Why weren’t charges laid in attack upon Barbados Immigration Officer?

We might be wrong here, folks. We HOPE that we are wrong.

BUT… we have two people telling us that a foreigner punched out a Bajan Immigration officer at the airport …. and that management backed away and laid no charges. The Immigration officer is still on sick leave but no charges were laid.

WTF?

Yes. Exactly.

President of the National Union of Public Workers Walter Maloney confirmed much of the story at a symposium at Workplace Violence Awareness Day.

So what is the story? Let’s hear it!

above: Walter “lots of excuses” Maloney; President of the National Union of Public Punching Bags.

Go figure… Immigration officer attacked 

Send us documents, articles: whatever you like! You can trust Barbados Free Press.

Some folks want to know the answers to these questions…

How can I post a news article on Barbados Free Press?

Easy! Just email the article to us here: barbadosfreepress@yahoo.com

OR… you can use our Contact Us form.

How can I get a letter or document to BFP?

We don’t reveal our mailing address because we’re an anonymous blog. You’ll have to scan or photograph the document and then email it to us.

If the document is too large to email, try using one of the free document posting services where you can upload the document and then send us the secret link – all anonymously.

Try: anonfiles.com  Wikipedia has an updated list of anonymous file sharing sites

Will Barbados Free Press keep my identity secret?

Of course we will keep your identity secret. You don’t even have to tell us who you are. We publish anonymously-written articles all the time.

We’ve kept writers’ identities secret at their request since we started in 2006. That’s a long time and nobody has a better track record – not even WikiLeaks!

Does Barbados Free Press keep records of emails and files sent to you?

No we don’t. Once we publish something, read your email or otherwise finish with what you send us, we delete everything securely. Only what is posted on BFP’s WordPress blog remains.

Wonder of wonders! Ian Bourne has one of the top 10% most viewed @LinkedIn profiles for 2012!

What’s going on here?

Ian Bourne is constantly seen with gorgeous women and no one knows what this is about. Trust me… it’s a mystery!

Now we learn that Ian Bourne’s Linkedin Profile was one of the top 10% accessed profiles on the LinkedIn system in 2012!

What’s going on here?  It’s still a mystery!

KFC Barbados and Ian Bourne’s Bajan Reporter: the subjects of BFP’s 5,000th post

This is it folks – Post number Five Thousand

Maybe we should have done up something special to reflect back on five thousand posts in almost seven years, over 110,000 comments by readers, over 13 million visitors and that one special day when 44,087 people stopped by Barbados Free Press and read about how our corrupt Prime Minister Owen Arthur got caught depositing a $75,000 campaign donation cheque into his personal bank account.

Instead, we thought we’d thank KFC for setting up free WiFi in seven of their thirteen restaurants because it is all the free and unprotected WiFi hotspots around this rock that have allowed us to do what we do for so many years. Without free WiFi we couldn’t bring Barbados Free Press to the people.

And we thank Ian Bourne and Bajan Reporter for bringing those KFC WiFi spots to our attention.

Back in 1837 William Cullen Bryant wrote the following as he sought to defend the rights of abolitionists to free speech. His words are as true today as they were then:

“The right to discuss freely and openly, by speech, by the pen, by the press, all political questions, and to examine and animadvert (speak out) upon all political institutions, is a right so clear and certain, so interwoven with our other liberties, so necessary, in fact to their existence, that without it we must fall at once into depression or anarchy. To say that he who holds unpopular opinions must hold them at the peril of his life, and that, if he expresses them in public, he has only himself to blame if they who disagree with him should rise and put him to death, is to strike at all rights, all liberties, all protection of the laws, and to justify and extenuate all crimes.”

Formerly crooked lawyer says he doesn’t write for Barbados Free Press or other blogs

Then-crooked lawyer Bryan turns from camera at court

Strange things are done in the warm Bajan sun, but one of the strangest requests we’ve received in recent times is the following letter from Barbados Attorney-at-Law A. David Bryan.

Mr. Bryan used to be the General Manager of the Barbados Advocate Newspaper. He states in his letter that a rumour has been going around for about five years that he is behind Barbados Free Press and Barbados Underground blogs. We at BFP were not aware of that rumour until very recently.

Of course Mr. Bryan or anyone else can submit articles anonymously to BFP or any other blog and the blog editors wouldn’t know who wrote the article. The best we can say is that we’ve never received anything with Mr. Bryan’s name as the author until now.

As to Mr. Bryan being on-staff or “behind” Barbados Free Press, that’s hardly likely considering what we’ve previously written about Mr. Bryan…

Another Barbados lawyer buys his way out of criminal charges. A system rotten to the core.

Attorney Alvin David Bryan wouldn’t look at camera.

Three Lessons:

1. No deterrent for the next thief lawyer.
2. Bajan lawyers cover up for their own.
3. Foreign investors and real estate buyers who live overseas are still nothing more than victims-in-waiting for Barbados lawyers.

All that talk by the justice system and the Barbados Bar Association about cleaning up the legal profession is just so much talk. You need look no further than the latest case where Attorney Alvin David Bryan (also called David Alvin Bryan) was charged multiple crimes for stealing over $226,000 from TWO different clients over a long period. At least one of the victims was a foreign investor living over and away.

After being criminally charged, lawyer Bryan paid the money back to the victims and walked a free man. That’s the normal penalty when a lawyer is caught thieving in Barbados: they have to pay back the money and then they can continue to practice law.

One law for the lawyers, and another for the rest of us…

… from the BFP article Another Barbados lawyer buys his way out of criminal charges. A system rotten to the core.

Here is Mr. Bryan’s unedited letter to Barbados Free Press, as received from his email account on June 10, 2012…

NOT THIS DAVID- Who Writes For the Blogs!

By A. David Bryan
Attorney-at-Law and former General Manager of the Barbados Advocate Newspaper.

I received a telephone call last Friday June 8th, 2012 by a concerned person, who decided to do what rarely Barbadians do, when they have heard a rumor about someone, and that is to approach them directly about it.

Even though I was surprised what this individual informed me on what people were saying concerning me, in this country. Indeed, I was not disappointed, since it is systemic in our culture to gossip about individuals regardless of the consequences this behavior may cause. Hence the law of libel is there to protect such innocent parties.

In any event, I would like to “clear the air” as it relates to these rumors which according to my anonymous friend were circulating for the last 5 or so years, to which I obviously had no idea, until now.

Skip to Malou: Awesome!

Found a new Bajan blog. Love it.

Your mileage may vary!

(But I’m in love)

Cliverton

Barbados Free Press down and up: WordPress says “Oops. Sorry!”

Glitch at WordPress takes down Barbados Free Press for hours

Well, that was exciting! We were down for hours – although it felt like weeks. Readers arriving at Barbados Free Press from the wee hours of Wednesday morning until about 10am were greeted with a notice from WordPress that BFP had been suspended and taken down for violations of WordPress policy.

Wuhloss!!!

Over a hundred readers from all over the world sent emails wondering where we were and offering condolences, support and advice. One reader invited us to a big birthday celebration happening this Friday, but, alas, we cannot come.

We tried to contact WordPress to straighten the situation out but they be in California and well, you know California! Besides being several hours behind us, they’re always stoned or clubbing. Hey… we’ve seen the movies from the 1980’s so we know wats fuh true!

The phones started ringing in Grape Hall at about 3:10am and the messages of support from BFP readers tell the story. Here’s parts of the messages left on the BFP confidential phone number by our fans…

3:11am

“Marcus. HA! Got you, you Negrocrat! You wild boy! Let this be a lesson to you not to F*CK wid me, Owen Arthur! When I am YOUR PRIME MINISTER AGAIN your ass is one sorry creature… When I… damn. Honey! Spill my libation. Bring me another will you love? Where was I? Marcus, your ass is one sorry…”

4:54am

“Did you think you could get away with it forever? Putting me in a dress wid TITS! I will get you if it is the last thing I do.”

8:29am

“Hee, hee, hee. Ha Ha Ha. Ho, Ho, Ho! Ya Wankers!“

9:41am

“Hi Marcus,

Anthony here from WordPress. Our apologies. The system should not have done that. We have removed the warning in your dashboard and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused.

It was all Matt’s fault. That’s right. It’s always Matt Mullenweg’s fault. He’s a wanker! What can you expect from a guy who uses a Dvorak keyboard?”

BFP’s Marcus replies to WordPress…

No problem, Anthony. We think Matt’s a great guy. His vision and commitment to freedom of speech and providing a voice for the ordinary person makes him a giant and a righteous man. If the WordPress code has a little ghost in the machine, it’s a small matter.

Cheers!

Marcus, Shona, George, Robert, Cliverton, Nevermind Kurt and Auntie Moses

Ian Bourne’s Bajan Reporter “Account Suspended”

Visitors to The Bajan Reporter news website this morning were greeted with a screen announcing “Account Suspended”. Calls to Mr. Bourne’s home were unanswered as of 3:10am. (Just kidding!)

Did he forget to pay a small internet hosting invoice? Has he decided to quit journalism for a full time job at Chefette or KFC? (There go the profits!) Has the government finally decided that they just can’t take anymore of Bourne’s journalism with integrity?

Stay tuned folks! No doubt Mr. Bourne will make an announcement after breakfast when he fires up the old PC and says, “Huh?”

Goodbye from Vancouver writer blogger Derek Miller

“Here it is. I’m dead, and this is my last post to my blog. In advance, I asked that once my body finally shut down from the punishments of my cancer, then my family and friends publish this prepared message I wrote – the first part of the process of turning this from an active website to an archive.

If you knew me at all in real life, you probably heard the news already from another source, but however you found out, consider this a confirmation: I was born on June 30, 1969 in Vancouver, Canada, and I died in Burnaby on May 3, 2011, age 41, of complications from stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer. We all knew this was coming.

That includes my family and friends, and my parents Hilkka and Juergen Karl. My daughters Lauren, age 11, and Marina, who’s 13, have known as much as we could tell them since I first found I had cancer. It’s become part of their lives, alas…”

from Derek Miller’s The last post

Thank you Derek – for the example of your courage, your dignity and the smiles right until the end. And somehow, if you’re reading this, I think you’re smiling still.

Attorney Donna Symmonds receives public apology from Barbados Free Press – sort of, but not really.

Updated April 18, 2011

Well folks, it looks like we can’t get a straight answer from Attorney Donna Symmonds or her client. Yup, Symmonds was in the mood to sue the heck out of poor old BFP until we started asking some very basic questions about whether her client had properly reported to the tax people.

Alright, we’ll put this article back into the list and that will be that.

Don’t know why it’s so difficult for some folks to just tell the truth straight up. It would be good if Bajans knew for certain whether the charges against the lawyer client were her carelessness or improper actions by government workers.

Updated April 15, 2011:

Bajans await a straight answer from Attorney Donna Symmonds or her client.

Weasel words from Attorney insider?

Attorney-at-law avoiding the truth?

Government tax authorities unfairly maligned by Attorney?

This story is gaining legs and certainly has the interest of our readers who want to know if the Attorney-at-Law “client” who is the subject of our story was unfairly charged by Barbados tax authorities or, as is looking ever more possible – was responsible for her own troubles.

At the center of the story is the question as to when “the client” who was charged with tax offenses (and who is an attorney at law herself) notified the Barbados tax authorities that she was no longer resident in Barbados.

If she properly notified the tax authorities years ago in writing and the government fouled up, then Bajans deserve to know about this unreasonable harassment by government officials.

But if the attorney at law “client” only notified the tax authorities after she was charged, and after ignoring years of tax demand letters, that means that the tax charges were fairly laid and that the attorney-at-law is hardly an innocent victim.

We’ve been trying to discover the truth, but so far all we get is silence and anonymous weasel words left as comments by an obvious insider.

The longer that Attorney at Law Donna Symmonds remains silent on this issue while screaming loudly about charges being dropped, the more it looks like the Attorney At Law “client” was charged due to her own negligence.

As we originally wrote to Attorney Donna Symmonds:

“Folks would like to know whether the fault is the government’s or your client’s and it would only be ethical to let the public know. That’s only fair to the government workers.

I mean, if it’s not the government’s fault, you wouldn’t want the public thinking it was, would you?”

Bajans await a straight answer from Attorney Donna Symmonds or her client.

Our original article published April 14, 2011…

“Our apology appears a little later in this article.”

Attorney says Client’s Charges Dropped! The Nation failed to report that all charges were dropped.

Why did Barbados lawyer Donna Symmonds publish a public letter on the internet instead of sending a private email?

Donna Symmonds (courtesy BBC)

Dear Attorney Donna Symmonds,

We just noticed today that you posted a letter to BFP as a public comment on April 11, 2011 on our story New Barbados Tourism Authority Director charged with tax evasion? (Your public comment is repeated at the end of this article.)

Victoria, Canada: Times Colonist quotes BFP’s own Auntie Moses

The line between “real” news organisations and folks like us publishing blogs from our bedrooms and kitchen tables continues to blur as an increasingly understaffed “real” news media once again quotes from Barbados Free Press in a desperate attempt to make deadline. We’re not complaining or bragging – it’s just an observation…

Prime Minister Stephen Harper also visited the island last year, with Canadian media in tow.

As one Bajan, “Auntie Moses,” said at the time on the Barbados Free Press website: “Keep smiling and get them cold tourists down here!”

…from the Victoria & Vancouver Island Times Colonist article Barbados: Take in an authentic Caribbean experience

Mia Mottley: Internet, Social Media wonderful if you agree with my position on everything

When in government, Mottley was against Internet free speech.

“[Blogs] will marginalise our existence as parliaments and will cause disrespect, not just for the rule of law, but for the institutions that are required to keep our societies safe,”

July 19, 2006: Barbados Deputy Prime Minister Says Internet Blogs “Marginalize…Parliament” – Calls For Regulation of Blogs, Call-In Shows On Radio, Television

How things change now that the BLP is out of power!

Former Opposition Leader Mia Mottley, is suggesting that Barbadians use social media as an avenue to create change in the society.

Mottley said social media should be used as a democratic forum to evoke change.

“We have the perfect opportunity now to use that technology but marrying it to the essence of who we are as Bajans in terms of our commitment to social justice and the other values that made us who we are over the centuries…” she said.

Mottley called on young people to start tackling issues they felt passionate about since “democracy is about the people”.

The politician further urged people to use Facebook and Twitter for “meaningful activities that effectively expands our opportunities for success”…

… from The Nation article Create change with social media

As usual we’re going to reprint the entire Nation article here at BFP because that paper has shown it will delete and change articles to change history. Please read the article at the Nation, but if it changes or disappears, here it is…

TCIpost: Blogging “a dangerous journey”

“I must also thank all the bloggers and websites that supported me during what turned out to be a dangerous journey. I never expected the hatred, personal verbal attacks and hacks that came my way.”

“I have survived again but only just – I mean the tcipost. I have lost a considerable amount of data but I have not lost hope. The message should by now be embedded in the minds of Turks and Caicos Islanders. Freedom and democracy should never be suspended because of a corruption investigation. Britain is about to change our constitution to make all Turks and Caicos Islanders ceremonial citizens in their own land. The constitution will take powers away from the local population and put it in the hands of unelected British officials…”

John of TCIpost.com explains what happened to the blog and to him.

(Editor’s note to John: You link to the wrong website. We haven’t had anything to do with barbadosfreepress.com in years and years.)

Controversial Turks and Caicos blog disappears. Did the UK government get to TCI Post?

TCI Post criticized United Kingdom government, Sir David Simmons

A hard hitting blog calling for Turks and Caicos independence disappeared overnight without notice. Visitors to TCIpost.com are now met with an administrative page for Trendy Site Builder.

We can’t say that this comes a surprise to Barbados Free Press. We couldn’t believe TCIpost.com lasted as long as it did because the bloggers foolishly registered a domain and rented a server instead of locating at a free service like WordPress.com, Blogger or similar. Sure, the name TCIpost.com was registered through a proxy domain service, but a lawyer’s letter or a couple of dollars in the right pocket would take care of that, wouldn’t it?

Mark Pickering, meet Mark Atkinson… and bring some Certified Angus Beef

What do American cowboys think of Barbados?

What do Bajans think about Kansas beef?

Beef and Barbados, but our story is about much more than that subject…

Congratulations to Mark Atkinson who is the new executive chef at Tamarind Cove. I read about him in Barbados Today’s article Tamarind Cove gets new top chef where we also stole borrowed the above photo.

Mark Pickering is in charge of sales for Hotel Food Supplies in Bridgetown and although I don’t know him, I know about his work because I chanced upon a very interesting article in Drovers Cattle Network magazine: Five Minutes with Mark Pickering, hotel food supplies in Barbados.

The two Marks probably already know each other. I surmised that after reading a US cattleman’s magazine article about selling beef to Barbados. Thanks to the internet, I now have a better appreciation about how Bajans and their guests like their beef and how that differs from the South American markets and suppliers.

But that’s not the real message of this post.

New threats against Barbados blogger Ian Bourne, Bajan Reporter blog

BLP says Bourne “taking this freedom of the press thing too far”

Most of the writers at Barbados Free Press choose to remain anonymous. Ian Bourne (photo above), Adrian Loveridge and other bloggers who have the courage to publish under their own names have paid the price over the years. Bourne and Loveridge experienced death threats and worse because they put their names to their words. Loveridge was fired from a couple of positions and had his weekly newspaper column killed by the Minister of Tourism because he was critical of the government, if ever so gentle.

After reading of new threats to Ian Bourne, we staff at BFP will continue to remain anonymous, thank you very much.

Donville Mayers reads the news at Bajan TV

“It is expected that scores of people will line the streets of St. John to get a glimpse of their Queen…”

Man decides to start reading his own Bajan TV News on the internet. And why not? Another voice in the mix and I rather enjoy watching Donville throw in the odd little aside as he covers the stories of the day as he sees them.

We’d like to see him try some on the spot outside reporting and perhaps get into some editing of photos or videos into the presentation but mainly we hope he keeps at it! Barbados needs more citizen journalists because we can’t count on the professionals who are prevented from covering many important news stories.

(Two technical observations for Donville: You need a little more lighting to the front and you need your microphone placed closer or some other solution to get rid of a little echo or hollow sound in the background.)

Click on the photo or the link to watch Donville’s latest news report.

Bajan TV News

The Telegraph, Calcutta: Editorial about poor China-India relations mentions Barbados Free Press as a cause!

According to an editorial in The Telegraph – the largest English-language daily paper in Eastern India – some of the troubles between China and India are the natural result of…

…Barbados Free Press.

Yup. Really.

“As noted above, there is much that is wrong with India’s media and its interaction with centres of power, whether official, political or mercantile. But since Wen conceded its freedom, he cannot blame Delhi for the “damage” newspaper reports have supposedly done to bilateral ties. Both governments have the true measure of the media’s capability, and it isn’t plausible either to claim that national leaders have to strive to “repair the damage and harm” done by irresponsible Indian coverage. Wen’s real fear is probably the impact of Indian reports on the Chinese people (domestic and overseas) in this internet age of Facebook, Twitter and mass-distribution text messages on mobile phones. Never forget that pagers and the fax machine spurred the Tiananmen Square protests. More recently, the tiny Barbados Free Press website reported…“

Continue reading The Telegraph editorial by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray A Study in Contrasts