Daily Archive: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Two men who were recently on separate gun-related charges were taken back to court on Monday and remanded after a joint charge was read to them in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

As we reported in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, the PPP/C government’s ads boycott of Stabroek News is now approaching 16 months and shows no sign of ending.

At their annual meeting last weekend in the Bahamas, Heads of Government of Caricom indicated their increasing sensitivity to the rising levels of crime in virtually all member-states.

Selectors generally unconvinced about the value of spin bowlers in their deliberations yesterday included two new to Test cricket in their squad of 15 for the first match of the home season against Sri Lanka, starting at the National Stadium in Guyana on Easter Saturday.

Any plans for the West Indies to be demoted to a second tier of Test cricket by the International Cricket Council (ICC) would be strenuously resisted by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), president Julian Hunte said yesterday.

The 30th Annual Guyana and Trinidad Mutual, Fire and Life (GTM) Insurance Company Under-19 Inter-county three-day and limited overs competition was launched at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) office to the tune of $3m yesterday.

The Guyana Secondary Schools Basketball Associa-tion will stage the two semifinal matches in the George-town conference today, starting at 11pm at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Christopher Holder continued his dominance on the local cycling scene when he outrode his more illustrious opponents to win the feature event of the 15th Annual R&R International Schoolboys and Novices’ cycle meet at the Inner circuit of the National Park on Saturday.

Trophy Stall has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Trophy Stall-sponsored 15 overs softball cricket competition after defeating Regal XI on Sunday at the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) ground, Carifesta Avenue.

The Wismar Pistons and the Patriots are the last two teams standing after an eventful season in the National Communications Network (NCN) Second Division basketball league and will meet in the finals this Saturday evening at the Mackenzie Sports Club Hard Court in Linden.

Dear Editor, It was reported in the Jamaica Observer of 6 March, 2008 that Jamaican Minister of Education Andrew Holness announced to a gathering of young people that Jamaica must create a new culture with respect to disciplining children and that it cannot be one that includes the resort to violence: “We have done that for many years, and do you know what that passes to the students?

Dear Editor, After many glitches, Guyana has a new National Archives after years of our national treasures languishing in Main Street.

Dear Editor, Some more items have been zero- rated for VAT in this year’s Budget but just one week later, the same items’ prices have skyrocketed.

Dear Editor, Stabroek News’s editorial of March 10, 2008 captioned “The ads boycott 16 months on,” calling on the PNCR to ensure equity in advertisement distribution from Region 4 RDC, that it controls, may be directing its appeal in the wrong direction.

Dear Editor, I read the letter captioned “Local government reform could introduce power sharing” (08.03.11) by His Worship, the Mayor of Georgetown with amusement.

Dear Editor, From time to time we see the most preposterous and laughable letters appearing in the letter columns of the three dailies.

Dear Editor, In his letter, “Hillary Clinton has an ace up her sleeve,” (08.03.10), Mr Robin Williams cited Senator Clinton’s seemingly smart decision to keep her name on ballots in Florida and Michigan, in the event that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) reverses itself on an earlier ruling and allows delegates from the two states to be both counted and seated at the party’s August convention in Denver, Colorado.

Dear Editor, I read in a newspaper recently that NIS is giving pensioners a five percent increase.

Dear Editor, The local newspapers’ headlines on Thursday 28th February highlighted the success of the much touted “Stakeholders Meeting”.

Controversial ex-army officers Oliver Hinckson and Dorian Massay appeared in court yesterday on charges relating to advocacy of terrorism and possession of military kit and were remanded and granted $50,000 bail respectively.

The PNCR is expressing alarm that its members are being targeted by the police for `flimsy’ arrests and has stated that “it will not sit idly by and allow elements of the Guyana Police Force to trample on the human and constitutional rights of its supporters and other citizens”.

The murder of 36-year-old Marcyn King is a dangerous development, the PNCR said yesterday, and it called on government to take urgent action to protect the lives of relatives of persons on the police’s wanted list.

Two gunmen last night stormed the Carrefour Restaurant on Hadfield Street and Louisa Row and carted off $96,000, gun-butting a waitress and other staff before making their escape in a waiting car.

Conscription into the army of able-bodied males ages 18 to 25 and establishing a gun court are among the recommendations to be further discussed at the national stakeholders’ meeting today.

The suspect in the murder of University of Guyana student Dennis Edghill turned himself into the police yesterday accompanied by his attorney.

The Region Three administration (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) has warned that it will enforce sanctions against contractors who fail to carry out works according to the bill of quantities.

A call by three prominent Caribbean nationals for a renegotiating of the Cariforum-European Commission (EC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) has been rebuffed by the Caribbean Regional Nego-tiating Machinery (CRNM).

Rain kept water levels up in several East Coast Demerara villages yesterday ensuring that residents were left to endure their misery for yet another day.

The Guyana Relief Council (GRC) yesterday assisted seven families who suffered losses due to fire and two families who suffered damage due to high winds.

The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2007 on Guyana said “potentially unlawful” police killings, mistreatment of suspects and detainees by the security forces and lengthy pre-trial detention are some areas of concern though government generally respected the rights of its citizens in 2007.

Government offered anecdotal evidence for its decision to withdraw state advertisements from the Stabroek News (SN) last year and no further information when challenged by the Inter-American press freedom rapporteur, the US State Department 2007 Country Report on Human Rights Practices says.

Police are investigating a break-in at the Hindu Temple at Camp and Quamina streets on Sunday night, in which a murti (statue) of the Goddess Durga was damaged.

With the spectre of the recent killings especially the Bartica massacre hanging over them, miners at a meeting yesterday advocated a photo identification system for persons travelling in the interior but were cautious about checkpoints, citing unfavourable experiences with these.

During a tour on Sunday of the mouth of the Abary Creek which is being desilted a resident stood “waist-deep” in the channel of the river to prove that a long-boom excavator is needed for the job.

Some 23 villages from No. 51 through to No.73 on the Corentyne are now benefiting from improved water supply as a result of the just-commissioned state-of-the-art Number 56 Village Water Treatment Plant at Corriverton.