national notes

August 1999 Table of Contents

NATIONAL NOTES

Nassau Boy Receives Arm: Six-year-old Adam Johnson of Nassau was the recipient of a new arm from a cadaver at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, Florida. Adam's arm had to be amputated or he would have lost his life to cancer.

Abaco is Booming: In his contribution to the Budget debate, Abaco's Senator Michael Bethel told the Senate that the island was booming under the Free National Movement party. Unemployment on the island was low while construction starts and tourism figures were high. Senator Bethel expressed concern that new port facilities had not been started. "Abaco contributes $38 million annually to the Public Treasury and my people say give us a bigger piece of the pie," Senator Bethel noted.

New Records Set: Abaco's Sevatheda Fynes set a new Bahamian 100m record of 10.91 secs in Lausanne, Switzerland, while placing second to Marion Jones of the US. Debbie Ferguson set a new 200m mark of 22.19 secs a few days later at a meet in St Denis, France. Both the 100m and 200m national marks had previously been held by Olympic medallist Chandra Sturrup.

Verdict in Abaco Murder Case: Stephen Edgecombe, 22, was found guilty of the 3rd August 1995 murder of Yvonne Curry in Marsh Harbour. He was sentenced to death by the judge, Justice Lorris Gangpatsingh, in the Grand Bahama Supreme Court. Edgecombe had been tried for the crime twice previously, both times resulting in a hung jury. Yvonne Curry, an employee of Barclays Bank plc in Marsh Harbour who also worked part time at the Conch Inn and Marina, had been raped and murdered after leaving her evening employment.

PM Says "Not Here!": Speaking at the first summit of European, Caribbean and Latin American heads of government in Rio de Janeiro, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said The Bahamas would not be a haven for illegal funds. "The position of The Bahamas on this matter is clear. The Bahamas has no desire to accommodate persons and businesses seeking to hide and shelter criminal money derived from corruption, drug trafficking or the proceeds of other criminal activities."

PM Says "Not Here!" Again: Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham attended the 14-member Caribbean Community summit in Trinidad where 13 of the nations agreed to allow their citizens to work in each other's territories without special visas. The dissenting country was The Bahamas, which already has severe strains put upon its social services because of its high number of Haitian refugees.

Killers Get Death Sentence: Ellison Smith, 33, Charles Rahming, 29, and Anthony Evans, 25, were each found guilty of the 13th February 1997 kidnapping, armed robbery and murder of minister of state Charles Virgill. They were sentenced to death.

Oops! Sometimes automatic spell-checkers can be more bother than help if not carefully overseen. Last month we inadvertently changed the name of Kalik to the spell-check's best guess. Our apologies to Commonwealth Breweries and to anyone else who was confused.

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