Daily Archive: Saturday, November 15, 2008

Army officers sanctioned The army has taken “appropriate action” against members accused of torturing two soldiers during interrogations, Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Chief-of-Staff Commodore Gary Best said yesterday.

-Greene The gang that planned and executed the $17M GuySuCo payroll robbery and a series of high-profile heists was highly organised and acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene said it appeared to have been hiring guns.

Gunfire erupted along the lower East Coast and in the Campbellville area, between late Thursday night and early yesterday morning.

-MPs call for more abstinence programmes Although more teens have access to condoms, the pregnancy rate across the country shows that youths are not wrapping up and stakeholders are calling for a fresh strategy that shifts from contraceptive to abstinence advocacy.

Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene yesterday said there has been no report that Bartica massacre accused Dennis ‘Anaconda’ Williams was “roughed up” during interrogation but he promised an investigation if a complaint were made.

Emam Khan, the man who allegedly stabbed Brian Gray in the neck because he warned him off his wife, appeared at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Nine yr-old died of renal failure A post-mortem examination (PME) performed on nine-year-old Tania De Cunha, whose parents claim negligence resulted in her death at the New Amsterdam Hospital last Tuesday, has found that the cause of death was acute renal failure.

The Agriculture Science Departments of three private schools have been given an added boost with donations of seeds, plants, copies of the Farmers Manual and other materials from the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday.

A officer attached to the Georgetown Prison was arrested on Thursday after he attempted to smuggle marijuana into the detention facility in a pair of regulation boots.

Some 48 young people are to benefit from a computer and office training programme which was launched at the Gafoors Houston complex yesterday.

– grand prize winner to have expenses-free year Six million dollars in donation to charity and a grand prize of all living expenses paid for one year are part of the $25 million Digicel Christmas promotion, which was launched on Thursday night at the Cara Lodge.

Guyana Water Inc (GWI) will host a special workshop for contractors next Tuesday with the purpose of informing them of GWI’s policies and equipping them with tools to help in their delivery of quality infrastructural work.

Residents expressed gratitude as the American medical mission continued yesterday, having looked at over 1,300 patients so far at the treatment sites in the North West District.

Dear Editor, I read a letter in your newspaper dated November 13, 2008 under the caption ‘Not allowed to speak,’ in which the writer comments on his inability to speak and subsequent departure from a public consultation held on Friday, November 7, 2008 at City Hall on the reform of divorce laws.

Quacy’s at the top of the class Quacy McGowan had been a supposed pageant misfit all her life- not the right height or pencil thin figure and way too shy- struggling with the desire to be onstage but consciously stepping away until Ms Renaissance found her stashed in a classroom.

Dear Editor, The arithmetic presented by Minister Robert Persaud (‘IDB forest project kicks off,’ Kaieteur News, November 13, 2008) for the forest area annually logged and its production obscures rather than reveals the unsustainable forest harvesting in Guyana.

Fogarty’s yesterday launched its annual ‘U-turn to win’ campaign, which will see two major prize draws in December and January.

Dear Editor, Guyana must come good, and not just for our sake but for the sake of future generations.

-19th Kashif and Shanghai football tournament Two city businesses, Mohamed Enterprises and Cell Phone Shack yesterday came on board as sponsors of the 19th annual Kashif and Shanghai football tournament which will run from December 14-January 1, 2009.

Design season Another day, another fashion designer. Who knew that Guyana harboured so many of their ilk!

Three licensed firearm holders lost their weapons in separate incidents on Wednesday and so far two arrests have been made.

Dear Editor, This year around May/June the public servants were awarded a 5% increase on their salaries and four thousand dollars  per month to be added to their salaries as a temporary cost-of-living allowance for persons earning under fifty thousand dollars monthly until December this year.

– President Jagdeo intervenes By Rawle Toney Following a meeting between president of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) Colwyn King and His Excellency President Bharat Jagdeo, the 48th annual national schools’ track and field, cycling and swimming championship will go ahead as planned.

I rise to bake Hi Everyone, Fraught with unpredictability, temperamental partners, atmospheric conditions that I cannot control and sometimes a shaken confidence, why then you may ask, would I venture into such an arena?

What! No reindeer? Santa Claus, a new and improved Mrs Claus and the latest additions to their crew: Disney’s Mini Mouse and Sponge Bob arrive on a sleigh atop a bus at the Courts annual tree lighting ceremony and Christmas concert held at Main Street last evening.

Congratulations have been extended to the security forces by the PPP for their recent successes in their fight against crime.

Dear Editor, It is absolutely outrageous what these minibus drivers, hire-car drivers and speedboat operators are doing to the poor people of Guyana!

Singer Guyana Inc yesterday presented a cheque for $1M to Shellon Purlett.

Trinidad and Tobago made themselves instant favourites to cart off this year’s title when the whipped the Leeward Islands by nine wickets in a rain-interrupted game of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President’s Cup competition at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground yesterday.

Antigua-based Guyanese award winning singer Michael ‘Sparkey’ Drakes hit the big time recently, when he signed with WOA International recording label, which has over 150 artists from genres as diverse as World, Jazz, Rock, Fusion, Metal, Reggae and even Irish Gypsy Jazz.

The Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) senior club championship is set to continue this weekend with a double header this evening at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard-court.

Dear Editor, Sister Carmeline of the Missionaries of Charity is soon to return to her homeland, India, and may never return to Guyana.

During Thursday and yesterday, the PNCR exercised goodwill in donating household items to fire victims and toys to daycare centres.

Dear Editor, The Joint Services have and are coming in for a lot of deserved recognition and praise by many for their prompt and successful response to the heist of a $ 17.2 million Guysuco payroll, which was recovered.

Two young men who pretended to be customers held a shop owner at gunpoint on Thursday at Haslington, East Coast Demerara and later escaped with cash and jewellery.

For many Guyanese the festivities of Carifesta X have become a distant memory, but Sita Sugrim, a graphic artist, has sought to revive them by designing a commemorative calendar.

The `Reds’ Perreira Sports Foundation (RPSF) has made a donation towards the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC) who will this weekend launch the Basil Butcher Trust Fund for cricketers in Berbice.

The Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) cricket team  recorded an upset victory over the  Windward Islands in their second round clash of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President’s Cup encounter at the Enmore Community Centre ground yesterday.

Clothes vendor Raphael Piggott who was gunned down in Cummings Lodge a week ago was never under the police radar for drug trafficking, Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene said.

Dear Editor, The recent unfortunate death of David de Caires has left a void in the Stabroek News which would be difficult to fill.

– jailed for nine years After pleading guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, murder accused Brian Williams called ‘BV man’ was sentenced to nine years imprisonment by Justice Winston Patterson in the High Court yesterday.

Guyanese author of the Voice Within His Voice Astell Collins is set to launch his first line of stationery in January through his publishing company Astelley’s Pen Empire, in South Africa.

Salvation Army launches Christmas appeal: President Bharrat Jagdeo places a donation in the Salvation Army kettle yesterday morning at the Georgetown Club, Camp Street.

Dear Editor, Barack Obama deserves applause on winning the US presidency for a well-run campaign.

Two men who were allegedly found with a quantity of cannabis in their possession were both granted bail while another drug accused was remanded to prison yesterday when they appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

While the election of Senator Barack Obama does suggest that American politics has withstood the Bush years better than many had feared, his margin of victory in the popular vote – six percentage points – should give pause to anyone who believes radical change is coming to Washington any time soon.

A composed batting display by Barbados saw them beating the United States of America (USA) by 111 runs in a rain–interrupted game of the West Indies Cricket Board, President’s Cup limited overs competition at the Providence National Stadium yesterday.

Maria Benschop’s sketch Nothing to Laugh About that takes a satirical swipe at everything from drug accused Roger Khan to Carifesta, opens at the Theatre Guild next weekend as fresh social commentary that had been long overdue.