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Courtney Weatherburne, reporter
"Briceno's letter concerning BIL, he criticizes projects that have been done under BIL and is requesting several documents , documentation in terms of audited reports and so forth , have you gotten the letter ? Will you respond?"

Hon. Patrick Faber, DPM/ Minister of Education
"I have not officially received that letter."

Courtney Weatherburne
"So you can't comment more in terms of what the letter said or anything?"

Hon. Patrick Faber, DPM/ Minister of Education
"I have not officially received this letter, it may be he sent it to my Belmopan office which I will see if I get there today."

LOO Says He's Willing to Go To Court To See BIL Documents

Speaking last night on the municipal campaign trail in Orange Walk, Briceno isn't buying it. He believes Faber is deliberately not answering him - and he says he will go to court to get the BIL working papers, if necessary:...

Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"So we are asking which contracts have been given out, to who, who were the people that bid, what did they bid and why is it that you have given it to such privileged UDP contractors? We sent that letter at the beginning of this month and to this day the deputy prime minister and this government have not have the decency to answer us. So I want to put on record that if they don't answer, we are going to take action and if we have to go to court under the freedom of information act, or as the leader of the opposition, we are going to take action."

Faber Responds to Complaints About PG Sporting Complex

And while Briceno is ready to go to court, DPM Faber is going to PG tomorrow for the official opening of the Punta Gorda Sporting Complex. As we showed you last week, it's a fancy new building, completely re-imagined from its previous incarnation. But, we've heard some residents complain that it has some rather glaring shortcomings: like no parking area, inadequate drainage, and only two fans. Faber says he knows that town split up the available funds across two facilities:...

Hon. Patrick Faber, DPM/ Minister of Education
"We will open the Punta Gorda Civic Center tomorrow and indeed there was an allocation of $5 million dollars to each municipality but Punta Gorda chose to spend its portion of the money on both the Union Field and the civic center so the money is split in between those so I think the portion that has gone into the civic center is indeed around $3 million or so dollars and I said, I am not certain. The last time I visited the center the outside was not completed in terms of landscaping so I would not be able to comment on the parking but I will happily to do so after I assess the situation tomorrow."

Chester Got Chased?

And in one final bit of police news - that's not really news at all - our final story is about PC Glenn Arzu. Except its not really about him. It's about the police department's very deliberate strategy to keep the commander of the professional standards branch, ACP Chester Williams away from the cameras at all costs. For weeks now, the press has been asking for the Commander PSB to appear at the weekly briefing to answer questions on very specific allegations of police misconduct.

But, even though we submit these questions well in advance, seems ACP Williams is on a media ban, because he can't appear to answer our questions. Instead, the commander of the National Crimes Investigation is trotted out to answer questions he knows little or nothing about. Case in point, the case of Corporal Glenn Arzu - caught on camera drunk in public two weeks ago. Today, incredibly, the HNCIB, told us the matter is still under investigation:

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Corporal Glen Arzu - he was seen on camera drinking outside a place in Belmopan. It was a few weeks ago. Any charges for him?"

ACP Joseph Myvette, Head - NCIB
"Not that I know as yet, but I know the matters remains under investigation."

Regrettably, that's inaccurate - Corporal Arzu has already been brought up on charges.