WIN BIG! over $40,000 worth of prizes E s t . 1982 i n C AY M A N ~ 40 YE AR SANNIVERS AR Y ~ 40 Scratch card with every purchase over $4! T&Cs apply. Purchases over $4 will receive one scratch and win card per transaction. While stocks last. Available on all purchases over $4 from the 23rd of December 2022 - 1st of February 2023 at all Cayman locations. Valid until 23rd December 2023. Can not be redeemed with the same transaction. cayman compass Your most trusted news source Established 1965 $1 | Funding local journalism | Weekly, 6-12 January 2023 New Year: New babies New challenges Page 3Page 5 New honours New Page 2Matinees (matinee price before 6pm) • Seniors $9.00 (Mon-Fri before 6pm) Additional charges apply per 3D/VIP tickets 640-FILM (640-3456) Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any lm starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (PG-13) (FRI, MON-THURS) 3:30 VIP | 4:00 | 7:30 VIP | 8:00 (SAT) 12:30 | 12:35 VIP | 3:30 VIP | 4:00 | 7:30 VIP | 8:00 (SUN) 3:30 VIP | 4:00 | 4:30 | 7:30 VIP | 8:00 | 8:30 BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (PG-13) (FRI, SUN-THURS) 3:45 (SAT) 12:55 | 4:30 I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (PG-13) (FRI, SUN-THURS) 4:00 VIP | 7:15 (SAT) 12:45 VIP | 12:50 | 4:00 VIP | 8:00 M3GAN (PG-13) (FRI, SUN, MON, WED & THURS) 7:00 VIP | 7:00 | 9:30 | 10:00 VIP (SAT) 7:00 VIP | 7:10 | 9:30 | 10:00 VIP (TUES) 7:00 | 9:30 | 10:00 VIP OPERATION FORTUNE: RUSE DE GUERRE (R) (FRI, MON, WED & THURS) 4:05 | 7:05 | 7:15 VIP | 9:35 VIP | 10:00 (SAT) 4:05 | 7:05 | 7:15 VIP | 9:40 VIP | 10:00 (SUN) 7:15 VIP | 9:35 VIP (TUES) 4:05 | 7:05 | 7:15 VIP | 9:50 VIP | 10:00 PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH (PG) (FRI, SUN-THURS) 4:25 VIP | 4:30 (SAT) 9:45 | 12:55 VIP | 1:20 | 4:30 | 4:35 VIP WHAT’S PLAYING THIS WEEK PRETTY WOMAN TUESDAY 7PM VIP (R) CLASSICS KIDS CLUB SING SATURDAY 10AM VIP AVAILABLE (PG) KIDS CLUB FROZEN SATURDAY 10AM VIP AVAILABLE (PG) FIND US ONLINE Caymancompass.com Facebook.com/Caycompass cayman_compass@cayCompassCayman Compass PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Cayman Compass Ltd. Compass Centre, Shedden Road, George Town, Cayman Islands SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman, KY1-1108 Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@compassmedia.ky ADVERTISE WITH US: T: (345) 949-5111 E: sales@compassmedia.ky W: caymancompass.com NEWS EDITOR CAROLINE JAMES BUSINESS EDITOR MICHAEL KLEIN ISSUES EDITOR JAMES WHITTAKER HEAD OF SALES CHERYL BIRCH-GILLIES weather Friday Forecast FORECAST Partly cloudy skies with a 30% chance of showers. SEA STATE Rough with a wave height of 5 to 7 feet. A small craft warning is in effect. WINDS East to northeast at 20 to 25 knots. 88°F HIGH 77°F LOW news in brief King Charles III’s first New Year Honours List includes four people in Cayman who are receiving awards, while four others, including champion swimmer Jordan Crooks, are being granted King’s Certificates and Badges of Honour. Attorney Rosie Whittaker- Myles, former chairperson of the Commission of Standards in Public Life, is being made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her contributions to the local community. Sue Horrocks, director and conductor of the Cayman National Choir and founder and director of the Cayman National Orchestra, has been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to the arts. Reina Jefferson, public relations officer, founding member and former president of the Cayman Islands Early Childhood Association, is also receiving a BEM for her services to literacy and education. Claira Range, deputy director of Fairbanks Women’s Prison and director of Eagle House Rehabilitation Centre, is being awarded the BEM for her services to the prison service and to the wider community. Certificates and Badges of Honour Governor Martyn Roper also announced that he was awarding King’s Certificates and Badges of Honours to four local residents. These are honours awarded locally by governors in some British Overseas Territories to people who have made outstanding contributions to society. The awardees are FINA World Championship 50-metre winner Jordan Crooks, for world-class achievement in swimming; founder of mentorship group Boyz2Men Christopher Murray, for services to at-risk youth; Edgar Bodden for public service; and Chevala Burke for services to the government and wider community. Roper said Crooks, 20, was a “much deserved late addition to this list”, adding that the young swimmer had “warmed the hearts of our entire community with his outstanding achievement in becoming world champion in the 50m freestyle swimming”. New Year Honours List announced Two held in West Bay wounding Two men who allegedly wounded each other in a violent clash on New Year’s Day have been arrested by police. The men, one aged 24 of West Bay, and the other, aged 32 of George Town, were held on suspicion of wounding, following the incident which happened just before 7:40am on 1 Jan. Officers and other emergency services responded to a report of a fight between two men at a residence in West Bay. Both men had reportedly received knife wounds. Police said the men went to the hospital separately in private vehicles, and were treated for multiple knife wounds and other lacerations. They were subsequently discharged and later detained by police. Leaders urge unity, cooperation in new year Local leaders have used their official New Year’s messages to urge the community to come together for 2023. Both Premier Wayne Panton and Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart called for a “shared vision” for Cayman, bolstered by collaboration across the community. McTaggart, in his message, shared in the premier’s hope for the spirit of unity and fellowship in the community. Both leaders outlined the choppy waters that lie ahead – from the spike in crime to the economic challenges presented by the rising cost- of-living. Meanwhile, Governor Martyn Roper joined calls for the community to partner with police to fight crime, and lauded acting Police Commissioner Kurt Walton and his team for some “excellent police work over the holiday period”. Chloe Powery-Doxey departs for Miss Universe Chloe Powery-Doxey has departed for the Miss Universe pageant in New Orleans, where she will represent Cayman on 14 Jan. Powery-Doxey replaced embattled beauty queen Miss Cayman Islands Universe Tiffany Conolly who is facing criminal charges. Conolly has pleaded not guilty. A verdict is expected early this year. Miss Universe Cayman Islands committee deputy chair Donna Bush, in a statement, said, in preparation for the pageant, Powery-Doxey has received training from pageant and runway coach Lu Sierra, former Miss Cayman Islands Universe Caitlin Tyson, and etiquette consultants Minerva Cayman. “The Committee would like to thank everyone who has been a part of this journey and wish Chloe all the best as she represents the Cayman Islands,” she added. Sue Horrocks Claira Range Reina Jefferson Rosie Whittaker-Myles cayman compass 2 N news FRIDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023As COVID surges in China, Cayman assesses risk RESHMA RAGOONATH rragoonath@compassmedia.ky While China grapples with a sharp spike in COVID cases, following the recent relaxation of its restrictive zero-COVID policy, Cayman’s new chief medical officer is monitoring how events overseas might impact the islands’ response to handling the virus. World Health Organization statistics, as at 3 Jan. 2023, indicate that, since the start of the pandemic, there have been 10,322,499 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 31,914 deaths in China, but experts believe official numbers – which indicate five or fewer deaths a day from COVID since December – have been downplayed, obscuring the true severity and prevalence of the virus. At the end of last month, the US announced travellers from China would be required to provide a negative COVID test, before they could enter the country. Canada, India, France, Spain, Italy and the UK have also announced similar testing requirements. “What is interesting is that a number of countries where we might expect infections to come through are taking steps to monitor people coming from China,” Dr. Nick Gent told the Compass. Nevertheless, he stated he did not believe the recent new wave of infections in China currently posed “a direct threat to the Cayman Islands”. Gent said, for now, he would not be recommending imposing any new travel restrictions on the islands, nor changes to existing health protocols. But he and local epidemiologist Rachel Corbett are looking daily at the testing data coming from major ports like the US, UK and Europe. COVID situation being monitored “If at any point we feel that there is a need to take action in terms of protection of the Cayman Islands in respect of controls, testing, or measures on people who are coming from places like China, we would do so,” he explained. He said a potential trigger for change would be if “we are seeing some unusual variant that we’d not seen before having developed in China”. The very limited data from China indicates that an Omicron- type virus is responsible for their outbreak “just the same as what we’re seeing here and we’re seeing in the US and... other places where we’ve got population mobility”. He said the health community believes China is experiencing an epidemic that was essentially like the first wave of COVID, which hit Europe and North America at a time when there was no vaccine and no prior exposure to the virus, leading to a “very, very severe” disease. Cayman logs cases of COVID XBB variant Meanwhile, Cayman has now joined the list of countries with confirmed cases of COVID-19 XBB variant - but the CMO says this offshoot of the Omicron strain does not appear to pose a more severe risk of disease. Gent added he is not seeing signs that this strain is “of particular significance”. “It’s a variant that was first seen and looked at in October of last year. So it’s been around some fairly large populations for some months. There are no reports of it escaping from vaccine by preference to other strains, no reports of increased severity of disease associated with it. At the present time, it just looks like another Omicron strain,” he said. Currently, 40.5% of new infections in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are the XBB variant. The Ministry of Health and Wellness recently advised the community that information relating to the variant that has been circulating via social media was not issued by the ministry. Gent encouraged the community to monitor official channels for access to accurate and credible information and updates. Respiratory infections on the rise He also added that “a big mix of respiratory infections” was putting strain on healthcare systems around the world. “We are seeing more people with respiratory infections in Europe and North America attending hospital. But that’s very much a time of the year kind of problem, and we’re not just seeing COVID, we’re seeing quite high rates of influenza and problems with influenza. We’re seeing things like RSV [respiratory syncytial virus], and human metapneumovirus in children,” Gent explained. Corbett said, in Cayman, there had also been a recent increase in respiratory illness, in particular Influenza A, and RSV in infants. Gent recommended residents, who have not yet done so, get the flu vaccine, or “preferably flu plus COVID booster done at the same time”. “This threat just hasn’t gone away and, you’ve got to remember, Cayman is almost the last port of call for these infections. They build up in the major continental centres... Europe, North America, Canada, and they come to us late. While people sit at home and think, ‘Hey, we haven’t got a problem in Cayman because we are just not seeing a big issue now’... Look over the water and look what the potential is for importation,” he cautioned. Cayman’s busy tourist period is here, he said, and now is the period of “maximum risk”. Vaccination and boosters still best defence Gent advised against thinking “COVID has gone away”. In Cayman, he said, there has been high rates of primary immunisation, which helps protect the islands, as does a lack of direct travel from China and the fact the population doesn’t live in the dense way people in big urban centres do. But he added, “I’d love the rates of booster vaccines to be much, much higher than they are at the present time. “We’ve got very high levels of uptake of the primary vaccines. The first booster round was lower than that, and the last booster round has been very poor uptake, unfortunately, and it’s a great shame because the booster vaccine that we now have available is probably one of the most effective vaccines in particular.” Vaccine take-up, he stressed, would minimise Cayman’s case numbers. “We’ve got to keep Cayman open for business as far as we possibly can, with as few restrictions and impositions.” He also urged the community to practice proper hygiene etiquette and responsible behaviour to prevent the spread of disease. “Not going into work or not going into school when you’ve got a clear respiratory infection is a very good idea. It is actually the safe and responsible thing to do,” he said. “What is interesting is that a number of countries where we might expect infections to come through are taking steps to monitor people coming from China.” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nick Gent cayman compass news N news FRIDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023 3pic of the week Spanish cultural exchange 1234567 89 101112 13141516 17 181920 212223 2425 1234567 89 101112 13141516 17 181920 212223 2425 ACROSS 1 Drive back (5) 4 Shining (7) 8 For each (3) 9 Thick-skinned mammal (9) 10 Sleep (7) 11 Judgment of an arbitrator (5) 13 Inventor of the phonograph (6) 15 Confused (6) 18 A waiting line (5) 19 Anti-riot weapon (4,3) 21 Bony-plated burrowing mammal (9) 23 Slow old boat (3) 24 Make use for energy (7) 25 Of the distant past (5) DOWN 1 Quick sharp retort (7) 2 Rodent with defensive spines (9) 3 Slip of memory (5) 4 Fraudulent scheme (6) 5 Terra firma (3,4) 6 A primate (3) 7 Faint-hearted (5) 12 Crocodilian of China and America (9) 14 Late in arriving (7) 16 Disregard orders (7) 17 Needle for record-player (6) 18 Suppress completely (5) 20 Sun-dried earth/straw brick (5) 22 Detract from (3) The Compass Crossword Puzzle The Compass universal kakuro Puzzle 17207 The numbers in the black cells are clues. Numbers above the slash are across clues. Number below the slash are down clues. The goal is to enter digits 1 - 9 in the white cells to add up to the number clues. You cannot enter any digit more than once when adding up to clue. TODAY'S SOLUTIONS Puzzle 17207 ACROSS: 1 Repel, 4 Radiant, 8 Per, 9 Pachyderm, 10 Shuteye, 11 Award, 13 Edison, 15 Addled, 18 Queue, 19 Tear gas, 21 Armadillo, 23 Tub, 24 Harness, 25 Early. DOWN: 1 Riposte, 2 Porcupine, 3 Lapse, 4 Racket, 5 Dry land, 6 Ape, 7 Timid, 12 Alligator, 14 Overdue, 16 Disobey, 17 Stylus, 18 Quash, 20 Adobe, 22 Mar. Marriott bussing guests to Dart beach What’s going to happen when Cayman doesn’t have any beach left? – Dena Smith Paz Well, this is embarrassing. What happens when ALL the beach front disappears? What “solution” will be found for that? – Theodora Bodden So when is the government going to do something? The $21M that they didn’t spend two years ago is probably 25 today and it is only getting worse... A wall like at Sunset Cove across the ocean and filled in with sand would fix the problem. – Bruce L. It is time for the government to honour their word and fix the beach. The erosion will not stop at Coral Beach. It will continue north. The southern end is the buffer zone. It needs to be replenished as nor’westers are no longer as effective as in the past. – Lhmiel5 H. I remember, years ago, when there were no massive hotels on island, that storms moved huge amounts of sand away from the Seven Mile Beach area. Then, a few storms later, it was back. Dart didn’t cause the problem, climate change did. Just like it’s done for millions of years. Companies like Dart can, however, help mitigate the situation. Don’t be so quick to blame the cook when the fire was the problem! – Gord Le’on Tourist arrested after health supplement mistaken for heroin Sounds like serious training sessions need to resume at the Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control Department, too trigger- happy when put in power positions. Commonsense tells me that maybe like in other countries (for example, the US) we should PROPERLY test the suspected substance before getting our little egos in a knot. The incompetence is mind blowing… –Arleth Gould Americans are quite prone for legal action. At many other international airports, there is provisional testing done when suspicious substances are discovered. – Patricia Bryan I’m not sure if it is more absurd that they got a false negative on vitamins or the Customs and Border Control people saying that they think their testing methodology is fine. – Dan K. In memoriam: People we lost in 2022 We lost so many great Caymanian legends this year!! RIP! – Sherri Bodden-Cowan Just lost my youngest sister October 2022! Sleep in heavenly peace Sis! – Beulah Walton May they all RIP. – Orlene Ebanks Jewel Arguile Smalldon nèe Ebanks died January 12th [2022] aged 92. Born 1929 in Spot Bay Cayman Brac, daughter of Irene McLaughlin of Spot Bay Cayman Brac and Captain James Ebanks of North Side. She was the Director of the Glamorous Granny, Full Figure Lady and Modern Miss Pageants for 13 years. She was awarded a plaque and medal for her Queen’s visit in 1994 contributions to the beautification of the island and was the founder and head of the Spotts Clean up Committee until ill health prevented her efforts. She fund raised for various needy causes including donating to the ICU at GT Hospital, the Kirkconnell Rest Home in Cayman Brac, a wheelchair to a Brac resident and funds for a patient with cancer to relieve treatment overseas. She was the mother of 6 children, 11 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren. She had been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for 58 years. – Cyndy Ebanks Barkers Beach Resort application returns to planning board Sorry, but I hope it gets turned down, we can’t seem to slow this development down. – Wanda Viscount Grand Cayman is going to end up nothing but high-rise hotels with absolutely no Caribbean feel left. You could be staying anywhere! Such a shame... how can this be allowed? Cayman is not the island we first knew. – Brenda Rennie Falconer Reject it again! Let’s at least try to save some of the islands’ beach. – Lorraine Clancy Ebanks Do I apologise for stating this comment… I don’t believe so. Please stop this madness. Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to this insanity. Progress, you cannot stop it, but when is enough with this. Who really is benefiting from all of this… It’s investors, developers and not the “real” everyday hardworking Caymanians. And those of us who “love” Cayman. The island I knew has been lost, and my heart breaks, for all those who have no idea what paradise once was. – Jim Norris When is enough enough? Time for Caymanians to take control and stop selling out the highest bidder. – Regina Ecclefield Last month, students studying Spanish in government schools, along with parents and teachers, attended the Filadelfia Seventh-day Adventist church in Prospect to experience the Spanish language and culture through religion and food. Pictured is the cohort along with Elder Pedro Calzado and Pastor Carlon Nyack who facilitated the trip. - Photo: Mandy McGaw What they’re saying Online cayman compass 4 news N news FRIDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023RESHMA RAGOONATH rragoonath@compassmedia.ky Bodden Town couple Shannel Walker and Abraham Frederick marked their New Year’s Day with a special surprise when their son Amir decided to come almost two weeks early, making him the first baby born in 2023 in the Cayman Islands. He was one of three boys born on New Year’s Day at the Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town. Walker said baby Amir was due on 16 Jan. and the couple was planning to schedule a C-section. “But he had other plans, unfortunately,” she said laughing. Frederick agreed, “I guess the good part is we get to celebrate his birthday on New Year’s.” Baby Amir is the couple’s first son. They have two daughters. Walker said everything happened very quickly. She had put her 14-month old daughter down for a nap before doing some cleaning shortly after lunch. After she fell asleep, Walker said, she went to the bathroom and discovered her waters had broken. Immediately, the couple sprung into action and headed to the hospital. At 7:05pm, Walker gave birth to Amir, who weighed four pounds and six ounces. No Christmas Day birthday for Xavier Emmanuel While baby Amir came early, George Town couple Catherine and Kenval Bryan’s son, Xavier Emmanuel, came later than expected. He was the second baby born on New Year’s Day – but the Bryans said they had been planning to welcome their child around Christmas. Kenval said the couple and their other two sons, Draecen, 15 and Zenith, 5, were excited to welcome the newest addition to the family. “We wanted to go natural,” he said, “so we waited and waited for him to arrive. So he actually chose the first of the year, which we thought was very special, and we’re just very excited to have him... [a] happy, healthy baby boy, born nine pounds seven ounces.” “From Saturday, I started to have mild contractions in the evening time and they weren’t going away. They were irregular, but they kept coming. Then Sunday morning, I just started to feel them more regularly, and then after lunchtime, they started to develop a pattern,” Catherine explained. She said she tried stay home as long as possible, getting to the hospital around 5pm and delivering the child at 8:50pm. Her two other sons, she said, were also born after their due date, but she had previously elected to have labour induced. This time, she decided to wait it out and opted not to use painkillers. “I was just in that mental state,” she said, admitting, “Down to the wire, I was like ‘Can I do this?’ ‘Yes, I can do it’. I just kept talking to myself. My husband has a few dents and scratches in his hand but other than that, everything went good. I’m happy with how everything played out.” Baby boy joy for first-time parents First-time parents Tamara Radojicic and Ryan Everett welcomed their son James Eldon Everett on 1 Jan. at 11:07pm, Cayman’s third baby of the year. Baby James also arrived on the scene earlier than expected. Radojicic said they were hoping he would come in January, because “[Ryan’s] birthday is January 12 and we were excited that if he arrived on his birthday, they’d be able to celebrate together,” she said. Everett said the couple had company staying for the holidays and Radojicic started getting labour pains just before they departed for the airport. So while their guests headed to Owen Roberts International, the couple headed to the Cayman Islands Hospital. “We kept telling him... to hold off until the company leaves and he waited just long enough for us,” Everett said. “We were both just very excited to meet him and see what he was like... It was definitely a long, very long, process,” Radojicic added. Everett said it is fairly common for first-time mothers to experience a lengthy delivery, but “She beared with it and she was a champ through the whole process. I think, overall, things went well and she stayed calm.” Radojicic said the process took so long that when they arrived at the hospital in the morning, they were told that they would have the first baby of the new year, but by the time James was born at 11:07pm, the two other baby boys had been delivered before him. “He just got in there for January 1,” Radojicic quipped. All three babies and their parents are doing well. The couples expressed their gratitude to the medical staff for their support. Three boys born on New Year’s Day at the Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town. Meet Cayman’s first babiesof 2023 Bodden Town couple Shannel Walker and Abraham Frederick, with their son Amir shortly after he was born on New Year’s Day. – Photos: Supplied Tamara Radojicic and Ryan Everett welcomed their son James Eldon Everett in the final hour of 1 Jan. Baby Xavier Emmanuel Bryan was the second baby to be born on New Year’s Day. cayman compass 5 news N news FRIDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023NORMA CONNOLLY nconnolly@compassmedia.ky With the beach in front of its hotel eroding, the Marriott has begun taking its guests to a stretch of Seven Mile Beach further north, which it has leased from Dart. The Marriott’s general manager Hermes Cuello confirmed that the hotel is now renting the area by the beach for its guests to use. Photos posted on social media of a section of the white-sand waterfront lined with deck chairs has led to outrage among some residents who lament that this makes another section of the beach inaccessible to them. One commenter wrote, “As I see it – Caymanians and locals won’t have beaches to go to if the government continues to allow things like this… such a shame!” Another wrote, “This was such a quiet part of the beach for locals and this now has been taken from us too. Nowhere for us to go anymore.” Cuello told the Compass the use of the beach by Marriott guests was “a temporary arrangement” until the beach erosion issue in front of the hotel and along the southern end of Seven Mile is addressed. He added, “Though we have rented the beach, we continue giving access to the local community.” In response to online commenters who complain that, because the deck chairs have been placed so close to the water, locals don’t feel they have proper access to the beach anymore, Cuello said, “They do, the beach is narrow but extensive.” When the Compass visited the beach, located north of the Kimpton resort by a cul-de-sac on the old West Bay Road, on Tuesday morning, 3 Jan., about 30 chairs had been laid out, with a stack of others available nearby. Guests were being picked up and dropped off by minibuses. A security guard and other Marriott staff were on site, but were not preventing non- hotel guests from accessing the beach. Other beach users were in the area also, laying on towels in the shade and on their own beach chairs at either side of the line of hotel deckchairs. Two porta-cabin bathrooms have been set up amid the vegetation lining the beach, and a small mobile bar is available for the Marriott guests. A statement issued to the Compass from Dart on 4 Jan. noted that Dart’s Crymble Landholdings owns the land adjacent to the beach, and not the beach itself, and that the company had signed a short-term rental agreement with the Marriott for the use of the land. Dart’s senior communications manager Ben Meade said the company wanted to clarify the misperception that the public is being restricted from accessing the beach. “In response to concerns about possible restricting of public access to the beach north of Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, we would like to assure the public that Dart, as a landowner, has not and is not taking such steps,” Meade said. “Over the years, this privately- owned land has been made available for public use, in particular camping and related activities. We now have a short-term agreement with the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort (a non-Dart property) for use of this land, so their guests can fully enjoy Seven Mile Beach, one of Cayman’s premier tourist attractions and enhance the overall visitor experience. Under this arrangement, there have been steps taken to not prohibit or obstruct access to the beach by members of the public.” The Marriott has resorted to bussing guests to a part of the beach several miles from its own hotel because of the erosion along a swathe of the beach, from Plantation Village to Coral Beach. In 2021, the government announced it was planning to allocate $21 million over the next two years for a project to restore the lost sand along the southern end of the beach. This included $1 million in 2022 for a business case and feasibility plan. Longer term, a policy of “managed retreat” is being considered – where buildings that are slated for demolition would be replaced by ones built further back from the sea. Marriott bussing guests to Dart beach Marriott guests relax on deck chairs along a stretch of beach by land that the hotel is renting from Dart. - Photo: Norma Connolly cayman compass 6 news N news FRIDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@compassmedia.ky An American visitor to Cayman has told how she was arrested after an over-the-counter immunity supplement was wrongly identified as heroin. The woman had a package of ‘Tro Just Blue’ – an energy and immunity booster – along with other health supplements in her luggage. Customs officers searched her bag during her visit in November 2022, and examined all her supplements, using a field test. “That was the last one they tested and it turned a certain colour. The officer said, ‘This is heroin.’ My first thought was ,‘This is crazy, it is clearly not heroin.’ It was just absurd,” she said. The woman, who asked to be anonymous in this story, said she was taken to a back room and strip searched before being transported to the Cayman Islands Detention Centre to be fingerprinted and have mugshots taken. She was bailed and released, but had to return to the detention centre a couple of times before further tests confirmed that the substance was not heroin, and her passport was returned and the case dropped. There is no suggestion that officers did anything wrong in this case. However, the scenario raises questions about the efficacy of the field tests. Customs and Border Control told the Compass field testing kits were a “common tool used by law enforcement agencies around the world”. “Arrests are often made as a result of a field test and this case was one such case,” CBC said. “In almost all of our cases, the field tests were accurate as the results were subsequently confirmed by the Forensic Laboratory. For those reasons, we do not have any concerns about the efficacy of our field testing kits as even in a laboratory an occasional false positive or false negative will occur.” Consequences of arrest The case is also another example, says lawyer Richard Barton, of an arrest that could impact the life chances of the person involved. The woman is concerned that having to declare an ‘arrest on suspicion of heroin trafficking’ will impact her future. “I don’t know how all that works but I would like to have the arrest not be on my file,” she said. The US organisation ‘ban the box’ has campaigned against questions about arrests being included on passport application or job forms, but the question remains on some visa and travel applications. It is not clear what records police would provide in those circumstances, or if US authorities would necessarily be aware of a Cayman arrest. An RCIPS spokesperson said a person’s official criminal record would not include arrests where no charges were brought. They referred questions about visa and passport applications to the Passport Office. Barton, who represented the woman, said that, regardless of the practical reality, law-abiding citizens would be inclined to answer honestly on official forms, especially visa or passport applications. He said, “There needs to be a transparent process to have these arrests expunged from the record. At the moment, you can spend time in jail for a serious offence and eventually have that removed from your record but there is not a similar process for arrests, no matter how trivial or unproven the alleged offence may be.” CBC, in a statement, clarified the process following arrest on suspicion of importing drugs. While the arrested person is interviewed and bailed, the suspected drug is sent to the forensics laboratory for confirmation, which can take a few days. If the lab test is positive, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions decides whether or not to bring charges. “If the lab test is negative, the person is released and cleared and the file is closed with no further action necessary. The reason(s) for the person’s release will appear in our records and the initial arrest will not impede future travel to or employment in the Cayman Islands,” CBC said. Tourist arrested after supplement misidentification A woman was detained after her supplements were mistaken for heroin. - Photo: Taneos Ramsay cayman compass 7 news N news FRIDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023RESHMA RAGOONATH rragoonath@compassmedia.ky The Cayman Islands may have enjoyed a record- breaking turtle season with 858 turtle nests recorded in 2022, but a number of nests and hatchlings did not survive the season due to both weather and man-made threats. Department of Environment turtle scientist Jane Hardwick said the season, though successful, had been challenging, and she is urging property owners to install turtle- friendly lighting to reduce the losses that come when turtles are disoriented and can’t find their way to the sea. “Hatchling misorientation due to coastal lighting continues to be a challenge with more than 165 nests requiring interventions to protect the hatchlings from lighting in Grand Cayman [last] season. There were 31 nests where hatchling misorientation occurred (7 of which were unknown nests and only discovered after the hatch),” she said, in an emailed response to the Cayman Compass. Among those was a nest of at least 25 hatchlings, misoriented by condo lights along Seven Mile Beach, that failed to find their way to the sea in August. After the DoE was alerted to the situation, a small number of the turtles were recovered, but most died. “As nest hatch dates can only be estimated within a 10-day window, it is an around the clock job to do our best to ensure nests are safe from lighting. If you live on a nesting beach, please consider switching to turtle-friendly lighting and contact the DoE to find out if you are eligible for funding. Let’s make next season as misorientation-free as possible,” Hardwick pleaded. The season, which runs from May to November, ended with green sea turtles recording the sharpest increase in numbers, with 528 nests found in 2022, compared to 180 in 2021, according to the DoE. A total of 324 loggerhead nests were also recorded, which represented a slight decrease on the 350 recorded in 2021, while hawksbill nest numbers remained unchanged at six in 2022. Storm surges claim nests Though the storm activity for the hurricane season was not as active as predicted by forecasters, there were storm surges that had an impact on the islands’ turtle numbers. The DoE turtle team, Hardwick said, was able to rescue some nests before storm surges hit during Hurricane Ian last September, but there were still losses. “In Grand Cayman, 21 nests did not survive due to nest flooding and a further 44 nests had an unknown fate as they could not be located after the storm due to the nest markers washing away. Storm impacts are unpredictable but we’re grateful for the many hatchlings we could rescue,” Hardwick said. The turtle team, she said, were thrown for a bit of a loop with the intense wave action experienced during Ian. “All hands were on deck before the storm to ensure the most vulnerable nests (those closest to the water) were relocated. Almost 1,000 hatchlings that had hatched from their eggs, but had not yet emerged from the sand, were rescued before the weather arrived. Unfortunately, the surge came up over the entire beach along many of the key nesting areas,” she said. Despite the challenges, Hardwick said the turtle team was “really thrilled to report a record-breaking 2022 turtle nesting season with 858 confirmed nests across the 3 islands (527 in Grand Cayman, 252 in Little Cayman and 79 in Cayman Brac)”. “We recorded an increase in numbers of green turtles nests across all islands this year, after low numbers in 2021. In total, more than 61,000 hatchlings made it to the sea (including green, loggerhead and hawksbills). It is important to note that the number of nests does not reflect the number of nesting turtles,” she said, adding that each female usually has between two and eight nests in a season. Although the nesting population is increasing, she added, the number of nesting turtles is still low and many threats remain. “It has been a long, almost full year-round, nesting season, with 12 nests laid outside of the typical season of 1st May – 30th November. The first nest of the year was laid on 31st March in Grand Cayman (a green turtle) and the last nest laid was 8th December in Little Cayman (a hawksbill turtle),” Hardwick said. She paid special tribute to the team, as well as visiting researchers, beach patrol volunteers, DoE conservation officers and other key staff “who work tirelessly to ensure our nesting turtles are identified, monitored and protected throughout the season”. “Thank you to everyone who provided support in big and small ways. The 2023 season will be here before we know it,” she added. Storms, condo lights take toll on turtles Jane Hardwick Baby turtles are at risk from a variety of threats. Storm surges from Hurricane Ian in September led to the loss of some nests. 858 Turtle nests recorded in 2022 cayman compass 8 news N news FRIDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023enterprisecayman.ky Innovation Begins Here There has never been a more exciting time to consider your future! The Enterprise Cayman Internship Programme is now open to Caymanians and residents of the Cayman Islands between the ages of 18-25 years. Opportunities Include: • Software Development • Medical Technology • Digital Marketing • Artificial Intelligence • Blockchain/Web3 Technology • and more! + Free Professional Development Workshops + Networking Opportunities with 300+ Companies Don’t miss the opportunity to intern with global companies in Cayman’s special economic zones. Visit enterprisecayman.ky to apply cayman compass 9 FRIDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023Next >