Gaulbert Sutherland

Unarmed cops arrived one hour after to take ‘facts’ The victims of Tuesday evening’s Tuschen robbery yesterday criticised the police for what they said was a slow response even as they attempted to come to grips with the traumatic incident.

Batter, rob family of $6M Heavily-armed gunmen last evening stormed a grocery at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo firing shots and robbing a family of $6M in cash and jewellery before escaping.

– BK offer under review Thrust briefly into the spotlight in the aftermath of the Bartica massacre when Joint Services ranks were forced to divert an emergency landing, the Bartica Airstrip remains in disuse and there seems to be no moves for its upgrade and reactivation.

-fire serviceInvestigations by the Guyana Fire Service have confirmed that the fire that claimed the lives of three girls and destroyed a dormitory at the Waramadong Secondary School was caused by a candle that was left unattended.

The scars on one hand mark where she was burned; the wires holding her slippers together scream poverty; she watches closely over her two little children as they play with old batteries and walk in the sand near her home.

There is a saying among many persons who drive through and within Guyana’s interior that meeting a turtle is bad luck.

Up to yesterday morning some 73 persons had made alternative arrangements to get their stranded children home from Cuba via the Jim Bacchus Travel Service though it was accused of botching the original bookings for 212 students.

-after botched holiday travel plans Upset parents of over 200 students studying in Cuba erupted in anger yesterday while some were reduced to tears after learning that flight arrangements for their children were not properly made and their children may not make it home for the holidays.

Police on the West Demerara are seeking a gunman who robbed the On-The-Go Service station at Nismes on Tuesday night while a 17-year-girl will shortly be charged for robbery under arms in a separate incident.

Gaulbert Sutherland concludes his account of a visit to Arau, an Akawaio-Arecuna village near the Venezuelan border The five-foot solar panel, dust covering its face, stood upright in a room at the health centre.

As a young boy dreaming of becoming a pilot, Dean Jackson walked to his father’s store after school, scarcely giving a thought that in the future, rather than soaring above the earth, he would be working with precious minerals that came from under the ground.

The playing of music in vehicles used for public transport has been outlawed with the passage of a Bill providing for this yesterday.

A 19-year-old guard attached to the MMC Security Force died last night after allegedly shooting himself at the company’s Happy Acres, East Coast Demerara headquarters just as he was about to go out on patrol.

Scenic beauty and the contrary world of mining The mountains are cold in the morning, more so at 3am, and the moisture from the mist drips onto the zinc roof, making little ‘plops’ like tiny frogs jumping into a pool.

Inadequate $$ had been budgeted for repairs A Rupununi man died on Thursday after falling through the incomplete decking of the Moco-Moco Creek Bridge at Lethem, which had been undergoing rehabilitation work.

The recently constructed $16M Rupu-nuni River bridge that caved in under an excavator is not expected to be repaired until next month or October, Chairman of Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Esse-quibo), Clarindo Lucas said yesterday.

Work is ongoing on the Linden-Lethem road but the rain has been wreaking havoc with the maintenance, Engi-neering Coordinator of the Ministry of Public Works, Leon Goring says.

The woman said she wanted to be “free again”. In a village sited in one of the most scenic parts of Guyana and with wide-open spaces, it seemed an incongruous remark to make, but there is always a story isn’t there?

Using a cellular phone while driving a vehicle will soon be an offence punishable under the law while persons convicted of using false number plates could be fined $1M and jailed for two years as a bill providing for this was passed unanimously by the National Assembly last evening.

-GGMC to do further checks Mining operations along the Arau River in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) have damaged a section of the waterway, changing the lives of residents of Arau village as they struggle to cope with the environmental degradation and its effects on them.