Important Note: This Internet version of 7 News is a verbatum
transcript of our evening television news script. Many interviews on our newscast
are conducted in Creole. In the interest of clarity for our foreign readers,
we attempt to paraphrase the Creole quotes in English
If you own a SMART phone, you may not be able to make international long distance
calls after Friday and SMART says that’s because BTL is sabotaging it.
A release from the phone company this evening says that on Friday BTL will be
terminating the circuits that carry its outgoing international voice and roaming
services. According to SMART, it will mean the loss of international calling
service to over 90,000 customers. According to SMART, Telemedia says that no
alternative service will be made available to Speednet.
That’s some serious hardball but BTL says SMART is misstating the case.
Yes, they are losing access to the service which allows SMART customers to call
long distance. That service is owned and controlled by BTL. But mighty BTL says
that, “Speednet wants to continue bullying” it. According
to a BTL release, SMART is in fact being subsidized by BTL through unfair pricing
agreements – agreements which were, “signed when one group had
interests in both companies.”
The release says that BTL will not continue to subsidize SMART and adds that
basically they must make their own investment arrangements. BTL closes its release
by saying that, “any loss of service to (SMART) customers will be
an act of self-sabotage...”
And where does the PUC – which should act as umpire between these groups
stand? Chairman John Avery told us when he left the office at 4:30 today –
he had not received any official complaint from SMART. A SMART rep told us they
did send one. In the meantime SMART says it will allow its customers to call
the PUC Toll Free to make complaints.
Government plans to “strong” 100 acres in Sandhill from
Byron and Armead Thurston. It is a part of the 2,000 acre Baker’s Ranch
estate which the Thurstons have owned since 1975. But Area Representative Edmund
Castro told us last night that the family owes nearly $100,000 in property taxes.
So Castro says government is moving ahead with plans to take 100 acres away
from the Thurston’s in lieu of taxes. But not so fast says attorney for
the Thurston’s Arthur Saldivar. Saldivar who is a political aspirant for
the area, says the tax assessments are arbitrary and besides – his clients
have been paying their taxes. But we begin with what Castro told us last night
– that the Thurston’s are delinquent landowners.
Hon. Edmund Castro, Belize Rural North Area Rep. “They owe a lot of taxes and this parcel of land is approximately
1,923 acres of land. We are not looking to take away no 300 or 500 acres of
land, we are only looking to acquire a piece of the land in lieu taxes so the
valuation department from the Ministry of Natural Resources will then have to
go in and value the land and give us a value in terms of money per acreage of
land that we can get for the people of Sandhill.”
Keith Swift,
“How much do they owe?”
Hon. Edmund Castro, “They owe approximately $100,000 without the interest calculated up
to date.”
Keith Swift,
“Your clients owe 90 odd thousand dollars. Do you dispute that?”
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for Thurstons “Of course I dispute it Keith.”
Keith Swift,
“But it is in black and white Mr. Saldivar.”
Arthur Saldivar, “Yes Keith, many things are in black and white. But what I am saying
if you examine the tax ledger you will notice that Mr. Thurston has been paying
his taxes up to 2005, fully paid up. In 2005 apparently the Ministry of Natural
Resources instituted a new rate of taxation on properties. But that rate of
taxation and whatever formula they were using did that countenance the developed
portion of Baker’s Ranch or what we would consider developed in our estimation.
It must be established that 600 or so acres of Baker’s Ranch that
sits on the western side of the Northern Highway is developed with conventional
development; houses, barn facilities and other such structures.
I don’t think that when you examine that tax ledger that they will
show any consideration being given to the portion of land that has been developed
as opposed to that that has been left in its natural state. So it cannot be
accurate, it cannot be an accurate representation.
Outside of that, delinquency cannot be a ground to fund any action against
Mr. Thurston because he has not been delinquent. If they are saying that he
has not paid taxes at all, we could understand. But it has been shown that he
has been paying his taxes since 1978 to 2005 and in fact has made payments since
2005. He may not have paid fully because there is a problem with the way the
tax has been assessed, a valid concern is there on the part of the land owner
as to the way he is being assessed his taxes. This is not a speculator Keith.
Nobody speculates for 40 years.”
Again Saldivar says his clients will wait until they something in writing
before acting. It is of note that prior to the reassessment in 2005, the Thurston’s
ranch was valued at a mere $212,000.
Last night we told you that the Supreme Court ruled against Dean Fuller and
his companies Omni and Fultec, allowing the Financial Intelligence Unit to maintain
a freeze on 22 bank accounts. Today Fuller’s Omni Networks and Fultec
Systems issued a press release saying that they have instructed their attorneys
to immediately file an appeal.
The OMNI/Fultec release adds that the judge made his decision based on “circumstantial
evidence” – and that they, “completely reject that
there is any evidence of tainted funds and strongly disagree with the decision
of the judge.” The release says that the continued freeze does not
affect FULTEC’s business – which had the order varied to allow that
company to make withdrawals to continue its daily operations.
As we reported, in a decision issued yesterday, Justice Oswell Legall found
that, “there is a reasonable cause to believe...that the accounts
in the banks are tainted in relation to the offence of money laundering.”
The Public Utilities Commission has approved a rate increase of 10.6%
for BWSL. That means your water bill will increase by 10.6% effective April
first – that is if no one objects to the rate increase. That’s 10
cents more on every dollar – but it is less than the 25% or 25 cents on
the dollars that BWSL had asked for. Today, Chairman of the PUC John Avery explained
the decision and what went into making it.
John Avery, PUC Chairman “We’ve approved an overall increase of 10.6% across the board.
Our decision is the rate that we approved is a rate that we think is fair given
all the circumstances surrounding this submission made by BWSL. We do our best
to come up with the fairest rate and affordability is always a major consideration.
If we don’t believe consumers can afford certain investments then we can’t
approve it because it makes no sense. Why have the company invest in something
that people cannot pay for.
The commission looked at the business plan proposed by BWSL. We reviewed
the investments and where we felt those investments were necessary or feasible
and prudent we approved them for inclusion in the rates and where we were uncertain
about certain investments, we decided to leave those out of consideration for
rates for the time being.”
Interested parties have until December second to submit their objections
in writing to the PUC. If no objections are forthcoming, the new rate will come
into effect on April first 2010. The Tariff Review proceeding approves a 10%
rate of return – which is lower than the minimum 12% which most utilities
seek.
The commission removed from consideration $57 million in investment,
$47 million of that slated for Ambergris Caye. The reasoning is that the Caye
project is just getting a feasibility study and if the project does prove feasible
then it would receive CDB funding and pay for itself without causing any burden
to rate payers. An interesting note is that water loss, known as non revenue
water is just below 40% in Belize City – the highest in the country.
Last week, Alton Flores appeared on this newscast complaining that
the Department of Transport was refusing to license his busses. Flores who has
a run to Ladyville took out an injunction against the Department of Transport
after they suspended his road service permit. Today he took up a protest in
front of the UDP Headquarters to send a message to the Department of Transport.
We asked him the tough questions.
Alton Flores, Flores Bus “They are trying to take me off the Ladyville run completely.”
Jules Vasquez,
“How much of this is your own doing because of the problems you had on
your bus with fighting, people with machetes?”
Alton Flores, “Ok umm I don’t really want to comment on that…”
Jules Vasquez,
“But you have to comment on that, it is on the table. That is on the public’s
record. No, no, I have to object to you on that.”
Alton Flores, “Well concerning the machete I will be honest, I never deh yah so
you would have to talk to who was there when the machete and so were hauled
out.”
Jules Vasquez,
“But it is your bus.”
Alton Flores, “Well I don’t know. I can’t comment on that right now.”
Marion Ali, News 5
“Not the machete issue but there’ve been several other instances
where your company has been fingered as the company.”
Alton Flores, “They will finger me because I was not placed there politically.”
Jules Vasquez,
“You’re saying all these charges are blameless?”
Alton Flores, “They are useless, they have no foundation.”
Jules Vasquez,
“So you’re saying no machete incident occurred?”
Alton Flores, “I don’t know. I don’t know about no machete incident.
If any machete incident happened then that is a matter for the police and they
might have that. But if it would be good if you ask the Police Department. If
any wrong was done, if any wrong was done, yes the Transport Board has a responsibility
but if they find wrongdoing then let’s all be punished, don’t just
punish one party all the time.”
Riva a Fire, Protestor “This whole thing is just victimization. All these men out here are
men who are trying to keep their jobs because they work for Mr. Flores. Mr.
Flores has been running in Ladyville from way back when he had a lil red bus.
He built his company over the last six or seven years and they are trying to
run him out when they are trying to find their own selected people to run.”
Jules Vasquez,
“What do you think being out here in front of the UDP headquarters will
achieve?”
Alton Flores, “Well I tried to call Ms. Saldivar, she refuses to answer my calls
so I assume through the media she’ll get all the information I want to
get to her.”
Jules Vasquez,
“You’ve been speaking out, you have court action, at some point
you have to take it to another level if people don’t want to listen to
you.”
Alton Flores, “Well I am going as far as I can until I go bruk. When I don’t
have anything more to eat I will have to go like how Mr. Charlie gaan. I will
have to go like him because this is my bread. This is how I maintain my family.
This is how I send my son to school.”
Flores says that the scheduling of the busses is unmanageable because
it only allows operators to take 45 minutes from Belize City to Lord’s
Bank and that’s not enough. With 4 operators now on the same run, it leads
inevitably, he claims, to arguments.
Charlie Good has passed on, but his widow Hirian Good has taken the
fight to get her job back to the Supreme Court. This morning she showed up at
court with a framed picture of her Charlie Good. That is because the judicial
review of the Ministry of Education’s decision to terminate her should
have begun in the Chief Justice’s courtroom but it didn’t. It was
held in chambers and her attorney Arthur Saldivar explained that the case was
adjourned because government claims it wasn’t properly served.
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for Hirian Good “The Chief Justice convened and we were have the hearing in camera
but however as a result of the Attorney General not receiving a copy of the
documents, they didn’t have a chance to review it prior to coming here
this morning and leave has been given for them to be fixed, for those documents.”
Keith Swift,
“Whose fault is that?”
Arthur Saldivar, “Well my shoulders are broad, I accept culpability. The legal attorney
for the government which is the Sol Gen’s office claims that they did
not receive. My office has indicated that it has been sent. Now my shoulders
are broad, I will not pass the buck.”
Rowland Parks, Amandala
“Mr. Saldivar how confident are you that you will prevail in this case
against the government on behalf of Mrs. Good?”
Arthur Saldivar, “Well the facts are well known and the principles of law are well
established. I would not want to venture further than that because as any attorney
would tell you there are always litigation risks. Each case is distinguishable
on its own facts and its own merits. But I do believe that we have a strong
case, a strong position.”
33 year old Cesar Scott was killed in Sunday night’s deadly collision
between two boats in San Pedro. The captain of the boat he was in – 42
year old Antonio Tepaz survived and is hospitalized in the intensive care unit
at the Healthcare Partners Hospital. He is lucky to be alive and today from
his hospital bed he told Keith Swift that he didn’t cause the accident.
In fact he says that he tried to prevent it. Here’s his story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
Antonio Tepaz says Sunday night’s collision was unavoidable.
Antonio Tepaz, Involved in Boat Accident “I try my best to nuh make the collision be. I see a boat in front
me. I tried to go up by the reef but the boat was still coming up. I thought
I would go to the beach now and at the same time when I went to the beach the
boat took the curve to go the normal way and from there when I think to stop
the boat to not let the collision be very hard, and I tried to change direction
but then I don’t remember anything more.”
Tepaz woke up in this hospital bed at Healthcare Partners Hospital which is
where he’s been since the accident. His right foot is broken and so is
his right shoulder. But Tepaz is the lucky one. His co-worker Cesar Scott died.
Keith Swift,
“Do you feel guilty that you’re alive and Cesar isn’t?”
Antonio Tepaz, “Well the man done passed away already. Sometimes I feel bad about
it too but if you are driving something and something like that happened and
your friend passes away what would you think about it? You feel bad. I feel
bad about it too because he is my friend and co-worker too.”
And Antonio says he doesn’t feel guilty because he maintains he did nothing
wrong. He says his boat has running lights and they were on – on Sunday
night.
Keith Swift,
“The witnesses say they didn’t see your boat coming, your boat just
appeared out of nowhere.”
Antonio Tepaz, “No I had on my lights and as I tell you my one witness is God because
I go to church and I don’t have to lie about it.”
Keith Swift,
“Were you speeding?”
Antonio Tepaz, “Yes I was going a little fast, 45 to 46 rpm but when I saw that boat
coming very fast I tried to slow down.”
Keith Swift,
“Even the Mayor of San Pedro said she heard your lights weren’t
on.”
Antonio Tepaz, “No I had on my lights and that is why I am telling you God is my
witness and I had on the lights on the boat. That was an accident, nobody has
the fault. I know I had on my lights on the boat. That is why I tell you the
truth.”
The truth and hard reality this veteran of the sea is now forced to live with.
Antonio Tepaz, “I can’t walk because my foot is broken until about six months
maybe a year.”
Keith Swift,
“When you do recover will you return to being a captain?”
Antonio Tepaz, “I don’t know. God will decide that, not me.”
The police and Port Authority are still investigating. 33 year old
Cesar Scott will be laid to rest over the weekend.
58 year old Frank Blease is in jail tonight after he was caught by some dogs
trying to steal a laundry basket full of clothes. Blease claims that he was
simply helping Lake I resident Deseree Hemsley to move some items out of her
house and misplaced a basketful of clothes.
A likely story, since Hemsley woke to the sound of her dogs barking after midnight
on Tuesday. She saw the dogs around a golden plum tree in her yard and Blease
was up inside the tree with the basket full of clothes at the foot of the tree.
Police came and arrested him on spot. Blease pleaded guilty and was sentenced
to 6 months in jail plus an additional six months for a pending fine of $450
for a conviction of theft last year.
There was a fatal accident on the Northern Highway yesterday at 3:30 in the
afternoon. It happened at mile 78 when two busses collided. It happened as a
pickup was trying to overtake a bus, and ended up slamming into the rear end
of the bus. Nestor Tamai was a passenger in the pickup sustained injuries to
his upper body and died while undergoing treatment.
And while we can’t say if proper road marking would have prevented
that accident it could have. That’s why it’s good news for road
safety tonight that the Ministry of Works has a line marking machine. We take
the markings on highways for granted but you probably don’t know that
for years – the Ministry of Works has been without a line marking machine.
It was costing government millions and probably costing a few lives since government
couldn’t always afford the $10,000 per mile which private contractors
were charging.
But all that has changed because government has acquired a new computerized
line marker. Today it was put to the test on the stretch of the Western Highway
in Cotton Tree Village. We spoke to Minister of Works Boots Martinez along with
Chief Engineer Lennox Bradley and CEO Cadet Henderson.
Cadet Henderson, CEO – Ministry of Works “This is one of the finest of its kind. It is full computerized. It
has a camera, it has monitor where you have a rear view mirror. There is like
a DVD screen where the operator and the technician can see the line in relation
to the guideline, because we have a natural string that finds the location.
Also it can handle up to three lines simultaneously, it can handle three different
colours. It also applies a glass bead which is a dust that makes the paint reflective
and it is just superior.
Its been many many years now that the Ministry of Works has not had the
capability to install our own lines and its unaffordable in a way if we have
to go to contract. Right now to do 400 miles which is required to be done, it
requires millions of dollars. With this machine in our possession now it is
just a matter of buying the paint and the glass beads and we’ve put together
a team. We won’t have this machine parked sitting idle. We bought it,
it will get continuous use.”
Lennox Bradley, Chief Engineer “This machine is very important because the Ministry is determined
to try and enhance safety for all users on our roadways and this is one of the
first steps that we have acquired the machine and thereafter we line mark our
larger highways.”
Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez, Minister of Works “With a move like this for sure, we will be saving lives not only
here but countrywide we are on the move now to line mark the whole country.
With this modern machine I think that we can line mark this whole country and
make it more user friendly to both motorists and the pedestrians.”
The line marker can do up to 8 miles per day. It was purchased with
funds from the Ministry of Work’s $2 million budget that was allocated
last year.
On Friday of last week we told you about the opening of Angela Gegg’s
provocative art show, Impulse. But pushing the envelope is her thing, and the
show pushed it halfway across the table of convention and now a book is pushing
it that other half. The book is called Artist Confessions. Like the writer,
the work is brutally frank and almost effortlessly controversial. She told us
that she is trying to pull readers into a world of enhanced perception.
Angela Gegg, Author “Like I said it is a thought provoking book. You can read something
but if you have a visual aid next to it, it is like boom you get the sense after
you read it. Sometimes people will read something and are like okay and then
you have that visual aid and you’re like holy crap I get it. Often times
the poetry people don’t get it and then if you have that visual aid next
to it they form something so different.
I know I don’t think like the average person. I look at things and
see things very differently. I look at an orchid and I may not see an orchid.
I look at a conch shell and that is not what I see all the time. And in the
book I am probing a lot of that. Because it is the truth, it is the raw truth.
I do it for me but people can relate to me because people are out there who
think like me but are afraid to say what they have to say because they are afraid
of the repercussions from people, they are afraid of what people might insinuate
or think or say about them. I get tons of mails, tons, especially from young
ladies who say like your work what it means to them and how much they can relate,
especially when I talk about relationship issues.”
The book is out now; it is available widely and on the internet.
Today was a big day at the tourism village. 5 cruise ships sailed in
this morning, bringing with them as many as 14,000 cruise visitors to Belize
City. It’s not a record arrival but in a year in which tourism arrivals
are down – it was a relief. So how did it go? Well according to the Tourism
Village it went off without a hitch. But did it cure the blues? That’s
what Keith Swift tried to find out.
Keith Swift Reporting,
It was visibly impressive – 5 large cruise ships docked off the coast
of Belize City. That’s five ships with thousands of passengers in just
one day. That is why inside the Tourism Village today it was…
James Nisbet, Fort Point Tourism Village “Organized chaos, everybody had something to do today.”
And for most people that was earning their share of the tourist dollar, from
the hair braiders right down or up to the Salvation Army which had a kettle
posted inside the village. James Nisbet manages the tourism village.
James Nisbet, “Rule of thumb is we use about 85% of the ships, I think it was expected
to have 17,000 if we counted total capacity of ships but I think from BTB we
probably had 14,000 passengers in port, on the ships, not necessarily on the
streets of Belize but that is the amount we figured was in today.”
Keith Swift,
“How does the tourism village prepare for days like these?”
James Nisbet, “Practice, practice, and more practice. On multiple ship days, more
than three and four, there is a lot less things that go wrong simply because
everybody is concentrating totally on what they are supposed to be doing so
it comes as almost as second nature but of course we love to see this many ships.”
But Nisbet says he would prefer one ship per day instead of 5 ships on one
day.
James Nisbet, “We would all, not only the Tourism Village, but all the people involved
in the industry would like to see two ships everyday for the entire week instead
of having five ships on one day but this is not the first time. It is actually
the fifth or the sixth time we’ve bad more than 4 ships in port for one
day.”
Keith Swift,
“Looking ahead into the season, will there be more days like this?”
James Nisbet, “Yes I think the schedule has two or three more days that have at
least four ships in the harbour. There are some days that you have four larger
ships and two very small ships and then there are other days that you have five
big ones. Like today we have five big ships but yes there will be a couple other
days in the peak season for that.”
But do more tourists mean more business? Vendors have been complaining.
James Nisbet, “The chances of more spending happening on a day like this is greater
simply because of the numbers and the activity. If the tourists see more than
five people in a store there are drawn to it a lot more and they interact with
the other guests and if the weather is great, it is almost perfect condition
for spending. They are in paradise, literally in paradise right now.”
Three ships are sailing into tomorrow with passenger capacity of almost
7,000. On December 4th, Carnival’s Miracle which is now the largest cruise
ship in the world will make its maiden voyage to Belize.
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