Barbados Police Officer shot four times under mysterious circumstances – Island news media silent

Not one word in the Barbados newspapers

According to the talk in Bridgetown, four days ago Constable Jonathan Barrow was shot four times in the legs. He was treated at hospital where doctors recovered at least two bullets from the wounds. Barrow is now resting at home.

Nothing in the news media, but everyone is talking.

First to report the shooting was Sheri Veronica (photo above) of Naked Departure blog who ran the story on July 28th, and followed up with a mention on her Naked Departure Talk Show yesterday.

Officer Barrow was one of the police involved in the infamous Shanique Marie ‘finger rape’ case. His partner at the time, Everton Gittens, is currently in Dodds Prison on murder charges stemming from the shooting of two men attacking Gittens’ alleged lover.

So what’s going on and why isn’t the Barbados news media covering this story?

Murder assassination of Special Prosecutor Dana Seetahal terrible – but no surprise

Eleven gang members charged with Seetahal murder

But will Trinidadian police be able to convict? Or will witnesses disappear or be murdered?

Once the thugs gain the upper hand in any Caribbean island, it is so difficult maintain the rule of law. Good luck to T&T authorities.

Nation News: 11 charged in Seetahal murder

Here is BFP’s original article about Seetahal’s murder…

Barbados Free Press

Dana Seetahal murdered Sunday May 4, 2014

Courts and legal disputes are dangerous business in the Caribbean

submitted by Gary M. Further editing by Robert.

Folks who have lived all their lives in the UK or the USA do not understand what it means to be involved in a legal dispute or criminal trial in any Caribbean, Central or South American country. The reality is this: involvement with the courts can be dangerous business. Even minor disputes can produce threats, beatings or worse. That is generally not the way it is in the USA and UK, but in small island nations it is not unheard of for legal arguments to be put forward through cricket bats or Molotov cocktails in the dark of night.

And just because a person is in a legal dispute with the government is no guarantee of safety. Some say with good reason “Sue de…

View original post 313 more words

Please save these children from their mother, Keisha Melissa Clarke

28 years old, psychiatric patient and a mother of seven; this serial thief has nothing to offer her children or society

How many so-called ‘fathers’ do Clarke’s children have? Can she really name each man? Who are these low men taking advantage of such a pitiful creature?

The 28 year old “mother of seven” deserves to be pitied, but don’t forget to pity her children and Barbados – for it is the children and ordinary Bajans who bear the burden of so many stupid women like this one. “Single mother” ??? Let’s stop using that phrase and tell it like it is – stupid woman who doesn’t have enough sense to realize she’s being used, or to keep her legs closed.

My compassion for these women evaporated long since.

Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do.

Robert

Mother of seven appeals to court for mercy

A young unemployed woman with a number of issues was jailed for a month after she admitted she had stolen money and jewellery from a man’s car over the weekend.

Keisha Melissa Clarke, 28, of Arthur Seat, St Thomas admitted to the offence and asked the court to be merciful on her. She was charged for stealing a pair of earrings and $87 belonging to Chris Clarke on Sunday.

(snip)

Clarke apprehended her and called the police.

Caribbean justice: Bank collapse settles after 30 years

Joke of the Day – Pennies on the Dollar…

“… tremendous relief to the many suffering depositors”

BASSETERRE – Clients who lost money when the Bank of Commerce closed some 30 years ago were put on alert by Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris that a legal settlement had been arrived at that allowed for the payment of $15 million.

Prime Minister Harris made the revelation during today’s sitting of National Assembly.  He noted that the court settlement will bring “tremendous relief to the many suffering depositors in the Bank of Commerce,” noting that “a fresh start has now come to the depositors.”

… read the entire sad tale at the Nation News

Barbados needs Hotwiring

Adrian Loveridge – tourism expert, hotel owner

Last week I used a couple of web based hotel booking sites to reserve some accommodation in Charlotte and Kentucky for an upcoming trip.

One of them, Hotwire, offers a variety of star rated lodging where you do not actually know exactly which property you are staying at until pre-payment is made in full.

The advantage to the hotel is that they can hopefully dispose of unsold inventory, albeit at a lower than rack rate, a sales model known as ‘opaque’ and the guest benefits by getting a superior room at a discounted price.

As an exercise I used the same site to look at applying it to hotels on Barbados and was surprised to see a whole range of accommodation options from as little at US$64 including all taxes per night room only and as little as US$242 all-inclusive for two persons.

Hotwire makes their profit from a percentage, which I am told is between 20 and 25 per cent of the transaction amount.

It at least partially dispels the largely held myth that we are always an overly expensive destination, when comparing lodging choices. 

An all too common story. Bajan expat sends money to build a retirement home…

Dear Barbados Free Press…

A mother working in the USA  asked her daughter to supervise the construction of a property in Barbados, sent all money to that daughter at various stages of the construction from beginning through completion. The mother also payed the mortgage for the ensuing 20 years, returned to Barbados on holiday in the intervening years believing the property was in her name as indicated by correspondence.

Finally retired from her work in the USA only to find several years after that the property has been stolen (deeded)  by  that same daughter who registered the property in her name as sole owner. When the matter; supported by documentation is brought to the very law firm who did the original settlement find that the firm is unwilling or non cooperative or too embarrassed  to unmask the obvious fraud.

Leaving the victim, the mother, to seek alternative legal representation from other lawyers who take the case ask for a large sums of money with the promise to recover that property only to find that despite all the proof and supporting documentation of ownership nothing is done, 5 years on.

What would BFP’s readers suggest is the best course of action/suggestions to make this right?

* The photo has nothing to do with this story. Just a home under construction.

Disposable Dads reminded to keep paying whether working or not

The Man with no Future is leaving Barbados

We just heard from our old friend The Man with No Future that he is leaving Barbados forever. He will try to find a future and a new life elsewhere. (Sworn to secrecy so don’t ask!)

We repeat the article TMWNF wrote early in 2014. Good advice from a man who knows…

Barbados Free Press

“The kind of wife and mother for your child that you should be seeking will not be found rubbing crotches together on the road at Cropover…

Unfortunately that eliminates 90% of young Bajan women.”

by The Man with no Future

Hear me, oh young men!

For the life of me I don’t know why any man would want to father a child these days, let alone get married.

Look at the hundreds of poor dumb “fathers in name only” the Barbados government is making redundant in the mass-firings. Government kicking them in the ass on the way out: reminding them to Keep Paying. Nevermind they have no job, no money and no prospect of finding new work on this dying island. The message is “Keep paying the woman you made pregnant, fool.”

You want slavery for all of your prime working years?

Father a child.

You want to put your…

View original post 383 more words

MURDER: Child Care Board ignored 6-year-old’s broken fingers, blackened eye

Jahan King – When the Barbados Child Care Board failed to act, what chance did the little fellow have?

The latest from our friend at Focus Barbados tells the story of Jahan King. Poor little fellow was beaten and tortured and more than once when he came to school with serious injuries the school called Child Care Board, and the Board did nothing or worse: sent the child back to the home where he was beaten.

Warning: disturbing photos at Focus Barbados Jahan King: The child neglect and abuse culture in Barbados.

 

Grenville Phillips II: Thousands of new Barbados houses vulnerable to collapse due to lack of building standards

“It is a national disgrace that strains the limits of irresponsibility that the Government of Barbados, against all expert advice, allowed an entirely unregulated 14-year building boom with respect to building standards. Of the thousands of houses built, almost all of them are vulnerable to collapse in a major earthquake. It is to Barbados’ tragic misfortune that it would not have cost any additional money to have constructed the life-saving shear walls that the Building Code specified.”

Grenville Phillips II

Every Bajan or foreigner living in Barbados should attend at Grenville’s Weighed in the Balance website and have a read of Put Your House in Order.

Do it now.

What’s up with Mark Daghorn and Rising Records?

Editor’s Note: The following is only one of many letters and complaints we’ve had in the last while concerning Mark Daghorn (photo above) and Rising Records.

We remind BFP readers that this was sent anonymously to BFP – an anonymous blog and should be taken with a big dose of salt.

We offer Mr. Daghorn or anyone the space to reply to these accusations publicly, in the same space and to the same audience.

Without further delay, here is one of the anonymous emails sent to BFP…

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF BARBADOS

FROM: http://www.facebook.com/MarkDaghornInfo

Mark Daghorn is/was known as the owner/director of Rising Records.  The UK based record label had a roster of over 40 bands and specialised in Heavy Metal, Hardcore, Death Metal, Black Metal & Grindcore.

http://www.metal-archives.com/labels/Rising_Records/260

Warning to bands about shady record label
November 29th, 2011, 02:29 PM

On Nov 29th 2011 a comment was posted to a music website by user Men With Ven claiming Rising Records was a front for a scam.  Within hours the story went viral and over the next few days various people who had dealt with Daghorn posted their own stories of dodgy dealings with him, corroborating the original posters ac­cusations.

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/musicians-discussion/735127-warning-bands-about-shady-record-lab.html

Daghorn claimed the post was the working of a disgruntled band.  He responded to these accusations with intermittent threats of legal action whilst fleeing the UK for Barbados. He never followed through with any legal action as he threatened.

Daghorn then proceeded to establish himself in Barbados and people he owed money to in the UK were ignored, fired or offered more work which never materialised. 

David Comissiong: Vote buying routine in a sinking, decaying Barbados

“A national, learned helplessness”

by David Comissiong, President of Clement Payne Movement

Barbados – as we all know – is suffering from a dearth of national political leadership, and is currently in a state of crisis and great peril. But the good news is that we are beginning to see positive signs which suggest that the “fight-back” to save and restore Barbados has begun!

These recent positive and hopeful signs of a national “fight-back” consist of such phenomena as:-

(1)    the new young leaders that have come to the fore in the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and the Barbados Workers Union (BWU), and the renewed spirit of courage and activism that the Trade Union Movement has begun to exhibit;
(2)    the courageous and patriotic Budget reply speech that Opposition leader Mia Mottley recently delivered in the House of Assembly;
(3)    the effort recently undertaken by such elder patriots as Sir Henry Forde, Ian Archer, Sir Woodville Marshall, Sir Stephen Emptage and Peter Laurie to propose and design a system of “People’s Initiatives” that would permit the citizens of Barbados to put forward proposals for new pieces of legislation and for changes to the Constitution;
(4)    the new effort that is underway to bring together the forces of consciousness and progressive thought in Barbados to address many of the centuries-old problems of Barbadians of African Descent under the unifying banner of the recently proclaimed “United Nations International Decade For People of African Descent”;
(5)    the initiatives that have been embarked upon by such notable citizens as Ras Simba, Hal Martin, Onkphra Wells, John Howell, David Denny and others to launch young Barbadians into independent business and artistic activity via such new formations as the African Heritage Foundation and the Pan-African Coalition of Organizations (PACO);
(6)    the concerted effort that is now being made by this writer and other citizens such as Bobby Clarke and Muhamad Nassar to expose and put an end to the still existing old colonial practice of conferring outrageously privileged taxpayer-funded Government contracts on a clique of elite Barbadian business-people; and
(7)    the admirable initiative undertaken by Messrs Andrew Bynoe and Patrick Frost to highlight and tackle the corrupt practice of “vote buying” that is now routinely engaged in by our Barbadian political class.
What makes these recent developments so encouraging is that they have emerged in a Barbados that has been through a virtually unrelieved ten year period of depression, disappointment and disenchantment, courtesy of a highly deficient and defective national political leadership.

If we go back to the last three years of Mr Owen Arthur’s 2004 to 2008 governmental administration, we will recall that we were saddled with a highly dysfunctional Government that deflated and depressed our nation.

But if we thought that the latter stage of Mr Arthur’s reign was bad, worse was to come with the Democratic Labour Party’s ascension to power in 2008! Under both late Prime Minister David Thompson and current Prime Minister Freundel Stuart our country has been saddled with a pathetic “do little” Government that has preached a message of national helplessness to the people of Barbados over the entire period that they have been in office. 

American Airlines and US Airways members a vast, untapped market of over-worked folks who need a Barbados holiday!

All work and no pay!

Adrian Loveridge – tourism expert, hotel owner

A recent survey released through the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) and conducted by Oxford Economics concluded that last year, American workers walked away from US$52.4 billion in unused vacation time, forfeiting a total of 169 million paid days off.

The amount of vacation time American’s take as a nation is currently at a 40-year low. USTA stated as recently as 2000, the average US worker took roughly 20 vacation days a year. By last year, that had fallen to 16 days adding ‘for most workers wages and income have stagnated since the recession’, which perhaps gives an insight why.

In a related TIME article, the findings of another survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for the job and salary site Glassdoor, says ‘we’ (Americans) only take about half the time off we’re entitled to, and 15 per cent of workers who get a vacation don’t take any of it.

But should we deduce that economics is the sole reason? Again quoting Glassdoor, absolutely not!

Questioning people who take vacations only to work through them (which about six in ten workers do), a third of respondents said they do so because nobody else can do their job and about 20 per cent said they do so in the hopes of getting promotion.

Does this belief have any credibility?  

Santander study names Barbados as most expensive destination for British tourists

Lots of beaches, sand, surf, sky everywhere. Why should Brits pay more for Barbados?

Wonderful. Just what we need ’bout this island.

BFP pundit Adrian Loveridge has been pounding this subject for years. Looks like nobody has been listening…

UAE and Barbados most expensive destinations for British holidaymakers

The UAE and Barbados have been ranked the most expensive destinations for British tourists in a new survey published by Santander.

According to the report, the two destinations cost Brits more than £100 per day in spending money. By comparison, Poland and India are the cheapest destinations, costing just £30 per day on average.

These figures do not include the cost of hotel accommodation or flights.

With a direct flight to Barbados costing an average of £3,136 – flying out on 27 July, the busiest week of the summer – a couple going away for two weeks could expect to pay around £12,900 for their summer holiday, once accommodation is included, the report stated.

… continue reading the full report at Travel Daily UK

Ping Yark: Number of Bajans living in U.K. plummeting

Between 1971 and 2011, the number of people born in Barbados and living in the UK fell from 27,055 to 18,672. This according to the latest issue of Ping Yark, the newsletter by, for and about Bajans in the UK.

The latest issue of our favourite expat magazine also contains stories on the following topics…

• David Comissiong’s attack on the DLP and PM Freundel Stuart
• The National Council of Barbados Associations (NCBA UK) as the tool of one man: Tyrone Roach as the Barbados Nation newspaper’s UK representative
• Bruce Jenner
• David Cameron
• Rise of the UK Limes
• Some historic happenings in Bygone Barbados – Marcus Garvey’s 1937 address, 1939 refusal of Jews fleeing the Nazis, Errol Barrow’s declaration that all white people in Barbados should be killed
• Grenville Pillips II’s call for a new political party in Barbados.

Enjoy!

PDF 2.8mb… Ping Yark Magazine

Weak Canadian dollar brings challenges for Barbados tourism industry

Adrian Loveridge – tourism expert, hotel owner

It is already more than halfway through the year and this is a time perhaps that our tourism policy planners are focusing on what marketing strategies can be effectively put in place to build on the first quarter increase in visitor arrivals.

As always, it is almost impossible to accurately predict what is going to happen in our global marketplaces and how that could impact on numbers, average stay and spend.

Important issues include the fall in the value of the euro earlier this year and whether this will be further impacted with the eventual solution to the Greek crisis. What effect will the first Conservative British government budget since 1995 have on the disposable income of most Brits? And finally, there is increased speculation about an impending recession in Canada, just at a time we were experiencing improved arrivals and airlift.

Having lived in Canada for some time, I know there is a psychological threshold when the Canadian dollar falls below 80 cents compared to the United States dollar. Naturally, Canadians then start to question whether they are truly obtaining value for money at holiday destination choices. It becomes an imperative to clearly demonstrate that we can offer a competitive product by at least attempting to reinforce component parts of the tourism industry that are more affordable.

While we will never be able to compete with the mass tourism regional offerings like Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba and alike, Barbados still has a myriad of more affordable accommodation choices. Of course lodging is only part of the equation, so personally I think there is room for a re-DISCOVER-like promotion specifically aimed at the Canadian market that helps minimise the currency value differential, which include not just restaurants, but attractions, activities, car rental and shopping.  

Opinion: Freundel Stuart and his DLP are the real destroyers of Barbados

by David Comissiong, President of Clement Payne Movement

If there is a group of inexperienced and irresponsible “leaders” who have done serious damage to our country that group is not to be found in the trade unions of Barbados! Rather, they are to be found in the Freundel Stuart-led Democratic Labour Party administration.

Who – after all – is responsible for the dismissal of close to 5,000 Barbadians from their jobs in the public service of our country?

Who – for the first time in our history – imposed tuition fees on Barbadian students at the University of the West Indies, thereby causing some 4,200 Barbadians to drop out of UWI?

Who is it that recently imposed an additional $200 million in taxes on an already over-taxed and over-burdened Barbadian people?

Who is it that has taken virtually every Governmental contract of any worth and conferred them upon a small select group of elite business people?

Who is it that has entered into contractual arrangements that obligate the masses of Barbadian taxpayers to literally pay hundreds of millions of dollars to a small group of privileged elite business people over the next two or three decades ?

The record is clear! Barbados is being destroyed – not by young Toni Moore and Akanni Mc Dowall – but by Prime Minister Stuart and his band of Ministers, the majority of whom may legitimately be described an immature, callous, irresponsible and rudderless.

How comic it is to hear Stuart complaining that the new President of the NUPW does more talking on behalf of the Union than the General Secretary, when he (Stuart) has absolutely no control over no less than 5 of his Ministers; Donville Inniss, Chris Sinckler, David Estwick, Ronald Jones and Denis Kellman!

Furthermore, if Stuart wants to talk about new wine in old wine skins then we need to tell him that his Administration constitutes a “new wine” that we, the citizens of Barbados, do not recognize!

We all recall and recognize the late Errol Barrow and the Democratic Labour Party that he established. But we do not recognize Mr Stuart’s Democratic Labour Party! The Freundel Stuart – led DLP administration is something totally new in our political culture! Where Mr Barrow’s DLP constructed and nurtured Mr Stuart’s DLP attacks and destroys!

Submitted by David Comissiong, President, Clement Payne Movement

Magistrate Douglas Frederick too weak, too timid to take on disrespectful police officers.

Accused waiting five and a half years for trial – Barbados Police don’t show for latest court date.

Magistrate Douglas Frederick lets them get away with it again.

Where was Sergeant Catwell?

The charges against the accused are serious. On January 20, 2010, police arrested Michael James Springer for having an illegal gun and ammunition.

Now, five and a half years later, our justice system is just getting to the preliminary hearing but the two main police witnesses didn’t bother to show up for court date known months in advance. One witness, Sergeant Catwell, was on holiday and, according to Station Sergeant Neville Watson, couldn’t be found. The other witness, Sergeant Leslie, was on a training course and so couldn’t attend at court.

Let’s just think about that for a minute, shall we?

Sergeant Catwell knew many months ago that the case was coming to court on July 8, 2015, but he went away on holiday anyway and “efforts to locate him had proven futile.”

Really? On this tiny rock, none of Catwell’s fellow police know where he is? Nobody knows his mobile phone number? Nobody left a message? Nobody knows his email address?

And what training could be so important as to cause a police witness to ignore the court? Sergeant Leslie couldn’t take a morning off his so very important training course to testify?

Obviously the two involved police officers do not respect the courts, the judicial process or their duty to Barbados.

Time for the learned judge to start issuing arrest warrants for police officers who thumb their noses at the court and the law.

Magistrate Douglas Frederick’s statement that it was “unfortunate that Leslie was away on training and was in High Court on the last occasion” is a capitulation to police disrespect of the courts. Magistrate Frederick looks like he is too weak, timid and fearful to uphold the law. Just a few days ago BFP reported in another trial Magistrate Douglas tossed a drug trafficking case when the police witnesses didn’t show up… but Frederick let the police turn their backs on the courts and never held them to account for failing to show.

And he just did it again…

No one-sided justice, attorney tells Magistrate

Terming it “totally ridiculous,” attorney-at-law Vonda Pile asked today that a matter involving her client be dismissed.

Michael James Springer faces charges of having a gun and ammunition on January 20, 2010. The 29-year-old lives at Headley’s Land, Deacons Road, St Michael.

When the preliminary hearing began yesterday, Station Sergeant Neville Watson told the court of the unavailability of the two police witnesses.  

Outrageous, corrupt government contracts are killing Barbados

by David Comissiong, President of Clement Payne Movement

As we approach Barbados’ 50th year of Independence, I am calling on all patriotic Barbadians to join together and make a determined effort to uproot and eradicate the destructive remnants of the “Old Colonial System” that still exist in our supposedly independent nation.

And one particularly odious remnant is that aspect of the “Old Colonial System” that traditionally permitted the social and business elite of Barbados to have compliant members of the political directorate grant them outrageously preferential business and commercial arrangements that allowed them to feed on the substance of the Barbadian State and on the mass of predominantly black labourers, consumers, and – in more recent times- taxpayers!

Just take a cursory look at Barbados’ history and you will see exactly what I mean. From the earliest colonial days, the planter/merchant elite utilized a compliant House of Assembly to, inter alia:- supply themselves with cheap labour by legislating the enslavement of Blacks; grant themselves legal title to the lands they had occupied; give themselves a commercial advantage by prohibiting free Blacks and Coloureds from being able to give evidence in Court against them; control Black labour by enacting a Post- Emancipation “Masters and Servants Act”; prohibit the migration of Black labourers from Barbados; transfer the burden of falling international sugar prices unto the backs of the large black labouring class; use legislation and the Court system to ensure that the lands of bankrupt plantations did not fall into the hands of Blacks; use grant money from the British Government exclusively for the elite sugar planter class; and the list goes on and on.

In more recent “Independence times”, this old colonial phenomenon has been manifesting itself in the practice of predominantly black Parliamentarians and Ministers of Government granting amazingly preferential taxpayer- funded or guaranteed contracts to elite white Barbadian and foreign business-people – contracts that they would never dream of conferring upon black Barbadian business-people!

One such contract is the so-called “Take or Pay Contract” that the current Democratic Labour Party (DLP) administration granted to Mr Bizzy Williams’ Sustainable (Barbados) Recycling Centre Inc (SBRC) in June 2009. Under that contract, we, the taxpayers of Barbados, are obliged to underwrite a guaranteed minimum payment of $22.6 Million per year over a 20 year period to SBRC for the processing or managing of so-called municipal solid waste, whether or not the company is actually called upon to carry out work of the requisite minimum quantity! Thus, under this contract alone, we taxpayers are saddled with a minimum payment of $45 Million over the 20 year period.