The Belize TimesThe Truth Shall Make You Free

Established 1957

20 JULY 2014 | ISSUE NO: 4904 www.belizetimes.bz | $1.00

SCAN HERE

Pg. 4

KHMH Under InvestIgatIon

agaIn

Pg. 3

Pg. 23

Board ParT WaYS WITH CEo & dIrECTor of fInanCE

Pg. 3

Dean Barrow

Pg. 23

BEL SHuTS doWn BELmoPan

Pg. 23

Gary Longsworth

Julio Mendoza Lionel Sampson

Carlos Perera

GoB evicts San Ignacio fire department!!

San Ignacio, July 15, 2014The Government seems

to be waiting on disaster to strike in the twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena, as they continue to neglect the urgent need for up-to-stan-dard fire fighting equipment.

It is a disgrace to see the conditions which the San Ignacio Fire Service is operat-ing today. Of the two trucks assigned to the station, none are 100% operational. One of the trucks leaks water. The other has a broken windshield with a gaping hole. The fire men claim it’s been this way

for the past five years. The truck with the broken windshield is not conducive to good operation as the wind pressure affects both driver and sideman. As to the leaking truck, while its malfunc-tion is self-explanatory, the UDP doesn’t seem to understand.

Now there is more bad news for the fire fighters and the town. The entire fire station has been evicted! The head Fireman, who lived inside the station, was told to move his family and belong-ings from the station. He has left the facility, which today is totally

more Killings in Belize City

Belize City, July 14, 2014Government-run utility companies

are taking turns at Failure.First it was Belize Telemedia Limit-

ed whose internet service went down for several days after their security sys-

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 202

serving Belize since 1957 as the longest continuous newspaper.

Founder: Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price, People’s United Party Leader Emeritus

EDITOR

Alberto Vellos

LAYOUT/GRAPHIC ARTIST

Chris Williams

OFFICE ASSISTANT

Roberto Peyrefitte

Printed and Published ByThE BElIzE TImEs PREss lTD.

Tel: 671-8385#3 Queen StreetP.O. BOX 506

Belize City, BelizeEmail: belizetimesadvertisement@yahoo.com

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The Belize TimesThe Truth Shall Make You Free

Established 1957

14 APR 2013 | ISSUE NO: 4840 www.belizetimes.bz | $1.00

SCAN HERE

CANADIAN DOLLAR (CAD): $ 0.56

Guatemala Quetzal (GTQ): $ 3.94

Sterling Pound (GBP): $ 0.30

Euro (EUR) : $ 0.37

Eastern Caribbean (XCD):$ 1.36

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CHINESE YUAN (CNY): $ 3.04

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INDIAN RUPEE (INR): $ 31.14Exchange rate

of One Belize Dollar

6 Feb

LOCAL wEAthER26 Mar 27 Mar22 Jul 23 Jul21 Jul20 Jul19 Jul18 Jul

Gino Peck

PUP Responds to Amandala Publisher

Pg. 10

The People’s United Party expresses condolences to

the families of the late Cecilia Blake and Paul Robert Saldivar

Eulogy for Eric Austin Fairweather

Born – December 3rd, 1934Died – July 4th, 2014

Read by Harold FairweatherEric Austin Fairweather was

the 12th child of his parents, Harold and Elorine Fairweather (nee Hinkson), both deceased. Eric was born in Belize City.

As a young child Eric spent his early childhood in a few of the districts, since his father was a policeman.

The first two years of his young life were spent in the Stann Creek District from De-cember 1935 to November 1937. Then from November 1937 to July of 1941 was spent in Ben-que Viejo del Carmen. From July 1941 to May 1994 was spent in San Ignacio.

While in San Ignacio, he attended St. Andrews Anglican

Church and he was one of the youngest choir boys in the church choir.

Sad to say on the 13th September 1942, at the age of 8 years old, his mother passed away and was buried at the San Ignacio cemetery.

In May of 1944, the fami-ly moved to Belize City. In Be-lize, Eric attended St. John’s Primary School then went on to St. Michael’s College. After graduation in 1954, Eric was offered a position as a clerk in the Civil Service. He was soon promoted and continued to advance.

In the early 1960s, Eric was offered a scholarship to enter Carlton University in Canada. Upon graduation, he returned to Belize and was offered a position as District Officer in the town of San Ig-nacio. He served in that posi-tion from late 1960s.

He was transferred to Orange Walk town where he remained a District Officer from 1973 up to 1976, after which he served as a magis-trate until a new government was formed after Indepen-dence in September of 1981.

He then became Per-manent Secretary to Hon. Lindsay Rogers, and after that Permanent Secretary

to Hon. Minister Phillip Goldson and continued as Permanent Secretary to other Ministers until his retirement in Decem-ber 1989.

After retirement he was offered employment to serve as a Magistrate. He continued serving a Magistrate for a few years and again retired for good.

Eric passed away peacefully at his home on July 4th 2014. He is survived by his chil-dren – daughters Doro-thy Fairweather, Patricia Fairweather, Sharett M. Cardenas, son Colin Fair-weather, brothers Evan, Harry and Joel Fairweath-er, sisters Mrs. Iola Gill, Mrs. Norma Pinks, Mrs. Gilda Meighan and Grace Fairweather, along with several grandchildren, great grandchildren, niec-es and nephews.

May he Rest in Peace and let perpetual light shine upon him.

Come to me all ye that travail and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Sleep on Beloved un-til that Glorious Resurrec-tion.

Sunrise October 15, 1923Sunset July 9, 2014

Sunrise December 1, 1948Sunset July 5, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 3

Continued from page 1

03

Francis Fonseca

Party LeaderFRANCIS FONSECA

tours Belama Phase 4

PUP Leader Hon. Francis Fonseca addresses the concerns of the residents of Belama Phase 4

KHMH Under InvestIgatIon agaInBelize City, July 15, 2014

On the heels of multiple Au-ditor General reports exposing major financial irregularity at the Ministry of Health’s Southern Regional Hospital and Central Health Region, a new investiga-tion has commenced over the spending of over half a millions dollars at the Karl Heusner Me-morial Hospital.

KHMH has seen its fair share of controversies over the past six years – starting from the phar-maceutical hustling fiasco which saw doctors go on strike to the outbreak of an infection which killed 13 babies – but this time something seems to have bro-ken the camel’s back, however.

The Board has decided to terminate instead of automat-ically renew the services of Chief Executive Officer Francis Gary Longsworth and Director of Finances Carlos Perrera. Per-rera, we are told, was fired and has already exited the hospital

leaving under a heavy shadow of scandal following allegations of mismanagement of the hos-pital’s financial affairs. Long-sworth will be leaving in Sep-tember.

This latest scandal is over the purchase of two X-ray machines, which together cost the hospital over $600,000. The machines were purchased from a company based in Orange Walk Town but it was done in a very fishy way. The purchases were not made with an invoice or contract. Yet, the machines were received and a partial payment was done.

The KHMH Board has called the Auditor General in to inves-tigate this purchase along with other transactions with the com-pany.

The Board is also looking into the allegation that purchases of beds for the hospital were made but, like the acquisition of the ex-pensive x-ray machines, does not seem in order.

GoB evicts San Ignacio fire department!!

empty. The firemen report to the station but are in complete disillusion, as they see nothing to work with. They have been instructed to park the trucks at the Police station compound.

In May, UDP Chairman Alberto Au-gust had warned that the Fire Station was told to find elsewhere to set up op-erations because Belize Water Services wanted the property they were on. The Fire Station will reportedly move to a site on a property beside the Victor Galvez Stadium and August suggested that the move is beneficial since the fire fighters can train on what should be ex-

clusively a sports pitch. The suggestion turned very controversial as the same property had been assigned to the Cen-ter for Employment Training for the train-ing of young Belizeans with vocational skills.

So, where is the Fire Station today? Who knows!! There is no building on the land near the Victor Galvez Stadium and neither are there signs of any work com-mencing soon. Our conclusion is that the UDP are indeed planning for disaster to strike!

This is your classic UDP Govern-ment at work. They have no clue of how to manage and govern this country.

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 4

Officer Down!

04

PUP at 60% of threshold

NO SENSE OF PURPOSE OR

DIRECTION

on the

By Francis w. FonsecaThe UDP Government

of Dean Barrow is a Govern-ment without purpose or di-rection.

It is a Government with-out a Plan. A government that lives from day to day reeling from crisis to crisis.

No wonder then, that Belize is in a crisis.

Ask yourself the follow-ing questions:

1. What is this UDP Government’s Economic Development Agenda?

2. Does the UDP Gov-

ernment have a Gover-nance Reform Agenda?

3. What is the UDP’s JOB PLAN?

4. What is the UDP SOCIAL AGENDA beyond furthering dependency through handouts?

5. What is the UDP’s National Security Plan not only to fight crime but also to preserve our territorial integrity?

6. Where are our Edu-cation, Health and Housing Sectors going?

7. What is our Natural

Resources Agenda?I could go on and on

but you get the point. This is a UDP Govern-ment that is headed no-where and quickly. Belize is rapidly deteriorating.

Take the surge in vio-lent crime and increased “gang” activity affecting the safety of our citizens. The PUP has long called on the Government to adopt comprehensive anti-crime measures that tackle the root causes: poverty, unemployment,

lack of education, and weaken-ing families. But Barrow only re-sponds when it affects his con-stituency or when an election is approaching.

This is simply irresponsible and exposes the incompetence of the UDP government.

The reality is that Mr. Barrow only responds to political pres-sure and only when it affects his political interests.

This is no way to govern Be-lize. Moving from crisis to crisis, NO PLAN, NO URGENCY, NO PURPOSE, NO DIRECTION. THAT IS BELIZE IN 2014 UN-DER DEAN BARROW AND THE UDP!!

The PUP has a Plan:ECONOMIC REFORMGOVERNANCE REFORMEDUCATION REFORMALL GROUNDED IN A SO-

CIAL JUSTICE AGENDA!!!IT IS TIME FOR THE UDP TO

GO!!THE PUP IS READY, ABLE

AND WILLING TO SERVE BE-LIZE!!!

BELIEvE

PUP NOTICEMunicipal Elections – San Ignacio/Santa

Elena Towns

The People’s United Party is inviting interested applicants for the upcoming San Igna-cio/Santa Elena Town Coun-cil Elections to submit their applications. A Convention is slated for Sunday, August 24th, 2014.

Applications are available from the PUP Secretari-at, Independence Hall, #3 Queen Street, Belize City.

C omplete d appl icat ions must be filled and returned to the Chair person and the Secretary General. The non-refundable fee must be submitted to the Secretariat along with the necessary documentation to complete the application.

Deadline for submission is July 18th, 2014.

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 5

False promises… broken dreams!

05

Why the UDP lies about building sports facilities

edItorIaL

With the 2014 FIFA World Cup coming to an end, two very important issues have become apparent to those countries with hopes and dreams

of someday participating in the most-prestigious global football competition. The first is that it takes extremely skilled players to play at this level and it starts with serious investments in sports facilities, adequate development programmes and training. That said we can all recognise how far behind we are with a Government like the Barrow Administration that considers sports a non-priority.

This is a perfect time to take stock of Belize’s sporting capacity and to look at those monumental failed UDP promises that have been languishing with time.

A basketball complex in the middle of nowhereSome months ago, Prime Minister Dean Barrow was heard promising

that a basketball complex will be built, virtually in the middle of nowhere and quite a distance from the city’s urban area. This facility, according to the Prime Minister, would sit along the outskirts of Emmanuel Street, which is currently swamp land along the fringes of the Lake Independence division.

The UDP Government has suddenly put interest in this large tract of land. In doing so, they have bulldozed a road through what was mostly a water catchment surrounded by mangroves. The Government has also threatened to destroy the homes and evict those Hispanic Belizeans who, because of the UDP’s oppressive land system which only benefits the rich and well-connected, found it necessary to squat and build London bridges homes.

After careful study, the plans with the lands seem to be more about hanky panky than any real commitment to turn the site into the next Sta-ples Center for the country. Credible reports are that a sizeable area of land has been sold off to a businessman who funds the UDP’s campaign. This businessman is closely connected to a big CEO who seems to want to have his fingerprint on every investment in the country. When he doesn’t, as we have seen in a recent occasion, he tries to block and badmouth the invest-ment.

This, we are told, is the main reason why the UDP Government is pushing development on this swamp land. They also deceived our friend-ly bi-lateral partner in the north, Mexico, who has reportedly agreed to provide financing, but when they discover the corruption behind the land development, they will surely back down.

Where is the new Civic Center?Belize City had a basketball complex. This was the Belize City Center

which was recently demolished with the promise that it would be replaced promptly with a state of the art basketball facility. This new facility was sup-posed to have been funded by the Mexican Government, but they withdrew support for unknown reasons.

Back in August 2009, when the Belize National Basketball Team had returned from the COCABA games in Cancun, the Prime Minister stood on the steps of the City Center, and said the following: “I want to make you one promise… I will find the funds to build a dedicated first class basketball facility. The achievement of Team Belize deserves no less.”

The Prime Minister has failed to keep his promise. Five years later, the situation is much worse as there is now no public facility for basketball competitions in Belize City. The Government rushed to tear down Civic Center, promising to replace it quickly, but has moved at snails’ pace with their supposed plans. Sources say there are really no plans, and the people of Belize have been deceived once more.

We are also told that this is the way the UDP Government wants it. Why? The absence of a public basketball facility means that all sports com-

petitions have had to be held at the old Bird’s Isle which has a dangerous wooden court area. We are told the private owners of Bird’s Isle, which in-cludes former UDP Minister Henry Young, charges between $200 and $300 per use of the facility. Even primary schools must pay!

With one of their own profiting from the lack of adequate sporting fa-cilities, the UDP has no intention of begin to build a new Civic Center any time soon. The land is probably going to end up in someone’s private hands…someone well connected to the UDP.

Herman Longsworth’s FolliesThis UDP Government has a knack for making false promises. Leading to

the February 2012 elections, as part of his campaign and manifesto, UDP Al-bert candidate Herman Longsworth erected a life-sized banner on the Berger Football Field located on Vernon Street with a 3D display of what he promised to be the future Berger Field.

Longsworth baited voters to believe that he was going to deliver a modern sport facility. But clearly, Longsworth was simply being very deceitful. Long-sworth won and became the Area Representative and then Minister of Sports, but not only was the large banner suddenly removed from the Berger Field, the grounds has been badly neglected.

Longsworth eventually surfaced on the media in November 2012, but it was to tell Belizeans that he actually had no money for the project. At his side however, appeared the rabid UDP Alberto August who had been put in charge of the Government-owned company, Belize Water Services. August commit-ted $30,000 of the public’s money to salvage Longsworth political campaign promise. Longsworth added that such a project would cost $225,000, and even though he was the Minister of Sports, he said there was no way the Ministry could build it. Since that political stunt, which the media swallowed hook and line and showcased as a gran “ground-breaking”, nothing has taken place at the Berger Field. Who knows what happened to the $30k from BWS.

Longsworth was at his best though. He boasted that they will raise the field and build proper drainage. He said that he will grow the best grass on the turf and that he will create a monument to honour every football player. Of course, he also said that the first thing that was going up was “the perimeter fence”. This has become his true legacy.

The Herman Longsworth Fence ComplexHis legacy is one of serious indignation and ethical conflict. His name will

go down in infamy when Belizeans remember the Marion Jones Sporting Com-plex. The development of this sporting facility, which the UDP took over in its infancy stages in 2008, has taken too long to complete. It has been six years now under the UDP, with the only completed section being the fence which was built by Longsworth’s privately-owned construction company at a cost of $2 million.

The sporting complex has also been stripped down to a mere track and field and cycling tarmac. The initial design, which included a modern basket-ball facility, changing rooms, a football field, fitness and boxing gym, has been discarded.

Thanks to UDP sloppiness and a serious lack of financial accountability, it will take many more years before this complex is completed. Undoubtedly, it will be the job of the People’s United Party to restore significance to the devel-opment of sports in Belize.

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 606

LIqUOR LICENSE NOTICES

Notice is hereby given that FLORENCE GILLETT is apply-ing for a Shop Liquor License to be operated at “Hadie’s Shop”, situate at 41 Victoria Street, Be-lize City, Belize District under the Intoxicating Liquor Licensing Or-dinance Revised Edition 1980.

UDP Impotent on Crime

Over 150 children participate in

PUP OW Central Summer Camp

FOR SALE2000 4x4 Chevy Blazer. Good condition. Air Conditioning,

Power Windows & Locks, and Leather seats. Call 636-6245 for

serious inquiries.

Orange walk town, July 14, 2014There were over one hundred and fifty happy faces at the

closing of the 2014 Orange Walk Central Summer Sports Camp held at the Orange Walk People’s Stadium on Friday July 11th.

For one week, children between the ages 7 and 12 were hosted to a cool sports camp that included basic training in basketball, volleyball and football. The camp was held by the PUP Orange Walk Central Area Representative Hon. John Bri-ceno and the PUP Orange Walk Town Council.

For the children, the camp was a positive outlet to channel their ener-gies this summer. Several of them are repeat campers, having participated in the camps for several years now. Sev-eral have even “graduated” from camp participant to camp official, and are now assisting in the planning of the camp.

After a week long of sports, the initiative closed with the presentation of certificates which were awarded by Hon. Briceno, Mayor Kevin Bernard and Councillor in charge of Sports Ladrick Shepard.

Hon. John Briceno hands out participation certificate

Mayor Kevin Bernard congratu-lates young camper

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 7 07

Dan Silva

Maya Centre, Stann Creek West, Sunday June 22, 2014

Good Health Traditional Chinese MedicinePermit by Ministry of Health

No Pain Acupuncture

We treat pains, common diseases and uncomfort-able syndromes

*Therapy in Belize City Every Sunday*

Please call 635-2071 to make appointment to avoid waiting time.

Address: Belize Corozal Rd., Orange WalkOpen: Tuesday to Saturday in Orange Walk

Party Leader FRANCIS FONSECA meets with Corozal Bay Executive

L to R: Corozal Bay Standard Bearer, Gregorio “Papas” Garcia, PUP Leader Hon. Francis Fonseca

and PUP Corozal Bay Chairlady Thea Garcia

Landy Habet assists Billy White with drainage works

Billy white Village, July 14, 2014

Over the past weekend, PUP Cayo North East Stan-dard Bearer Orlando “Landy” Habet as-sisted the Billy White village council with the cleaning of drains and installation of culverts to assist in re-ducing flooding in the community’s low-lying areas.

Habet joined Chairman of Billy White village Mr. Benji Cano and Mr. Ovidio Estrada, under whose supervision the work is being carried out. Last month, the PUP Cayo North East Com-mittee held a success-ful fundraiser with the raffling of a motorcy-cle and housewares. Some of the funding raised from this initia-tive was donated to the Billy White drain-age project.

The drainage

works will alleviate flood-ing problems for about 10 families, whose home gets flooded whether it rains. The Village Coun-cil has been begging the Government to give attention to this prob-lem, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 808

PUP

– Freetown’s Mr. quitar?

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 9

Brand New Mahoga-ny Heights Basketball

Court Christened!!

Continued from page 7

09

Edmund Castro

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To EURoPE & BaCk!

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Esther

The world renowned Belizean musical group, the Garifuna Collective, has re-turned from a successful tour of Europe.

The Collective participat-ed in sold out concerts in ten countries that included Swit-zerland, Serbia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

According to Road Man-ager of the Collective, Al Obando, the tour that took them throughout Europe for five weeks, which began in June, was the longest they have been so far, and also the most challenging. But he added that it was highly sat-isfactory as they got a rare opportunity to meet other musicians, expose them-selves to different types of music and share our Garifu-na music in Belize.

Various band members also took the opportunity to learn more about concerts planning and stage perfor-mance.

One of the Garifuna Col-lective’s astounding hour and a half long concert per-formances at the 26th Af-rican Festival held in Würz-burg, Germany, is available on YouTube.

The group performed the music from the “Watina” al-bum and Belizean icon Andy Palacio, as well as selections from their most recent re-lease Ayo.

NEWSENTERTaINMENT

Garifuna ColleCtiveRETURNs FRoM ToUR

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 10

by KELSEy Hemsley

VEGAS COME UP AGAIN!

Belize Jaguars compete in U-20 football

Lord’s Bank Sunrise

Vallan Symns wins

10 SPORTS THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014

Rising Stars vs. City Boysin SMARt Mundialito finals

weekend warriors Road Championship

Belize City, July 12, 2014Belize’s young football Jag-

uars, the National U-20 team, left Belize on Monday, July 14 to represent the country in Central American Football Union’s (UNCAF) U-20 qualifiers to be held in El Salvador from July 17 – 29.

The team is made up of Jordi Polanco, Edmond Pandy Jr., Geon Makin, Dorwin Logan, Randy Deuck, Darren Myers, Clinton Dawson, Devaun Zuniga, Naim Wilson, Norman Anderson, Collin Westby, Darrol Lambey, Eridito Guillen, Hassan Lucas, Marcus Lewis, Jamil Cano and Eduardo Gongora. They are accompanied by their technical director Mr. Renan

Couoh, Head Coach- Mr. Edmond Pandy, Assistant Coach- Mr. Dennis Serrano, Physiotherapist - Mr. Thomas Rivars, Dr. Elfryn Reyes and Equipment Manager, Mr. Her-bert Trapp Jr.

Belize plays their opening game against El Salvador at the Cuscatlan Stadium on a natural grass turf on Thursday, July 17. Belize plays Nicaragua at the Cuscatlan on July 21 and Panama at Las Delicias Stadium on artificial grass in Santa Tecla City on July 23. Be-lize will play Honduras at the Cuscatlan on July 25, Costa Rica at Las Delicias on July 27 and Guatemala at the Cuscat-lan on July 29th.

Belize City, July 12, 2014The Ladyville Rising Stars will

challenge the City Boys in the 2014 SMART Mundialito cham-pionship finals as both squads posted big wins in the semifinals at the Yabra green in Belize City last Saturday.

The City Boys Jrs. had to go to penalties to eliminate the de-fending champs, Brown Bombers, who held them to a nil-zip draw in regulation time and two overtime periods. At the end of the first five tries by each team, City Boys’ Dwayne Tillett, Denzel Carr, Shad-rick Lord and MVP Akeem Suther-land had converted their tries. For the Bombers, Dion Cacho, Jovaun Ramos, Jaheem Thomas and Rasheed Hamilton had scored to tie the score 4-4. In sudden death, Rasheid Lord scored for City Boys, Corey Porteau for the Bombers: 6-6, Cyril Jones scored the City Boys’ winning goal.

The Rising Stars’ Camryn Lozano finally got the better of Collet Strikers’ goalie Jayron Sala-zar for the 1-0 win to see them through to the finals to be played on Saturday, June 19. The Brown Bombers and Collet Strikers will play a consolation game for third place before the final.

Rising Stars’ Camryn Lozano scored the 1st goal

Rising Stars

Belize City, July 13, 2014Heavy rains across the country

over the weekend made for very slippery, perilous road conditions, but the Weekend Warriors Cycling Club soldiered on with their national road championships, in which Vallan Symns won the “A” category while Ray Cattouse won the “B” catego-ry and Santino “Chief” Castillo won the “C” category on the Humming-bird, George Price and Philip Gold-son Highways on Sunday.

The “A” category rode 80-mile ride from the Sibun Bridge on the Hummingbird Highway onto the George Price Highway, via the Hat-tieville – Burrell Boom bypass road onto the Philip Goldson Highway to finish in front of the SMART/Speednet Headquarters in Belize City.

The B- category was 70 miles from Armenia Village on the Hum-mingbird Highway to Smart head-quarters.

The “C” category rode 60 miles from the Belmopan round-about to the city

“A” Category Results1st Vallan Symns – Benny’s

Megabytes2nd David Pollard - F.T. Wil-

liams/Belize Bank3rd Wilbert Jones – Benny’s

Megabytes4th Kent “Bob” Gabourel Jr –

Benny’s Megabytes5th Calin Maheia – F.T. Wil-

liams/Belize Bank6th Eric Burns – Scotiabank

team“B” Category Results1st Ray Cattouse - Stationery

House/Medina’s -3:242nd Nelson Zayden - Statio-

nery House/Medina’s 3rd Kaya Cattouse - SMART

C-Ray cycling team4th Matthew Hughes – Big

Blade team5th Isaiah Willacey - Digicel 4G

team6th Dean Boyce - F.T. Williams/

Belize Bank“C” Category Results1st Santino “Chief” Castillo -

Santino’s “Ride to Glory” - 2:55:012nd Vito Fonseca - SMART cy-

cling team3rd Manuel Esquiliano - Truck-

ers Posse4th Francis Cassasola - Santi-

no’s “Ride to Glory” -2:55:105th Sean Gill - SMART team6th Ingmar Perera - Stationery

House/Medina’s

Vallan symns won the “A” Division

National U-20 Football Team in El Salvador

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 11

Godwin Hulse

It’s win #7 for BEL

Powersockets & Belize

Bank Bulldogs

in Harrison Parks cricket finals

11SPORTSTHE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014

Brilliant takes on Easy Does It

Crooked tree, July 12, 2014Four times national cricket champs,

Crooked Tree’s Brilliant Cricket Club, will challenge Lemonal’s Easy Does It cricket club in the Harrison Parks cricket cham-pionship finals this coming Saturday, July 19.

After hammering Lord’s Bank Sunrise 145-119 in Lord’s Bank the week before, Easy Does It eliminated Sunrise 118-82 in the rematch in Lemonal on Saturday, July 12.

Game 2 of the other series between Brilliant and the defending champs Excel-lence in Double Head Cabbage was finally completed in Crooked Tree on Saturday, after a protest had halted the game the week before with Brilliant all out for 102 runs and Excellence trailing 40-102 with only 3 wickets remaining.

The protest committee ruled that the game should continue and Brilliant bowled out the remaining batsmen to win 102 to 59 runs.

BEL’s Mark Cassasola

Brilliant’s Andrew Banner

Brilliant’s Jermaine smith

Faith Noel wiNs saN Pedro regattaSan Pedro, July 6, 2014

Faith Noel of San Pedro Ju-nior Sailing Club (SPJSC) won the Optimist “White” sails class and Alanis Badillo of the Caye Caulk-er Sailing Club won the “Green” sails class when the San Pedro Sailing Club held a regatta held off San Pedro over the weekend of July 5-6.

white Sails Class (experi-enced sailors)

1st place - Faith Noel2nd place - Jerdon Anderson -

SPJSC 3rd place - Antonio Ricardez Jr.

- Belize City Sailing Club Green Sails Class (Novices)1st place - Alanis Badillo, CCSC

2nd place - Harrison Cadle Jr., CCSA

3rd place - Rashawn Gonzales, SPJSC

The San Pedro Junior Sailing Club did not publish the course for the races until the technical meet-ing before the regatta, adding the extra “running” and “upwind” leg to lengthen the course to meet the standard trapezoid course length; and to challenge the young sailors’ seamanship.

Some 48 Optimist sailing din-ghies competed in the races; they hailed from Belize City Sailing Club, the Belize Sea Scouts, Corozal Bay Sailing Club and Placencia Sailing Club.

Heritage Heats blow out Ready

Call 75-41 in Firms

basketballGabriel Taylor scored 19pts

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 12

OUR REF: CFO-66/14

July 15, 2014

Mr. Leonardo CanoChairman, Committee of ManagementBelize Sugar Cane Farmers’ Association (BSCFA)

Dear Mr. Cano:

RE: Negotiations – New Agreement

The Interim Agreement of 13 January 2014 between the BSCFA and BSI expired with the end of the 2013/14 crop on 8 July 2014. The intent of that Agreement was that the parties would negotiate and finalize a new agreement, including the claim by the BSCFA for a payment for bagasse. This objective was not achieved.

BSI developed and presented an offer for a payment for bagasse based on a clearly articulated and sound methodology which seeks to value the quantity of fiber in cane that is used by Belcogen to generate electricity that is sold to BEL. The offer was fair and reasonable in view of, among other things:

(a) the enormous investment by BSI in establishing the Belcogen Power Plant which remains to be recouped;

(b) the accumulated operating losses to date of Belcogen (the BSCFA was presented the details of Belcogen’s financial performance since it commenced opera-tions in fiscal year 2010, which demonstrated consecutive operational losses); and

(c) the direct financial benefit already accruing to farmers as a consequence of BSI’s investments to improve mill performance -- BSI estimates that in a typical year, since the inception of Belcogen, the mill can recover up to 10,000 tons of sugar more than it would prior to Belcogen. At the 2013 crop cane price, this results in an additional value to farmers of roughly BZ$7 million per annum. This indicates that irrespective of payment for bagasse, farmers already receive significant benefits from BSI’s investment.

It remains BSI’s desire to settle the issues at hand, which are mutually intertwined: (a) the claim for payment for bagasse (b) a new agreement to govern the commer-cial and operational relationship between the BSCFA and BSI effective the 2014/15 crop addressing the matters set forth in the Interim Agreement. At the last meeting held on 6 June 2014, the BSCFA negotiating team indicated that they would take BSI’s proposal to the members in a meeting and then get back to BSI, but we have not yet received a response.

Even though the Interim Agreement has now expired, BSI in a spirit of good faith does advise that its offer for a payment for bagasse made during the negotiations (specifically described on the Appendix to this letter) will remain open through 5:00 p.m. on Friday 1 August 2014. Furthermore, BSI advises that if the offer is accepted by BSCFA within such period and subject to concluding a new agreement, BSI is prepared to make the payment for bagasse retroactive for the 2013/14 crop.

As has been emphasized before, the whole industry faces challenges from changes in the international market for sugar. We need to work together to meet these challenges. We cannot do so while we are locked in a damaging confrontation over bagasse. We look forward to working with the BSCFA constructively and in an atmosphere of mutual respect to ensure the continuing viability of the sugar industry of Belize for the benefit of all stakeholders and in particular cane farmers.

Given that this matter is of national importance and has been in the public domain, this letter is being released for public information and copies will be available to cane farmers.

Yours sincerely,Belize Sugar Industries Limited

BELIZARIO F. CARBALLOCHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

BFC:smcCopy: CEO – BSCFA

AppendixBSI’s Proposal for a Payment for Bagasse

BSI’s proposal is based on valuing the quantity of fiber in cane used to generate electricity sold by Belcogen to BEL, as described below using the 2013 crop as an example:

1. quantity of Fiber Total cane (2013 crop) 1,078,019 tons Total fiber (15.41% in the 2013 crop) 166,123 tons Fiber used for BEL sales (29%) 48,176 tons

2. Value of Fiber Cane price (2013 crop) $74.20 per ton cane Value of fiber (cane price x 2013 total fiber of 15.41%) $11.43 per ton fiber

3. Payment quantum for BagasseQuantity of fiber used for BEL sales (48,176 tons) x Value of fiber/ton ($11.43 /ton) = $550,652

Equivalent to $0.51 per ton cane for the 2013 crop

NB: For the 2014 crop and onwards, the payment quantum will change based on actual results for cane milled, fiber % in cane and cane price. Such amount may be higher or lower than $550,652 or $0.51 per ton cane.

For the 2014 crop, total cane milled was higher at 1,194,927 tons and fiber % in cane was higher at 15.97%. The final cane price for the 2014 crop is yet to be determined but will be lower than the 2013 crop. On this basis, for the 2014 crop it is expected that the payment quantum will be higher than $550,652 but given the increased cane, the payment per ton cane will be lower than $0.51.

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 13

BES & Holy redeemer boys lead basketball competition

NUESTRA REF: CFO-66/14

15 de julio de 2014

Sr. Leonardo CanoPresidente del Comité de ManejoAsociación de Cañeros de Belize (BSCFA)

Estimado Sr. Cano:

RE: Negociaciones - Nuevo Acuerdo

El Acuerdo Interino del 13 de enero de 2014 entre BSCFA y BSI expiró con el cierre de la zafra de 2013/14 el 8 de julio de 2014. La intención de dicho Acuerdo era que las partes iban a negociar y concluir un nuevo acuerdo, incluso la solicitud de BSCFA de un pago para el bagazo. Este objetivo no fue logrado.

BSI desarrolló y presentó una oferta de un pago para el bagazo con base en una clara y sólida metodología articulada que busca valorar la cantidad de fibra en la caña que Bel-cogen utiliza para generar electricidad que se vende a BEL. La oferta era justa y razonable en vista de, entre otras cosas:

(a) la enorme inversión por parte de BSI para el establecimiento de la planta de energía Belcogen que aún no se ha recuperado;

(b) las pérdidas financieras de Belcogen acumuladas hasta la fecha (a la BSCFA se le presentaron los detalles del desempeño financiero de Belcogen desde que inició sus operaciones en el año fiscal 2010, que demostraron consecutivas pérdidas financieras; y

(c) los beneficios financieros ya obtenidos por los cañicultores como consecuencia de las inversiones de BSI para mejorar el rendimiento del molino – BSI estima que en un año típico, desde el inicio de Belcogen, el molino puede recuperar hasta 10,000 toneladas más de azúcar de lo que habría sido posible antes de Belcogen. Tomando como base el precio de caña de la zafra de 2013, esto resulta en un valor adicional a los cañicultores de aproximadamente BZ$7 millones por año. Esto indica que, independien-temente del pago para el bagazo, los cañicultores ya reciben beneficios significativos de la inversión de BSI.

Sigue siendo el deseo de BSI resolver los asuntos en cuestión, que están mutuamente entrelazados: (a) la solicitud de un pago para el bagazo (b) un nuevo acuerdo para regu-lar la relación comercial y operativa entre la BSCFA y BSI con efecto desde la zafra 2014/15 abordando las cuestiones establecidas en el Acuerdo Interino. En la última reunión celebrada el 06 de junio de 2014, el equipo negociador de BSCFA indicó que llevaría la propuesta de BSI a sus miembros en una reunión y luego informaría a BSI, pero todavía no hemos recibido una respuesta.

A pesar de que el Acuerdo Interino ya ha expirado, BSI en un espíritu de buena fe hace informar que su oferta por un pago para el bagazo hecha durante las negociaciones (que se describe específicamente en el Apéndice de esta carta) permanecerá abierta hasta las 5p.m. del viernes 01 de agosto de 2014. Además, BSI aconseja que si la oferta es aceptada por BSCFA en tal plazo y sujeto a la conclusión de un nuevo acuerdo, BSI está preparado a efectuar el pago por el bagazo retroactivo a la zafra 2013/14.

Como se ha destacado anteriormente, toda la industria enfrenta desafíos provenientes de los cambios en el mercado internacional del azúcar. Tenemos que trabajar juntos para enfrentar estos desafíos. No podemos hacer esto mientras estamos encerrados en una confrontación perjudicial sobre el bagazo. Nosotros esperamos con interés trabajar con BSCFA de manera constructiva y en un clima de mutuo respeto para garantizar la viabilidad futura de la industria azucarera de Belize para el beneficio de todos los interesados y, en particular, los cañicultores.

Dado que este asunto es de importancia nacional y ha estado en el dominio público, esta carta se está divulgando para la información pública y estarán disponibles copias a los cañicultores.

Sinceramente,Belize Sugar Industries Limited

BELIZARIO F. CARBALLOCHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

BFC: smcCC: CEO - BSCFACEO - BSI

ApéndiceLa propuesta de BSI para un pago para el bagazo

La propuesta de BSI se basa en la valoración de la cantidad de fibra en la caña utilizada para generar electricidad vendida por Belcogen a BEL, tal como se describe a continuación utilizando la zafra de 2013 como un ejemplo:

1. Cantidad de Fibra Caña total (zafra de 2013) 1,078,019 toneladas Fibra total (15.41% en la zafra de 2013) 166,123 toneladas Fibra utilizada para la venta a BEL (29%) 48,176 toneladas

2. Valor de la fibra Precio de la caña (zafra de 2013) $74.20 por tonelada de caña Valor de la fibra (precio de caña x fibra total de 2013 de 15.41%) $11.43 por tonelada de fibra

3. Cuanto de pago para el bagazo Cantidad de fibra usada para venta a BEL (48,176 toneladas) x Valor de fibra/tonelada ($ 11.43/tonelada) = $ 550,652

Equivalente a $ 0.51 por tonelada de caña para la zafra de 2013

NB: Para la zafra de 2014 y en adelante, el cuanto de pago cambiará con base en resultados actuales de la caña molida, el porcentaje de la fibra en la caña y el precio de la caña. Tal cantidad puede ser mayor o menor a $550,652 o $0.51 por tonelada de caña.

Para la zafra de 2014, el total de la caña molida fue mayor a 1,194,927 toneladas y el porcentaje de la fibra en la caña fue mayor a 15.97%. El precio final de la caña para la zafra de 2014 aún no se ha determinado pero será menor que la zafra de 2013. Sobre esta base, para la zafra de 2014 se espera que el cuanto de pago sea mayor a $550,652, pero dado el aumento en la caña entregada, el pago por tonelada de caña será menor de $0.51.

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 14

WEStErN BALLAz

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 15

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 16

The Threat of Losing Preferential Markets

Home Economics

For SaleBy Order of the

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., a company duly registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 250 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition, 2000, and having its registered office at Cor. Albert and Bishop Streets, Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Charge made the 28th day of December, 2011 between JULIA MARGARITA GODOy of Trial Farm Village, Orange Walk District, Belize of the one part, and Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd., of the other part, registered as LRS-201115310, and the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd. will at the expiration of three months from the date hereof sell the property described in the schedule hereto.All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from the said Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

SCHEDULE

REGISTRATION SECTION BLOCK PARCELANN GABOUREL 4 2755

Area: - 696.697 S.M.

DATED this 3rd day of July, 2014.

MUSA & BALDERAMOS91 North Front Street

Belize CityAttorney-at-Law for

Scotiabank (Belize) Ltd.

By Richard harrisonBelize is a relatively poor

ex-British-colony in the Carib-bean Basin of Central Ameri-ca...with a very low population density of around 14 persons per acre of land. A population of around 350,000 on a land mass of little over 5 million acres.

It imports three times the value of what it exports….and most of what it exports are ag-ricultural raw materials (most-ly sugar, citrus, seafood and banana)…..to countries that import its produce within pref-erential market arrangements/treaties that were negotiated around the time of Indepen-dence, over 20-30 years ago.

Since Independence in 1981, Belize has only attract-ed two substantial produc-tion-based non-oil export-ori-ented industries - papaya and shrimps - whose exports were started by foreign investors and both of which export as raw materials with little or no processing. Hot pepper sauces have been in the lime light for over 30 years, however, only until recently has its export numbers started to appear in national trade statistics. It is still an infant at the age of over 30 years...quite reflective of being Belizean, generally.

There are two ways in which Belize could increase its production economy:

1. produce more in scale and scope…and value-add, through processing, more of what it produces

2. allow for import of raw materials which can be val-ue-added through processing here and then exported at a profit to other countries.

Belize can and have pro-duced more since Indepen-dence…corn, beans, soybean, sorghum, rice, chicken, beef, pork, seafood, milk, molasses, timber, coconuts, fruits and vegetables…..ALL of these were developed based on complete market protection through tariff and/or non-tar-iff (licensing) policies of the 1970’s and 80’s that prevent competition from imported produce. Most of this is for the domestic market, with

some early-stage value-adding involved.

Belize can and does import some raw materials which it val-ue-adds here: flour, beer, soft drinks, bleach, glass and alumi-num windows and doors, foam and mattresses, t-shirts, toilet paper, however, none of these have reached the stage where they export to other countries. Again, ALL of these investments were made possible by laws and policies drafted in the 1970’s and 80’s….which involves tariff and/or non-tariff protection from im-port competition.

In other words…ALL of what Belize produces depends to great extent on preferential market arrangements, either via treaties with foreign countries to whom we export or via tariff and/or non-tariff protection offered by our own government for the do-mestic market operations. This market protection from import competition is what allows do-mestic producers to turn a profit and remain in operation.

Belize faces the real threat of losing both of these preferential market arrangements within the next 2 to 5 years.

The threat of losing the export market preferential ar-rangements is a more complex reality….mainly because these arrangements are not made for Belize alone, but as part of trad-ing blocs that negotiate in much larger political groupings, for ex-ample, CARICOM and ACP ar-rangements. There may be ways to wiggle past 5 years.

However, the threat of losing the domestic market preferential arrangements is much more real, as in this case, the enforcement arm of movers and shakers in the World Trade Organization and the CSME, the multilateral finan-ciers (World Bank, IMF, IDB, CDB and CABEI) upon whom we have come to lean on heavily with our high debt-to-GDP ratio, will be the ones forcing the hand of a weak Belize government.

Belize has been given un-til the year 2015 to remove all non-tariff (licensing) barriers to import competition since discre-tionary non-tariff (licensing) pro-tection is a no-no within the WTO treaty arrangements. According to these treaties, Belize should

convert these non-tariff (licens-ing) arrangements to tariff mea-sures, that is, increase the lev-el of import duties to cover the domestic producers (up to the level allowed by already agreed BOUND RATES)…and then set up a scheduled program of re-ductions in that tariff over a de-fined period to 20% or below.

The Government of Belize and the domestic producers who benefit from these non-tar-iff preferential arrangements (similar to the concept of ac-commodation agreements)….have been slow in reacting to this demand from internation-al trading partners and their enforcers, because they know that in Belize, the breach of tar-iff conditions are broad in scale and scope, ie. customs duties are very often avoided or evad-ed and this increases the risk of ALL the investments in produc-tion that Belize currently has.

This high degree of uncer-tainty is called COUNTRY RISK in banking terms and is one of the principal reasons why inter-est rates, especially for produc-tion businesses, remain rela-tively high.

Most of the domestic pro-ducers who enjoy these ben-efits have used this domestic

market protection to make su-per-normal profits to try to take out their expected return-on-in-vestment in a short period (short-term vision) and this is the principal reason why prices and cost-of-living have skyrock-eted in Belize since Indepen-dence…and why these inves-tors have kept their investment to a scale and scope that has not allowed them to meet ex-port conditions...choosing to stay closer to the exit door...so that if and when the windows to these benefits are closed...they do not lose their shirt.

Belize can try to drag this situation out until it is paper thin…or it can take the bull by the horn, and move in proac-tive ways to save the day…and the night. (…to be continued next week)

Richard Harrison is a local businessman and investor in the manufacturing and ser-vice industries. Mr. Harrison holds a Masters in Business Administration degree from Lancaster University, United Kingdom. Send comments to harrisonbz@yahoo.com

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 17

Illegal Guatemalans caught panning for gold inside the Chiquibul forest

Reid

Get it right!

the PUP then promised to table a motion at an upcoming house Meeting. when Channel Seven asked John Saldivar for a response to

the move he responded, “we will not be hastened by any individual or orga-nization…” we shall see what we shall see!

By G. Michael ReidAny law which violates the

inalienable rights of man is es-sentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all. ~ Maximilien Robespierre

To suggest that our little Belize is in trouble would be grossly un-derstating things. The crime situ-ation has once again ratcheted up to alarming proportions and dead bodies have been turning up every-where. Already considered one of the most murderous cities in the world on a per capita basis, things seem to only be getting worse and with no solution in sight. Normally when things get to this point, the Prime Minister would call all the gang leaders together, treat them to a big luncheon, beg for consid-eration and spread some money around. To be fair, this has at times met with some success but most pundits seem to agree, it is neither wise nor sustainable.

While the government has ap-proached the gangs with a velvet glove, it has approached the gener-al populace with an iron fist. Shortly after assuming office in 2008, the Government passed an amend-ment to the Firearms Act which mandated immediate incarceration for anyone found in proximity to any unlicensed firearm or ammuni-tion. This includes anyone found in any house, vehicle, building, yard, church, etc., where an unlicensed gun and ammunition is found. From its inception, the law has been met with widespread criticism and con-demnation. The Opposition object-ed and back then, Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition warned that “the changes could potentially lead to abuses and inequity”. As is usually the case however, the ayes had it and the law was placed on the books.

The Opposition has continu-ously brought the issue up in the House but despite numerous ex-amples of innocent people being caught up in this wide web of em-pirical illogic, their cries have been ignored. In early January of this

year, a private citizen, Russell Roberts took matters into his own hands and staged a one man protest against the gun law. He was later joined by the advocacy group Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action (COLA). Roberts felt that not only was the law unjust but that it was not being enforced equitably and across the board. He cited the case of several people including a pregnant woman, an eighty-three year old grandmother and high school students and teach-ers who have all had to spend time in jail unfairly because of the law. He then pointed to politically connected Reynaldo Verde, whose house was

searched and a firearm was found in his washroom. Verde at the time already had two previous firearm of-fences to his record. In 2004, he was arrested for shooting a man in San Pedro and in April of 2013, he was ar-rested for shooting a man in a night-club in Belize City. Yet, Verdes was barely detained and did not spend a minute in jail. Unfortunately, Roberts’ and COLA’s protest “blew over like a little breeze” but the Opposition per-sisted. On February 12th, the PUP’s legal team wrote to the Minister of National Security begging him to consider changing this law.

At the Special Sitting of the House of Representatives in Feb-ruary, the Leader of the Opposition Francis Fonseca stood on the ad-journment to echo the strong public sentiments that the existing firearms legislation was unjust and that it cast too wide a net. According to the Lead-er of the Opposition, “it was to the peril of many innocent and upstand-ing citizens who have had to spend time in jail on account of the laws”. Mr. Fonseca went on to state that “I am no fan of guns, but it is clear that the laws, as they now stand, lead to injustice and inequity, and [we] have obligation to review [them]”.

In response, Minster of Nation-al Security John Saldivar made the following comments “I promise not only to him, but to this nation, that my government will be looking very carefully…at how we can revise the Firearms and other related law to

make them more fair.” To this point, we have heard nothing more from Mr. Saldivar or anyone on his side of the House.

The People’s United Party’s Legal Team headed by Senator Anthony Syl-vestre Jr. then reached out to various partners and came up with a series of proposals to the law. On Wednesday May 21st, Sylvestre revealed those proposals at a press conference and emphasized that the current gun laws have “far reaching consequence for investor confidence and governance in general”. He pointed out that it is the Opposition’s “imperative to act to have the laws be removed”. The PUP then promised to table a motion at an upcoming House Meeting. When Channel Seven asked John Saldivar for a response to the move he responded, “We will not be hastened by any indi-vidual or organization…” We shall see what we shall see!

The recent incarceration of an en-tire family following the discovery of a gun in their house seems to be the straw that will break this camel’s back.

This one hit close to home for me be-cause I know the family personally. Alrick Smith is a well known resident of Lake Independence area and peo-ple who know him will attest that he is a hard working, law abiding citizen. Together with his longtime spouse, they have raised eleven children. While many fathers have been known to run after the first one, Alrick has struggled and scraped and sacrificed to provide for his children. Unfortu-nately, until recently when he com-pleted the building of his own house, they lived in a crime ridden area on Flamboyant Street. It seemed al-

most inevitable that at least one of his boys would fall through the cracks. One did and recently, Myron Smith became a victim to the city’s escalating gun violence. The Smith family had just buried their loved one and was holding a repast when the tragedy was compounded by the arrest of the entire family. Police received re-port of a person with a gun in the area and when they arrived, they observed a young man as he ran out of an adjoining yard and into the Smith’s house. Police chased him inside and apprehended the culprit and found a gun that he had apparently hidden in one of the rooms. The law as it is written gives no discretion to the arrest-ing officer or to the magistrate and everybody was hauled off to jail. This is crazy, crazy, crazy.

The Publisher of the Amanda-la wrote a very good article this past weekend but made one glar-ing error. I heard Dickie Bradley on Channel Five’s Open Your Eyes

on Tuesday morning regur-gitating the same mistake. The Publisher suggested that the blame is to be laid at the feet of members of the House of Representa-tives; all members. Dickie blamed all 31 members of the House and asked “what is the Opposition doing”. Had either of these two gentlemen bothered to look in the archives of any of Belize’s media houses, they would not have made

that mistake. Channel Seven’s May 21st 2014 newscast reads “In February, Belize’s gun laws were all in the news. COLA and the PUP alleged that they were unjust and unevenly applied. The COLA thing has cooled off, but the PUP says it hasn’t given up on trying to change the laws.” It seems every-one is afraid to directly blame the UDP for anything. Is it for fear of lawsuits or is it from shame after putting so much confidence in this “team” that has proven such a dis-appointment? Get it right fellows, get it right!

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 18

The Government of Belize (GOBZ) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in an amount equivalent to United States dollars (US$) 7,248,000 towards the cost of a Road Safety Project and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this financing to eligible payments under contracts for which this invitation is issued. Payments by CDB will be made only at the request of GOBZ and upon approval by CDB, and will be subject in all respects to the terms and conditions of the Financing Agreement. The Financing Agreement prohibits withdrawal from the financing account for the purpose of any payment to persons or entities, or for any import of goods, if such payment or import, to the knowledge of CDB, is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. No party other than GOBZ shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Financing.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MFED) is the Executing Agency for the Project. The Road Safety Infrastructure sub-component is being implemented by the Ministry of Works and Transport (MWT). A Project Engineer will be responsible for the day-to-day management of project activities. Engineering Consultants have been retained by MWT to assist with the certification of the works.

MWT (hereinafter referred to as “the Employer”) intends to pre-qualify contractors for the following road works under this project:

• Lot 4A – Belmopan Roundabout• Lot 4B – Belmopan Ring Road Works.

It is expected that Invitations to Bid will be issued during the third quarter of 2014.

Consideration will be limited to firms or joint ventures of firms which are legally incorporated or otherwise organised in, and have their principal place of business in an eligible country or countries and are either:

(a) more than 50% beneficially-owned by a citizen or citizens and/or a bona fide resident or residents of an eligible country or countries, or by a body corporate or bodies corporate meeting these requirements; or

(b) owned or controlled by the government of an eligible country provided that it is legally and financially autonomous and operated under the commercial law of an eligible country.

Eligible countries are member countries of CDB.

The requirements for pre-qualification for each lot will include:

(a) an average annual turnover (defined as billing for works in progress and completed) within the last seven years of US$1.5 million for Lot 4A and US$2.75 million for Lot 4B, equivalent for civil works;

(b) demonstrable cash flow (including access to credit) of US$0.25 million for Lot 4A and US$ 0.375 million for Lot 4B equivalent;

(c) experience as prime contractor in the construction of at least one assignment of a nature and complexity comparable to the proposed project activity within the last seven years or alternatively two projects in the last ten years (to comply with this requirement, works quoted should be at least 80 percent complete); and

(d) Project Manager with seven years experience, five of which have been spent in works of an equivalent nature and scope, including not less than five as a Project Manager.

Contractors wishing to prequalify on more than one lot must meet the cumulative qualification criteria requirements for the lots for which they are applying.

Eligible applicants may obtain Prequalification documents by calling, writing, or faxing to the first address below by Monday July 21, 2014. The request must clearly state “Request for Prequalification Documents for the Road Safety Infrastructure:. The documents are available for a non-refundable fee of US$150.00. Potential applicants who request that documents be forwarded to them are required to submit an account number from a local courier agent, which accepts freight collect charges. MWT will promptly dispatch the documents but under no circumstances will the Ministry be responsible for late delivery or loss of the documents so transmitted.

Submissions of application for pre-qualification shall be in English and must be received in sealed envelopes, clearly marked “Application to Pre-qualify for the Road Safety Infrastructure” and must clearly identify for which Lot(s) the application is made. Applications must be either delivered by hand or by registered mail to the first address below not later than 1600 hours on Monday, September 8, 2014. A copy of the Prequalification Documents should be simultaneously submitted to CDB at the second address below.

MWT reserves the right to accept or reject late submissions or to cancel the present Tender Notice partially or in its entirety. MWT will not be bound to assign any reason for not qualifying any applicant and will not defray costs incurred by applicants in the preparation and submission of the Tender documents.

Applicants will be advised in due course of the results of their Tender.

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 19

Water Walker

I’ve always considered myself a ‘two feet on the ground’ kind of person. I think things through thoroughly before I begin an en-deavor. I believe in getting good counsel, be it from the Constitution of the Kingdom of God or from an expert in a particular area.

And nothing is wrong with that. In fact my careful con-siderations have kept me out of hot water more times than I can count. But sometimes, too much thinking can hinder you from getting into the water. See, having two feet planted firmly on logic and reason is perfectly sensi-ble. God, however, enjoys defying reason and logic and sometimes instead of avoiding the water, He calls us to walk on it.

In Mathew 14, Jesus sends His disciples on a little errand so that He could dismiss the crowd that was fol-lowing Him and so that He could be alone to pray for a little while. The disciples obeyed Him and went out on the lake, rowing for hours until they were in the midst of the water. At this point a storm approached, the sky grew dark and the waves tossed the boat all over the place. Things only got worse when the disciples noticed a ghostly figure walking toward them on the water. Pan-ic was as tangible as the strong wind and the twelve screamed and cried in fright. The ghostly figure stopped and assured them, “Hey, cheer up. Don’t be afraid”. But only one man recognized the voice and because of it, he did things beyond human comprehension.

Peter heard the voice of His Master and recognized it. Instantly, he called back out to Jesus, “Master, if that’s you, tell me to come.” Now, I want to stick a pin here. The disciples knew that Jesus could do miracles. Peter, es-pecially, knew that Jesus was the son of God. But crazy Peter did not ask Jesus to calm the storm like any normal person would. No, Peter decided that if Jesus could walk on water that’s what he wanted to do too. “Pull up!” Jesus encouraged and Peter swung his feet out of the boat and into the water like it was solid earth. What an amazing feat! But even more amazing was the fact that, despite Peter’s water stunt, the rest of the disciples re-mained in the boat!

See, not everyone is going to be a Water Walker and nothing is wrong with that. Some people simply prefer the safety of the boat. But Water Walkers experience a different dimension because of their crazy, gravity-defy-ing faith. And yes, Peter did take His eyes off Jesus and he did start to sink, but get this: Jesus did not let him drown. Water Walkers may make mistakes. They may even begin to let their egos get in the way of their trust in the true King, but even if they take their eyes off of Jesus, if they put their focus back on Him, Jesus will not let them drown.

Are you a Water Walker?Until next week, God bless

TENDER NOTICETENDER FoR THE GENERaL sECURITY aND sURVEILLaNCE oF THE sUPREME CoURT BUILDING, THE oLD TREasURY BUILDING, THE CoURT oF aPPEaL aND THE sUPREME CoURT LaW LIBRaRY BUILDING, THE BELIZE FaMILY CoURT, THE VITaL sTaTIsTICs UNIT BUILDING aND THE CHIEF JUsTICE’s REsIDENCE.

Tenders are invited for the general security and surveillance of the supreme Court Building, the old Treasury Building, the Court of appeal and the supreme Court Law Library Building, the Belize Family Court, the Vital statistics Unit Building and the Chief Justice’s Residence.

1. The Tender shall be for a period of two (2) years ( sept 1 2014 to aug 31 2016)2. The successful Tender will be expected to provide the following security and surveillance

to the following locations:a. Provide 24 hours security to the supreme Court Building – 3 guards for 7 day

per weekb. Provide 24 hours security to the old Treasury Building – 3 guards for 7 day

per weekc. Provide 24 hours security to the Court of appeal and the supreme Court Law

Library Building – 1 guard for 7 day per weekd. Provide security to the Belize City Family Court from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on

Monday to Thursday and from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Fridays – 2 guardse. Provide 24 hours security service to the Vital statistics Unit Building – 1 guard

for 7 days per weekf. Provide 24 hours security service to the Chief Justice’s Residence – 1 guard

for 7 days per weekThe cost incurred to visit the facilities to be guarded and the preparation of the bids is the sole responsibility of the Tenderer.

The lowest or any Tender may not necessarily be accepted.

Tenders are to be submitted in sealed envelopes marked “TENDER FoR THE GENERaL sECURITY aND sURVEILLaNCE oF THE sUPREME CoURT BUILDING, THE oLD TREa-sURY BUILDING, THE CoURT oF aPPEaL aND THE sUPREME CoURT LaW LIBRaRY BUILDING, THE BELIZE FaMILY CoURT, THE VITaL sTaTIsTICs UNIT BUILDING aND THE CHIEF JUsTICE’s REsIDENCE” no later than aug 15, 2014.Envelopes to be delivered to: Registrar General General Registry Department Treasury Lane Belize City, Belize

The General Registry DepartmentThe attorney General’s Ministry

OUTLOOK LTD. # 5,693(“the Company”)

Pursuant to Section 102(4) of the International Business Companies Act, Chapter 270 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000, notice is hereby given that OUTLOOK LTD:

a) is in dissolution b) commenced dissolution on the 11th day of July, 2014; andc) Cititrust International Inc. whose address is 35 Barrack

Road, Third Floor, Belize City, Belize is the Liquidator of the Company

Cititrust International LimitedRegistered Agent

Alexter International Co., Ltd. # 78,011(“the Company”)

Pursuant to Section 102(8) of the International Business Com-panies Act, Chapter 270 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000, notice is hereby given that Alexter International Co., Ltd. has been dissolved as at 11th July, 2014 and has been struck off the Register of International Business Companies.

Cititrust International LimitedRegistered Agent

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 20

Noh Mul Nohmul Orange Walk

yasser Musa landing on Noh Mul

Dwayne Murillo peformance at Nohmul

Happy Holidays!

This Mound is

by Kate UsherEven as I sit here, in front of this computer

I am picking bits of limestone out of my wet hair. I close my eyes and try to let the moments of earlier today become vivid and alive again.

At 5:55, the blue van picked me up on the Philip Goldson Highway, just miles away from the Philip Goldson International Airport. Inside some members of the BAFFU team and I were on our own ‘road to El Dorado’. Unlike the fifteenth century Spaniards in the New World, however, we were en route to a Maya ruin; the former Maya site known as, Noh Mul.

We stopped in Orange Walk Town to feast on the famed ‘Orange Walk tacos’, except for Dwayne Murillo who in observance of Ramadan was fasting. We drove further on, to fix a valve on one of the tires. Some members went to the nearby park. I stayed on. I like the machines at the tire shop. The mechanical noises, the grease, the part of me, which always seeks to acquire ‘male’ knowledge and strength stayed on to be satiated.

Yasser Musa and Gilvano Swasey got direc-tions to Noh Mul from the man at the tire shop. He knew exactly where it was because he “used to farm deh. Before wen da mi loan bush.”

We all got back into the van and very soon, were turning off the Northern Highway unto the road which led to Nuevo San Juan. This is where the remains of Noh Mul sat, nestled in the loose vegetation, surrounded by a sea of cane fields.

We tackled a rough road to get there, which was fine by me, having become well accustomed to unpaved, pothole-speckled, rain-beaten roads of Vista del Mar. My comrades did not seem to mind either.

We could see it become real. The picture of a bulldozer-scraped Maya site, is just that, walking to the ruin, faced with its immensity, its vulnerability, its loss. The wreckage became 3D.

Gilvano climbed all the way to the top and smiling from the ledge said we could access it from the side. The braver ones went first, Micah Vernon, Briheda Haylock, Alyssa Craig, Kyraan Ga-bourel, Kristian Carter and Shantel Carter. Dwayne and I lagged for a bit at the base. The climb was not an easy one. He decided to stay and I swal-lowed my fears and began to crawl up.

I met them at the top, as they posed for a picture on a ledge.

I knew I needed to bury my credentials, I just didn’t know where. Gilvano suggested “the top of

Noh Mul”. Conveniently, there was an

orifice there already. The earth around it was soft, so I decided it was perfect. I buried my academic history there, SJCJC and ESAY transcripts, an SCA graduation program circa 2003, and an acceptance letter and other forms from John Carroll University. After the burial, I covered it with a stone and we all descended.

Micah, who had descended first, did his own intervention at the base of Noh Mul. He disrobed and held a silver poster which read “Welcome to Las VEGAs!” A commentary on the fact that the demise of Noh Mul involves Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Gaspar Vega and his political colleague/aspirant standard bearer, Denny Grijalva.

Gathered at the base, along with Alton Humes, functioning as writer and press, we listened as Yasser explained his intervention, which was to bury a Landings book, a 464 page brick which documents 10 years of culture and thought. He would bury it here, but not before we all signed it, and some, tried to throw it up into the small oval crevice, made famous world wide when news broke of its near complete demolition in May of 2013.

The book was buried under soft cal, and patted down by Dwayne’s hands and prayers. Kyraan sealed the ritual with a beautiful burst of spoken word, followed by Dwayne reading a poem he had written for the occasion.

As we left, we marveled at the pottery shards and flint chips lying in the open, evidence of the legacies of Noh Mul ravaged by those immense

metallic claws. Everything flung in any direction, not prepared for the sudden assault.

We were met by a stranger saying, “what are you doing here? This is my property. This is not Noh Mul, this (is) just a mound. Noh Mul is back there. Covered in bush. Di English mi already come there and excavate that.”

He refused to give his name, but made it clear that we were trespassing.

We drove toward another mound which was completely gone, except for the corner of it, held up by the roots of a tree. Here the CTV3 news team met and interviewed us.

After a supercharged day, it was nice to unwind in Boston village at Gilvano’s home amid craboo, annatto seeds, and discussing pairings for fever grass tea, spice seeds maybe.

on 12 July 2014 nine artists and poets visit the site of noh Mul. in addition to get a first hand view of the site and the significance of the 2013 destruction, three works of art were produced on the site.

Kate Usher burying her credentials

Kyraan Gabourel reciting poem at Noh Mul

Micah Vernon Welcome to Las VEGAs

Post-script (background) Archaeo-logical site of Nohmul The name Nohmul may be translated as “great mound” in Yucatec Maya. It is the most important Maya site in northern Belize. The site in-cluded a large pyramid, about 17 meters (56 ft) tall, built around 250 BC.

On May 13, 2013, the largest struc-ture at Nohmul was almost completely destroyed. Contractors used excavators and bulldozers to remove large portions of the central pyramid for its gravel and limestone content to fill roads. More than 70% of the structure was de-stroyed, leaving only a small core of the center. The heavy equipment belonged to D-Mar Construction, a company owned by UDP politician Denny Grijalva. Although the structure was on privately owned land, by law, all pre-Columbian sites are under national government pro-tection in Belize. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nohmul)

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 2121REGIONAL &

INTERNATIONAL NEWSTHE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014

US strikes $11bn arms deal with Qatar

Israel and Hamas to observe brief Gaza truce

Agreement to provide Apache attack heli-copters and air-defence systems thought

to be biggest US arms deal this year

The United States has signed an agreement with Qatar to sell Apache attack helicopters and Patriot and Javelin air-defence sys-

tems valued at $11bn.The agreement was signed at the

Pentagon by US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and Qatar’s Defence Min-ister, Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah.

“Today’s signing ceremony under-scores the strong partnership between the United States and Qatar in the area of security and defence and will help improve our bilateral cooperation across arange of military operations,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement on Monday.

The deal is reported to be the big-gest US arms sale so far this year.

Hagel visited Qatar in December when he and Attiyah signed a 10-year Defence Cooperation Agreement to govern interaction between US and Qatari forces and enable the contin-ued assignment of American troops to installations in the area, including the Combined Air Operations Centre at Al Udeid Air Base.

Israel and Hamas are to hold a five-hour cease-fire to allow UN humanitarian aid

to enter the Gaza Strip.The UN asked Israel on

Wednesday for a unilateral pause, a UN official told Al Ja-zeera, as renewed air strikes on the enclave threatened a major humanitarian crisis.

The army said Israel has decided that “between 10:00 (0700 GMT) and 15:00 (1200

GMT) the Israeli military will cease operational ac-tivity within the Gaza Strip and hold its fire”.

In a statement in re-sponse, Hamas spokes-man Sami Abu Zuhri said: “The group agrees to a ceasefire for five hours,” starting from 10:00 am (0700 GMT) on Thursday.

At least 223 Palestin-ians have been killed and more than 1,600 others injured in nine days of in-

cessant bombardment by Israel on the Gaza Strip.

Hospitals in the city were running out of med-ical supplies and the Red Cross has warned of acute water shortages.

The renewed bomb-ing came one day after a failed attempt at a cease-fire proposed by the Egyp-tian government. It asked Israel and Hamas to halt their fire on Tuesday morn-ing and dispatch envoys to Cairo to discuss further terms.

The Israeli cabinet agreed, but Hamas, which said it was never consult-

ed on the ceasefire, rejected it in “its cur-rent form”.

The group has notified Egypt of the changes it was seek-ing, Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official said.

“The initiative should include clear wording on fully lifting the blockade on Gaza, including opening all the crossings and re-leasing the rearrested prisoners from the [Gilad] Shalit deal in the West Bank,” Ha-mad said.

Russia has provi-sionally agreed to re-open a major Cold War listening post in Cuba that was used to spy

on the United States, a Russian daily reported after President Vladimir Pu-tin visited the island-nation last week.

Kommersant newspaper report-ed on Wednesday that Russia and Cuba had agreed “in principle” to re-open the Lourdes base, mothballed since 2001, citing several sources from the Russian government.

“The agreements were finalised while President Vladimir Putin visited Havana last Friday,” the respected dai-ly wrote.

Russia had closed the Lourdes

spy base south of Havana on Pu-tin’s orders to save money, and due to a rapprochement with the US af-ter the September 11 attacks.

But Moscow has since shown a new interest in Latin America and its Cold War ally Cuba and relations with the West have deteriorated amid the Ukraine crisis.

The base was set up in 1964 after the Cuban missile crisis to spy on the US.

Just 250km from the US coast, it was the Soviet Union’s largest covert military outpost abroad with up to 3,000 staff. It was used to listen in to radio sig-nals including those from subma-rines and ships and satellite com-

munications.“All I can say is -- finally!”

one Russian source told Kom-mersant of the reported re-opening.

The defence ministry and military high command de-clined to comment on the Kom-mersant report.

Ahead of Putin’s visit to Cuba last week as part of a Lat-in American tour, Russia agreed to write off 90 percent of Cuba’s debt dating back to the Soviet era, totalling around $32bn.

Russia paid Cuba rent of $200mln per year to use the base during the last few years it was open.

report: russia to reopen spy base in Cuba

Cold War listening post outside Havana was used to spy on the US until it was closed in 2001

Luiz Felipe Scolari has resigned as manager of Brazil, the president of the country’s football confederation has said, after the hosts suffered two of their worst defeats in World Cup history.

Scolari’s men were favourites to win the tournament but were demolished 7-1 in the semi-finals by eventual champions Germany.

To compound their misery, they lost the third-place playoff 3-0 against the Netherlands.

Jose Maria Marin, president of the Confederacao Bra-sileira de Futebol (CBF), confirmed Scolari’s much expected departure in a statement and thanked the experienced coach for helping “rescue the Brazil team’s self-esteem”.

“Scolari and all his backroom staff deserve our respect and thanks,” Marin said in a short statement published on the CBF’s website on Monday.

“They were responsible for returning to the Brazilian people a love for the national side, even if they did not achieve our highest aim.”

Scolari, who led Brazil to the last of their record five World Cups in 2002, took over the post for a second time in November 2012 and lost just five of his 29 games in charge.

SCOLArI rESIGNS AS BrAzIL MANAGEr

Luiz Felipe Scolari quits after country’s foot-ball team suffer two humiliating defeats as

host of the 2014 World Cup

Both sides to hold a five-hour pause in fighting to allow UN humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 22

Of this and that…FIRE BUN

Fire is in season. It is just like pear. Two of them are in season. Two of them are expensive.

Watch your house.The houses in Belize are too close.

For God sake we have lot of land. Al-most 4,000 square miles.

Why the UDP di scringe up peo-ple. Like slave camp.

Cho man. Free up the land. P.S.The UDP have a mayor in San Pe-

dro. Dat man fool. There was a fire. It was in San

Pedro. Big fire. Sixteen families are homeless. Nuff house bun down.

Yet this man went on TV. National TV. He beat his chest. He said he put two family in a place. He only put them there for one night. He said he give the same two families breakfast. He did that for one morning.

Hey brainiac. What happen to the other fourteen families? Nothing for them? Not even a toilet paper? Not even a Spiro powder?

People are talking. They say the UDP seh “UDP first!”. That is why only two get help.

Wutlessniss.

SUNNY AN tAN

Now I find out.Mr. Pitterson was a simple man.

He was a church man. But he was a revolutionary. He fought the UDP.

They wanted to raise the price of bread. Mr. Sunny said “no Sah”.

He was the last of the Mohicans. We have been tricked though. The

news said Mr. Pitterson retired from baking the bread. He was not baking the buns. His son was doing it.

That explains it. Hey Junior, look here. The ting deh

drap off, man.

NOt NORMAL hUStLING

The UDP are spiteful. They hateful. They just no have no heart. Dem facey.

We live in Suga City. The UDP pun-ished us. We run them out. We chase them from Town Hall. We chase them from almost all of Orange Walk.

The UDP are bad mind. Very bad mind.

They refuse to fix the Belize/Corozal Road. That is a highway. It runs through Orange Walk town. From Come n Go Gas station to Trial Farm. That road was bad. Terrible. Very bad. So bad that people had to put Pledge on their tacos before eating it.

Seriously. It is bumpier than Mark King’s face. Ugly bad.

Now the UDP are making it worse. They give Imer Hernandez the con-tract.

Really? Seriously?

CRACK IS SCARCE

There is a trend. Every time mur-der spikes. It is a joke. Nobody pays attention. Five people are murdered. GSU steps up. They do not find the murderers. What they find is a lot of “found property”. It is normally weed. A few guns.

We should ask a big question. Why are there no big crack busts? No big cocaine busts? Deh drugs no deh yah? We nuh have sprang head yah?

Why GSU protect cocaine dealers? What a shame.

FACtUAL GUILt

There is a list of UDP. They are competing. They want to be Belize City Councilors…some for the fourth or fifth time.

A big name is missing. What hap-pen to Eric Chang? The lavender mayor mi big him up. He loves Eric. Love him bad. He said so.

His Cementship the mayor cov-ered for him. Marriage bells mi deh bout.

But…but then the list. Eric name is not there.

What in fry chicken and passport heaven di gone on? What a thing! Cruffy mi di wait fi he. Pay back.

Eric like run. Now he runs from a beating. A beating at city council elec-tions.

COME hOME

Lebron James is huge. He is a beast. He is a giant. He runs the world. He could have won five more champi-onships.

He could have stayed in Miami. The people there promised him the world.

The King is going home. Home to Cleveland. That is big.

It is like the people of Belize. We are tired of the promises.

We realize something. If we stay with this government. Flashy talk and arrogance. We will lose our soul.

Belizeans want to come home. The PUP better be ready. Ready like Cleveland.

BRASIL FLAP

Football runs the world. Those Ger-mans. What a win.

But Brasil drop dah wata. Seven to one. Then another shelling? Ev-erybody bought Brazil jerseys. People need to get their changed.

There is a good lesson here. Pol-iticians can learn. Big name does not mean anything. History only means what history wants.

The way to win is to work.Lazy politicians. Get up and get to

sweating.

They think we are so desperate. So frustrated. They think we will ac-cept anything.

SIZE MAttERS

Imer Hernandez…we have to shake our heads. We might be poor. We are not fool.

We know size. Why is the road shrinking?The Belize/Corozal road is going to

get cement. So they say. But Imer is making the road smaller.

The UDP is trying to make the Be-lize Corozal Road the narrowest high-way ever. Guinness book of records. Belize already has the narrowest street. It’s in Placencia.

Now the UDP are making the high-way narrow. But Imer wallet fat.

His wallet is too fat. So fat he could not sit down good in his truck. The fat wallet made him unable to drive prop-erly. He had to sit on only one cheek. You do not believe? Well why you think he knock down those people. Just like how they run over Noh Mul.

SMELL FIShY

Two PUP politicians lost their fa-thers. Mr. Arthur Saldivar’s father is dead. Mr. Ramon Cervantes’ father is dead.

So close. So unsolved. So sudden. So many similarities.

Hummn…

CARNIVAL AGAIN

There is a party. It is advertising on TV. It says that it is now the beginning of Carnival Season.

What foolishness? Hey…hey… we are barely in July, people.

Wine up and nakedness again. Where is the Church?

PAtRICK MENZIES

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Where is the Church? We ask again.

They left Menzies by himself. They do not believe what he believes? Or are they afraid?

wAIt A MINUtE

Something is wrong.On the news there were two peo-

ple arrested. They went to court for buggery. Two in one day. Hummn… weird.

When was the last time you heard of even one case going to court? Now two in one day. The same day? Coinci-dence?

Scott Stirm/Pastor Wade, where are you?

DPP AwOL

I hope it is not true. They say the DPP is on study leave.

Really???!!! No. No. No. Some-one, anyone. Say it ain’t so.

Study leave? Are you kidding me? Who is next? The President of UB on

study leave to do his Associates? Or a Court of Appeal Judge on study leave? Or Erwin Contreras’ daughter gone on study leave?

Anyone in that kind of job who needs study leave should never have had the job in the first place!! Real-ly??? Study leave???

Look at the timing too. In the mid-dle of the Penner court case.

Foolishness. Only in Belize.

BIG UP

Police promotions are here. To all hardworking officers and W’s

congrats. To all the police who nuh beat up people. Chance people. Those who deserve it, congrats.

To the ones working for politicians. To the corrupt. The lazy ones. Unu days are numbered.

The good ones should stick to-gether.

Policemen are like women. As they say. Can’t live with them. Cannot live without them.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt”. – William Shake-speare

THE BELIZE TIMES20 JUL 2014 23

Continued from page 1

28 year old Lionel Sampson gunned

down in cold blood

No Vision-UDP StylePolitical Chairman blocks innovative agriculture show

Cartoon

more Killings in Belize City

Belize City, July 15, 2014On Thursday morning, 28

year old Lionel Sampson became the latest victim of gun violence in Belize City.

Sampson, who is reported-ly affiliated with the Jerusalem Bloods Gang, was fatally shot ear-ly Thursday morning on Antelope Street Extenstion in the division of clueless Minister of Youth, Ed-ucation and Sports Patrick Faber.

Sampson has had numerous run-ins with the law. In Septem-ber 2012, Sampson was detained along with an entire family of five when the Police reportedly found a black 9mm pistol loaded with 13 live rounds of ammunition.

In 2010, when Sampson was only 24 years old, he was detained with four other men for the murder of 22 year old Jesse Jones of Ontario Village.

This is the second murder, only days apart. On Saturday July 12th, Police responded to reports of a fatal shooting. The victim was 59 year old Julio Mendoza, a se-nior citizen who was socialising with friends and playing cards on Racoon Street Extension.

BEL SHuTS doWn BELmoPan

tem was breached by “hackers”. The business community suffered thou-sands of dollars in losses as a result of this problem.

This week it is Belize Electricity Limited’s turn. BEL had the capital city in a blackout for an entire day. The City of Belmopan had no electricity since early morning on Monday, July 14th after a power transformer blew out at one of their stations. This caused the entire city, which serves as the main hub for Government offices, NGOs and embassies, to shut down. More business loses have been incurred from this.

As for Belmopan residents, they had to endure the whole day without access to electricity also. Throughout the day, they kept getting text mes-sages from BTL, which kept promised that the power would return soon. When nightfall came, residents were left in the pitch dark. Electricity was not restored to the city until midnight.

BEL has not explained why it is that their maintenance department did not identify and rectify the problem much earlier to avoid this embarrass-ment to the nation’s capital.

So what’s next? BWS water short-age?

San Narciso Village, Corozal District, July 14, 2014

Two years ago the Corozal South West Agricul-ture Committee based in San Narciso village, with the as-sistance of Area Represen-tative Hon. Ramiro Ramirez, revived the Corozal Agriculture Show which had been ignored and forgotten by consecutive U.D.P administrations.

This event was very popu-lar and people who witnessed the sports display had positive comments in approval of such an innovation. Last year, it was the intention of the committee to make the agriculture show bigger and better, but to the committee’s surprise, their request application letter to use the grounds was never answered. Instead, the UDP Village Chairman informed verbally that they were not al-lowing the grounds to be used because there could only be one agriculture show in the vil-lage, and that they- the village council - were going to do this in the month of April 2014.

For those of us who are acquainted with time and dates (obviously not the UDPs), the month of April has long gone by and no such ag-riculture show has been held. The only thing that the Chair-man has done, which is the reason for this article, is to deface the grounds perhaps in an attempt to sabotage any ef-fort to hold the popular event. The Chairman ordered the bulldozing of the mounds of earth/dirt that had been placed on the ground as part of the motocross race track.

The Corozal South West Agriculture Committee wants

to bring to the attention of the San Narciso Village Council Chairman two im-portant matters. First is that the preparation of the grounds did not cost little money. Mr. Chairman, it cost THOUSANDS of dol-lars, and that is what you have destroyed because of your egocentric style and lack of vision. Second, if you thought a little more and seen just a little further than your nose you would have realized that you could make good use of the track. You see Mr. Chairman, one of the reasons why our com-munity and our country as a whole cannot develop to its maximum is exactly be-cause of this kind of rotten mentality.

Today, thanks to you Mr. Chairman and the assis-tance of another UDP with-out vision, all that is left of

what once served as an innovative stage for entertainment, local prod-uct marketing and relaxation are just spots of dirt. You have chosen to destroy instead of build. But when we really think about it, we can

deduce that if Noh-Mul, which was once an important and enor-mous Maya monument, was de-stroyed by the U.D.P., these small mounds of soil really meant noth-ing to you.

Before

Now - destroyed by the UDP

Belize District, July 16, 2014Hon. Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

visited Rising Star’s Annual Football Summer Camp which is organized by Coach Daniel “Sun Dance” Smith and gave a donation. She also spoke to the participants, encouraging them to stay in school, stay positive and continue to play football.

Rising Star’s Under 13 team will be playing in the Championship Game of this year Smart Under 13 Football Tour-nament this Saturday at the Yabra Field at 11 o’clock.

Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia also gave a donation to Gracie Rock Football Summer Camp organized by Mr. Kerr.

Hon. Dolores supports Sports Camps in Belize Rural Central

THE BELIZE TIMES 20 JUL2014 24