Brutal murder - Headless body found in Red Hills believed to be that of missing 11-year-old girl

TANEISHA LEWIS, Observer staff reporter lewist@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, September 29, 2008

Nordia Campbell (left), mother of 11-year-old Ananda Dean, is consoled by a family friend after looking at the remains of a body believed to be that of her daughter. The body was found in Belvedere, St Andrew. (Photo: Karl McLarty)

SCREAMS of anguish bellowed throughout the community of Belvedere in Red Hills, St Andrew yesterday as firefighters removed a heavily decomposed body believed to be that of 11-year-old Ananda Dean from a steep precipice along Cypress Drive - miles away from where she was last seen after she went missing almost two weeks ago.

"A she, a she.. Oh God," Ananda's aunt, Tamika Campbell bawled, after viewing the headless remains and then falling to the ground seconds later. Upon hearing the news, Nordia Campbell, Ananda's mother, also fainted at the thought that her daughter may have been brutally murdered.

Because of the advanced state of decomposition, no one was able to positively identify the body as that of Ananda. However, some family members, including Campbell, are convinced that it is in fact the little girl, mainly because a black size two school shoes and a navy blue uniform, similar to ones owned by the seventh-grade student of Swallowfield All-Age School, were found at the scene.

Yesterday, Deputy Superintendent Carol McKenzie of the police's St Andrew North Division told the Observer that DNA tests would have to be done to determine the identity of the body.

Ananda, who lived with her family on Whitehall Avenue in Kingston, was last seen on September 17 boarding a bus en route to Half-Way-Tree after school. Several of her school books were found a day after she went missing strewn along a pathway in the community of Pembroke Hall, miles away from where she was last seen.

Firefighters help to hoist a wooden box containing the remains believed to be that of 11-year-old Ananda Dean that was found yesterday over a precipice along the Cypress Road in Belvedere, St Andrew. (Photo: Karl McLarty)

The body was discovered about 10:00 am by residents who decided to investigate the cause of a lingering nasty odour that had been plaguing nearby houses for almost two weeks.
"At first we thought it was a dead animal, but after one week passed and we realised that the scent wasn't going away some people decided to go see what it was," a resident told the Observer. "It was when they chopped out the bush and went up there they found out that it was the little girl's body up there."

It appeared that the body had been thrown from the precipice into overgrown bushes, which concealed it until yesterday.
The residents also intimated that they may have overlooked clues that Ananda's body was disposed of in their community.

"People said they saw the uniform on the road for the longest while but they never knew it was the little girl's own," said another resident who did not wish to be named.

The police are speculating that the body may have been dumped hours or a day after Ananda went missing, given the state of decomposition, which resulted in a pathologist being called in to perform an on-the-spot post-mortem. It was naked and headless. In fact, a skull was all that remained of the head. There were also suggestions that she may have been raped. However, this could not be confirmed by the police.

Yesterday, it took the firefighters from the Stony Hill Fire Department almost three hours to remove the body resting more than 10 feet from the top of Cypress Drive. Once they were able to access the body, it was then put in a wooden box and hoisted up onto the road, keeping the scores of residents that gathered to see if the body was truly that of Ananda - the girl whose picture had been posted on fliers, placed on light posts, buses and in stores in the Corporate Area - in suspense.

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A family grieves for two young children - Boy accidentally kills 3-year-old sister with licensed gun

By KIMONE THOMPSON
Sunday, September 28, 2008

GLEN Green last spoke to his three-year-old daughter Gabrielle yesterday morning. She called him and said she had something to tell him which she couldn't tell anyone else.

But before Glen got to hear the secret, he got news that his baby girl, also called Gabby, was dead. She had been shot in the face.
A distraught Orinthia McCalla, grandmother of three-year-old Gabrielle 'Gabby' Green who died at hospital yesterday, is comforted by close friends of the family. The little girl was accidentally shot by her eight-year-old brother at their home in Independence City, Portmore yesterday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)


A distraught Orinthia McCalla, grandmother of three-year-old Gabrielle 'Gabby' Green who died at hospital yesterday, is comforted by close friends of the family. The little girl was accidentally shot by her eight-year-old brother at their home in Independence City, Portmore yesterday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Even more tragic was that the fatal blow was dealt by the girl's eight-year-old brother as the two played innocently with a loaded gun.

"She call mi and say 'daddy hurry up an come home because mi have something to tell yuh, an mi nuh waan tell nuhbaddy else'. An mi sey it so strange because yesterday (Friday) mi an har and har mother go buy some tings and she just stuck on to me. She nuh lef me. Mi carry har go shop an she say 'daddy mi want dis', an mi buy dem give har. An now mi nuh get fi hear wha shi did waan say," he said, using a black handkerchief to wipe the tears that had welled up and were streaming down his face.

And although the impact on the father and other relatives must be unbearable, it is Gabby's brother whose memory will perhaps be forever haunted.

When the Sunday Observer visited the house where he lived with his sister, mother and maternal grandmother in Independence City, Portmore near midday yesterday, he was crying uncontrollably.

He sat at the feet of his grandmother, Orinthia McCalla, laid his head in her lap and wept sorrowfully. He is only eight, but he knew what had happened. He knew his sister had died. He knew he had accidentally caused it.

"Ah [him] mi sorry fah," one woman said. "Di poor thing look like him ah tun eediat. Him nuh stap scratch scratch himself like supp'n ah bite him."

Neighbours soon after took him to the paediatrician at the nearby Child Care Medical Centre to be examined
and counselled.

McCalla said she and her daughter were in the kitchen preparing breakfast at the time of the tragic incident. They thought the children were at the front of the yard where they had left them playing. They didn't know the game had changed or that it had moved inside the house until the ear-piercing explosion rang out, signalling that something had gone horribly wrong.

"Ah di explosion we hear an we bolt go inside. We meet him ah di doorway ah bawl and then we see har," McCalla said, sitting in a chair across from her house as the police processed the scene.

She went from staring blankly into space, glancing up at the skies calling on God.

"Wha mi a go do? Wha mi a go do?," she cried out. "Mi gran' pickney dem, mi gran' pickney dem."

The children, she said, had apparently been rummaging through the suitcase of an uncle who had just returned from abroad. He had told them he carried gifts for them but the children couldn't wait; they went to find it themselves. What they found however, was not sparkly gift wrap or shiny ribbons. It was their uncle's 9mm pistol.

The Gregory Park police reported yesterday that the firearm was licensed, but they took the uncle in for questioning. He was released pending investigation.

"Yuh know why mi feel it so?," asked McCalla. "If mi did have pickney weh bad and weh go outta di way [mi probably woulda seh is pay back, but mi nuh have no pickney like dat. Ah dat mek mi feel it so," the mother of four said. "Mi family come so far. Everybody big now and nutten [bad] neva happen. Why now? Why now Jesus? Satan is a liar. Ah bind him and sen him back to the pit of hell where him belong," she said, her tone sad and low.

Neighbours described Gabby as "nice", "friendly", "pretty" and "bright". "Nobody nuh pass pan di road an she nuh call to them," one man said.

"She was a pretty, pretty baby. She was sweet and sensible, we lickkle sunshine," McCalla said, recounting things her granddaughter had said.

"To how she pretty and bright, mi just say to miself maybe she neva come here to stay."

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Orlando 'bomber' said to be on

BY TYRONE S REID
Sunday, September 28, 2008

THESE days, Lucille Rodney is longing for one thing. She wants her 'son' Kevin Brown to be reunited with his family.
The April 2008 mugshot taken of Kevin Brown, shortly after being taken to the Seminole County Jail in Florida.

For months she has waited and prayed for the day when she'll embrace him again like only a mother can. But from all indications, she will have to wait a while longer as the federal case against Brown is still before the courts and he is still being held in prison without bail.

Many will remember how Brown, the boy Rodney raised from age five like her own, was arrested at the Orlando International Airport last April while the world sat and watched via live broadcasts - and how he was branded "the Jamaican terrorist". Brown, a former American Army veteran, was about to travel to Jamaica to visit friends and family when he was detained at the Orlando International Airport in Florida after a search of his luggage revealed bomb-making material. The story made international media headlines on April 1 when the image of the tall, robust-looking Jamaican sat handcuffed on a pavement outside the main airport building as law enforcement officers conducted their investigation into the 'mysterious contents' of his travelling bag.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the liquid substance found in Brown's luggage was nitromethane, a potentially explosive formula. Galvanised pipes, end caps, two containers of BBs, batteries, bomb-making literature and a rocket igniter were also allegedly found in Brown's luggage. A laptop computer was removed from his carry-on bag for analysis by the FBI. A judge later ruled that there was enough evidence to proceed against him. He was subsequently charged by the FBI with attempting to place an explosive device on an aeroplane and incarcerated at the Seminole County Jail. He has been in police custody since the arrest.

An FBI criminal complaint later stated that Brown told authorities he wanted to detonate the materials on a tree stump in Jamaica, but later said he was going to show friends in his home country how to build explosives like he saw in Iraq.

Speaking with the Sunday Observer recently at her place of business in St Andrew, Rodney said she has to travel regularly to Orlando to visit Brown, who is being represented in court by two lawyers - one of them Jamaican-born. She noted, too, that he is being closely monitored while incarcerated, and is to return to court in early October.

"He's on suicide watch up there. They are watching him very closely. He was on high-alert but then he came off and they are still treating him for his mental condition. He says he is a bit fed up because a lot of mad people are there and he is not like them," said Rodney, who last visited Brown in August. "The lawyers are working very hard to get the case dismissed because some experts that have been consulted say the equipment he was carrying in his luggage did not pose a threat to passengers on the plane. So because of the federal charges, it is not going to be as easy as we hope. The last hearing was on August 27."

Brown, who went to the US to pursue college education, joined the Army in June 1999. With the dawn of 2003 came the Iraq War. Brown went to serve during the second six months and served double time after his stay was extended - leaving Iraq in early 2005, a little before the brutal murder of Sandra Palmer, his biological mother in Negril. She was strangled. And while the three main suspects have been brought in by investigating officers, three years later, the case has been put off several times. They are due in court on October 3.

Brown's mother-in-law Karen Holt said Brown wasn't the same after returning from Iraq.

"This is not [like] him," said Holt, who lives in North Charleston, South Carolina with Brown's young son. "It has to be a mental issue for him. I know if they looked through his medical records... I'm sure they will see... He's not a terrorist."
Just two days before his mother's murder Brown married a fellow Army officer and made plans to honeymoon in Jamaica. His son, now four, was also born around that time.

According to the Rodney family, the former US soldier sank into a deep depression following his departure from Iraq. The depression, they believe, became compounded when he learnt of his mother's murder, and he subsequently began abusing alcohol.

"The war changed him. The war depressed him, because afterwards he had to seek medication. He became unstable because of his experiences. He saw many of his friends die and heard gunshots 24/7 during his stay over there," Rodney explained.

"And I know for a fact that since his mother died three years ago it has been with him. At the funeral, he got off right there. We had to call a doctor for him. He couldn't believe that his mother died like that. The news was hard to swallow," she said.

"I am still baffled as to why he would have that in his luggage. I can't say why. I can't think for him," his aunt Carmen told the Sunday Observer in an April interview.

Psychologist and human relationship expert, Dr Veronica Salter, said grief and mental anguish can severely alter a person's state of mind and functioning.

"Severe grief is a terrible thing and it can cause anyone to have a breakdown. Grief can certainly alter your state of mind. A lot has happened to [Brown], especially his mother's murder and going to Iraq. The sort of stress he's been exposed to is enough to cause serious mental and emotional damage," Salter told the Sunday Observer. "War is a very traumatic experience. The episodes of violence, one right after another, can take a strong toll on anyone. I am very seriously concerned about what's going to happen to him. I am not one to judge, but he's clearly in need of psychiatric help."

In the meantime, Rodney points out that today Brown is physically healthy and is eating at the prison. But she says the expenses she has to foot to travel to and from the United States are eating away at her savings and she fears her textile business might suffer.

"When I go to Orlando, a million media people surround me up there. It's costing me a lot of money and it's really getting on my nerves. But I am trying to cope. The family is trying to cope. It is very hard. But we get emotional support from people because whenever I go to court, two representatives from the Miami Consulate fly up there with me," she said. "Right now, I am hoping for the best because I really want the case dismissed so that Kevin can focus on getting better and getting his life back on track."

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Kartel, Deva Bratt at odds - Deejays claim rights to 'Portmore Empire'

( L - R ) Deva Bratt, Vybz Kartel - File

Incarcerated deejay Deva Bratt has verbally lashed out at fellow deejay Vybz Kartel, accusing the artiste of stealing his 'Portmore Empire'.

In February of this year Deva Bratt, real name Sheldon Smith, was taken into custody in connection with an alleged case of carnal abuse, committed against a 14-year-old girl. He was picked up by police from his home in Westchester, Portmore.

After being given bail for this incident the deejay was accused of raping another girl. He was again taken in custody and the two cases are still before the court.

Felt betrayed and belittled

In an interview published yesterday on the popular Dancehallmuzik.com website, Deva Bratt who spoke from the Greater Portmore police lock-up claimed that he felt betrayed and belittled. He said that he has been left to rot in jail by fellow deejay Vybz Kartel.

He is quoted as saying; "... A hear mi hear Kartel a seh mi not in (Portmore) Empire, but mi neva tek dat serious, cause me a think how mi fi get kick out a Empire when I am Empire? Is me start Empire years ago; yes Kartel buss di ting bigger, but how yuh fi go behind di founder back an register company in your name one?"

Get kick out

He continued; "...him go announce seh me get kick out, and now a throw word against him fren who inna jail? An yuh wonder why dem call him Judas?"

The artiste also said that Kartel along with Munga 'Honourebel' have lyrically thrown words at him with Munga referring to him as a 'pedophile.' Bratt pointed to Kartel's Never Tun A Raper on the Stimulant Rhythm as lashing out at him.

The song states, "when yuh see di gal dem, nuh hold down/ low har nuh/ nuh drape up/ let har go/ nuh bodda fi... I coulda neva tun a rapah/ bun a rapah ... mi nuh tek if yuh nuh gimme though... swear to God mi nah go a court pan no rape charge ... "

Registered trademark

THE STAR was unable to get in touch with Vybz Kartel, however in a release sent to us from his publicist, the deejay is quoted as saying, "the Portmore Empire is a registered trademark of Adidjaheim Records and was registered almost two years ago with the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO). All Portmore Empire artistes are signed to Adidjaheim Records, and only signed artistes are allowed certain privileges or afforded access to certain resources as it relates to expenditures or liabilities incurred by said artistes."

The release further stated that the Portmore Empire does not associate itself with anyone who is involved with any case of carnal abuse or exploitation of women.

In the meantime, Deva Bratt in his interview said that his lawyers are working on getting bail and he was hoping to be released by Christmas.

'Portmore Empire does not associate itself with anyone who is involved with any case of carnal abuse or exploitation of women'

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SPOUSE SHOOTS COP IN NECK - Man was playing with girlfriend's service firearm

A policewoman was admitted to hospital last Friday after she was accidentally shot by her boyfriend who was playing with her service firearm, police told THE STAR yesterday.

The incident happened at the common-law couple's Toronto Avenue home off Molynes Road in St Andrew, police say. Up to yesterday, the 23-year-old constable, who works at the Community Safety and Security branch on Oxford Road, St Andrew, was still in hospital in stable condition.

Man arrested

The boyfriend, Ian Wallace, 35, a tour driver, has since been arrested and charged with shooting with intent, wounding with intent and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition. Police say he is to appear in court next Friday.

Reports reaching THE STAR, are that about 10:30 p.m., the couple, who has been living together for the past four years, was in bed when the policewoman got up to use the bathroom.

While she was in the bathroom, the boyfriend, police say, went into her handbag and took out her 9mm Glock service pistol which had a magazine with 15 rounds. He ejected a round from the breach of the weapon and released the magazine, police say.

But apparently not knowing that another bullet had gone into the breach when he ejected the first one, he pointed the gun at the policewoman.

Police say he was warned twice to put the firearm down, but refused and pulled the trigger, shooting the constable in her neck. The police were called and she was rushed to the hospital where she was admitted, while Wallace was taken in to custody.

Following investigations, he was arrested and charged by Detective Sergeant Quincy Sterling from the Half-Way Tree CIB.

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Bail for cop charged with colleague's rape

published: Saturday | September 27, 2008

A policeman who is accused of raping a policewoman at her home on August 18, appeared in the Home Circuit Court yesterday.

He is 22-year-old Detective Constable Adrian Johnson.

He has been granted bail in the sum of $400,000 with a surety to return to court on October 24.

It is being alleged that, on August 18, the policewoman asked the accused to transport her home. While he was at the policewoman's house, the accused allegedly committed the offences of rape and indecent assault. A report was made to the police that same day.

Statements were collected and submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who ruled that the policeman must be charged with rape and indecent assault.

The policeman was charged yesterday morning and taken before the court.

Attorney-at-law Carolyn Reid-Cameron, in making the bail application, said the accused did not rape the policewoman. She said the complainant and the accused were lovers.

Justice Carol Beswick granted the policeman bail and ordered him to report to the Constant Spring Police Station on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

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PM wants new designation for Caricom states Points to peculiar needs, exposure to natural disasters

Saturday, September 27, 2008

PRIME Minister Bruce Golding yesterday called for Jamaica and other Caricom states to be recognised as "small vulnerable and highly Indebted middle-income countries", instead of their current international ranking as "middle income developing countries".

Golding told the United Nations that Jamaica and its Caricom (Caribbean Community) partners were proposing the new designation as a special category of international recognition because of the difficulties created by their peculiar needs, as well as their exposure to natural disasters.

"We call on the international community to devise strategic programmes to address the peculiar needs of middle-income countries with deep pockets of poverty," Golding said.

The prime minister was addressing the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

He said that the focus of development co-operation cannot be too narrowly defined.

Said Golding: "The varied economic and social profiles of developing countries require a more flexible response that recognises investment in human capital, infrastructure and the transfer of technology as critical elements in reducing poverty in a sustained way.

"This is particularly important to developing countries that are classified, based on per capita income, as middle-income countries," the prime minister said.

"This classification deprives them of access to concessionary financing and creative measures to reduce the crippling debt burden that afflicts so many of them. If we are to reduce poverty, the peculiar circumstances of these countries cannot be ignored, since that is where more than one-third of the world's poor are to be found," he added.

Turning to the UN's millennium development goals (MDGs), Golding said that although the process was halfway to the 2015 deadline, it was behind schedule.

"It is time to take stock to see where we are falling behind, who is falling behind and what must be done to make up lost ground," the Jamaican prime minister told the UN.

A critical success factor, he suggested, must be the partnership between developed and developing countries, as defined in the 2002 Monterey Consensus on Financing for Development, integrating aid, debt relief, market access, good governance and foreign direct investment.

"These initiatives were carefully calibrated. Proceeding with some elements without the others will not achieve the goals we have set. Indeed, it might make it worse," he said.

The prime minister said that developing countries must all pull up their socks, if they are to reverse the slippage they have suffered.

"Developing countries must ensure that their priorities are properly structured. Developed countries must live up to their commitment to devote 0.7 per cent of their GDP to official development assistance. This is a modest amount yet, only five countries have to date done so," the prime minister pointed out.

On the issue of global economic governance, Golding said that in 60 years very little change has been made to its governance structure and practices, and he called for a re-engineering of the global financial system.

He said that Jamaica supported the call for reform of the existing financial infrastructure, to reflect the new global realities and make it more proactive and responsive to the needs of the entire world community.

"But, it must involve more than merely expanding the membership of an exclusive club. It must be development-driven, recognising that poverty anywhere, is a threat to prosperity elsewhere," he said.

The crisis currently rocking the world's financial markets reflects the inadequacy of the regulatory structures that are essential to the effective functioning of any market, Golding said. But he said it also represented the failure on the part of the international financial system to facilitate the flow of resources into areas where they can produce real wealth.

"The world is not short of capital. What it lacks are the mechanisms to ensure the efficient utilisation o

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More than $48 m spent on school furniture

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Chief procurement officer in the Ministry of Education, Leon Fraser, has disclosed that more than $48 million has so far been spent on the issuance of contracts to manufacture school furniture, some of which are already being delivered.

"To date, we have ordered furniture in the region of $48 million, and that dollar value will increase as we order more furniture as we go along. Furniture is being distributed to all regions," Fraser disclosed.

But the chief procurement officer said there was a challenge accessing the eastern end of the island with the destruction of the Harbour View bridge.

"There is a challenge with the eastern end of the country, because the bridge at Harbour View was washed out and the ford that was supposed to be built was also washed out.
When the temporary ford was put in place, we managed to get some furniture out to Yallahs and to Seaforth High, and the plan was to get to other schools in that section of the island. But again, we have suffered a setback because the ford was washed out," he said.

He said the ministry was looking at other ways to get the furniture to the affected schools.

"We are hopeful that we can find some alternative route to the ford, we don't know how, but that is the major drawback right now, because we would have really addressed that situation already," he said.

"We don't know how quickly it [the ford] will be repaired so that we can resume deliveries, because we have furniture in production and we are delivering them as they come off the production line. So it's just a matter for us to really get access to the schools," he added.

Fraser said the Ministry had delivered 14,302 pieces of furniture to schools across the island up until Friday, September 19 and deliveries would continue throughout the school year "because we get requests from the regions in an ongoing manner".

"It is very expensive to supply furniture to schools. A set of desks and chairs costs over $4,000, so we need the school management and the students to actually take care of the furniture that is being supplied to the schools. I don't think a lot of them are aware of just how expensive it is, not only to manufacture the furniture ,but to deliver it," he said.

The haulage costs are also high and we want to ensure that all the stakeholders really take care of the furniture, It's one thing to ask us to provide it, but you also need to play your part," he added.

Last year the ministry delivered more than 124, 000 pieces of furniture to schools across the island.

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MORE BEENIE DRAMA - child's mother accuses him of being a deadbeat father

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter




As if Beenie Man does not have enough to deal with, the mother of his five-year-old son, who lives in England, has decided to air her grouses about the deejay over the popular Internet site, YouTube.

In a video entitled, 'Beenie Man, mother of child responds to his lies', posted on September 19, the artiste's babymother responds to what she calls the lies that Beenie Man has said about her in an interview with British radio host Chris Goldfinger. The Chris Goldfinger interview was posted on YouTube on May 24 this year.

It was previously reported on partyxtraz.blogspot.com, that Beenie Man was expected to attend court in the United Kingdom to deal with a child support case brought against him by Shezal Laing. Ms Laing is said to be the niece of popular Sting promoter, Supreme Promotions chief executive officer, Isaiah Laing.

In the interview, Beenie Man discusses the pending court case and acknowledges the child.

Beenie states: "Mi get a son a England, zeen, but mi know bout him now ... mi neva sign him birth paper or nutting ... but di government a seh mi owe child support. how can I owe child support if I neva pronounce dis kid as my kid?"

'Crazy woman'

'The Doctor' goes on to call Laing a 'crazy woman', who is asking for £150,000 pounds in child support. According to Beenie, he is not a deadbeat father but believes the amount requested for child support is too much.

In a five-minute clip posted by Shezal Laing, pictures are shown of Beenie with her son, as well as pictures of herself and the child. She questions the artiste's integrity, accusing him of manipulating the press to his advantage. She brings up Beenie's marriage to D'Angel and the pictures with Beenie and Bar-Bee that were published in the papers shortly after his marriage.

One big mix-up

During the video, Buz Luhrmann's Wear Sunscreen is played, as the remarks of the child's mother are shown on the screen. Laing wrote: "He (the child) will have one good, loving parent and he will never, ever need you ... you love the mix-up, your life is one big mix-up - I do not ... but now you are coming to my country, doing interviews and spreading your lies, enough is enough."

Laing continued: "The five years that my son has been alive, you haven't mentioned him... now it's all over the 'net and in the papers that you are a deadbeat dad you want to spread your lies about him ... whenever you get any bad press you go to the media with your lies and try to manipulate the public's perception of what is really going on and try to make them feel sorry for you."

Pay what you owe

Laing implies that neither she nor her son needs or wants Beenie Man in their lives, saying that Beenie Man has had her fighting in court for child support for five years. She ends the video by saying: "Pay the money you owe me and never, ever mention me or my child again."

When contacted, Beenie Man's publicist, Ray Alexander, told THE STAR that the artiste was currently in New Jersey for a show. According to Alexander, he has not seen Laing's video and could not comment on it.

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Usain BOLTS through Sherwood Content

KERIL WRIGHT
Thursday, September 25, 2008



Triple Olympic gold medalist, Usain Bolt, sure knows how to have himself a grand time - on and off the track.
Easily the star of his homecoming celebrations held on the weekend at his alma mater, the William Knibb High School in Trelawny, the 22-year-old partied the night away alongside an impressive line-up of Reggae/Dancehall stars and leading street dancers.

Whether he was just horsing around onstage or displaying a mastery of the popular street dances he made world-famous in Beijing China, the young track hero showed he was indeed just a young man having the time of his life.

A 10, 000-strong crowd turned out Saturday to welcome the fastest man alive with thunderous applause as he entered a stage set up on the grounds of his old high school. Shouts of "Bolt! Bolt! Bolt!" punctured the air as he "Gully Creeped" his way onstage, before launching into his traditional "Lightning Bolt" pose.

Dubbed the Usain Bolt/Hart Hill Homecoming Celebrations, Saturday's revelry was sponsored by David Phillips of National Meats and No Joke Entertainment. It included a fun day at the Waldensia Primary School, which he attended as a child.
Bolt joins street dancer Ding Dong (2rd right) and his crew in a display of the now world-famous dance move 'Nuh Linga'.


Bolt joins street dancer Ding Dong (2rd right) and his crew in a display of the now world-famous dance move 'Nuh Linga'.

The concert brought together the likes of Diamond-selling Shaggy and counterpart Rick Rock, Richie Spice, Kiprich, D' Angel and upcoming female artistes Timberlee and Tifa, Nesbeth, Twins of Twins and Tony Matterhorn.

Dancers Ding Dong of the Ravers Clavers dance group and Ice, creators of Bolt's favourite dance moves "Nuh Linga" and "Gully Creepa"- were a major hit, participating in a 30-minute set onstage with Bolt participating at every turn.

A number of acts billed to appear at the event did not show up, but this in no way dampened the party spirit as fans who filed onto the grounds of the high school from as early as 7:00 pm celebrated into the wee hours alongside Code Red and Copper Shot, well after the concert had concluded.
In attendance were aunts, cousins and other family members of 22-year-old.

The event also saw the announcement of the Usain Bolt/Hart Hill Early Childhood Initiative, with Phillips pledging the first $1-million toward the fundraising project, being set up to inject much needed finance into Early Childhood Education.

The star athlete was also presented with a sculpture of him in his traditional "Lightning Bolt" pose.

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Ja slips 12 places on corruption index

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Jamaica has been ranked the 96th most corrupt country in the world by the German-based Trans-parency International (TI), down from an 84th ranking last year.

The organisation surveyed 180 countries for its 2008 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and ranks countries according to the degree to which politicians and public officials are perceived to be corrupt by business leaders and non-resident analysts.

According to TI, the index highlights the fatal link between poverty, failed institutions and graft, but also indicates that the strength of oversight mechanisms is at risk among the wealthiest nations.

"The continuing high levels of corruption and poverty plaguing many of the world's societies amount to an ongoing humanitarian disaster and cannot be tolerated. But even in more privileged countries, with enforcement disturbingly uneven, a tougher approach to tackling corruption is needed," said the TI report which was released yesterday.

Countries on the CPI are scored on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being the most corrupt and 10 being the least. Jamaica's 96th ranking and 3.1 score tied it with African countries Gabon, Mali, and Benin, Guatemala in Central America and Kiribati in the Pacific.

Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand were rated the least corrupt in 2008 followed by Singapore, with Somalia rated the world's most corrupt country scoring 1.0.

Zimbabwe, burdened by hyper-inflation and political strife, is ranked at 166 scoring 1.8. In the Caribbean St Lucia is ranked the least corrupt at 21 with a score of 7.1 followed by Barbados at 22 with 7.0.

Haiti, the least developed Caricom (Caribbean Community) country and one of the poorest in the world, ranked 177 with a rating of 1.4. The US ranks at 18, tied with Japan and Belgium and behind the United Kingdom at 16 and Canada at nine.

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JLP politician on murder rap

KARYL WALKER, Crime/Court co-ordinator walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, September 25, 2008

Police will today interrogate Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) politician Lennox Hinds, who was on Tuesday arrested and slapped with murder, conspiracy and shooting charges.

Hinds, who unsuccessfully contested the Edgewater Division in Portmore, St Catherine in last December's parish council elections, was arrested at his Portmore home during an operation by officers from the Major Investigation Task Force and the Flying Squad.

Hinds has been charged with murder, conspiracy to murder and two counts of shooting with intent. His attorneys are expected to sit in on today's question and answer session.

Yesterday, police were tight-lipped about the details of the alleged murder, but a source told the Observer that the investigation is centred around a shooting death in the community of Portsmouth during the December 2007 parish council election campaign.

Hinds lost his battle for a parish council seat to the People's National Party's Alrick Campbell during those elections.

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Drug conspiracy - Security personnel, customs, port officials in narco trade

published: Thursday | September 25, 2008

Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

A recent narcotics intelligence report has linked a number of police personnel, customs officials and employees at the seaports to the growing illegal drug trade.

Head of the Narcotics Police Division, Senior Superintendent Carlton Wilson, said the personnel were playing an integral part in the illegal drug trade.

He did not disclose the identities of the persons implicated, but revealed that on many occasions police personnel have tipped off drug smugglers when the security forces were pursuing them.

"A number of these police personnel are under our microscope," the narcotics chief said.

Yesterday, Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker said while he had not received the report, he would not rule out the possibility of customs officials being involved in the illicit activity.

"I have been focusing on revenue," Walker said.

No report

A spokesperson at the Port Authority of Jamaica said he, too, had not seen or heard of any such report.

But he stressed that security systems are in place at the ports to detect ganja canisters fitted to the hull of ships.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force's Anti-Corruption Unit has arrested more than 50 police personnel since January.

The majority were arrested for collecting bribes from motorists who committed traffic offences.Police intelligence has also revealed that drug smugglers are using wreckers, ambulances and established company vehicles to move illegal substances from one point to another.

This was the case on Tuesday night when the police intercepted a yellow courier Hiace van, which belongs to a prominent Kingston-based company.

The narcotics police said 1,050 lb of compressed ganja was found in the van. The driver, who has been with the courier company for the last 13 years, was arrested and charged.

Also on Tuesday, the Narcotics Police found 1,650 lb of compressed ganja in Slipe district, St Elizabeth.

The police said they have now arrested 4,645 persons since the start of the year on drug-related charges. The figure for last year was 5,496.

A prominent St Ann businessman is among the persons arrested. He has been described as one of the major players in the drug trade, and is now awaiting extradition to the United States.

The police said he was picked up in Clarendon last week, shortly after he collected more $2 million from a businessman.

Wilson said recent drug seizures have started to affect the finances of drug dealers.

"Because they are hurting, they have made several threats against us," he said.

While there has been a lull in cocaine seizure, the police said ganja production continues to increase.

Narco seizures January-August

19,080 kilograms of ganja

39 motor vehicles

Two boats

One shipping container

Last year, the police seized 37,439 kilograms of ganja and 37,196 kilograms in 2006.

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US$2,100 hotel bill lands foreigner in jail

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

MONTEGO BAY, St James - An Estonian man, Stan Puust, a 26-year-old construction worker, is facing charges of obtaining credit by fraud after he found his way into an all-inclusive hotel where he allegedly spent a week, racking up a bill of US$2,100.

The accused man told the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court last Thursday that he was robbed of US$3,000 on the first day he arrived in Jamaica and was 'given' an armband that allowed him access to the hotel property.

He managed to gain access to a room by telling the housekeeping staff he had lost his key and was there for a week before he was discovered. He was taken into police custody on September 17.

Senior Resident Magistrate Winsome Henry asked that INTERPOL be contacted to find out if Puust was a conman.
Puust told the court he landed in Kingston by mistake as he did not know there was an airport in Montego Bay and then tried to get a taxi to take him to Montego Bay.

While on the way from Kingston he said the taxi was stopped by uniformed police who found ganja in the car and he was allegedly asked to pay them US$500.

He said after getting to Montego Bay and finding a hotel, he found out that the money he had stashed in his bag was also missing, but by then the taxi driver had left and he had no way of contacting him.

He told the court he had gone looking for food the next day when he met a man who gave him the armband, which he used to gain access to the all-inclusive hotel.

He said he had tried to make contact with friends in Estonia to send him money so he could pay his hotel bills, but had not been able to get through.

He was surprised when he was ordered remanded, as he said he had called Virgin Atlantic and made reservations to travel back to London and then on to Estonia on Thursday.
He will return to court on October 3.

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Cop arrested for rape of colleague

published: Wednesday | September 24, 2008

A policeman has been taken into custody for the alleged rape of a woman colleague.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green told The Gleaner that the policeman was interviewed yesterday and a ruling from the director of public prosecutions is now pending.

Raped on duty

The Gleaner reported last Tuesday that the woman constable was raped while on duty.

The woman has since been reassigned, The Gleaner understands, and is receiving full support from the constabulary.

The incident had drawn outrage from several quarters, with senior members of the police force condemning the act.

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Falmouth: Comrades call for MP's resignation

FALMOUTH, Trelawny - Approximately 30 People's National Party (PNP) supporters yesterday converged at the constituency offices of North Trelawny Member of Parliament, Dr Patrick Harris, calling for his resignation.

The demonstration was apparently triggered by last Saturday's internal elections in which Portia Simpson Miller defeated Dr Peter Phillips' challenge to her presidency. Dr Harris was a supporter of Dr Phillips.

"Dr Harris has done his time, he needs to go and make way for someone else," one party supporter said.
Harris, a former government back-bencher, was last September named the deputy Opposition spokesman on housing, infrastructure and transport, following the PNP's defeat in the general election.

Since making his support for Phillips' candidacy public, he has come under fire from many PNP supporters in the constituency who were backing Simpson Miller.

Yesterday, he told the Observer that he was not present at the constituency office during the demonstration, as he was on his way to Parliament.

He said, however, that he was not perturbed by the protest.
"I have no problem with the demonstration, as long as it is being done in an orderly way, and I understand that was how it was done," he told the Observer.

"We are living in a democratic country; we have fought for the right to express ourselves freely so people should be allowed to express themselves freely," he explained.
He promised, however, to address the matter but declined to elaborate.

"Give it another day or two and I will address the issue. I will address that one in a fulsome way," he stressed.
Harris has been Member of Parliament for North Trelawny since 2002.

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More PNP resignations - Party dissolves Council of Opposition Spokespersons

Wednesday, September 24, 2008


Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller (2nd left) listens to a point being made by MP Lisa Hanna while Phillip Paulwell (left), sitting in the seat usually occupied by the leader of Opposition business, and Dr Omar Davies peruse documents in Parliament yesterday. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

THE Opposition People's National Party (PNP), rocked by the resignation of several of its key spokesmen in the aftermath of another bitter leadership contest, yesterday dissolved its Council of Spokespersons to allow party leader Portia Simpson Miller to name a 'new' team.

Dr Peter Phillips, who unsuccessfully challenged Simpson Miller for the PNP's top job last Saturday, was among the officials who sent their resignations to the party president yesterday. Phillips resigned his posts as Opposition spokesman on national security, and Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives.

He said, however, that he would continue to serve as MP for East Central St Andrew.

Yesterday, Phillip Paulwell, a close ally of the PNP leader and the MP for East Kingston and Port Royal, acted as Leader of Opposition Business in the House.

Simpson Miller promised yesterday that a new Council of Opposition Spokespersons will be appointed before the next sitting of the Parliament.

"The new Council of Spokespersons will reflect the thrust of the parliamentary Opposition to advance the progressive agenda for national development," a party statement quoted the PNP leader.

The Opposition leader, said the statement, "expresses her gratitude to all members of parliament who served previously as Opposition spokespersons for their contribution in these roles over the last year".

Phillips, a former vice-president of the party, served in the security, health and construction and works ministries under the leadership of P J Patterson. He was retained as security minister when Simpson Miller took over the presidency of the party in 2006 and later as security spokesman when the PNP was booted from office last September after 18 years in power.

Simpson Miller created history in 2006 when she won the PNP presidency over Phillips; Omar Davies, the then finance minister; and former water minister Karl Blythe in a divisive contest following the resignation of Patterson. She became the first woman prime minister, but was blamed for the PNP's loss in last September's general election.

In his letter of resignation yesterday, Phillips said: "I have yesterday, formally and in writing, advised party leader and leader of the opposition, the Most Honourable Portia Simpson Miller of my continued commitment, loyalty, and love for the People's National Party and my desire to continue to work on behalf of this great and noble movement," said Phillips in his letter.

Phillips urged members who supported his presidential bid to give the party leader their full support, saying she "ought to be given a free hand to determine the composition of her team".

South St Catherine MP Fitz Jackson, and the man who managed Phillips' leadership campaign, also resigned from the positions deputy leader of opposition business, deputy spokesman on finance and the public service, and Opposition Whip.

Jackson said he was obliged to provide the party president with the opportunity for her to have full discretion in the formulation of the team with which she would work to take the PNP forward.

He, too, reaffirmed his commitment to the party as a faithful and loyal member and that he was willing to support the work of the party.

Maxine Henry-Wilson, a former education minister and key Phillips backer, asked to be relieved of her position of Opposition spokesman on education, science and technology, as well as her membership of the parliamentary committees on which she has represented the Opposition.

In congratulating Simpson Miller on her reaffirmation as president by the delegates, Henry-Wilson said it was in the best interest of the PNP for the president to have full discretion in determining her team that would take the party forward.

In a separate correspondence to the chairman, Robert Pickersgill, Henry-Wilson said that she would not be seeking election to any party position in the forthcoming internal elections.

On Monday, Dean Peart quit as the PNP's spokesman on local government and the environment, while Rosemarie Shaw, a former Jamaica Labour Party councillor and mayor of Morant Bay, said she would resign as the St Thomas Western constituency caretaker yesterday.

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Beenie to be a granddad - 17-y-o daughter pregnant - Another deejay said to be the father

It appears that Moses 'Beenie Man' Davis is soon to be a grandfather. The deejay's daughter, who turned 17 last week, is rumoured to be pregnant for popular deejay Aidonia.

Aidonia has, however, denied that he is the father.

When contacted, Aidonia's manager and brother, Lav said, "He is not the babyfather. She is only 16-year-old, so why would Aidonia be involved with somebody that young? Furthermore, we are family with Beenie Man, nothing more. We are close family with Beenie Man, so I don't know where people are getting this from."

Lav said other persons, including members of the media, had been calling the deejay for confirmation of the rumours. He said the rumour would not affect Aidonia's career.

No effects

"It won't affect his career in any way. As I said, Beenie is like family. Aidonia has been going through a lot of things over the years, so this is just one more thing that he will have to get over," he said.

Rumours quietly began circulating that Beenie's daughter was pregnant for the popular artiste last week.

When THE STAR spoke to a source close to Beenie Man, he confirmed that the deejay's daughter was expecting (for a well-known deejay). The source said, "She's pregnant and she's overseas in Florida staying with a relative."

Beenie Man, who is currently in New Jersey, USA, for a show, was unavailable for comment up to press time.

Shocked

However, according to the source, 'The Doctor' was shocked to discover the news of his child's pregnancy but has since adjusted to the situation. The source explained that Beenie has been on tour back to back and it was when he recently came off tour that he heard that his daughter was pregnant.

"As a father, to know your 17-year-old is pregnant, worse when yuh have good ambitions for her of going to college, it's not something you take so easy, but it's a given part of life ... . He was shocked," the source said.

When asked if Beenie was going to support his daughter, the source commented: "Beenie is gonna be supportive. He just has to live with it and support her all the way, let her know that this is not the end of her life and she's gonna continue school."

According to the source, he didn't believe this would affect Beenie's career in any way.

hi5 page

Photos posted on the daughter's hi5 page also confirmed the pregnancy. The daughter, whose photos were proudly displayed on the page in a folder titled 'Sexy Mother', is seen lying on a bed, her protruding stomach very visible. There is also a photo of the ultra-sound posted on the page. The ultrasound bears her name, as well as the name of the doctor who performed the procedure, and the date it was done, September 2. The image of the foetus is clearly defined.

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Eleven persons killed over the weekend

Kimmo Matthews
Monday, September 22, 2008



Police yesterday reported that a total of 11 persons were killed in separate incidents over the weekend, nine by the gun and two by the knife, keeping the murder tally on track for another record year.

Crime statistics released by the police for the first eight months of this year, revealed that 1,105 persons were murdered up to the end of August.

Yesterday's blood-drenched list of the persons murdered weekend read:

. Clive Ellis, 43, otherwise called "Latimore" of East Road, Kingston 12, shot dead by a gunman along Water Street in downtown Kingston yesterday.

. Ricardo Smith, 27, nicknamed "Taffy" of John Lane, Kingston, shot dead by unknown assailants in downtown Kingston Friday.

. Ricardo Allison, 25, construction worker shot and killed in the community of Short Town Manchester Friday.

. Oniel 'Bunny' Clarke, shot and killed at Whitfield Avenue, Kingston 13 Friday.

. Germaine Crooks, 22, chef of Shortwood Road, Kingston 8, shot dead at Grants Pen Road, Kingston 8 Saturday.

. Oral Roberts, 20-year-old of West Street, killed at a gambling house in the community Saturday

. Kevin Easy, 23, of Savanna Cross, killed at a wake in the Clarendon community.

. Anthony "Tony" Shaw, 46, and Dwayne "Cash Brush" Edwards, both of Mountain View Avenue in Kingston killed during an altercation at Mountain View Avenue, Kingston 2 Saturday.

. Enoch Robinson, 34, of Eastwood Park Road in the Kingston 10, stabbed to death Saturday at Harbour Street in downtown Kingston.

. Wesley "Con" Bent, 54, of All Sides, Trelawny stabbed to death in the district Saturday. Joseph Fisher, 78, also of All Sides district, was charged with the murder.

Police also reported Saturday they had charged a 16-year-old youth with murder for the brutal mutilation killing of 11-year-old Sandside, St Mary resident, Aakim Scott last week. The teen, one of five boys held in connection with the killing, is expected to appear in court this week.

Scott's dismembered body was found by police and residents last Tuesday stuffed in a polyethylene bag in bushes, two days after he went missing on Sunday, September 14.

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Powell won't change coach

published: Tuesday | September 23, 2008

Anthony Foster, Gleaner Writer



Olivia 'Babsy' Grange (left), minister of information, youth, culture and sports, escorts Olympians Asafa Powell (right) and Rosemarie White after they arrived at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday. Powell, 4x100-metre gold medallist, and White, 1,600m relay bronze medal winner, were greeted by other dignitaries. "I am glad to be back home and even after the races, I am happy for the overwhelming support," Powell told journalists. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Despite public comments from his parents suggesting that he should part company with his coach, Stephen Francis, Asafa Powell, the world's second fastest man, said that will not happen.

His parents, Reverend William Powell, his father and mother Cislyn, said in an interview on local television, CVM, said it was time for their 25-year-old son to make a change.

"Change the coach. Try somebody else," Reverend Powell said. "He should have changed the coach long time. If it was me, I would have changed coach long time ago."

Not an option

Asafa, though, said that's not an option.

"My mother loves me very much, and she has the right to say whatever she wants to say. But that's an issue I have to deal with, with her ... There is not going to be any change of coach," said Powell, who along with fellow Olympian Rosemarie White, returned to the island yesterday.

Cislyn Powell, the athlete's mother, said Asafa like all her other sons, when they believe in someone, it's hard to change their mind.

She said if Asafa had a problem with major events, it needed to be identified.

"As a coach, he (Francis) should be able to identify the problem," Cislyn said.

The parents' comments follow the fifth place finish in 9.95 seconds at the Beijing Olympics by Powell, a huge medal favourite. At the 2004 Olympics, in Athens, Powell also finished fifth in 9.94 seconds, having started as the favourite.

After the Olympic finals, Powell returned to run personal bests, lowering his 9.91 to 9.89 in 2004, then 9.72 after Beijing, which bettered his previous high standard of 9.74 less than a month ago.

In between, he held the then world record at different marks - 9.77, which he recorded on several occasions, and 9.74.

However, Powell, who had earlier said he is better suited for Grand Prix meets, said he have some explaining to do with his parents.

Powell, who helped Jamaica to win the sprint relay gold medal in a world record 37.10 in Beijing, noted his problem to deliver on the big stage is not with coach Francis.

"I just have to talk to her and explain all the details. My coach is not liked by a lot of people very much, but I have no problem with him, so there is not going to be any change," added Powell.

Great experience

Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, minister of information, youth, culture and sports, Jamaica Olympic Association president, Mike Fennell, Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association boss Howard Aris, Sports Development Foundation chairman David Mais, and several of Powell's MVP club teammates, were on hand to welcome their star at the Norman Manley International Airport.

Grange told Powell, "You are the trailblazer" and "Rosemarie, you are going to be a great athlete".

White said: "The experience was very great, knowing it was my first time at a major championships. I am very proud of myself to finish seventh in the Olympic 400m final and return to get a bronze medal in the 1600m relay," said White, a student at G.C. Foster College.


Jamaica's Olympics sprint relay gold medallist, Asafa Powell, is flanked by his mom, Cislyn and dad, William, as well as an ardent female fan upon his arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

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Children's advocate probes 13-y-o model contest winner

published: Tuesday | September 23, 2008

The Office of the Children's Advocate has launched a full investigation into the awarding of a 13-year-old girl as the winner of a fashion model competition.

Henderson Downer, acting children's advocate, told The Gleaner yesterday that a team of investigators has been assigned to probe the matter involving Shermonique Ivey, who, earlier this month, won the Pulse Fashion Model Search.

"We have also written to other relevant government departments in investigating the matter, if there is any criminal prosecution or whether anybody is liable to compensation," said Downer.

She declined to comment further, stating that the case was under enquiry.

Real work after high school

Concerns were raised in several quarters, including Letters to the Editor of this newspaper, after Ivey modelled in swimsuits and was adjudged winner of the competition on September 7.

Romae Gordon, general manager at Pulse, said Ivey would not start modelling internationally until she completed high school, as in the case of other underage winners.

"Samantha Re-Crowal won the petite competition some years ago at age 13. She remained in school and for the next couple of years only appeared in odd fashion shows," said Gordon.

At the same time, public officials have called for parents to be more vigilant in light of recent attacks.

Aakim Scott, an 11-year-old boy of Sandside, St Mary, was brutally killed last week. During that same week, another 11-year-old, Ananda Dean of Whitehall Avenue in the Corporate Area, went missing.

Plagued by monsters

Olivia Grange, minister of information, culture, youth and sports, said unfortunately, the society was plagued by "monsters" who were prepared to carry out nefarious acts against children.

"Parents, I ask you to look out for your children. Make sure you know where they are at all times," said Grange last Friday during an awards luncheon, hosted by the Urban Development Corporation, for staff members' children who were successful in the Grade Six Achievement Test.

Police statistics show that last month, three children were murdered.

In August, there were 17 reported cases of carnal abuse.

Rashida St Juste, public relations manager at the Child Development Agency, said more must be done to educate guardians about their responsibilities for the care and protection of their charges.

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PNP fallout begins - Two Phillips supporters quit, another targeted

published: Tuesday | September 23, 2008

Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

The casualtIES from last Saturday's presidential elec-tion in the People's National Party (PNP) have started with a senior member of parliament (MP) relinquishing his position as an opposition spokesman while a caretaker has resigned.

At the same time, a sitting MP is to be challenged for the leadership of her constituency.

News surfaced late yesterday that Opposition Spokesman on Local Government, Dean Peart, has resigned from that position.

Rosemarie Shaw, a vocal sup-porter of Dr Peter Phillips, spent yesterday speaking with supporters in Western St Thomas before handing in her resignation as caretaker and chairman for the constituency.

Challenge for henry-wilson

Another key Phillips backer, Maxine Henry-Wilson, seems set to face a challenge for the job as chairman of the PNP's organisation in South East St Andrew, where she has been the MP since 2002.

Shaw told The Gleaner that her decision to resign was directly linked to the election result, which saw Portia Simpson Miller beating Phillips by 373 votes.

"I think I should do the right thing by resigning so that the Comrade leader can put in place someone who she has full confidence in," Shaw said.

Matter of principle

Shaw said she had previously told the party's leadership in Region Two that she was unlikely to contest another general election after her 2007 defeat by the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) James Robertson, but decided to delay her resignation after Phillips announced his challenge for the leadership.

"I resigned as a matter of principle. If Peter Phillips had won, I think I would have stayed on," Shaw told The Gleaner.

She said she had taken a similar decision after the 2006 presidential contest, but was persuaded by the general secretary to remain in the post and contest the 2007 election.

Shaw, a former JLP activist, resigned from that party after a public fallout with the then Edward Seaga-led party in 1995.

She joined the PNP after JLP councillors passed a no-confidence motion removing her as mayor of Morant Bay.

In the meantime, PNP sources in South East St Andrew told The Gleaner that they are eagerly awaiting the constituency conference to oust Henry-Wilson as chairman.

The conference was initially scheduled for early August, but was called off following a meeting in Nannyville, St Andrew, where Comrades called for a return of former MP Easton Douglas who had walked away from the constituency paving the way for Henry-Wilson.

Douglas, who led the Simpson Miller campaign team, has not yet indicated if he would be willing to return to representational politics and efforts to contact him yesterday were unsuccessful.

However, the sources say if Douglas is not interested, every effort will be made to entice vice-president Angela Brown-Burke to take charge of the constituency.

That should come as no surprise to political watchers as Brown-Burke was among those who influenced Comrades in South East St Andrew to back Simpson Miller although their MP, Henry Wilson was supporting Phillips.

Andrew Swaby, the only sitting councillor in the constituency was also among refused to side with Henry-Wilson .

Efforts to contact Henry-Wilson yesterday were unsuccessful, but she had earlier indicated that a defeat for Phillips would cause her to examine her role in the party.

"If the candidate loses, we continue to be members of the People's National Party, but we would probably operate from a different level. We do not intend to divide the party because the party is much larger than any of us," Henry-Wilson told The Gleaner nine days ago.

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Oraine dominates New York Fashion Week

published: Sunday | September 21, 2008


Oraine reps for Liz Claiborne in a 35-page spread in 'The Claiborne Book'. - Contributed photos

New York Fashion Week is now history, but Pulse and the Caribbean's top-male model, Oraine Barrett, will remember it for some time to come.

It was the season when his star shone brighter than ever and, in fact, took a big new upward trajectory. While he was walking the runway for the world's top designers, his image was popping up all over New York City - indeed all over the world. His new Liz Claiborne, Baby Phat and John Bartlett campaigns are now out in fashion magazines, billboards and point-of-sale locations in fashion cities across the globe.


Pulse model Oraine Barrett on the cover of 'OUT' magazine.

Oraine rocked the fashion fraternity, which was buzzing with excitement as they previewed the Spring 2009 trends at the first fashion week in a series which takes the fashion jet set crowd from New York to London, then Milan and finally Paris.

in the best shape ever

The incredibly built Pulse star, who affirms that he is in the best shape ever, was vetted and selected by casting directors for six collections, including Nautica, John Bartlett, Michael Bastion, Baby Phat, June Ambrose and Gilded Age. Considering that this is not the season for the male collections, this is a huge accomplishment.

Oraine has done remarkably well this season and is now one of the top male models in the world. He heads to Select in London later this month to launch an assault on the European market. His agencies in Paris and Milan are also anticipating action from Oraine in the upcoming seasons, including the big men's collections in January.

Oraine has worked with a veritable list of who's who in the industry, including Pepe Jeans, Target, Phat Farm, Lord and Taylor's, Liz Claiborne, Abercrombie & Fitch, and John Bartlet.

Barrett is a two-time winner of Models.com World Model of the Week. He has also been selected by I-D as one of five new stars in modelling.


Oraine reps another outfir for Liz Clairborne


Pulse model Oraine Barrett for John Bartlett.

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Score settled: Portia whips Peter again in PNP leadership contest

published: Sunday | September 21, 2008

Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter


- ian allen/staff photographer

DELEGATES OF the People's National Party (PNP) reaffirmed Portia Simpson Miller as the party's president in yesterday's elections at the National Arena.

Simpson Miller polled 2,332 votes to Dr Peter Phillips' 1,959 in an election in which 4,291 of the 4,438 delegates of the party voted. The result left Simpson Miller with 54.8 per cent of the votes amd a victory margin of 373 votes.

"The delegates today have spoken," Simpson Miller said in her victory speech. "The delegates today elected one leader of this noble movement and I am prepared to work with anyone who wants to ensure the unity of this noble movement," Simpson Miller said.

Simpson Miller has already extended the olive branch to the defeated team, stating that she is willing to work with anyone who is prepared to help in the renewal of the PNP.

However, for some of her delegates and supporters, the healing will mean axing some opposing persons from her core group.

Simpson Miller told her jubilant supporters that her victory meant that she had smashed the glass ceiling in the country and added that she had not contested the elections for personal reasons. The PNP leader gave a very strong indication that she would not hesitate to boot from the party those persons whom she believed were not doing their best to help the PNP move forward.

different from the last time

"This is going to be different from the last time. I am going to be very impatient of anyone who would want to drag the People's National Party down," Simpson Miller said.

She implored the members and supporters of the party to ensure that the party remained united. She underscored that the victory yesterday meant that "there can be no more argument," adding that party members should now fall in line.

"It is now time for all of us to unite, and it is time for us to get the party united," Simpson Miller said. She added that she should have done this differently in 2006 when she won, remarking, "I think I wasted too much time fighting for unity."

In a statement late last night, Phillips congratulated Simpson Miller on her victory, adding that he accepted the verdict of the delegates.

Stated Phillips: "My decision to accept the mandate of party members islandwide to place on the party's agenda a renewal of its core values and its role in national development is a responsibility which I undertook with conviction and sincerity."

Dr Fenton Ferguson, a member of Phillips' Arise and Renew campaign, said Simpson Miller scored a "decisive victory". He said he accepted the will of the delegates and that he would readily fall in line. "There is no doubt she has, at this time, settled the leadership question," said Ferguson, who was relected a vice-president. "This is the moment to put forward the platform for unity in a real way," he added.

Supporters of Simpson Miller erupted in jubilation when it became clear that Phillips had failed to reach the magic number of 2,220 votes. They could not contain themselves when party chairman Robert Pickersgill announced Simpson Miller as the winner.

The few Arise and Renew Comrades in the hall of the arena looked dejected, astonished and overwhelmed by the outcome. A St Thomas woman wept bitterly, accusing her counterparts of betraying Phillips, while others swore never to vote PNP again.

According to political analysts, the ensuing days could be interesting in the party. Yesterday's defeat could mean the final curtain call for Phillips, who now suffers his second loss at the hands of Simpson Miller. He suffered a 247-vote to Simpson Miller in 2006 when P.J. Patterson ceased to be party president.

Phillips is no longer an officer of the party as he was not nominated for a vice-presidential post. For the time being, he remains the leader of opposition business in the House of Representatives.

Simpson Miller became the first leader of the 70-year-old PNP who was called upon to defend her presidency when Phillips announced his challenge on July 13. He responded with a resounding yes to thousands of Jamaicans whom, he claimed, had called on him to lead the PNP.

Daraine.Luton@gleanerjm.com

Martin Henry, Communications Consultant

No surprise. We expected that the grass-roots delegates would have voted in favour of the candidate, Simpson Miller. With a 373 differential it is apparent that Peter Phillips is still a power faction of the PNP.

Robert Wynter, Management consultant

It is a reconfirmation from the people ... . I am glad that democracy held sway.

Mrs Simpson Miller has a lot to accomplish. She first has to heal the wounds, which will take a little while, and after that she has a lot of rebuilding to do.

Dicky Crawford, Political lecturer

I think the results are very good for Jamaica from the point of view that this discriminatory approach to working-class people has taken place. It's also good for the women of Jamaica - I notice that Angela Brown-Burke received the highest vice-presidential votes. That is the confirmation for another woman leader of the party.

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Students locked out of school

Hundreds of Grade-11 students at the Eltham High School in St Catherine were locked out of the institution yesterday after the school said they were wearing inappropriate uniforms.

The students were locked out because the uniforms were too short, or too tight.

When THE STAR visited the school about 8:30 a.m., many of the students, who claimed they were there to do screening tests for CXC examinations, were seen milling around the gates hoping to gain entry on to the school grounds. At 9:30 a.m., two-and-half-hours after the students had arrived for school, some were still braving the sun.

"It is a sad day that we arrive at school to prepare for exams and to be locked out and despite some of us pulling out the tail of the uniforms to reach the three inches below the knee, they still don't want to let us in," remarked a grade-11 student.

She added that it was difficult for some parents to buy new uniforms every year, which was why their uniforms were short in some cases.

The boys who were accused of wearing tight pants were also seen at the gate.

When THE STAR tried to obtain a comment from the school, the news team was told that no interviews would be granted. Up to minutes before 10, there were no comments from Principal Linda Foster or Vice-Principal Gregory Allen.

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PNP decider - Divided Opposition party elects president today

BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter
Saturday, September 20, 2008

After weeks of mudslinging and bitter internal feuding, an estimated 4,500 People's National Party (PNP) delegates will today decide whether incumbent President Portia Simpson Miller or challenger Dr Peter Phillips will be leader of the 70-year-old opposition party.

The face-off, which will be staged at the National Arena in Kingston, will start with registration and screening at 8:30 am, while polling will be conducted between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm. Substitute delegates will vote after 12:30 pm and it is expected that the people's choice of president will be known by 7:00 pm today. The loser will not be a part of the PNP's executive since neither of the two have been nominated for a vice-presidential post, and many political observers have speculated that the election will result in the end of the loser's political career.


SIMPSON MILLER (left). the incumbent PHILLIPS (right). takes second shot at leadership

The delegates will also elect four vice-presidents from eight contenders - Dr Fenton Ferguson, Wykeham McNeill, Harry Douglas and Sharon Haye-Webster who are on Phillips' slate, and Angella Brown-Burke, Derrick Kellier, Joseph 'Bunny' Witter and Noel Arscott all on Simpson Miller's slate.
Yesterday, the PNP's Deputy General Secretary Julian Robinson told the Observer that the party had pulled out all the stops to have a smooth day.

"Pretty much we are all systems go. We are ready," Robinson said.

And the Team PNP camp, which backs Simpson Miller, which had cried foul several times during the weeks of campaigning over what it said were a legion of unfair tactics being employed by the Arise and Renew Team supporting Phillips, yesterday said it was confident that Simpson Miller would be retained.

"We expect that we are going to win and win convincingly," Team PNP spokesman Raymond Pryce told the Observer yesterday. "All systems are engaged. We are very comfortable with the readiness of our machinery in terms of the field logistics and we anticipate that we will be able to go smoothly through the day, which will culminate in the reconfirmation of party leader Portia Simpson Miller as president of the People's National Party."

Meanwhile, Arise and Renew campaign manager Maxine Henry-Wilson said the confidence of the delegates had been won by Phillips during his time on the ground and will be played out today.

"We are focussed on delegate engagement and encounters because we believe it is important for persons to understand exactly what is the motivation in what is seen as an unprecedented act," she said.

"In all of the encounters we have found delegates who welcome the opportunity to have a real dialogue around issues, from merely mouthing words. They welcomed the dialogue. We have found them very engaging. I believe as a result of that, the delegates are going to think very, very deeply about the future of their party," Henry-Wilson said.

"There is one question that when they go they need to answer, and it is 'who is best suited to lead the party with the challenges we are facing'," she added.

The Arise and Renew campaign manager said the group had kept pace with its timetable to facilitate election day readiness.

As to the accusations levelled by Team PNP against the Arise and Renew campaign, Henry-Wilson said: "The treatment of breaches is very clearly defined in the rules of engagement, report them to the Oversight Committee. We haven't received any complaints. It's interesting that their first port of call should be the media."

The party has been divided since the 2006 leadership race which ended with Simpson Miller trumping Phillips, Dr Omar Davies and Dr Karl Blythe for the presidential post to succeed former leader P J Patterson.

Party insiders have contended that Simpson Miller is incapable of leading the party to any victory. The howls have grown louder since the Jamaica Labour Party ousted the PNP from government after 18 years in power in the September 3, 2007 general elections.

Yesterday, the Jamaica Constabulary Force said preparations have been made to effectively police the conference and said sufficient personnel will be deployed to ensure that first and foremost law and order are maintained throughout the conference.

In addition, the police will be responsible for security at all polling and counting stations, crowd and traffic control at the arena and its immediate environs, parking and security of all vehicles and the general preservation of peace.

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How much longer for Trelawny's Divisional Headquarters?

ASKS THE QUESTIONS
Mark Cummings
Thursday, September 18, 2008



A section of the Falmouth Police Station.

Security is a high priority in many countries and quite rightly so.
In Jamaica, our security forces have long complained about the lack of resources to fight crime and violence, and the generally poor conditions under which they carry out their job.

And while efforts have been made by successive political administrations over the years to better equip our security forces, much more still needs to be done.

In many instances, the lawmen have been working under inhumane conditions.

It hard to fathom how they get the job done under such less-than-desirable conditions.

The members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) who are assigned to the Trelawny Divisional Headquarters, at Rodney Street, in Falmouth represent a case in point.


The new Falmouth police station under construction.

For almost a decade, several civic groups as well as the parish's health department have complained about the poor state of the facility.

The existing unsightly buildings are falling apart and have become a health hazard.

The matter of the dilapidated building was also raised by Police Commissioner Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin in May, when he addressed the 65th annual conference of the Police Federation, at the Starfish Resort in Trelawny.

Describing the facility as "little more than a fowl roost", the commissioner told the conference that some $250-million has been allocated in this year's budget to recommence work on the building for the new station, which began more than two years ago.

In the meantime, he said, the police high command was working feverishly to have police personnel occupying the existing station relocated.

But four months later the police are yet to be relocated, and neither has work recommenced on the building to house the new station.

This is despite an assurance in June from the permanent secretary in the ministry of National Security, Gilbert Scott, who said then that work would have started within another two to three weeks.

At that time, Scott said the work stoppage was due mainly to contractual disagreements between his ministry and the contractors, Astrom Building Systems.

He noted, however, that the disagreements have been resolved and the contractors are mobilising.

But in spite of the existing deplorable state of the station, the lawmen assigned there continue to give of their best.

In fact, indications are that there is a general trending down of reported criminal activities in the parish.

It is about time that the plight of the police, as well as the general public who use the facility, be addressed.
They deserve much better.

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'I knew something was wrong' - Body of man found stuffed in car hours after he went missing

COREY ROBINSON, Observer staff reporter robinsonc@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, September 19, 2008



A despondent Keisha Walker (left) is consoled by a female friend outside Madden's Funeral Home in Kingston after seeing the lifeless body of her son's father sprawled on a table inside the morgue. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

KEISHA Walker's ear-splitting cries for 'Jiggy' outside Madden's Funeral Home in Kingston Tuesday was testimony to her overwhelming grief.

The woman's night-long wait for Devon Dacres, 29 - also called 'Jiggy', the father of her two-year-old son - ended shortly before 7:00 am when his bullet-riddled body was found in the trunk of a grey Honda motor car near the Horizon Remand Centre on Spanish Town Road.

Dacres, a resident of nearby Wellington Road in Whitfield Town, had been missing since 10:00 pm on Monday, when he left home after receiving a telephone call, Walker said.

"I knew something was wrong, I just knew it. Devon don't sleep out and from I don't see him come in I just knew that something happened to him," Walker cried as she buried her face on the shoulder of a female friend.

"From him carry some food for me last night, him leave out and I don't hear from him again. Is this morning I come see him in here," added the woman, who sneaked glances at the building where Dacres' corpse lay openly on a table.

Walker said that Dacres had rented the motor car on Sunday and that according to a male friend, he left home after receiving a telephone call from the owner that he should return it. That was the last time anyone saw him alive.

Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Superintendent Hugh Bish said that the police had not yet established a motive for the killing as, "the investigation into the incident was still in its early stages".

"We have no leads nor motive as it relates to that murder. At the moment, it appears that he might have been killed and then placed in the trunk of the car and then dumped on Spanish Town Road, that is all that I can say right now," said Bish, adding that the motor car which was seized by the police will be examined for clues.

Meanwhile, homicide detectives in the St Andrew South Police Division were also probing a murder of an unidentified man on East Guango Crescent in Olympic Gardens Tuesday.
According to the cops, shortly after 6:00 am, residents found the body in a pool of blood after they heard explosions.

Inspection of the body, believed to be about 50-years-old, and which was clad in a pair of blue jeans pants and a multi-coloured shirt, revealed multiple gunshot wounds.

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Golden fever/yellow fever outbreak in Jamaica!!!

It has been reported that there has been a terrible outbreak of Yellow Fever (disambiguation). This particular strain is sometimes known as the American Plague. The outbreak started in Beijing , the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium to be exact, however sources have linked its origin to the tiny island of Jamaica in the Caribbean Sea .

The virus seems to have been transmitted by a set of Jamaican athletes participating in the Beijing Olympics in particular one by the name of Usain Bolt. At first the virus infected 91,000 people a few days ago but it is a quickly spread to millions of persons worldwide. The symptoms include:
· Spontaneous & uncontrollable dancing fits especially Nuh Linga & Gully Creeper
· The need to wear yellow clothing & wave Jamaican flags
· Screaming uncontrollably at your TV
· Shock, awe & speechlessness

Many victims have become crazed and can be seen running on the streets all over Jamaica acting like they have just won a 100m race at the Olympics in 9.69 seconds.
Although most victims suffer from these symptoms it does seem to have different effects on some persons in particular Americans, these include:
· Badmind
· Grudgefulness
· Envy
· A general uncontrollable hating of all things Jamaican

Additionally, American victims seem to be unable to grasp many things such as batons and the fact that people can actually run fast without performance enhancing drugs.
So far scientists have been unable to find a cure and it is feared that the entire world will be infected in a matter of days. The long term prognosis is not good either, as it is feared that there is another generation of Jamaican athletes that have this deadly virus in their system and will be unleashing it on the world in even more record doses.

The only hope anybody has, to remain immune, is to stop watching television (except for NBC), stay off the internet and move as far away from civilized, rational humans as they can, in some remote underdeveloped, mentally retarded place such as the USA.

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Trial in Cuban light bulb case postponed

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The highly anticipated trial of former junior energy minister Kern Spencer and two co-accused on money laundering and corruption charges, was Monday postponed in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court.


SPENCER... disappointed that the trial was unable to get off the ground

The matter was postponed because of a change of lawyer on the part of defendant Rodney Chin and the unavailability of his lead attorney, Richard Small.

A Thursday mention date was set by which time a new trial date is expected to be agreed.

The third defendant in the matter is Coleen Wright, Kern's former executive assistant and supervisor at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.

Following Monday's adjournment, Spencer - who appeared in court with a group of supporters from his North East St Elizabeth constituency - told reporters that he was disappointed that the trial was unable to get off the ground.

All three defendants were arrested and charged in February as a result of a criminal probe into the handling of a gift of four million Cuban light bulbs, which reportedly cost taxpayers
well over $100 million to be distributed.

Spencer is facing a charge of corruption under Section 14(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and three counts of
money laundering.

Chin - the managing director of Universal Management Company and Caribbean Communications and Media Network Ltd - is facing one count of corruption under Section 14(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and one count of money laundering, while Wright faces one count of corruption under Section 14(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and four counts of money laundering.

If found guilty, all three could face up to five years behind bars.

Meanwhile, the defendants will not immediately face the more serious charge of conspiracy to defraud, which was separated from the current charges by the prosecution on July 31. The conspiracy to defraud charge will be revisited following the disposal of the current case against the three.

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Sandside shocked! - Boy's dismembered body found in bag

KARYL WALKER & CARL GILCHRIST, Observer staff reporters
Thursday, September 18, 2008


A dejected Marcia Ffolkes stares aimlessly into space as she reflects on the death of her only child, Aakim Scott, whose dismembered body was found in a bag in bushes in the district of Sandside in St Mary on Monday.

SANDSIDE, St Mary - Police in this rural community said yesterday that they believe a breakthrough was near in solving the gruesome murder of 11-year-old Aakim Scott, whose dismembered body was found stuffed in a plastic bag Tuesday, a day after he was reported missing.

According to a police source, one of the teenagers being questioned in connection with the youth's death was co-operating, inspite of the burning of his house by irate residents. Police said the burning could have destroyed potential evidence.

In the meantime, the Port Maria police were yesterday searching for a sixth suspect in relation to the gruesome murder of the 11-year-old. Five teenagers have already been arrested in connection with the child's death.


This elderly man expresses his disgust at the murder of 11-year-old Aakim Scott, while other residents gather at the entrance to the burnt out house where the boy had gone to visit two teenagers on Sunday. (Photos: Lionel Rookwood)

Yesterday, police were unable to confirm that the boy was sodomised before he was murdered.

"We don't have that information as yet," a cop who identified himself as Detective Sergeant Hutchinson at the Port Maria Criminal Investigation Bureau said.

Residents could not contain their anger as they gathered in groups to discuss the gruesome murder.

"Them dutty boy deh must face a wicked judgement. The woman have only one pickney and them come do him like that? Wha one little boy like dat coulda do anybody?" one woman asked.

Askim's dismembered body was found stuffed in a 100-pound polyethylene bag, with the limbs and head separated from the torso, which was cut in two.

Aakim, who lived with his mother Andrea Ffolkes, and 70-year-old grandfather, was last seen on Sunday evening when he went to a house in the district, where two of the teenage suspects live, to charge his cellular telephone. The child's relatives and residents of the district became suspicious when he did not return and launched a search which led them to the premises where the teenagers lived.

The relatives surrounded the house and demanded that the boys tell them the child's whereabouts, when one of the suspects handed over the child's mobile telephone. The residents then called the police who arrested the two teenagers and later held three others after homicide detectives interrogated the first two who were held.
The angry residents then torched the house where the teenagers lived.

Yesterday all that was left of the dwelling was a burnt out shell. All the furniture and appliances were burnt to a cinder.
Residents of Sandside were yesterday angry at what they described as the tardy response of the police, who they said only came to their assistance after they decided to block a main road which runs on the outskirts of their community.

"If we never decided fi block the road them wouldn't come here. We call dem long time and dem don't come nowhere," one female resident told the Observer.

They said that after the short protest the police came to the district and led seven search parties which combed the thick bushes behind the teenagers' house in a bid to find Aakim. After a few hours the boy's body was found in a bag at the root of a large tree. His head, arms and legs were chopped off.

An elderly man who claimed to have found the boy's body was yesterday beside himself with rage.

"What a set a animal dem. Them don't deserve to live; not even them mother because them womb deh curse," the man said with tears streaming down his face.

The incident has taken a heavy toll on Aakim's mother, Andrea Ffolkes, who was at a loss for words and sat staring into space with her hand at her jaw as her relatives and neighbours tried their best to console her.

"She isn't taking it too well," a neighbour said.
Aakim's untimely demise has also affected schoolmates and the staff at the Trinity Primary School.

"The whole school has been affected, the children, the teachers, all of us. If you had been here this morning you would have seen the children just running around and crying when they realised that Aakim was gone," Ava Turnbull, vice-principal of the primary school told the Observer.

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Do local firms shy away from sports endorsements?

Julian Richardson
Friday, September 12, 2008





Against the backdrop of Usain Bolt's rise to international stardom, Jamaican corporate executives have dismissed claims, coming from some circles, that local indigenous entities lack the will to effectively invest in sports marketing.

Peter Moses, head of Citibank in Jamaica, and Christopher Williams, managing director of NCB Capital Markets - both heavily involved in sports themselves - say local companies are very much involved in investing in sports, but only as much as the market dynamics will allow in Jamaica.

Moses, who is also a highly successful coach of the Real Mona Football Club in Kingston, told Caribbean Business Report that there has been a proliferation of private sector support for sports in recent years. He supported his argument by citing the development of the Waterhouse Football Club.
With sponsorship from the Bicknell family-run Tankweld Metals, Waterhouse is home to one of the better sporting facilities in the National Premier League, and has emerged as one of the most prestigous clubs.

"Ten years ago when I came here, this was a bare piece of land with nothing on it except rubbish but now I am standing in a mini-stadium," said Moses from the facility. "That has come about because a local corporate entity adopted this club and built this infrastructure."

Williams, who plays for Real Mona's Masters League team, said that from a local standpoint, Jamaican companies are very committed to sports, citing Grace Kennedy's sponsorship of the Boys' and Girls' Track and Field Championships and NCB's sponsorship of numerous sporting events, as examples.

"The biggest track and field event in this hemisphere - Boys' and Girls' Champs - is significantly sponsored by a local entity," said Williams. "I think that local entities are out there sponsoring sporting activities and I would go as far as to say that if it wasnt for local entities these events wouldn't even exist."

That aside, Williams admits that improvements can be made to how Jamaican companies utilise endorsements in maximising the goodwill from their association with an athlete or team. This strategy, he said, has been perfectly executed by one of Bolt's sponsors - Digicel, who has bombarded the airwaves with ads featuring the triple Olympic champion.

"Are we taking advantage of the sportspersons and sporting events that we sponsor? That is where I think Digicel has done well," said Williams. "Certainly, I felt that they made a pre-emptive move by picking up Bolt years ago when he had not yet gone on to prominence, so the contract wasn't valued at his current marketability and that is how you have to approach these things.

"Also, Digicel has spent a lot of money in ensuring that you and I know that they sponsor Bolt," he added. "That has nothing to do with the sponsorship of him but the marketing of the fact that they sponsor him. That is where Digicel has done well and local entities can learn from them."

Indicative of how a company's association with a sporting entity can have a positive impact is the fact that according to US-based marketing agency Zeta Interactive, catalysed by his achievements in Beijing, Bolt's other sponsor - Puma - saw its global online chatter increase by 64 per cent during the Games, outperforming Adidas and Nike, which only had increases of 17 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

However, Williams said paying the price required for international exposure is where Jamaican companies become hesitant. Because that sort of exposure is not needed for local entities whose distribution channels barely reach beyond the region. This, according to Williams, is a major reason why Bolt may not attract as much in endorsement money as Michael Phelps, the popular American swimmer who is said to have racked up some US$100 million in endorsement money from heavily exposed American firms after his exploits in Beijing.

"The distribution of our product outside of the Jamaican market is not that strong, so we wouldn't go into those markets and advertise as agressively," said Williams.
"Jamaica is a much smaller country, so we wouldn't as a company (NCB) step up to that international level because we don't have that economy of scale...So clearly our advertising will be concentrated on the Jamaican locals."

Moses added that the reason why Jamaican companies may not advertise to the extent that Digicel does, could be because of the business model employed as well as the availibity of funds. Digicel, he noted, is a consumer oriented business, which requires them to consistenty focus on brand recognition. It is also true that the Irish-owned firm has the critical mass to make such lofty investments.

"I hear people talking about Jamaican companies are waggonist but I don't beleive that," said Moses. "First, people need to make sure that they are comparing apples and apples. Digicel is in a consumer business, they need to be seen everywhere.

"For example, the company I work for is not a consumer oriented company, we are a corporate banker and do our marketing on a direct basis," added Moses. "

While Moses, who is a former president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), beleives that local companies should invest in sporting facilities in order to create the proper framework for athletes, he does not believe they should begin to endorse athletes from a tender age. This, he said, is because companies have a responsibility to paint a "balanced" picture for youngsters.

"While there is the opportunity for other Bolts to emerge, I dont think companies are going to start looking at prep school and primary school athletes, and start sponsoring them from that age," said Moses. "You want to make sure that a youngster maintains a balanced approach to life so they do not start thinking that life is all about sports because not all of them will make it by their sporting prowess."

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