Monday charged with attempting to kill his wife, Ellen, on June 4, in Trop- ical Gardens. Mrs. Glasgow remained in critical condition Monday, police said. For more on this story, see page 7. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL TUESDAY JULY 10, 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. - TUESDAY - 640-FILM (640-3456) ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (PG13) 1:50 3D I 3:45 VIP I 7:00 I 9:35 VIP 9:55 3D THE FIRST PURGE (R) 12:45 I 4:35 I 5:30 I 10:05 UNCLE DREW (PG13) 10:00 JURASSIC WORLD: THE FALLEN KINGDOM (PG13) 12:30 VIP I 1:20 I 3:35 3D I 6:50 I 9:20 3D HOTEL ARTEMIS (R) 3:10 I 7:50 I 9:40 INCREDIBLES 2 (PG) 12:45 3D I 4:10 I 6:30 3D SICARIO 2: DAY OF THE SOLDADO (R) 7:10 CLASSICS @ THE CINEMA: THE MUMMY (1932) (PG) 7:00 VIP New book tells Baptist history in Cayman MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com Pastor Randall Von Kanel said the idea for his new book came during the middle of a speech. In 2012, he was re- counting a brief history of the Baptist Church’s more than 125 years in the Cayman Islands during an anniver- sary celebration of the arrival of the first Baptist mission- aries on Cayman Brac. “I was giving an oral his- tory,” said Mr. Von Kanel, pastor of the Cayman Islands Baptist Church. “I realized it wasn’t sufficient.” His new book, “Our Bap- tist Story,” he said, is not only a more complete ac- count of the church’s history in Cayman, but a look back at the beginnings of the Chris- tian denomination, which emerged during the Reforma- tion, and how it grew into its current state. Mr. Von Kanel, 64, has a long history of his own with Cayman. He first came to Grand Cayman in 1978 as a missionary journeyman and a music and youth worker. As part of his mis- sion, he established the first youth band with the help of Triple C School. After a two-year stint, Mr. Von Kanel, a native of Pasca- goula, Mississippi, returned to the United States. “I left and thought I’d never be back,” he said. He was wrong. In 1992, he returned to serve as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Cayman. He served until 1998, when he took the po- sition of executive director of Global Outreach Interna- tional in Tupelo, Mississippi. He came back to serve as pastor of Cayman Islands Baptist Church in 2009 and has been there since. Mr. Von Kanel said he appreciates the people of Cayman and the way religion is woven into the community. “To be able to pray at a public event,” he said, “we used to do that in the U.S., but we don’t anymore.” The target audience for his book is his fellow Baptists, he said, but he hopes others will appreciate it as well. “I wrote it so Baptists will learn who we are and live that way,” he said. “We are champions of freedom.” Chapters in the book are dedicated to the development of the Baptist faith in Eng- land and America, its splin- tering into various branches, and the church’s role in the emancipation move- ment in Jamaica. It was Jamaican Bap- tists who originally came to Cayman Brac in 1885 and helped establish a network of churches on the island. A series of missionary minis- ters followed until two devas- tating hurricanes in the 1930s left not only the churches, but nearly everything else in need of rebuilding. The Brac Baptists turned to the American Baptists for help and, according to Mr. Von Kanel, that has been the primary influence on the islands parishioners since. He’d like to see that influence grow. “Maybe a rebirth of that faith and freedom will help us in the modern era,” he said. A launch party to pro- mote the book is sched- uled for 11 a.m. on July 21 at George Town Public Li- brary. It can also be pur- chased by calling the church office at 946-2422. The book costs $25, and proceeds from sales will go toward the seminary recently established by the Cayman Islands Baptist Church, and toward the church’s work in Little Cayman. Pastor Randall Von Kanel’s new book tells the history of the Baptist Church in the Cayman Islands. - PHOTO: MARK MUCKENFUSS Shooting survivor speaks to Cayman audiences Samantha Grady, a sur- vivor of February’s tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, visited Cayman last week and shared her experiences with local teenagers. Ms. Grady was a keynote speaker at the Savannah Ad- ventist Church on Friday, July 6, and she spoke again at the Aston Rutty Centre on Cayman Brac the next day. The 17-year-old told of her experience being wounded in a school shooting that left 14 students and three faculty members fatally injured. Ms. Grady also sang at the Savannah Church on July 8. She was invited to Cayman along with her par- ents Sally and Jim by Pastor Shion O’Connor, the presi- dent of the Cayman Islands Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Pastor O’Connor said he has known the Grady family for 10 years. “When I heard of the tragedy and that Samantha was one of the victims, I vis- ited her at her home in Coral Springs,” Pastor O’Connor said in a press release. “Having learned of her in- credible survival story, I felt compelled to have it shared with the youth of these Is- lands, many of whom are currently in colleges and uni- versities abroad or leaving shortly to be enrolled.” Ms. Grady told the as- sembled audience that she was injured by a bullet that grazed her back and by an- other projectile that rico- cheted and hit her in the chest. Her chest wound was stapled at the hospital, but fragments of the bullet that struck her still remain lodged inside her chest. Ms. Grady said that her best friend – who had been crouching close to her – was fatally shot in the at- tack, and she said she could recall the moments of terror that gripped her and her classmates. “I remembered praying to God, ‘You’ve got this; you know what you are doing,’” she said. “I had this reassur- ance; I had this ‘fact’ in my brain that I was not going to die, and that helped to calm my mind.” Ms. Grady and her mother recounted for the audience how they had gathered for worship the morning be- fore the attack. They looked for moments of solace in the tragedy, and Ms. Grady said she is “definitely more in tune with God,” in the wake of the school shooting. Ms. Grady suffers from post-traumatic stress dis- order and is startled by loud noises in the aftermath of the attack. Her father spoke about what it was like to go to the school on the day of the shooting to collect his daughter. “It was the worst day of my life,” he said. “It changes your life – you may once have taken everything for granted … [but] now life is so precious; I just want to hold on to her.” Sally and Jim Grady, left, join daughter Samantha and Pastor Shion O’Connor during the discussion of the impacts on their family of the Stoneman Douglas tragic school shooting. His new book, “Our Baptist Story,” he said, is not only a more complete account of the church’s history in Cayman, but a look back at the beginnings of the Christian denomination, which emerged during the Reformation, and how it grew into its current state. GOVERNMENT ALLIES ROUGH UP PRIESTS IN NICARAGUA MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) – Masked supporters of Ni- caragua’s government have attacked Roman Catholic priests led by Cardinal Leo- poldo Brenes as they ar- rived to help anti-govern- ment protesters trapped inside a church. Managua auxiliary Bishop Silvio Jose Baez sustained cuts to his arm as the delegation made its way into the San Se- bastian Basilica in Diriamba south of the capital Monday. Dozens of government sympathizers chanting “Mur- derers!” and “We want peace!” roughed up the religious del- egation and some journalists covering its arrival. The delegation succeeded in safely escorting out people who had been stuck in the church since police and armed pro-government allies violently put down a protest in the city Sunday. Human rights groups say at least eight civilians were killed and police said two of their own died in the clash.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY JULY 10, 2018 Undergraduate Scholarship At Kimpton, Seafire Resort and Spa, the real you is a job requirement; your diverse background, talents and quirks are what help our company connect meaningfully with our guests. That’s why FORTUNE magazine has put Kimpton on its “Best Companies To Work For” list, seven times. The 266-room, 5 diamond Kimpton Seafire Resort and Spa is inviting applications from suitably qualified Caymanians for a maximum of a two-year scholarship. The scholarship will be an award of up to US$25,000 per year for a maximum of two years, commencing December 2018. The Successful Recipient will: • Have been accepted as a full-time student into an accredited associate or technical program in a field related to the hospitality industry, for a maximum of 2 years, • Be Caymanian, have the ability to prove Caymanian status and have proof of having resided in the Cayman Islands for at least 4 years prior to application • Be between the ages of 16 to 20 years of age, • Possess excellent character, work ethic and have a genuine interest in the Hospitality Industry • Have successfully received their high school diploma and, have maintained a minimum B average or GPA 3.5 over 4 years • Be available to interview in person Application forms may be downloaded from http://www.seafireresortandspa.com/hotel-scholarship- program/, and returned via email to seafirescholarshipprogram@seafireresortandspa.com or in person to our hotel at 60 Tanager Way, Seven Mile Beach addressed to: Seafire Resort and Spa Attn: People & Culture Director Scholarship 2018 DEADLINE: 31 August 2018 (Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted) Cycling group aims to ride length of Great Britain for charity SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The latest challenge of Guy Manning’s life begins at Land’s End. Mr. Manning, who has al- ready scaled Mount Everest and been part of a relay team cycling across the United States, will bike the length of the United Kingdom with a group of friends later this month. Three of his six peers – Chris Smith, Jon Roney and Andy Childe – hail from the U.K. but live in Cayman, and they have been preparing for the trip by cycling around the East End loop for the last few months. “We’ve all been doing the training,” Mr. Smith said. “We’re all very stubborn as well.” Their journey – from Land’s End at the southern tip of England to John o’ Groats in the northern end of Scotland – will take seven days and nearly 900 miles up and down hilly terrain. The group will pull into their final destination on July 29, the same day as the climax of the Tour de France. The group’s race up the western edge of Great Britain will be self-funded, and they will raise money for the Cayman Islands Cancer So- ciety and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Most of the group has never done a journey like this, and they will be leaning on Mr. Manning, who has scaled the tallest peaks on all seven continents. “It’s a good bunch of friends looking forward to the challenge,” Mr. Manning said. “I’m excited about it. The goal really is to raise as much money as we can. That’s the objective, and if it tempts people to get out on their bikes, that’s a great thing too. But it’s re- ally about the charity and fundraising.” Mr. Smith said the group has been preparing by cy- cling about 100 miles a day on weekends here in Cayman, but new tests will be the el- evation of the terrain and England’s fickle weather. The journey will require the group to traverse about 125 miles a day for seven straight days, piling on the diffi- culty over a week. “I think it’s important that we stick together as a group. We can take it easy,” said Mr. Smith of the 875-mile journey of a lifetime. “Guy Manning has done a lot of things. The rest of us, we’ve done a few Ironman races. We have mar- athons and all those kind of things under our belt.” Mr. Manning compared this journey to his Race Across America, in which he and three pals took turns cycling nearly 3,100 miles nonstop across the United States. That ride took him over the Rockies and the Ap- palachian mountain chains, priming him for a jaunt around the perimeter of his homeland. But is one race harder than the other? Mr. Manning said they both present their own challenges. “It sounds, on paper, a lot easier, but we all ride the whole race, whereas in America, we all rotated,” he said. “It’s actually a pretty similar distance ridden each day. But the advantage here is we get to sleep in a bed each night. In Race Across America, there was basically no sleep. We were constantly in the van bouncing along the road …. I’m hoping to get a bit more rest this time.” The group’s tired legs will begin to weigh heavier and heavier as the trip progresses, and Mr. Manning said the toughest day could come on the fourth day. That day will take him near the town his parents live in – Hutton Roof – and will bring the group over the border separating England from Scotland. “We’re riding from Wigan to a place called Gretna Green,” he said. “That’s about 125 miles, but it will take us right through the English Lake District, which is the most mountainous part of the U.K. There will be a lot of climbing that day. But that’s where I grew up, so I’m looking forward to that day.” Mr. Manning said his family might actually be re- assured that he’s only cy- cling hundreds of miles and not trudging his way up a mountain. “They’re pretty used to me coming up with things,” he said. “I think Mom and Dad are happy we’re riding the U.K. instead of telling them I’m climbing Everest or something of that sort. It’s a bit safer. This is a nice challenge, and next year I’ll be looking to do something more exotic again out in the wilderness.” People who want to contribute to their cause can visit the group’s GoFundMe page www.GoFundMe.com/ chnjrf-bike-for-cancer. Cayman’s Guy Manning, Chris Smith, Jon Roney and Andy Childe will cycle nearly 900 miles over seven days from Land’s End at the southern tip of England to John o’ Groats in Scotland this month. Guy Manning holds the Cayman Islands flag on Mount Everest in 2013 during his Seven Summits Challenge. His latest fundraising effort will be cycling from Land’s End to John o’ Groats in the United Kingdom with three pals later this month. Cayman gets support from Caricom on UK issues BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Member states of the Ca- ribbean Community, also called Caricom, have given full support to Cayman and the other British Over- seas Territories in their on- going battle against a move to force public company ownership registers upon those territories. A May 1 vote in the U.K. House of Commons that amended Britain’s Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill inserted a requirement in the bill that all U.K. over- seas territories – but not Crown dependencies – im- plement an open public reg- ister of company ownership by Dec. 31, 2020. If that deadline is not met, the bill requires the U.K. Secretary of State to draft orders in council to force the territories to comply. Cayman already has a reg- ister of company owner- ship, but it is only acces- sible upon request to certain law enforcement or legal taxing entities. Premier Alden McLaughlin has said legal advice received by Cayman’s government in the U.K. noted that taking ac- tion against the vote in the Commons “brings the difficul- ties inherent in the arguments surrounding parliamentary supremacy” and that the pro- posal would more likely be fought in the Cayman Islands courts if the U.K. does seek to implement it. The heads of govern- ment from the Caribbean Community member states backed that position during a conference last week in Kingston, Jamaica, voicing their own disapproval for the U.K.’s approach to the issue. “[The heads of govern- ment] expressed their soli- darity with the territories adversely affected by this unilateral action to legislate in areas of domestic policy constitutionally devolved to the territories without the consent and involvement of their people,” the official communique issued at the end of the conference July 6 read. “Moreover, the ac- tion ran counter to an alter- native arrangement to public registers earlier negotiated and agreed with the UK gov- ernment and put in place at great cost to the overseas territories.” Premier McLaughlin thanked the Caribbean Com- munity member states for their support. “This is an important statement of solidarity from the heads of member states of CARICOM in support of the Overseas Territories, the majority of which are also associate members of [the Caribbean Community]” Mr. McLaughlin said. Meanwhile, the issue of beneficial ownership regis- ters arose during a question- and-answer session of the U.K. House of Commons last week as well. During the meeting, U.K. MP Helen Goodman jokingly asked U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Ham- mond if he would “orga- nize a lunch” for the mem- bers of parliament who pushed through the amend- ment to the Sanctions and Money Laundering Bill. Ms. Goodman claimed that “ending tax secrecy” via the public company registers in the overseas territories would “bring in 10 million pounds a year” to the U.K. government treasury. “When I have the money in the bank, I will invite them around for a glass of champagne,” Mr. Ham- mond responded.The islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will findtheirownway” OfReg, Cayman’s avaricious and metastasizing regu- lator, is making far too many headlines in this newspaper, and the headlines are not flattering. Since it opened for business in January 2017, its performance has been anything but stellar. In fact, it has been extremely troubling. Consider just a few highlights (lowlights) from its recently released annual report: • OfReg spent more than CI$1 million last year in con- sultancy and professional fees. • Nearly an additional quarter million dollars (CI$234,000) was spent on travel-related expenses. • Another quarter million (CI$243,752 to be precise) went to legal fees. • A further CI$304,630 went into a non-descriptive category that makes accountants cringe: “other oper- ating expenses.” In total last year, OfReg (which stands for the Utility Regulation and Competition Office) spent CI$2.2 million on salaries and benefits for 22 employees – approxi- mately CI$100,000 per employee. Despite that expenditure, the additional CI$1 million in consultancy fees was required, according to the report, because the 22 employees, while “enthusiastic, wiling and dedicated,” lack “the range of requisite skills to perform its regulatory work.” Whoa. What? But there’s more: The Compass has reported in the past year that OfReg was flirting with the idea of requiring licensing for retailers that offer wireless internet “hot spots” for customers. We believe this fanciful idea has died a merciful death. We also reported, and editorially strongly opposed, OfReg’s proposal that government assume responsibility for installing fiber optic networks in the Eastern districts – and sending telecom companies the bill. Similarly, we also took issue editorially with OfReg’s leadership for telling lawmakers they considered it “futile” to attempt to enforce a licensing requirement for cable companies to provide local content over a “free-to-air” public channel. OfReg was quoted as saying it was “not worth starting a war” to attempt to collect fees legally owed by government broadcasters. Late last month, OfReg announced it would solicit a comprehensive review to identify contributors to rising fuel prices with an eye toward the establishment of “effective supervision” of that market. Although we were relieved to hear Chief Executive Officer J. Paul Morgan assure Public Accounts Committee members he was inclined to sort the problem by increasing competition in that sector, his assurance did little to diminish our con- tinuing and overarching concerns. For example, in OfReg’s annual report, Mr. Morgan writes, “It was assumed at the policy level that the revenues from the ICTA, the ERA [predecessor regula- tors] and the core government appropriations would be sufficient to fund the transition and perhaps future opera- tions of the Office. “The fact is that insufficient consideration was given to the additional burden to the Office imposed by the inclusion of the fuels market and the water sector regula- tory functions.” Especially troubling, leadership has been less than forthcoming with sharing relevant information with the general public. When the Compass sought comment on recent articles concerning the aforementioned annual report, Mr. Morgan demurred, writing to say he was off island on personal business. He referred the reporter to Deputy CEO Alee Fa’amoe, who did not respond to Mr. Morgan’s or the reporter’s follow-up request. The Compass has now learned from the most reliable of sources that Mr. Morgan is, in fact, departing his post as CEO. To our knowledge, OfReg has made no such announcement publicly. Why not, and what on Earth is going on at that agency? OfReg: A regulator in need of a regulator? Polly: He’s a socialist but he does not like people. Brian: Nor do I, much. Polly: You are a conser- vative. You do not have to. – From “Getting On,” by Alan Bennett WASHINGTON – This, one of the pleasures of being a conservative, is not for Al- exandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28. She recently won the Democratic nomination – effectively, election – in a Bronx and Queens con- gressional district, run- ning as a “democratic so- cialist.” In response to her, progressives and conserva- tives are experiencing dif- ferent excitements. The left relishes the so- cialist label as a rejection of squishy centrism – a naughty, daring rejection of timidity: Aux barricades, citoyens! The right enjoys a tingle of delicious fear: We told you that the alterna- tive to us is the dark night of socialism. At the risk of spoiling the fun – the left’s anticipa- tion of the sunny uplands of social justice; the right’s frisson of foreboding – con- sider two questions: What is socialism? And what might a socialist American government do? In its 19th-century in- fancy, socialist theory was at least admirable in its clarity: It meant state own- ership of the means of pro- duction (including arable land), distribution and ex- change. Until, of course, the state “withers away” (Friedrich Engels’ phrase), when a classless, and hence harmonious, society can dispense with government. After World War II, Brit- ain’s Labour Party diluted socialist doctrine to mean state ownership of the economy’s “commanding heights” (Lenin’s phrase from 1922) – heavy in- dustry (e.g., steel), mining, railroads, telecommunica- tions, etc. Since then, in Britain and elsewhere, fur- ther dilution has produced socialism as comprehensive economic regulation by the administrative state (obvi- ating the need for national- ization of economic sectors) and government energeti- cally redistributing wealth. So, if America had a so- cialist government today, what would it be like? Socialism favors the thorough permeation of economic life by “social” (aka political) consider- ations, so it embraces pro- tectionism – government telling consumers what they can buy, in what quan- tities and at what prices. (A socialist American govern- ment might even set quotas and prices for foreign washing machines.) Socialism favors maxi- mizing government’s role supplementing, even largely supplanting, the market – voluntary private transac- tions – in the allocation of wealth by implementing re- distributionist programs. (Today America’s sky is dark with dollars flying hither and yon at govern- ment’s direction: Transfer payments distribute 14 per- cent of GDP, two-thirds of the federal budget, up from a little more than one- quarter in 1960. In the half-century 1963-2013, transfer payments were the fastest-growing category of personal income. By 2010, American governments were transferring $2.2 tril- lion in government money, goods and services.) Socialism favors vig- orous government interven- tions in the allocation of capital, directing it to uses that far-sighted govern- ment knows, and the slow- witted market does not re- alize, constitute the wave of the future. So, an Amer- ican socialist government might tell, say, Carrier Corp. and Harley-Davidson that the government knows better than they do where they should invest share- holders’ assets. Socialism requires – ac- tually, socialism is – indus- trial policy, whereby gov- ernment picks winners and losers in conformity with the government’s vision of how the future ought to be rationally planned. What could go wrong? (Imagine, weirdly, a president prac- ticing compassionate so- cialism by ordering his en- ergy secretary to prop up yesterday’s coal industry against the market menace of fracking – cheap oil and natural gas.) Socialism, which fancies itself applied social science, requires a bureaucracy of largely autonomous experts unconstrained by a mar- ginalized – ideally, a par- alyzed – Congress. So, an American socialist govern- ment would rule less by laws than by regulations written in administrative agencies staffed by experts insulated from meddling by elected legislators. (Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s office dis- plays two piles of paper. One, a few inches high, contains the laws Congress passed in a recent year. The other, about 8 feet tall, con- tains regulations churned out that year by the admin- istrative state’s agencies.) Socialism favors vast scope for ad hoc executive actions unbound by con- straining laws that stifle executive nimbleness and creativity. (Imagine an ag- grieved president telling, say, Harley-Davidson: “I’ve” – first-person sin- gular pronoun – “done so much for you.”) Today’s American so- cialists say that our gov- ernment has become the handmaiden of rapacious factions and entrenched elites, and that there should be much more government. They are half-right. To be fair, they also say that after America gets “on the right side of history” (an updated version of after “the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest”), government will be truly disinterested, manipulated by no rent-seeking factions, serving only justice. That is, government will be alto- gether different than it is, or ever has been. Seriously. George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com. © 2018, Washington Post Writers Group TUESDAY JULY 10, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS What might a socialist American government do? GEORGE F. WILL GEORGE Socialism requires – actually, socialism is – industrial policy, whereby government picks winners and losers in conformity with the government’s vision of how the future ought to be rationally planned. 5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY JULY 10, 2018 New Traffic Law seeks to end Cayman’s car troubles BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman lawmakers are hoping that recently ap- proved changes to traffic rules will finally sort out how many vehicles are on the islands, how many of them are being legally driven and how many are on the roads unlawfully. Keeping track of vehi- cles, particularly on Grand Cayman, has proved a daunting task for the De- partment of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing over the past two decades – par- ticularly following the de- struction caused by 2004’s Hurricane Ivan. A government audit re- leased to the Cayman Com- pass last year found DVDL records indicated that more than 74,000 vehicles were on the department register in mid-2015 and more than 63,500 drivers’ licenses were recorded. Of the more than 74,000 vehicle registrations, just more than half related to vehicles with expired tags or those for which the depart- ment had no licensing details at all, the Internal Audit Ser- vice reported. More than 25,000 vehi- cles had “expired” registra- tions, some of them which had not been updated since the 1980s and 1990s. Thou- sands of those vehicles on the department’s records ex- pired after Hurricane Ivan struck the islands in 2004, rendering a large number of cars inoperable. The introduction of a new electronic vehicle registra- tion system, including the use of electronic license tags last year, was partly done to help the beleaguered de- partment sort out the issue. However, the issuance of electronic tags is still on- going and thousands of the new license plates remain at the DVDL facility on Crewe Road awaiting retrieval by vehicle owners. Planning Minister Joey Hew said in late June that the government is now in the process of installing elec- tronic antennas for the elec- tronic vehicle registration system which will ensure any vehicle being driven is “up-to- date” with licensing, registra- tion and insurance. For example, while the current Traffic Law requires individuals to maintain in- surance on their cars, the current system requires the DVDL to update that infor- mation manually, which it does about once a month. “This is a tedious, but necessary process … one that allows for another one of these loopholes,” Min- ister Hew said. Currently, there is nothing to prevent drivers from going to the DVDL with a cover note, showing they have ob- tained insurance, receiving a vehicle registration and then canceling the insur- ance, allowing them to drive without insurance for at least a short period. The electronic licensing system will notify the DVDL immediately, via use of the radio antenna transmitters, if a vehicle is being oper- ated without insurance or registration and “govern- ment can be informed of persons driving illegally,” Mr. Hew said. Changes approved as part of the Traffic Law amend- ments clear the way for the electronic monitoring devices to be used on Cayman’s roads. Another problem the law seeks to deal with is the ac- cumulation of vehicles with expired tags that are left around the islands and even- tually become eyesores if the owners do not repair them. The new law provides an “amnesty period” of about six months that allows owners to turn in license plates for vehicles that have not been registered for more than a year without paying the stan- dard fee – $25 – for doing so. Going forward, vehicles that are kept without a cur- rent license plate will only accumulate registration fees for a year. After that, the DVDL director now has the power to cancel or suspend the registration. Once the registrations are suspended, DVDL officials will know if those vehicles continue to be operated. “The government will have a better handle on the total number of vehicles we have on island … the total number of vehicles we have registered and on the road and how many vehicles we have that are not registered, but are still on the road,” Mr. Hew said. Not knowing those reg- istration figures over an ex- tended number of years means Cayman government coffers could have lost out on millions of dollars in tax revenue. Internal auditors reported last year that the Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing had as- sessed, but not collected, about $14.9 million in vehicle registrations and unpaid drivers’ license fees over a period of years. Almost all of that amount, about $14 mil- lion, was owed in vehicle reg- istration fees. In its response to the audit, DVDL management stated it had a responsibility to inform vehicle owners in advance that their reg- istrations or licenses were being terminated and that its present resources simply do not allow for that. At- tempts to use the govern- ment’s debt recovery unit to collect unpaid registration fees also failed because of lack of staff. The Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing on Crewe Road in George Town. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY POLICE: ROBBERIES ‘TOP PRIORITY’ FOR OFFICERS BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com A spate of armed rob- beries over the past week, including one where a man was stabbed and another where gunshots were fired, has led to increased po- lice patrols in areas hit by the crimes. Four robberies occurred on Grand Cayman between Thursday night and early Sunday morning, two of which involved properties of the same restaurant business. “Four robberies in one [48-hour period], under- standably alarm the public and businesses, and appre- hending those responsible is a top priority for the RCIPS,” said Acting Superintendent Brad Ebanks. “We have in- creased our armed patrols throughout the night, and ask both business owners and members of the public to immediately report any suspicious activity to police.” No arrests in any of the incidents had been reported by press time Monday. Supt. Ebanks said local businesses should contact their community policing officers if they need fur- ther assistance. “Extra precautions should also be taken around the handling of cash,” Mr. Ebanks said. “Community officers are ready to meet with anyone interested in ob- taining further robbery pre- vention advice.” Firearms were used in three of the four heists that occurred between late Thursday and early Sunday, and in the fourth incident a resident was beaten and stabbed before having his backpack taken. The Al La Kebab eatery on Lawrence Boulevard, George Town, was held up late Sat- urday night. Police said four masked suspects approached employees around 11:20 p.m. Saturday, with one car- rying a handgun. On Thursday night, two gunshots were fired during a robbery of an Al La Kebab food truck, Al La KeVroom, that was parked in Red Bay. Two other robberies along Seven Mile Beach and at the George Town bus depot were reported this weekend. West Bay man pleads guilty on third animal charge SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com A West Bay resident who had previously pleaded guilty Monday to two cases of an- imal cruelty pleaded guilty to failing to keep his dog under control. Desland St. Aubyn Bailey will next appear in Summary Court on July 23 for sentencing on all three matters. Mr. Bailey pleaded guilty Monday for an incident in July 2017 in which his dog bit a female passerby who was visiting the home of his neighbor. The defendant has agreed to pay medical bills for the victim. Both sides agreed that Mr. Bailey’s dog was leashed but was still able to burrow under a fence to bite the victim. The defendant had previ- ously pleaded guilty for put- ting Pine-Sol on his dog’s back while trying to rid it of external parasites. That dog, named Rufus, suffered second-degree burns on his head and his back after the Pine-Sol was applied, on or before Aug. 8, 2017. Mr. Bailey also pleaded guilty to failing to seek medical attention for the dog in a timely manner. He surrendered the dog to the Humane Society. It was unclear from Mon- day’s court hearing if the dog that bit the woman was Rufus, as Mr. Bailey had two dogs leashed on his prop- erty at the time. Mr. Bailey represented himself on Monday in the courtroom of Magistrate Adam Roberts. The crown counsel will consult with Mr. Bailey and the victim to make sure the appropriate medical bills are paid. Limited access to old West Bay Road Phased construction on and near the Raleigh Quay inter- section and old West Bay Road by the Kimpton Seafire resort will limit access to the beach- front road, police said. Work on the road began on Monday. According to a Royal Cayman Islands Police Service press release, varying sections of the road along the beach and Raleigh Quay will be closed to rebuild and shift the roadway. Access to these areas, par- ticularly from the West Bay north roadway, will have lim- ited access. Those areas in- clude Tiki Beach and the direct access to the beaches between Tiki Beach and the Sund- owner Condominiums. Other limited access areas will in- clude the Kimpton’s outdoor beach restaurant Coccoloba and the current beach access at the roadway junction for Red Sail Sports. A section of the old West Bay Road, along with a section of Raleigh Quay, by the Kimpton hotel, in the background, has been closed to accommodate roadworks. - PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER FLETCHERThe 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. TUESDAY JULY 10, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS 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 12:30-4:30 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 9-12. 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 NEW THRIFT SHOP: One Dog At A Time has launched its “New To You” Thrift Shop. The store is open every Saturday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. plus every Wednesday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. throughout the summer. The shop is at Unit 26 at the warehouses on Bodden Road, which run down the side of Kirk Home Store to the old screen print place. 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. 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. The National Museum is holding ‘Mango Season at the Museum’ from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 14.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY JULY 10, 2018 a hard border” between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. Un- certainty over whether tar- iffs and immigration checks would be introduced at the border has been a major stumbling block in negotia- tions between Britain and the European Union. Rebuffing claims that her proposals make too many concessions to the EU, May said “this is the right Brexit” and would leave Britain free to make its own laws and trade deals. May’s Cabinet agreed to the plan after a 12-hour meeting Friday, but govern- ment unity began to fray within hours. Brexit-supporting law- makers were angered by the proposals, saying they would keep Britain tethered to the bloc and unable to change its rules to strike new trade deals around the world. They also argued that the pro- posals breach several of the “red lines” the government set out, including a commitment to leave the EU’s tariff-free customs union. In a resignation letter, Davis said the “‘common rule book’ policy hands control of large swathes of our economy to the EU and is certainly not returning control of our laws in any real sense.” Davis also said that May’s plan “would be a risk at least of delivering a poor outcome.” If Davis’s resignation rattled May, Johnson’s shook the foundations of her government. The resignations came just days after May an- nounced she had finally united her quarrelsome gov- ernment behind a plan for a divorce deal with the EU. Less than nine months remain until Britain reduces the EU’s membership on March 29, 2019. EU officials have warned Britain repeat- edly that time is running out to seal a deal spelling out the terms of the divorce and a post-split relationship. Britain and the EU hope to reach broad agreement by October so the national par- liaments of the remaining countries can ratify a deal before Britain leaves. The timetable looks increasingly optimistic, but European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the EU was “available 24/7.” Schinas said the bloc “will continue to negotiate in good will, bona fide, with Prime Minister Theresa May and the U.K. govern- ment negotiators in order to reach a deal.” In her Commons state- ment, May urged the EU to take her proposal seriously. “What we are proposing is challenging to the EU,” she said. “It requires them to think again and look be- yond the positions they have taken so far and agree a fair balance of rights and obligations.” Steve Baker, a junior Brexit minister also resigned. May appointed staunchly pro-Brexit lawmaker Dom- inic Raab as the country’s new Brexit secretary. Davis insisted he did not want his resignation to become a rallying cry for May’s ouster. “I like Theresa May, I think she’s a good prime minister,” Davis said. Davis did not urge other ministers to resign, saying he was in a unique position because the Brexit secre- tary’s job is to sell the gov- ernment’s policy. “I’d have to deliver this. I’d have to do something I didn’t believe in,” he told the BBC. “That’s not a tenable posi- tion …. Others don’t have that same responsibility.” The loss of two senior ministers and the anger among Brexit-supporting backbench lawmakers makes May’s position as leader in- creasingly tenuous. Under Conservative Party rules, a confidence vote in a leader can be triggered if 48 Conservative law- makers request one. But leading pro-Brexit legislator Jacob Rees-Mogg said “I don’t think a no-confi- dence vote is immediately in the offing.” He urged May to abandon her plans and take a tougher line with Brussels. “Friday’s announce- ment was turning red lines into a white flag, and David Davis has made that so clear in his resignation letter,” Rees-Mogg said. “[The code was] revised primarily by the adjustment of type and length of pun- ishments with the introduc- tion of some new offenses,” the law commission reported. “Some of the criticisms of the code are that parts of it are archaic and constitutionally incompatible.” Cayman’s Constitution Order, 2009, established a formal bill of rights in the territory for the first time. The majority of the bill took effect in November 2012, enabling protections against things like torture and slavery, as well as providing various rights to movement, privacy, non-discrimination and ex- pression, among others. The law commission noted there were some pro- visions within the Penal Code that could be at odds with the guarantees of those rights in the Cayman Consti- tution Order. There may be others that were simply “not consistent with modern legis- lative trends.” Some of the criminal of- fenses to be reviewed by the law commission were listed within a report presented to the Legislative Assembly in late June. Section 158: Idle and disorderly persons This section of the Penal Code criminalizes begging and, in some case, fund- raising for charity. Section 158(a) notes a person who “places himself in any public place for the purpose of gath- ering alms” could face impris- onment of up to four years under the current Penal Code. The section seeks to pre- vent the practice of things like “obeah, myalism [West Indian folk religions], duppy- catching or witchcraft” and also criminalizes things like palm-reading or tarot card fortunetelling. The Penal Code also con- tains a separate offense for obeah, which has been de- fined in various ways as “sor- cery,” “spell-casting” or a West Indian religious practice. The law commission noted that section of the Penal Code needs to be reviewed. The idle and disorderly persons section also crimi- nalizes anyone who “obtains charitable contributions” unless authorized on be- half of Cabinet. Sections 171-179: Defamation An entire subsection of the Penal Code is dedicated to criminalizing speech or written communication that is untrue and which causes damage to a per- son’s reputation. Typically, defamation ei- ther by libel (published or broadcast statements) or slander (public statements) is dealt with in civil court, but Cayman has been re- luctant to remove the crim- inal provision in the Penal Code against it. Human Rights Com- mission Chairman James Austin-Smith, a victim of defamatory articles in the Cayman Reporter news- paper back in 2015, de- clined to pursue criminal complaints against the publication and instead chose to handle the matter in civil court. “My personal view is that criminalizing state- ments is a sledgehammer to crack a nut,“ he said at the time. “If you’ve got the protection of the civil law, criminal libel is perhaps something that we need to move on from and probably don’t need anymore. There are subsets of freedom of expression. The question becomes … where do you draw the line?” The law commission also intends to review pro- hibition against “insulting the modesty of a woman” – which can lead to three years in prison for making any sound or gesture that “intrudes upon the pri- vacy of a woman” or in- sults her modesty. Section 157 – Obscene publications The ban against obscene publications is largely tar- geted at the distribution or exhibition of pornographic materials including “photo- graphs, cinematograph films, discs, tapes or other obscene objects or any other object tending to corrupt morals.” In practice, such materials are widely available on the internet. However, Cayman still has a five-page list of various banned publications, including adult magazines, that cannot be imported for sale in stores but which can be viewed by anyone with a computer. The bill of rights in sec- tion 10, which deals with freedom of conscience and religion, and section 11, which sets out freedom of expression, could put the Cayman Islands in legal dif- ficulty when it comes to ban- ning publications. Banned books in the Cayman Islands also in- clude many texts on the var- ious magical arts, known as “obeah” in the Caribbean. Some of the prohibited publications still listed are: “The Book of Magical Art,” “Hindoo Magic and Indian Occultism,” the “Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses,” and the “Great Book of Magical Art.” Logic’s lawsuit sought a Grand Court order re- straining C3 from broad- casting more World Cup games, as well as damages from C3’s alleged copy- right violation. However, Logic CEO Rob McNabb told the Compass on Monday that his com- pany withdrew its law- suit after C3 agreed to stop broadcasting games. C3, for its part, confirmed that it has stopped airing World Cup games, but stated that it is “disappointed” by a lack of regulatory action against what it described as anti-competitive be- havior taking place in the telecoms industry. C3 filed a complaint with the telecoms regulator, OfReg, on June 18, alleging that Logic and Flow have been engaging in anti-com- petitive behavior – the two companies struck a deal with cable television rival Flow to allow it to carry coverage of the tournament, leaving C3 out of the mix. “Under Clause 14 (Anti-Competitive Prac- tices: Agreement) if two Li- censees enter into an agree- ment which has as its ‘objective or effect the pre- vention, restriction or dis- tortion of competition re- lating to any ICT service or ICT network subject to this law,’ it is prohibited,” C3 stated in its complaint. “Accordingly, the agreement between Logic and Flow re- garding the World Cup is a prohibited agreement.” However, OfReg has not made a decision on the complaint, said C3 owner Randy Merren. “Here we are with the World Cup final about five days away, and we still haven’t received any deci- sion,” he said. Logic’s exclusive rights to the World Cup – it ob- tained a sublicense from DirectTV, which has an ex- clusive license to broad- cast the games in the Latin American region – has been an issue of debate since it was made public in March, when MLA Chris Saunders raised concerns about it in the Legislative Assembly. Mr. Merren also said in March that he was disap- pointed not to be able to broadcast the tournament, which he believes should be universally available. “This is the World Cup and the idea is that every- body should be able to see the beautiful game for free. You sell advertising around it and get your revenue that way,” he said at the time. “If we had the rights, we could broadcast it on Cayman27 and Island 24 and every customer of Logic or Flow would be able to access the content. That won’t be the case here. “They are trying to le- verage the World Cup to drive subscribers to their cable system.” Other countries man- date that events like the World Cup are preserved for all. In the U.K., for ex- ample, the British govern- ment won a legal battle with FIFA to allow it to mandate that all 64 games of the tournament be main- tained as free-to-air. But Cayman’s telecoms regulator, OfReg, has indi- cated that it does not get involved in the contrac- tual or commercial deals of its licensees. Logic has also struck a deal with cable television rival Flow to allow it to carry coverage of the tour- nament. The two compa- nies appear to have traded broadcast rights in an agreement that will mean Logic can carry increased coverage of the English Pre- mier League next season. Law commission looks to cross off ‘archaic’ offenses CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Boris Johnson quits UK government amid mounting Brexit crisis CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Faced with legal threats, C3 stops airing World Cup games CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 83-YEAR-OLD HUSBAND CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com An 83-year-old man charged with attempting to cause the death of his wife appeared in Summary Court on Monday morning, when the charge was trans- mitted to Grand Court. William Lindberg Glasgow is accused of at- tempted murder following an incident involving his wife, Ellen, on July 4, in Tropical Gardens. No details were men- tioned in court and Mag- istrate Valdis Foldats set the matter for mention in Grand Court on Friday, July 20. Attempted murder is a charge that can be dealt with only in the higher court. Defense attorney Prathna Bodden said she was not making any bail application at this time. A press release from police after the incident stated that the victim had sustained multiple lacera- tions and underwent sur- gery. Police said the woman remained in critical con- dition Monday.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 TUESDAY JULY 10, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS South Sudan cancels celebrations amid war South Sudan has canceled Independence Day celebrations for the third year in a row as its devastating civil war grinds on. Monday marks seven years since the country gained independence from Sudan, but five years of fighting have killed tens of thousands and shattered the economy. Pompeo pushes peace talks on unannounced trip to Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used an unan- nounced trip to Afghani- stan on Monday to step up the Trump administration’s calls for peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Flying into Kabul after visiting Vietnam, Pompeo made the appeal in meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. “The United States will support, facilitate and par- ticipate in these discussions,” Pompeo later told journal- ists, stressing that any talks would be “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.” Pompeo added: “The re- gion and the world are all tired of what are taking place here in the same way that the Afghan people are no longer interested in seeing war.” However, it remains un- clear how the Taliban will take such an offer after nearly 17 years of war. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan fol- lowing the Sept. 11 terror at- tacks by al-Qaida, which the Taliban government at the time had harbored. Since then, the insurgents have repeatedly rejected such calls, demanding direct talks with the United States. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had extended a re- cent holiday cease-fire in hopes of encouraging the militants to come to the bargaining table, but the Taliban rejected the offer and resumed attacks. The Taliban have seized control of several districts across the country in recent years, and launch near-daily at- tacks, mainly targeting se- curity forces. An increas- ingly powerful Islamic State affiliate has also stepped up attacks in recent months. Speaking at Monday’s news conference, Ghani praised the Trump adminis- tration’s South Asia strategy, which included sending more American forces and pres- suring neighboring Paki- stan to do more to stop mili- tants coming over its border into Afghanistan. “Because of this strategy and the conditions-based na- ture of it, we, the members of the government, have been able to take bold steps out- side the box and articulate an agenda of peace that is truly comprehensive and asks for engagement,” Ghani said, citing the recent cease-fire. Pompeo also added, per- haps optimistically given Af- ghanistan’s long history of resisting foreign forces, that the Taliban were “begin- ning to see that they cannot wait us out.” Pompeo left Afghanistan for the United Arab Emirates, where he will meet Abu Dha- bi’s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a staunch U.S. ally, amid his country’s war in Yemen. The UAE is highly suspicious of Iran and wel- comed President Donald Trump’s decision to with- draw the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, is greeted by Chief of Staff Abdul Salam Rahimi as he arrives at Gul Khanna in the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday. - PHOTO: AP Official: 4 more boys brought out of flooded Thai cave MAE SAI, Thailand (AP) – Four more of the youth soccer players trapped for over two weeks in a flooded cave in northern Thailand were brought out on Monday, an official said, bringing to eight the number extracted in the ongoing high-stakes rescue operation. “The eighth person is out and the operation is done for today,” Sitthichai Klangpat- tana, flag officer to Thailand’s navy SEAL commander, told The Associated Press. “Four boys were brought out today.” He did not comment on the health of the boys or how well the operation had gone. After Monday’s rescue effort, four boys and their coach were still inside the labyrinth cave. On Sunday, when the high-risk rescue operation to rescue the 12 boys and their coach began, teams of divers brought out four of the boys but waited sev- eral hours before confirming their safe rescue. The Facebook page of the Thai Navy SEALs, who have been central to the rescue op- eration, was updated Monday night to say “two days, eight boars” – a reference to the Wild Boars, the name of the boys’ soccer team. The mes- sage, like most posted by the SEALs, ended with the fighting cheer adopted from the U.S. Navy: Hooyah. Chiang Rai acting Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said earlier Monday that the second phase began at 11 a.m. and authorities “hope to hear good news in the next few hours.” “All conditions are still as good as they were yesterday,” Narongsak told a news con- ference. “The boys’ strength, the plan – today we are ready like before. And we will do it faster because we are afraid of the rain.” Authorities have been rushing to extract the boys, ages 11-16, and their coach from the cave as the annual monsoon bears down on the mountainous region in far northern Chiang Rai prov- ince. Workers have been la- boring around the clock to pump water out of the cave, and authorities said Monday that heavy downpours over- night did not raise water levels inside. The four boys guided from the cave Sunday in an ur- gent and dangerous opera- tion that involved them diving through the cave’s dark, tight and twisting passages were happy and in good health, au- thorities said. “This morning they said they were hungry and wanted to eat khao pad grapao,” Narongsak said, referring to a Thai dish of meat fried with chili and basil and served over rice. Still, the four were under- going medical checks in a hos- pital in the provincial cap- ital and were not yet allowed close contact with relatives due to fear of infections. Rel- atives were able to see them through a glass partition, the governor said. The boys and their coach went exploring in the massive Tham Luang Nang Non cave on June 23 after a soccer prac- tice, and were cut off when a rainstorm flooded the cave. A massive international search operation was launched and it took 10 days to locate the boys, who had taken shelter on a dry slope deep in the complex. The search and rescue op- eration has riveted people both in Thailand and inter- nationally, with journalists from across the globe trav- eling to this town along the border with Myanmar to re- port on the ordeal. Interior Minister Anu- pong Paojinda had said early Monday that the same group of expert divers who took part in Sunday’s rescue would re- turn to extricate the others because they know the cave conditions and what to do. He had said fresh air tanks needed to be laid along the underwater route. Authorities have said ex- tracting the entire team from the cave could take up to four days, but Sunday’s suc- cess raised hopes that it could be done faster. Sunday’s mission involved 13 foreign divers and five Thai navy SEALs. Two divers accompanied each of the boys, all of whom have been learning to dive only since July 2, when searchers found them. Cave rescue experts have said they consider an under- water escape to be a last re- sort, especially with people untrained in diving. The death Friday of a former Thai navy SEAL un- derscored the risks. The diver, the first fatality of the rescue effort, was working in a vol- unteer capacity and died on a mission to place air canisters along the passage to where the boys are, necessary for divers to safely travel the five- to six-hour route. There were several con- cerns that prompted author- ities to move forward with the plan to dive the boys out. One was that it was un- known how safe and dry the area where they had taken shelter would stay as Thai- land’s rainy season, which lasts until at least late Oc- tober, picks up pace. The other, and perhaps more worrying, was that ox- ygen levels in the complex were falling close to dan- gerous levels. The Facebook page of the Thai Navy SEALs, who have been central to the rescue operation, was updated Monday night to say “two days, eight boars” – a reference to the Wild Boars, the name of the boys’ soccer team. A Thai well wisher puts up a poster: ‘Take Wild Boars back home,’ referring to the 12 boys and their soccer coach who became trapped in a cave on June 23, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province. - PHOTO: AP9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY JULY 10, 2018 US, Europe clamp down on migration even as arrivals drop UK police cite ‘high dose’ in nerve agent death LONDON (AP) – British po- lice said Monday they be- lieve the latest victims of poisoning by a nerve agent must have handled the ma- terial’s container and been subjected to a “high dose” of the lethal poison. Metropolitan Police Assis- tant Commissioner Neil Basu said the death of 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess on Sunday shows that she and partner Charlie Rowley, 45, were ex- posed to a large quantity of Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent produced in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Basu said the working theory is that their expo- sure was linked to the ear- lier Novichok attack in March on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who have both survived despite ex- tended hospitalizations. Britain has blamed Russia for the poisonings, but Moscow has strongly denied any involvement. The wide investigation is now a homicide inquiry. Basu expressed sorrow for the death of Sturgess, who had three children. “Her death has only served to strengthen the resolve of the investigations team,” he said, saying the immediate police priority is to find any container that may be the source of the Novichok. He said no one else in the Amesbury and Salis- bury region where the couple lived in southwestern Eng- land has shown any sign of Novichok poisoning. More than 100 police are working to try and search all areas where Sturgess and Rowley had been before they became ill nine days ago. The search is focused on their homes and a park in Salisbury. Rowley remains in crit- ical condition in a Salis- bury hospital. Britain blames the Rus- sian state for the attack on Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter – an allegation Moscow has re- peatedly denied. A Kremlin spokesman Monday expressed condo- lences over Sturgess’ death. Dmitry Peskov told re- porters that Moscow “is deeply concerned” over the poisoning cases in Britain. Peskov added that such at- tacks present a danger not only inside the U.K., but also in Europe as a whole. Peskov said that linking Russia to the poisoning would be “absurd.” Asked whether the death could cloud the upcoming U.S.-Russia summit in Hel- sinki next week, Peskov re- plied that the poisoning “has no relation” to the meeting. He said, “It’s Britain’s problem and the problem of how interested Britain is in a real investigation.” Moscow says London has declined its offers for a joint investigation into the poisonings. ROME (AP) – As NATO al- lies convene, one issue not on their formal agenda but never far from their thoughts is immigration – even though illegal border crossings are decreasing on both sides of the Atlantic. The separation of fami- lies at the U.S.-Mexico border and Italy’s refusal to let ship- wrecked migrants disem- bark in its ports illustrate the hardening positions on border control in Washington and European capitals. Lost in the heated po- litical debate is the fact that migrant arrivals in Eu- rope across the Mediterra- nean from Africa and Turkey are at their lowest level in five years, while arrests on the U.S.-Mexico border – an imperfect but widely used gauge of illegal crossings – are far below levels seen two decades ago. “The numbers don’t sup- port the hysteria,” said Joel Millman, a spokesman for the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Organization for Migration. “Politicians know what moves voters, and this is extremely effective in moving voters.” In both the U.S. and Eu- rope, immigration is increas- ingly a key political fault line. One side accuses those cracking down on illegal im- migration of scapegoating immigrants for problems such as crime and unemploy- ment, even when the correla- tion is weak. The other side says politicians are simply recognizing voters’ concerns about national identity and poor integration that have long been ignored. In Europe, the liberal im- migration policies that many governments implemented until recently never had widespread popular sup- port, said Ivar Arpi, a con- servative editorial writer at Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. But because Eu- ropeans cared more about other issues, such as the economy or education, there was no serious backlash. That changed in 2015, when 1 million people – most of them from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan – crossed into Europe from Turkey and used the lack of border con- trols in the European Union to roam freely from the Bal- kans into Austria and on- ward to Germany and Scan- dinavia. That surge and the pressures it put on the desti- nation countries pushed mi- gration to the top of Europe’s political agenda, where it has remained since. “2015 fundamentally changed Europe. But it is hard to know how big a change is when you still are in the middle of it,” Arpi said. “Nationalism or glo- balism, this is the new di- vide between people. It trumps left-right.” Immigration is a major theme ahead of Sweden’s elections in September, just as it has been in a series of European votes in the past two years, including Brit- ain’s referendum on leaving the EU. Far-right and anti- migrant parties have made gains in Austria, France and Germany, while Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, known for his tough stance on migrants, easily won re- election in April. Just weeks after taking office in Italy’s coalition gov- ernment, the League – a party vowing to put “Italians first” – has forced other EU na- tions to grapple with the issue of sea arrivals, which have placed a dispropor- tionate burden on Mediter- ranean countries in dealing with those seeking a new life in Europe. Things came to a head when League leader Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister and deputy prime minister, closed Italian ports to private ships picking up migrants sailing from North Africa in flimsy boats, saying those volunteer rescuers act as de facto “taxi services” for human smuggling networks. As a result, two rescue ves- sels have had to carry res- cued migrants on a much longer journey to Spain, and another spent days in limbo off Malta until European countries agreed to share the responsibility for the more than 200 people on board. The crackdown comes as the number of those trying to make the perilous crossing is dwindling. Sea arrivals in Italy were already down by 80 percent when the new gov- ernment took office. Across the Mediterranean, about 45,000 migrants arrived by sea in Italy, Greece and Spain in the first half of the year, according to the U.N. refugee agency. That is the lowest level since 2013 and down from about 100,000 in the same period last year. So far this year, 1,400 migrants are believed to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean. Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who refused to close Germany’s borders at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, has toughened her stance. To salvage her government from a rift over migration, she has agreed to set up transit centers to pro- cess migrants and potentially turn them away at the Aus- trian border. German police recorded fewer than 5,000 il- legal crossings of that border in January-May, compared with more than 60,000 in the same period in 2016. Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and current president of an alli- ance of liberals in the Euro- pean Parliament, last week ridiculed concerns over what he referred to as a “so- called” crisis. “Why I am saying so- called? Because I don’t think it is a real migration crisis what we are living in Europe for the moment,” he told the assembly, noting that the flow is a tiny fraction of the 68 million dis- placed people worldwide, ac- cording to U.N. figures. In the U.S., President Donald Trump has made im- migration a big issue, with his “zero tolerance” policy to criminally prosecute anyone caught crossing the border il- legally. Because children can’t be in jail with their parents, more than 2,300 families caught by Border Patrol were separated, generating outrage in the U.S. and abroad. The move has drawn condemna- tion from religious, humani- tarian and political leaders. More than 100 police are working to try and search all areas where Sturgess and Rowley had been before they became ill nine days ago. Specialist team members in military protective suits use a jar in the front doorway as they search the fenced-off John Baker House for homeless people on Rollestone Street in Salisbury, England, Friday. British police are scouring sections of Salisbury and Amesbury, searching for a container feared to have traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok. - PHOTO: AP In this photo taken on June 17 and provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, people who have been taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the United States, rest in a cage at a facility in McAllen, Texas. - PHOTO: APNext >