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Wednesday, October 7,
2009 Belize's Only Daily- 7 Days a Week |
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Caye Caulker to March Against Crime
 The Caye Caulker Neighborhood Watch Program
Limited (C.C.N.W.P.L.)
firstly would like to publicly express its heartfelt condolences to the
Young and Badillo families on the untimely passing of Mrs. Lurline
Young. Mrs. Young will always be remembered in our thoughts and prayers
as a woman that was loved by many.
Secondly, time and time again there have been reports by tourists and residents alike of criminal activity or intended criminal activity on Caye Caulker to the Caye Caulker Police Department. On numerous occasions these calls for assistance to the Caye Caulker Police Department have gone unanswered and un-investigated. Time and time again tourists and villagers have been turned away or actively discouraged by the Caye Caulker Police Department not to report any attempted wrongdoing or criminal activity on the island. There are further allegations that many officers of the Caye Caulker Police Department are in collusion with various persons who are connected to criminal or drug related activity. The C.C.N.W.P.L appeals to Hon. Manuel Heredia – Area Representative for Caye Caulker and San Pedro – Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture; The Belize Tourism Board; the Commissioner of the Police Department – Crispin Jefferies for a full immediate replacement of all members of the Caye Caulker Police Department as this police contingent ever in the history of Caye Caulker. This must be done to safeguard the interests of Caye Caulker’s tourist industry. Finally, the C.C.N.W.P.L also ask all residents of Caye Caulker to participate in a “March Against Crime” walk on Thursday, October 8th at 2:00 p.m. at the Central Park to express their solidarity in combating crime on Caye Caulker. Together we must protect Caye Caulker. Ambergris Today BELIZE NATIONAL COAST GUARD
RESCUES
STRANDED MARINERS
Two
US Nationals stranded off the coast of Ambergris Caye were rescued in a
search operation conducted by the Belize Coast Guard yesterday.
Following a distress call about three o’clock in the afternoon,
coastguard officials from San Pedro were dispatched to an area about
two miles east of Boca Bacalar Chico near the Belize-Mexico border
where they found the vessel Second Star with two persons onboard. The
vessel apparently had an engine failure and was drifting out of
control. The yacht, measuring sixty-five feet was rescued and towed to
San Pedro Town a little after five o’clock. The operation lasted five
hours and was conducted in difficult sea conditions outside the reef.
The Belize Coast Guard emphasizes the importance of a marine radio or a
means of communicating while at sea. They can be contacted on Channel
16 on VHF Marine Band Radio or by telephone at 205-2480.
Love FM MINISTRY OF HEALTH OFFICIALS
SPEAK ON DENGUE The
issue of dengue has been in the news recently when it was revealed that
the Prime Minister and at least one Belize City Councilor have tested
positive for the mosquito borne disease. Hundreds
of cases have been reported by the Ministry of Health, primarily in the
west and in the Belize district. Today on the Love FM Morning Show,
officials of the Public Health Department spoke not only about what is
being done officially; but also shred simple measures that the general
public can do to help in the fight against mosquito borne diseases.
Mark Bernard is a senior public health inspector with the Ministry of
Health.
Mark Bernard: Senior Public Health Inspector, Ministry of Health “We also find people who have drums, vats and other water holding containers that are not properly covered. This allows the mosquito to gain access and deposit their eggs so we have the breathing in mosquitoes. In addition to that the yards that have a lot of old tires, cans, bottles and things like that can also be breathing sites for mosquitoes. We always complain that there are a lot of mosquitoes but we have to realize that it is not all the mosquitoes that are transmitting diseases. Of particular interest is the aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits dengue; however, there are may more nuisance mosquitoes so when you are getting a lot of bites in the evening time or early in the morning it does not mean that all those mosquitoes will give you dengue or malaria. However, how do we differentiate? The whole thing is a matter of source control, controlling the number of mosquitoes. So basically we want to lower the mosquito population. I do not think that we will every get rid of mosquitoes but as somebody said we want to reduce them from the billions to the millions.” Bernard says that while vector control initiatives are working, there is more that needs to be done. And a part of that additional effort is a public education campaign that will give crucial information to the general public. Mark Bernard: Senior Public Health Inspector, Ministry of Health “In terms of malaria there is a cycle, remember there is a cycle. If a mosquito does not have malaria and it bites you it cannot give you malaria. If a mosquito bites us it has to be at a particular stage, the parasites in our body, and then the mosquito transmits it. The control of the malaria and the dengue is not really to try to get rid of the mosquitoes you are not going to do that. It is to control the parasite. If you do not know how to do that it is important in the management of malaria and dengue. As soon as someone has malaria the first objective is to circulating in that person so that the mosquitoes cannot get it. the parasite is also still there in the liver and that is why the treatment takes a while but the primary thing to do is to stop the transmission. If you control the malaria the mosquito cannot transmit because the malaria parasite is not there. So it is a matter of treatment management, you have to manage the person. In the case of dengue that person should be placed in a room that is properly screened so that mosquitoes cannot get to that person and carry on the transmission. So if you have something that mosquitoes can transmit and mosquitoes keep biting you it is going to bite other people and then pass it on. Part of the control is managing the cases.” Love FM Belize drops on UNDP
Human Development index 
The Intelligence Economist Unit put Belize
as murder capital number
one while Transparency International gave Belize a black eye for
corruption, placing the Jewel at the bottom of the scale at a hundred
and eleven. Now comes the United Nations Development Program 2009 Human
Development report and it is also giving Belize poor marks for the
quality of life. With all the murders and scandals facing the country,
Belize slipped two notches on the chart to ninety three. It says that
the healthy life span of Belizeans is sixty-three and the unhealthy
life expectancy is seventeen percent of the total life expectancy. But
according to Kristine Blokhus, U.N.D.P. representative in Belize, it
doesn’t necessarily mean that life is all bad.
Kristine Blokhus, U.N.D.P. Representative in Belize “This kind of ranking always creates a lot of debate and in actual fact, it’s important to recognize a few things. The first is that the human development index does measure three things, which are very important. But those three things do not make up the full picture of what human development is. There are several things missing from the index in order to make it a complete measure. Some examples of very important things of human development that are not measured are, for example, political participation where Belize would score quite highly because it’s a democracy where political participation is free to everyone. Environmental degradation and environmental conservation are other measures that are very important to people’s quality of life and so Belize would also probably score very highly on that. That kind of thing is not measured so it’s important for us to recognize that it’s not a full measure of Belize’s development. There is a number of external forces that also impact on the ranking. For example, we’re also in the middle of a financial economic crisis so there are a number of measures that may be affected by the fact that, fro example, foreign direct investments have gone down or that Belize is a country that imports a lot and exchange rates may have an impact on GDP per capita for instance. So there's a lot of things that come into this; more than what meets the eye initially. What we do hope is that the human development index ranking can instigate national debate on certain issues.” According to the release, the country at number one with the world’s highest quality of life is Norway. Our Caribbean neighbor, Barbados is also listed at number thirty-seven in the section of the countries with very high human development.CH5 Justices issue statement on Bar
Association controversy
Sitting justices hardly give interviews,
almost never, nor is it
customary that they issue press statements. That protocol was broken
today, with a statement from the justices of the Supreme Court. The
unprecedented statement is lengthy, four pages in all, and according to
Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh, self explanatory. It starts on the
principle that the judiciary itself should avoid public controversy,
attention and debate to be able to discharge its responsibilities to
the people and the public of Belize. So what prompted the statement? It
is in response to a recent proposal before the Bar to invite the
resignation or cause the removal of Justice Samuel Awich for delayed
judgments in several cases.
According to the statement, delays in delivering judgments are caused by a number of factors outside the control of the Judiciary, such as the number of judges and vital resources necessary for the functioning of the Judiciary. The historic statement from the Judiciary launched a number of broadsides. Even the Attorney General was subject of judicial comment. The statement says that it has been a virtual declaration of an open season on the judiciary. It “this unfortunate and regrettable development reached a high point this year when no less than the titular head of the Bar, as a profession, the Attorney General himself on a formal occasion in open court launched a wholesale attack on the judiciary and the magistracy and even charged the latter of dispensing only justice. This, the judiciary viewed as more than ruffling the feathers.” According to the statement, the Judiciary views with dismay and disappointment the attempts from several quarters in the Bar Association to undermine the public confidence in the name of the delay in the delivery of judgments. And referring to the recent action by the Bar Association, the judges say it is scandalous and invites political interference by seeking to impeach judges for late delivery of judgments. With this blazing response from the Judiciary News Five attempted to contact the president of the Bar for a comment. He was unavailable but we will follow up with him tomorrow. Viewers are reminded that at its last meeting the Bar deferred until the end of the year a decision on its resolution to start proceedings to remove Justice Awich. This unprecedented and deep divide between the Bench and Bar seems to be heading for a showdown. Stay tuned. CH5 LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
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  www.grandcaribe.com debbiewade@gmail.com
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© SAN PEDRO DAILY, PO Box 45, San Pedro Town, Belize. Inquiries to editor@sanpedrodaily.com |
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