ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2019 High of 84 Low of 73 Slight with wave heights of 1 to 3 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 CAYMAN HOMEOWNERS SMILING ‘EAR TO EAR’ OVER ‘PEER-TO-PEER’ RENTALS LOCAL | PAGE 2 POLICE HIT THE BEACH ON NEW ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES Regulated in the Cayman Islands as a licensed insurer by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. Incorporated in Guernsey under Company Registration No. 27151. Registered Head Office address: Generali Worldwide Insurance Company Limited, Generali House, Hirzel Street, St Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands GY1 4PA. Head Office: Regulated in Guernsey as a licensed Insurer by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission under the Insurance Business (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2002 (as amended). Generali Worldwide Insurance Company Limited is part of the Generali Group, listed in the Italian Insurance Group Register under number 026. A farmer’s market in your office? Call us to learn more about our Pop Up Markets at 747-2000. AIRBNB BRINGS IN 14,600 GUESTS IN 2018 MICHAEL KLEIN mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com Peer-to-peer rental service Airbnb is growing in popularity in the Cayman Islands. Last year, 340 local Airbnb hosts drew 14,600 guests to the islands. On average, visitors stayed for about six days, according to data released by Airbnb. In total, 620 places to stay in Cayman were offered on the rental platform. For sharing their home, a typical host in Cayman earned a median income of US$16,500 last year. “This figure is a sample of how Airbnb al- lows hosts to become hospitality entrepre- neurs by earning extra income, which in many cases allows homeowners to offset expenses and stay in their home,” Airbnb said. In March 2018, the Cayman Islands signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbnb agreeing to joint marketing, data sharing and regulatory standards for hosts. At the time, Tourism Minister Moses Kirk- connell said the agreement was a significant milestone that would help expand Airbnb, NINTH DELAY IN WEBB SENTENCING Four years after arrest, FIFA VP still not sentenced JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Nearly four years after he was arrested in a dawn raid at a Zurich hotel, former FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb has still not been sentenced for his part in a worldwide football corruption scandal. A New York court agreed this week to delay his sentence for the ninth time. The hearing is now scheduled for September of this year. Mr. Webb, who was also president of the Cayman Islands Football Association for more than 20 years, pleaded guilty in November 2015 to seven counts in a U.S. federal court in- dictment alleging he and dozens of other de- fendants conspired to rig sports marketing contracts for world football events in ex- change for millions of dollars in bribes. He has been on bail, under house arrest at his home in Atlanta, Georgia, since 2015. His lawyers made an application to U.S. Family of CUC founder introduces scholarship SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com Peter A. Thomson wants to give back to the society that has given him so much. Mr. Thomson, the former chief executive officer of the Caribbean Utilities Company, announced a scholarship on Wednesday that will be awarded in honor his father. The program, granted through the recently estab- lished Peter N. Thomson Family Foundation, will be called the Thomson Leadership and Inno- vation Award, and it will offer an annual grant of $30,000 for Caymanians to use toward an education abroad in Canada, Putting the final touches on KAABOO Workers carry out some final adjustments at the KAABOO site, where some 10,000 concertgoers are expected on both days of the two-day event, which begins early Friday afternoon. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » Richard Hew, CEO of the Cayman Utilities Company, former CUC CEO Peter A. Thomson and Wayne Ross of Cancarib Services announce a new scholarship offered by the Peter N. Thomson Family Foundation and the Caribbean Utilities Company. - PHOTO: SPENCER FORDIN See page 11 for KAABOO pullout2 LOCAL NEWS THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2019 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) COLD PURSUIT (R) 1:00 I 4:20 VIP I 7:00 I 10:00 VIP THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (PG) 12:45 I 3:40 I 6:40 I 9:30 GLASS (PG13) 12:50 I 3:55 I 6:50 I 9:45 WHAT MEN WANT (R) 1:30 VIP I 4:10 I 7:10 VIP I 9:45 THE UPSIDE (PG13) 1:15 I 4:10 I 7:05 I 10:00 MISS BALA (PG13) 1:30 I 4:35 I 7:20 I 9:50 One of the highest rated 4.7 items online with over 1800 reviews Get Fit Lose Weight Keep Healthy while sitting with the NEW DeskCycle! Call or Whatsapp (345) 326-3726 email: deskcyclecayman@gmail.com website: www.deskcyclecayman.com Police hit the beach on new ATVs Police on electric-powered all-terrain vehicles will soon be patrolling Grand Cay- man’s beaches. The Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service has added two new ATVs to its fleet for use on beaches and in off-road areas. Officers began training on the new vehicles Wednesday and they will be used for patrols as early as this weekend during the KAABOO festival. Commissioner of Police Derek Byrne said, “These ve- hicles will help us gain ac- cess to previously inacces- sible areas around the island, and make our beach patrol- ling more efficient. They are fully electric, so they are quiet and ecologically sound; therefore, they do not dis- rupt the serenity or beauty of our beaches, but at the same time lend a sense of secu- rity to our visitors and resi- dents through greater police visibility.” The vehicles are specially licensed to operate off-road and on the beaches, with conditions including lower speeds, the use of safety gear, special insurance and use only by specially qualified and trained drivers. “These vehicles are in- tended for patrolling and police response in certain conditions, and will also be equipped to carry a po- lice dog in a specially con- structed and air conditioned carrier,” Mr. Byrne added. “They will add to our public order and drug detec- tion capacities, especially in coastal areas.” Bigger recycling depot opens in North Side North Siders are now able to drop off glass and plastic for recycling at an expanded depot in the district. The Department of Envi- ronmental Health depot, lo- cated at the North Side Civic Centre, previously recycled only cans but can now be used for recycling glass, type 1 and 2 plastic, as well and tin and aluminum cans, ac- cording to officials. Captain Eugene Ebanks, councilor for environment, officially opened the depot on Tuesday. The Department of Envi- ronmental Health began to expand the number of recy- cling containers at its depots after observing an uptick in the public’s use of its depots in December last year, ac- cording to a release from the department. Since then, DEH has installed seven new recy- cling containers at four of its supermarket locations. According to the release, year-end statistics show the department collected and processed for shipping over- seas 96 tons of recyclable items in 2018, an increase 23 percent over the 78 tons of re- cyclables that the department shipped overseas in 2017. With the upgrading of the North Side depot, the DEH has increased to seven the number of locations, outside of the George Town land- fill, where residents can re- cycle multiple items. Other depot locations include Kirk Market, Hurley’s Grand Har- bour and all branches of Fos- ter’s Food Fair. Containers for recycling mixed paper and cardboard, plastics, tin and aluminum cans, glass and ceramic items are available at each of these depots. DEH collectors empty recycling containers on Monday, Thursday and Sat- urday of each week. The DEH urges mem- bers of the public to drop off only clean items and to remove plastic bags before placing them into the recy- cling containers. For additional information contact DEH at 949-6696 or email dehcustomerservice@gov.ky, website at www.deh.gov.ky, or message its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DEHCaymanIslands. MAN CHARGED WITH FOUR BURGLARIES CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A man facing four charges of burglary elected on Tuesday to have them all dealt with in Grand Court. Daine Marcel Bennett, 31, was charged with entering as a trespasser and stealing from three private residences and one school. An incident on Nov. 9, 2016, involved a residence on Rum Point Drive in which a quantity of items was stolen, including a camera bag, camera and memory card. The school burglary oc- curred on Sept. 10, 2017. A quantity of items, including a leaf blower, were stolen from the Montessori Del Sol school. The burglary of a South Sound residence on April 18, 2018, involved theft of “a quan- tity of properties” to the value of approximately $23,000. The most recent burglary with which Mr. Bennett was charged related to a Bodden Town residence from which he is accused of stealing a quan- tity of jewelry to the value of $10,000 on April 25, 2018. Defense attorney Crister Brady agreed to Feb. 26 as the date for a preliminary in- quiry, which is held to deter- mine whether there is suf- ficient evidence to send the matter to the higher court. When a defendant elects Grand Court, the Summary Court does not ask him or her to enter a plea. Police Constable Donovan Chong rides one of the new RCIPS all-terrain vehicles on Seven Mile Beach Wednesday. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY From left, Jennifer Ahearn, Chief Officer in the Ministry of Health, Environment, Culture and Housing; Captain Eugene Ebanks, Councillor for Environment and Housing; Richard Simms, Acting Director DEH; Michael Haworth, Assistant Director, Solid Waste; and Mark Bothwell, Acting Assistant Director, Solid Waste (Operational Support) place bottles into one of the recycling containers. APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR YOUTH AMBASSADORS Aiming to make Cayman a better place for youth The Youth Services Unit is inviting young people to apply to become Cayman Is- lands Youth Ambassadors. Applications are open to all young Caymanians be- tween the ages of 18 and 27, whether individuals are just starting college on island, starting work, re- turning from college or still studying overseas. The application sub- mission deadline is Friday, Feb. 15. Three males and three females will be chosen to form the Ambassador Corp. The successful candi- dates should be able to rep- resent local youth when on school breaks or at weekend conferences. The program is intended to pre- pare them for present and future leadership roles in the Cayman Islands. Citing the pledge of the National Youth Policy Task Force, Youth Services coor- dinator James Myles said people’s greatest respon- sibility in this life is to be good ancestors. “We are the dynamic link between the past and future. The aim is quite straightforward: to enjoy what we have inherited, and to make the Cayman Islands a better place for the youth of today and for those of generations to come,” he said. Forms and other information are available online on the YouthFlex Facebook page, or by emailing james.myles@gov.ky.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2019 1 (345) 945-4040 | 1 (345) 640-4040 | healthcitycaymanislands.com Transforming healthcare. Changing lives. When it comes to matters of the heart this Valentine’s Day, and all year through, seek the best physicians in the world. We specialize in cardiac healthcare and our doctors have treated tens of thousands of patients from Cayman and around the world, from infants to the elderly. Our renowned cardiac services department provides state- of-the-art cardiac care, including invasive and non-invasive electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, cardiovascular and thoracic surgery and cardiac rehabilitation. Your heart is in the best of hands. Human Rights Commission: Government’s same-sex marriage fight ‘inexcusable’ HRC says public funds are being wasted to defend discrimination JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands Human Rights Commission has described government’s decision to fight a court chal- lenge against same-sex mar- riage as an “inexcusable waste of public funds.” The statement from the commission, penned before the three-day court hearing which concluded Monday, was submitted to a U.K. gov- ernment select committee’s ongoing inquiry on the fu- ture of the Overseas Terri- tories. The statement, dated January 2019 and published on the committee’s website last week, highlights discrim- ination against Cayman’s gay community among a number of human rights concerns in the Cayman Islands. The Human Rights Com- mission urges the U.K. to bring an order in council to allow same-sex couples the right to civil partnerships, conferring similar rights to marriage. It suggests the U.K. could be in breach of European human rights laws if it fails to act to end the “legisla- tive discrimination” in the Cayman Islands. The statement highlights three years of correspon- dence between the Human Rights Commission and the Cayman Islands govern- ment and suggests it is “re- grettable” that its recom- mendations, including the introduction of a law to rec- ognize same-sex unions, have been ignored. It goes on to state, “More regrettably still, the Gov- ernment is currently con- testing a Judicial Review being brought by a same- sex couple seeking the right to marry. “It is the Commission’s view that this is an inexcus- able waste of public funds; expended purely for polit- ical reasons to placate the demands of the more vocal discriminatory voices in the Cayman community.” It states that a frame- work for legal recognition of same-sex partnerships is the minimum requirement of the European Convention on Human Rights – an argu- ment that was echoed in the recent trial. Chief Justice Anthony Smellie is currently con- sidering his ruling in the case of Chantelle Day and Vickie Bodden Bush, a same- sex couple who say govern- ment’s refusal to grant them a marriage license is dis- criminatory and breaches human rights guaranteed by the Cayman Islands Constitution. In its statement, which is unconnected to the legal proceedings, the Human Rights Commission said it was “undeniable” that it was unlawful under the European Convention to deny same-sex couples ac- cess to civil partnerships, which would entitle them to equal rights in areas as diverse as adoption, inheri- tance, pensions, next of kin visiting rights, access to welfare, and residency in the islands. The Human Rights Com- mission supports access to full marriage for same-sex couples in Cayman, but sug- gests the United Kingdom government itself may be in breach of the European Con- vention if it does not act to ensure the minimum stan- dard of civil partnerships is available in Cayman. “The U.K. has the ability to end this legislative dis- crimination by an Order in Council,” it notes. “The failure to do so ar- guably places the U.K. it- self in breach of its legal obligations under the [Euro- pean Convention on Human Rights]. The U.K. Parliament has recently shown its will- ingness to legislate for its Overseas Territories (without consultation) on benefi- cial ownership; the decision not to act where the fun- damental human rights of British citizens within its ju- risdiction are concerned is hard to justify.” Answering questions on the issue from the same committee in December last year, Lord Tariq Ahmad, the minister responsible for the British Overseas Territories, said the U.K. had no current plans to force its overseas territories to legalize same- sex marriage or civil unions through an order in council. He said the U.K. was con- tent, for now, to let the judi- cial process takes its course. The issue may become moot once Chief Justice Smellie gives his judgment in the local case that concluded this week. He is being asked to amend Cayman’s Mar- riage Law to allow for same- sex marriage, or at the very least to make a declaration that the legislature should introduce civil partnerships in order to be in compliance with the constitution. The Human Rights Com- mission in its letter goes on to highlight more gen- eral concerns about ho- mophobia in Cayman. “Whilst it remains ex- tremely rare for this dis- crimination to manifest it- self in physical violence or abuse, a culture of homo- phobic attitudes within sec- tions of the Legislature and vocal sections of the com- munity (particularly some of the churches) has a po- tent and pernicious impact, with the capacity to en- courage discrimination and bullying and lead to the denial of equal rights for members of the LGBT+ community.” The letter highlights a Legislative Assembly de- bate in 2015 during which, it states, one MLA made veiled threats of violence to- ward homosexuals, equated homosexuality with besti- ality and paedophilia and described it as “wicked and immoral.” It points out that those comments, which were made in a private members’ motion on Aug. 13, 2015, by Savannah representative An- thony Eden, went unchal- lenged in the assembly. The Human Rights Commission urges the U.K. to bring an order in council to allow same-sex couples the right to civil partnerships, conferring similar rights to marriage.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 find their own way” As Cayman Islands tourism figures keep breaking records, it is encouraging to see local homeowners getting in on the action, with hundreds of people hosting guests who book through online services such as Airbnb. As the Compass reports today, the islands’ 340 Airbnb hosts accommodated 14,600 guests last year. That is a significant increase over the previous year’s figures of 270 property owners and 8,600 guests as was reported by the popular peer-to-peer rental service last July. Peer-to-peer housing rentals are an efficient way for our islands comfortably to accommodate increasing numbers of overnight visitors. In the short term, it’s certainly simpler and faster than building or expanding a traditional hotel – and involves signifi- cantly less in the way of capital investment. At an industry level, peer-to-peer rental services are both competitors and complements to Cayman’s established hotels, resorts and tourist-oriented condo- miniums. Private accommodations that are advertised online tend to attract different types of travelers than the luxury-minded stayover visitors that have typi- cally been drawn to Cayman – for example, a traveler who may be on a tighter budget, or someone who prefers a more home-like setting to the traditional “resort experience.” It is unlikely that travelers seeking luxury and exclu- sivity will cancel their Ritz-Carlton reservations to save a few dollars. The management at the Kimpton, Marriott and Westin hotels, etc., can also be confident in the strength of their market demographics. Others in the industry – from taxi drivers to restaurateurs to tour guides – benefit from the extra visitors (and extra wallets) lured by alternative accommodations. Airbnb and similar platforms generate new capacity for incoming tourists, produce demand from new segments of the tourism market, and, just as signifi- cantly, encourage the creation of a new breed of local entrepreneurs. At a 2018 seminar sponsored by the Department of Tourism, Airbnb policy associate Rachel DeLevie-Orey reported that Cayman’s Airbnb hosts had earned a combined $3.8 million the previous year. That is a sizeable amount, particularly for people who might treat the hosting experience as a “side job,” or who are activating otherwise-dormant properties. The success of the peer-to-peer rental model in Cayman has not arisen without conflict. Readers may recall government’s initial reaction to its “discovery” of Airbnb-like services, predictably consisting of knee-jerk regulation, red tape impositions and comically old-fash- ioned requirements. For example, Airbnb owners are expected to mail or hand-deliver 13 percent of their revenue to government – which ironically has been unable to receive the payments online. In addition to the significant 13 percent room tax, peer-to-peer renters still must suffer through an onerous and costly annual licensing process that involves, at last count, three separate inspections from three government entities. That gauntlet may or may not be appropriate for a hotelier who hosts hundreds of guests at a time and employs an army of staff to provide various services. It certainly is too much to ask of a grandmother in Savannah who lets out her single- family home, or a young person in West Bay renting out a single spare bedroom. It is reasonable to mandate that any tourist-ori- ented rentals meet thresholds for health and safety, but excessive and disproportionate regulation can swiftly suffocate fledging sectors of small economies. Keep in mind that the attractiveness of the peer-to- peer rental model is founded upon affordability and ease of transaction for both buyers and sellers. Cayman homeowners smiling ‘ear to ear’ over ‘peer-to-peer’ rentals THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS Reality continues to leak from American life WASHINGTON – In 1994, the Clinton administration de- creed a bright shining fu- ture for education. Its Goals 2000 legislation proclaimed that by that year America’s high school graduation rate would be 90 percent and American students would lead the world in math and science achievements. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., was unimpressed: “That will not happen.” It didn’t, to the surprise of no one with an inkling of real- ity’s viscosity. Bill Clinton’s (then Congress’) goals, which Moynihan compared to the Soviet Union’s penchant for delusional grain quotas, il- lustrated what the senator called the “leakage of re- ality from American life.” Speaking of which: Democrats, including many presidential candi- dates, have endorsed some- thing that makes Goals 2000 look like the soul of sobriety. The Green New Deal’s FAQ sheet says: In 10 years America will have only non-carbon re- newable energy. (ExxonMobil plans to produce 25 percent more oil and gas in 2025 than in 2017.) By then, “every building in America” will be environmentally retrofitted, “farting cows” (methane gas; say goodbye to ham- burgers) will be on the way out, fast electric trains will make airplanes unnecessary, “every combustion-engine ve- hicle” will be gone (but relax: charging stations will be “everywhere”). House Speaker Nancy Pe- losi, averse to government by arrested-development teen- agers, dismissed the Green New Deal (GND) as a “sug- gestion.” Its enthusiasts, buf- feted by gales of derision, responded with gusts of dis- sembling as implausible as the GND: Their fact sheet was a mere draft, or a dirty trick (“doctored”), or something. Do they know how the ac- tual New Deal fared? Devoted to curing unemployment, the unemployment rate never fell below 14 percent until 1941, eight years into the New Deal, as America prepared for war. The 1937-38 “depression within the Depression” was the twentieth century’s third- worst recession. Every endorser of the GND thereby endorses its claim to life-and-death ur- gency, yet – cognitive dis- sonance alert – every en- dorser knows that none of it will happen. Its authors say, “There is no time to waste.” Strange. The last Democratic administration, which de- parted just 25 months ago, proposed approximately none of what the GND says we cannot survive without. The GND has no prac- tical importance but much significance. First, it under- scores the rise of the politics of gestures that are as flam- boyant as they are empty: Donald Trump has his wall, the left has its GND. Second, it reprises the progressive desire to militarize every- thing but the military, to conscript everyone into vast collective undertakings that supposedly justify vast ex- cisions from personal lib- erty and the setting side of pesky constitutional imped- iments. See Franklin Roo- sevelt’s call in his first in- augural address for power “as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.” Third, the GND reveals progressives’ embrace of Trump’s political style, a stew of frivolity and men- dacity. Remember his cam- paign boast that he would erase the national debt – not just the budget deficit, the then $19 trillion debt – in eight years, meaning by more than $2 trillion a year? This was ludicrous, but not more so than the GND, which is not the only example of the Trumpification of the left. The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman notes that last year Elizabeth Warren said this on NBC: “My mother and daddy were born and raised in Okla- homa. My daddy first saw my mother when they were both teenagers. He fell in love with this tall, quiet girl who played the piano. Head over heels. But his family was bit- terly opposed to their rela- tionship because she was part Native American. They eventually eloped.” “Bitterly?” Because of the mother’s Native Amer- ican “part?” Which could not have been much more than Warren’s still-hypo- thetical miniscule part? As Freeman writes: “If Native American ancestry was so distant on her mother’s side that the senator has never been able to name any na- tive relatives – and even now her own DNA expert cannot rule out the possibility that she has no such relatives at all – how would her father’s family have known enough to object?” What a tangled web we weave …. It is now reason- able to conclude that Warren has made “birther” claims for self-serving reasons that re- main opaque, claims that are no more factual or unim- portant than the birther fab- rications Trump concocted for use against Barack Obama. What explains Trump and his progres- sive emulators? No doubt many things, but begin with the leakage of reality from American life. George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com. © 2019, Washington Post Writers Group GEORGE F. WILL E In this Jan. 19 file photo, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-New York) waves to the crowd after speaking at Women’s Unity Rally in Lower Manhattan in New York. Democrats including Ocasio-Cortez and veteran Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts are calling for a Green New Deal intended to transform the U.S. economy to combat climate change and create jobs in renewable energy. – PHOTO: AP5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Officials unveil Caribbean’s ‘most advanced’ radio system KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman now has what of- ficials tout as “the most ad- vanced and modern radio system in the Caribbean.” Government held a cer- emony in West Bay on Wednesday afternoon to mark the new radio system coming online. Home Af- fairs Minister Tara Rivers cut the ribbon on a new safety radio communica- tion bunker, which takes the audio from officers, re- peats it, and sends it out to be broadcast through the area. The bunker is one of eight throughout Cayman, and three new ones have been installed. More than 1,000 officers from police, Fire Service, De- partment of Environment, and other agencies are now using the radios, according to Ramon Canto, the sales director for Motorola’s Ca- ribbean region. Motorola inked a $5.9 million con- tract with government in De- cember 2017 to implement the system. The new radios replace what government deemed as “outdated” analog radios with digital radios that have the capacity for features such as GPS location, text messaging and encryption. The new devices will im- prove the safety of officers by eliminating “black spots” in certain parts of Cayman where analog radio reception is weak. Former Chief Fire Of- ficer David Hails said in De- cember 2017 that his depart- ment was also experiencing weak reception in large, con- crete buildings, which some- times forced them to re- sort to mobile phones for communication. Department of Public Safety Communications Di- rector Julian Lewis said the new system now pro- vides coverage to all parts of the territory. “The system testing and radio user reports have con- firmed that the installation of hardware at the three new locations provides ex- cellent radio coverage, that’s stronger than ever before, stretching to all part of the Islands,” he said. GPS tracking is another potential life-saving mea- sure in the case of an en- dangered or downed officer, according to Hazard Man- agement Deputy Director Lee Madison. The new radios will still be able to communicate with analog devices. Some 1,000 new handheld devices and other radio equipment are replacing old gear at the 911 dispatch center and all other emergency-response agencies. The current ra- dios will be repurposed for other government depart- ments that do not need the new technology, according to Mr. Madison. IGUANA CULL HITS 400,000 MARK Another 19,000 green iguanas have been culled in the race to eradicate the invasive species from the Cayman Islands. Bolstered by scores of new recruits, signed up to the cull in the latest regis- tration drive, hunters pulled in their highest weekly total in over a month. In all, 19,082 green iguanas were disposed of at the landfill site last week. With an additional 4,020 iguanas culled Monday, the running total tipped the 400,000 mark this week. There is still a long way to go, however, with another one million iguanas still out there, based on the Depart- ment of Environment’s popu- lation estimates. Cullers are being paid $4.50 a head, rising to $5 if they meet monthly and an- nual targets, in an effort to wipe out the invasive species in Grand Cayman. 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 400,000 450,000 P a c e t o r e a c h 1 . 3 m i ll io n t a r g e t Salt-N-Pepa to address 100 Women in Finance Before they take to the KAABOO stage on Saturday, Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton, of the Grammy Award winning hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa, will be speaking Friday at an event organized by 100 Women in Finance. The duo will discuss how Salt-N-Pepa used their music to empower other women in a positive way during a time when rap music was objecti- fying females, according to Angie Baraud, who will be hosting the discussion. “The performers will share anecdotes of those who inspired them and how they strove for success in their music and business careers,” said Ms. Baraud. “Their music still resonates with many of us today.” Ms. Denton was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in Queens, New York. As a college student, she teamed up with her friend, Ms. James. Salt-N-Pepa became the first female rap group to attain platinum status and have sold more than 12 million albums. The event will be on the rooftop of the newly renovated Beach Suites on Friday at 4:15 p.m. Registration is at 3:30 p.m., and tickets are $100. For more information, contact Ms. Baraud at angie@baraud.com. Cheryl ‘Salt’ James, left, and Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton will speak at a meeting of the 100 Women in Finance group at the Beach Suites on Friday afternoon. Motorola executive Janet Fernandez speaks at Wednesday’s unveiling of government’s new public safety radio system. Behind Ms. Hernandez is one of Cayman’s eight radio communication bunkers, which broadcast messages throughout their respective areas. - PHOTO: KEN SILVA The West Bay bunker is one of eight throughout Cayman, and three new ones have been installed.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS bring new rooms online and allow Caymanians to benefit from the growth of the industry. This type of tourism growth would also give visitors the opportu- nity for meaningful inter- action with local people and to experience local cul- ture, he said. Airbnb equally argued that home sharing democ- ratizes the tourism in- dustry and provides the op- portunity for hundreds of Caymanians to share their country with guests from all over the world and ben- efit directly from it. The latest figures con- firm growth across the board in terms of the number of hosts, accom- modations on offer, visi- tors and revenue. From 2017 to 2018, visitor num- bers have increased from 8,600 to 14,800 (72 per- cent), the number of hosts has grown by 70 to 340, and the number of accom- modations jumped from 470 to 620. Carlos Munoz, Airbnb campaign manager for the Caribbean and Central America, said Airbnb con- tributed to the development of Cayman’s tourism sector, which showed great poten- tial for growth in 2019. “Undoubtedly, the Cayman Islands is an im- portant destination in the Caribbean and thanks to Airbnb, and a strong part- nership with Tourism Min- ister Moses Kirkconnell and Director of Tourism Rosa Harris, more and more local travelers, and travelers from the rest of the world, are able to visit the Cayman Islands and travel in an authentic way,” Mr. Munoz said. “This sustainable way of traveling generates a pos- itive and significant im- pact within the country and helps to economi- cally empower our Cay- manian hosts and their communities.” Cayman property owners advertising their accommodation on the home sharing platform must be licensed and must pay government a $250 fee. The licensing process in- volves home inspections by the Department of Environ- mental Health, the Cayman Islands Fire Service and the Department of Tourism, and can take between 60 and 90 days. Unlicensed Airbnb hosts face fines of $100 per guest per day. Licensed accommoda- tion providers must also provide a monthly report and pay a tourist accom- modation tax of 13 percent of their revenue to govern- ment by the 28th day of each month. Airbnb further reported that Cayman hosts are a di- verse group. About 65 per- cent of hosts are female and most (73 percent) are between the ages of 30 and 59, with an average host age of 48. Meanwhile, the number of Cayman res- idents who use Airbnb when traveling abroad has also increased, to 9,500 last year, up from 6,000 in 2017. the United States or the United Kingdom. The late Peter N. Thomson was one of the founding members of CUC and served as a director for 25 years. His son, Peter A. Thomson, was CUC’s president and CEO from 1986 until his retire- ment in 2005, and he said Wednesday that educating young Caymanians has long been a family priority. “When I became CEO of CUC in 1986, every one of our executives was an expat,” said Mr. Thomson. “We started de- veloping scholarships in 1988 so that when I left in 2005, every executive at CUC was Caymanian. And a lot of that had to do with scholarships and education. … I know what we’ve been able to ac- complish through education, and hopefully this will just get us to the next level.” CUC’s current CEO, Richard Hew, was one of the recipients of those scholarships. Mr. Hew said Wednesday that it’s impor- tant for CUC to have many Caymanians in the workforce. In the past, said Mr. Hew, the company could rely on the expertise of expats in senior positions, but three to five years later, they’d be gone and the company’s in- vestment would be lost. Now, by investing in the future of Caymanians, CUC assures it- self a better sense of conti- nuity in the future. “CUC is always excited about developing Caymanian talent,” said Mr. Hew. “As a leading company on the is- land that requires a lot of specialized skills, we’re proud to say we’ve over 90 percent Caymanian. And that’s not by accident. It’s partly be- cause of the 40 scholarships we’ve awarded.” The first scholarship winner will not be selected until September, but Mr. Thomson said there will be flexibility in how the grant is awarded. It could go to a high school student just beginning his or her college education, or it could go to someone em- barking on the pursuit of an advanced degree. One thing that is certain, said Mr. Thomson, is that it will go to somebody with a demonstrated need. And in a perfect world, it would go to someone who wants to spend their professional life in Cayman. “We’re committed to somebody for a couple of years. We would expect them to remain in Cayman for a couple of years,” said Mr. Thomson. “They’re not going to be tied down to Cayman for the rest of their lives, but we don’t want them all of a sudden going to the University of British Columbia and then living in British Columbia. We would encourage people to come back and make a contri- bution here.” District Court Judge Pa- mela Chen for another six-month adjournment on Monday. A letter to the court, in the Eastern Dis- trict of New York, indicates that the U.S. government has not objected to the re- quest. The court assented and the hearing is now scheduled for Sept. 10. It is now unclear if he will serve jail time for his crimes or if his four years under house arrest will sufficiently reduce his sen- tence to allow him to es- cape custody. Other conspirators, in- cluding Costas Takkas, who was Mr. Webb’s attache and also a Cayman Is- lands football official, have already served their sen- tences and been released. Mr. Takkas was sentenced to 15 months in prison in May 2017 for helping to launder $3 million in bribes allegedly paid to Mr. Webb by sports mar- keting companies. Mr. Webb is facing sepa- rate charges in the Cayman Islands of conspiracy to defraud the local govern- ment in connection with the CarePay public hospital swipe-card scandal. During earlier U.S. court proceedings, the presiding judge in the case noted that deportation was a likely re- sult of Mr. Webb’s criminal conviction. The Thomson Leadership and Innovation Award will offer an annual grant of $30,000 for Caymanians to use toward an education abroad in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Family of CUC founder introduces scholarship Ninth delay in Webb sentencing CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Jeffrey Webb Airbnb brings in 14,600 guests in 2018 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Opportunity, the Mars rover that was built to op- erate for just three months but kept going and going, rolling across the rocky red soil, was pronounced dead Wednesday, 15 years after it landed on the planet. The six-wheeled vehicle that helped gather critical evidence that ancient Mars might have been hospitable to life was remarkably spry up until eight months ago, when it was finally doomed by a ferocious dust storm. Flight controllers tried numerous times to make con- tact, and sent one final se- ries of recovery commands Tuesday night, along with one last wake-up song, Billie Hol- iday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You,” in a somber exercise that brought tears to team members’ eyes. There was no response from space, only silence. Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA’s science missions, broke the news at what amounted to a funeral at the space agency’s Jet Pro- pulsion Laboratory in Pasa- dena, California, announcing the demise of “our beloved Opportunity.” “This is a hard day,” project manager John Callas said at an auditorium packed with hundreds of current and former members of the team that oversaw Opportu- nity and its long-deceased identical twin, Spirit. “Even though it’s a machine and we’re saying goodbye, it’s still very hard and very poignant, but we had to do that. We came to that point.” The two slow-moving, golf cart-size rovers landed on op- posite sides of the planet in 2004 for a mission meant to last 90 sols, or Mars days, which are 39 minutes longer than Earth days. In the end, Opportunity outlived its twin by eight years and set endurance and distance records that could stand for decades. Trun- dling along until communi- cation ceased last June, Op- portunity roamed a record 28 miles (45 kilometers) and worked longer than any other lander in the history of space exploration. Opportunity was a robotic geologist, equipped with cameras and instruments at the end of a mechanical arm for analyzing rocks and soil. Its greatest achievement was discovering, along with Spirit, evidence that ancient Mars had water flowing on its surface and might have been capable of sustaining microbial life. Project scientist Matthew Golombek said these rover missions are meant to help answer an “almost theolog- ical” question: Does life form wherever conditions are just right, or “are we really, re- ally lucky?” The twin vehicles also pio- neered a way of exploring the surface of other planets, said Lori Glaze, acting director of planetary science for NASA. She said the rovers gave us “the ability to actually roll right up to the rocks that we want to see. Roll up to them, be able to look at them up close with a mi- croscopic imager, bang on them a little bit, shake them up, scratch them a little bit, take the measurements, un- derstand what the chem- istry is of those rocks and then say, ‘Oh, that was in- teresting. Now I want to go over there.’” Opportunity was ex- ploring Mars’ Perseverance Valley, fittingly, when the fiercest dust storm in de- cades hit and contact was lost. The storm was so in- tense that it darkened the sky for months, preventing sun- light from reaching the rov- er’s solar panels. When the sky finally cleared, Opportunity re- mained silent, its internal clock possibly so scrambled that it no longer knew when to sleep or wake up to receive commands. Flight control- lers sent more than 1,000 re- covery commands, all in vain. With project costs reaching about $500,000 a month, NASA decided there was no point in continuing. Mars rover finally bites the dust after 15 years This illustration made available by NASA shows the rover Opportunity on the surface of Mars. The exploratory vehicle landed on Jan. 24, 2004, and logged more than 28 miles before falling silent during a global dust storm in June 2018. - PHOTO: NASA VIA AP7 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Student consulting initiative enters 11th year The Student Consulting Programme started its 11th year last week, with 18 stu- dents and five small busi- nesses participating in this year’s program. The program is a joint ini- tiative between the Univer- sity College of the Cayman Islands, the Ministry of Commerce and Cayman Na- tional Bank. It entails upper-level busi- ness students working with small business owners to pro- vide advice on how the busi- ness should solve a partic- ular problem or reach a goal. “The reason this pro- gramme is so successful is that … everyone involved takes away something valu- able. Business owners gain free consultation and are able to move their company forward, and students get to put their knowledge [in]to practice,” said program coor- dinator Annette Murphy in a press release. This year, the nonprofit organization Literacy Is For Everyone will also par- ticipate and receive advice from students. “The civil society sector provides community en- hancement that helps us be- come a well-rounded society and help grow the economy,” said Marilyn Conolly, exec- utive director of LIFE. “By helping a charity grow, these students are helping issues that impact our community. Our charity is ready to grow to be a bigger, more vibrant charity, that can solve this problem of illiteracy, and we hope that by participating in the program we can become a lot more efficient in how we deliver our services.” The Student Consulting Programme will run for 10 weeks. Students, business owners, program coordinator and sponsors of the Student Consulting Programme. GOV’T SIGNS DEAL WITH SMALL BUSINESS GROUP The Ministry of Com- merce, Planning and In- frastructure has struck an agreement with the Cayman Islands Small Business Association to provide funding for a range of services that CISBA will provide to business owners. Minister for Commerce Joseph Hew and CISBA President Dawn McLean- Brady signed a memo- randum of understanding, which outlines the programs CISBA will deliver in 2019 to aid small business owners. The services include workshops, mentoring ses- sions, grants and individual assistance. The agree- ment outlines the require- ments in terms of quan- tity, quality and timeliness to qualify for the financial support of government. “Government is stead- fast in its commitment to support small businesses,” Minister Hew said in a press release. “Small busi- nesses are a huge driver of our economy, so ensuring their continued growth and development is key. The Small Business Association has been a champion for small business owners and I am proud to support the association in its efforts to assist small businesses.” Ms. McLean-Brady said the association is honored to once again partner with the government to support small businesses. “With government’s backing we are poised to achieve our goal of advocating for the growth of small businesses and promoting an entrepre- neurial spirit,” she said. CISBA President Dawn McLean-Brady and Minister Joseph Hew sign a memorandum of understanding for small business support services. Storyboard competition opens Organizers are inviting the public to support the annual Storyboard Compe- tition at the George Town Public Library. An initiative spearheaded by the Cayman Islands In- formation Professionals and sponsored by the Cayman Is- lands Public Library Service and Rotary Sunrise, the com- petition gives students the opportunity to share their fa- vorite books through a story- board display. “Every year we con- tinue to be impressed by the quality of work submitted and the creativity of our ex- hibitors,” said Paul Rob- inson, the Public Library Service’s acting director and chairman. “It is obvious that the books that they choose to do their storybooks about have impacted them on a deep level, and they are excited about sharing these works with others,” he added. Mr. Robinson encouraged members of the public to visit the library to see the story- board displays. “They will not be disappointed and perhaps they will rediscover some lit- erary classics or be inspired to read some of the books that are being promoted by the students,” he said. All storyboards must be registered and delivered to George Town Public Library by 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 18. The exhibition, judging and prize-giving ceremony will take place at George Town Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 23, starting at 10 a.m. The storyboards will be judged on guidelines that in- clude plot summary, issues of conflict, the author’s purpose, tone and mood and how that information is expressed in terms of clarity, creativity, thoroughness, interest in- voked and quality. Winners will be chosen in six age divisions, ranging from 5 to 18 years old and will be awarded various prizes, organizers said. All schools are invited to participate. Last year, there were 49 storyboards from 65 competitors. For information, email paul. robinson@gov.ky, call 244-6108 or visit ciinformationprofessionals on Facebook. Storyboards should include plot summary, issues of conflict, the author’s purpose, tone and mood.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 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 FEBRUARY 14, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS Remembering You... Remembering you is easy, We do it everyday, But missing you is a heartache That never goes away. We hold you tightly within our hearts And there you will remain, Until the joyous day arrives That we shall meet again. Your loving children: Mexi, Denniston, Garth, Kurt and their families Selma Tibbetts THURSDAY, FEB. 14 ROAD WORK: The National Roads Authority and subcontractors will be carrying out road paving work on Shamrock Road from Midsummer Drive to the Dr. Tomlinson Roundabout to upgrade drainage and the deteriorated road surface. Works are scheduled for today through Feb. 19, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day. Drivers are asked to keep watch for traffic diversions and to drive with caution. NAU CLOSED: The Needs Assessment Unit advises that due to a staff meeting its office in Grand Cayman will be closed from noon and the Cayman Brac office will be closed all day. SATURDAY, FEB. 16 WELLNESS AND FAMILY FORUM: The Mothers Union of St. George’s Anglican Church presents Wellness and Family Forum, Balancing the Budget. 6 p.m. in the Church Hall. Admission is free and all are invited. TUESDAY, FEB. 19 SEAFARERS: The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association will hold a general meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Seafarers Hall, 11 Victory Avenue, Prospect. Buses will be provided from West Bay Town Hall at 6 p.m. A bus route has been added in George Town, leaving the public library parking area at 7 p.m., stopping at Cayman Compass building and the Airport Foster’s. The bus is blue and marked Bobo $1 Public transport, but there is no charge. THURSDAY, FEB. 21 SISTER ISLANDS SPORTS DAYS: Cayman Brac and Little Cayman primary schools meet for sports days at Cayman Brac Sports Complex 4 p.m. today and 9 a.m. tomorrow. BRAC SUMMARY COURT: 10 a.m. at the Aston Rutty Civic Centre. SATURDAY, FEB. 23 5/10K RUN OR WALK: SafeHaven Drive, by the Holiday Inn. 6 a.m. Registrations. 6:30 a.m. Walk starts. 6:45 a.m. Run starts. Fee is Adults $10, Children (under 10) $5. Includes refreshments, entry into raffle draw with lots of prizes. All proceeds benefit Girlguiding Cayman Islands. Pre- register at Cayman Active at www.caymanactive.com/ guiding. Please, no dogs at the event. THURSDAY, FEB. 28 BABY SHOW: This is the deadline for registration to take part in the annual Baby Show at the Agriculture Show, Ash Wednesday. March 6. Enter the little ones, boys and girls; ages 0–48 months. For more information, call 929-9932. ROTARY OLYMPICS: Backyard games with prizes. 5:30 p.m. at Sea Alissa, the Thompsons’ home at 702 South Church Street. Register online at www.caymanactive.com. $120 for teams of four; $35 for individuals. CONCERT AT LIBRARY: Cayman Arts Festival and the Cayman Islands Public Library Service presents a one-hour concert at the George Town Public Library (historical building). The concert, 6-7 p.m., includes classical music, in addition to poetry and readings from local poets and writers. Tickets available at the door, $20 for adults, $5 for children. The event is part of a monthly series. There will be only 75 tickets per event. PUBLIC INPUT: Today is the last day for the public to share feedback about the National Planning Framework, which sets out long-term goals for land use and physical development as part of the Development Plan for Grand Cayman. More information at www.plancayman.ky. Printed copies of the document can be viewed at the PlanCayman Information Counter, located in the lobby of the Government Administration Building. GENERAL INTEREST SUMMER INTERNSHIP: With the development of Cayman Enterprise City in the Special Economic Zone, training opportunities exist for young people through the summer in the City Internship Program. Registration is currently open, and the application deadline is March 17. For more information on this program, visit www. caymanenterprisecity.com/ enterprise-cayman/intern-in- the-city/ or contact Bianca Mora, Public Engagement Officer at CEC, at b.mora@ caymanenterprisecity.com. LOCAL HARVEST MARKET: Local farmers sell their produce and farmed goods at Camana Bay on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Heliconia Court (located next to Scotiabank). SPECIAL OLYMPICS: Be a volunteer for athlete training at Truman Bodden Sports Complex. Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m. for track, bocce and football, and Thursdays, 5:30 p.m. for basketball. Swimming on Wednesdays at the Lions Pool 10-11 a.m. or on Saturdays at the Cayman International School pool, 9:30 a.m. Email soci@candw.ky or call 916-2600. 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. 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. VISUAL ARTS SOCIETY: Adult Open Studio available to those who want to work independently in an inspiring atmosphere. Wednesdays for adults, 9 a.m. till noon. Thursdays Adults and Youth, 10 a.m. till noon. Watler House Art Studio, Pedro St. James. Fee is $5/$15 or Ceramics. $15 pp/$25 pp non-members. Includes use of studio, glazes and ceramic tools. Clay available $30 per bag/fee for kiln usage. To register, call 546-9422 or email info@visualartcayman.com. SEAFARERS HALL: The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association wishes to inform the community that the hall is now available for rent every day of the week, including Saturdays. THRIFT SHOP: One Dog at a Time’s New To U shop is now located at JJT Warehouses, Row 2, Unit 2 on Industrial Way. Open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Variety of items available, including men’s, women’s, children’s and baby clothes, shoes, household, electrical items, CDs, DVDs, books, home furnishings, toys, games, furniture, baby cribs, car seats, dog beds and more. 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 Street. 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-Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Volunteers needed for front desk a few hours per week. For more information, email humanesocietybookloft@ candw.ky or call 946-8053. Donations of books, games, CDs, stationery, DVDs, cards etc. in good condition needed. 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. For more Community Calendar events, visit www.caymancompass.com/events. The deadline for entering the Baby Show at Ash Wednesday’s Agriculture Show is Thursday, Feb. 28.The islands’ most-trusted news source 9 CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Pope OKs miracle for Briton’s sainthood Pope Francis has approved a miracle needed to make Cardinal John Henry Newman, a prominent Anglican convert, a saint, the Vatican announced on Wednesday. Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, beatified Newman during a visit to Britain in 2010. Heaven holds our precious darling Mother on this special Valentine’s Day. Lord we ask you to give her 100 roses, hugs and happy birthday wishes. Tell her we will gather to celebrate this momentous occasion and will love and treasure her pleasant memories forever. From your loving children: Margaret, Kevan, Mervyn and their families. Happy 100th Birthday to our Angel Mother Myrle Adina Conolly February 14th 1919 UK gov’t downplays Brexit delay report Unhappy with deal, Trump still does not expect a new shutdown WASHINGTON (AP) – Under mounting pressure from his own party, President Donald Trump appears to be grudg- ingly leaning toward ac- cepting an agreement that would head off a threatened second government shut- down but provide just a frac- tion of the money he’s been demanding for his Mexican border wall. Trump said Tuesday he would need more time to study the plan, but he also declared that he was not ex- pecting another shutdown this weekend when funding for parts of the govern- ment would run out. He also strongly signaled he planned to scrounge up additional dol- lars for the wall by raiding other federal coffers to deliver on the signature promise of his presidential campaign. “I can’t say I’m happy. I can’t say I’m thrilled,” Trump said of the proposed deal. “But the wall is getting built, regardless. It doesn’t matter because we’re doing other things beyond what we’re talking about here.” Trump sounded more con- ciliatory in a Tuesday night tweet, thanking “all Repub- licans for the work you have done in dealing with the Rad- ical Left on Border Security.” Accepting the deal, worked out by congressional negotiators from both par- ties, would be a disappoint- ment for a president who has repeatedly insisted he needs $5.7 billion for a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the project is para- mount for national security. Trump turned down a similar deal in December, forcing the 35-day partial shutdown that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and Republicans reeling. There is little appetite in Washington for a repeat. Lawmakers tentatively agreed to a deal that would provide nearly $1.4 billion for border barriers and keep the government funded for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. Filling in the details has taken some time, as is typical, and aides reported Wednesday that the measure had hit some snags, though they doubted they would prove fatal. White House press secre- tary Sarah Sanders said that the bill-writers were “still tinkering” with the legisla- tion’s language and that the president was awaiting a final version. “We want to see the final piece of legislation, and we’ll make a determination at that point,” she said Wednesday. Still, she said that, while “the president isn’t fully happy” with everything in the bill, “there are some positive pieces of it.” Trump has made clear in phone calls since the deal was announced that he had wanted more money for the wall. And he has expressed concern the plan is being spun as a defeat for him in the media, according to a Re- publican familiar with the president’s interactions but not authorized to speak pub- licly about private conversa- tions. Still, many expected him to sign on nonetheless. The agreement would allow 55 miles of new fencing – constructed using ex- isting designs such as metal slats– but far less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. Full details were not ex- pected to be released until later Wednesday as law- makers worked to trans- late their verbal agreement into legislation. But Repub- lican leaders urged Trump to sign on. “I hope he signs the bill,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who joined other GOP leaders in selling it as a necessary compromise that represented a major con- cession from Democrats. Lawmakers need to pass some kind of funding bill to avoid another shutdown at midnight Friday and have worked to avoid turning to another short-term bill that would only prolong the border debate. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump he did not think another shut- down was going to happen, but he also made clear that, if he does sign the deal, he is strongly considering supple- menting it by moving money from what he described as less important areas of government. “We have a lot of money in this country and we’re using some of that money – a small percentage of that money – to build the wall, which we des- perately need,” he said. The White House has long been laying the ground- work for Trump to use exec- utive action to bypass Con- gress and divert money into wall construction. He could declare a national emergency or invoke other executive au- thority to tap funds including money set aside for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts. Previewing that strategy last week, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said, “We’ll take as much money as you can give us, and then we will go off and find the money someplace else – legally – in order to secure that southern barrier.” He said more than $5.7 billion in avail- able funds had been identified. McConnell, who had pre- viously said he was troubled by the concept of declaring a national emergency, said Tuesday that Trump “ought to feel free to use whatever tools he can legally use to enhance his effort to secure the border.” The framework now under consideration contains plenty to anger lawmakers on both the right and left – more border fencing than many Democrats would like and too little for conservative Re- publicans – but its authors praised it as a genuine com- promise that would keep the government open and allow everyone to move on. Trump was briefed on the plan Tuesday by Appropria- tions Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and sounded more optimistic after their discussion. “Looking over all as- pects knowing that this will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources,” he tweeted, adding, “Regard- less of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!” LONDON (AP) – On the eve of more divisive votes in Parlia- ment over Brexit, the British government on Wednesday downplayed a report that it plans to offer lawmakers a choice between backing Prime Minister Theresa May’s unpopular divorce deal and a delay to the U.K.’s exit from the European Union. An ITV News correspon- dent, Angus Walker, said he overheard negotiator Olly Robbins in a Brussels bar saying the government would ask Parliament in late March to back her agreement, re- jected by lawmakers last month, or seek an extension to the Brexit deadline. May told lawmakers that Parliament had approved a two-year countdown to Brexit, and “that ends on the 29th of March. We want to leave with a deal, and that’s what we’re working for.” She told parliamentar- ians not to set much store in “what someone said to someone else as overheard by someone else in a bar.” Lawmakers overwhelm- ingly rejected May’s Brexit deal with the EU last month, and she is now trying to se- cure changes before bringing it back for another vote. The EU insists it will not renegotiate the legally binding withdrawal agree- ment, though it is still holding talks with Britain about potential tweaks to a non-binding political decla- ration that accompanies it. German Chancellor An- gela Merkel said Wednesday that the EU wanted to “do everything for a deal, but it certainly it has to be a fair deal … and there we unfortu- nately still have a bit of work ahead of us.” If a deal is not approved by the British and European parliaments before March 29, the U.K. faces a messy sudden Brexit that could cause se- vere economic disruption. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said the government wants to secure a deal, but is also preparing for a “no- deal” Brexit. Opposition politicians have accused May of trying to fritter away time as the clock ticks down, in order to leave lawmakers with a last- minute choice between her deal and no deal. Britain’s Parliament on Thursday will hold the latest in a series of debates and votes, in which pro-EU law- makers will try to change the government’s course, ruling out a “no-deal” Brexit and aiming for close post-Brexit ties with the EU. The votes are not legally binding, and a House of Com- mons split between Brexit- backers and EU supporters has so far sent contradictory messages. In previous votes on Jan. 29, lawmakers voted to rule out a “no-deal” exit – without signaling how that should happen – and also told May to seek changes to her Brexit agreement from the EU. On Tuesday, May urged lawmakers to give her more time, promising Parliament yet another series of votes on the next steps in the Brexit process on Feb. 27 if she has not secured changes to the Brexit deal by then. “What the prime min- ister is up to is obvious,” La- bour Party Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said Wednesday. She’s coming to Parliament every other week, pretending there’s progress and trying to buy another two weeks, edging her way toward March 21, when the next EU summit is, to try to put her deal up against no-deal in those final few weeks. “Parliament needs to say ‘That’s not on.’” May told lawmakers that Parliament had approved a two-year countdown to Brexit, and “that ends on the 29th of March.” “ I hope he signs the bill.” SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London to attend Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday. – PHOTO: AP President Donald Trump listens to a question during a Tuesday cabinet meeting at the White House. – PHOTO: APNext >