News Briefs

St Catherine MC to donate US$5,000 to Dorian relief

The St Catherine Municipal Corporation has committed US$5000 (J$678,000) to the relief efforts in The Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.

“Having heard of the problems of the destruction of our sister [nation] Bahamas, we’re very pleased to be able to assist in the venture of aid and recovery,”Mayor Norman Scott said at yesterday’s monthly municipal corporation meeting in Spanish Town.

The Category 5 Dorian, which slammed The Bahamas last week, left a trail of death and destruction as heavy winds and rain pounded the islands, causing mass flooding.

At least 50 persons have been declared dead, with authorities expecting a much higher final count.

Up to yesterday, 1,300 persons were still unaccounted for.

 

 

KSAMC warns against placing party posters on heritage sites

Promoters mounting party posters on heritage sites across the Corporate Area will soon find themselves in trouble with the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC).

Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams on Tuesday warned that the KSAMC would be taking strong action if the practice continues.

“I want to say to promoters who are guilty of posting on our heritage sites to desist from doing so,” he said during the KSAMC’s monthly meeting.

“Our heritage sites are of cultural and historic value to us and it cannot be that we see it fit to put up party posters and deface our heritage sites,” he added. “So those promoters who are guilty of that and those who are not aware of it because they claim that they are not the ones putting up the posters,

According to the Mayor, party posters have been seen on the several historic landmarks across the Corporate Area. These include the clock in Cross Roads and the Ward Theatre in downtown Kingston.

 

 

Man charged for shooting five persons, including 6-y-o

A Westmoreland man suspected of shooting five persons, one fatally, has been charged.

The Savanna-la-Mar Police report that 20-year-old Daine Dellop otherwise called ‘Cuz’, of Three Miles River, was arrested on Saturday and later questioned in the presence of his attorney on Monday, following which he was charged with murder.

He is also charged with four counts of wounding with intent, illegal possession of firearm and illegal possession of ammunition.

On April 1, a gunman reportedly opened fire at a crowd along Great George Street in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland. When the shooting subsided five persons, including a six-year-old boy, were seen from gunshot wounds.

Fifty-six-year-old taxi operator Anthony Tomlinson was pronounced dead. The others were treated at hospital.

A gun was recovered at the scene.

 

 

Court dismisses motion for T&T teachers to be paid for marking SBAs

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

A High Court judge has dismissed a motion by the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) that sought to prevent teachers from marking school-based assessments (SBA) as set by the Barbados-based Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).

Justice Vasheist Kokaram on Wednesday dismissed he motion in which TTUTA had been seeking to get the Ministry of Education to pay teachers extra for the mark­ing of SBA pa­pers, a situation that has also been challenged by teachers in several other Caribbean countries.

Last Thursday, the association asked the court to de­ter­mine if mem­bers should be com­pen­sat­ed for their con­tin­ued work on CXC’s Caribbean Sec­ondary Ed­u­ca­tion Cer­tifi­cate and Caribbean Ad­vanced Pro­fi­cien­cy Ex­am­i­na­tion ex­ams.

The union noted that in May last year, the Ja­maican Gov­ern­ment struck a deal with its teach­ers for them to re­ceive J$300 per SBA script.

TTUTA de­cid­ed to file the claim af­ter the min­is­ter of ed­u­ca­tion and reg­is­trar of CXC ig­nored its calls to re­vamp the sys­tem.