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Last night's TV news on Channel 7 and Channel 5
Also with the most recent Open Your Eyes, and the Dickie Bradley Specials


The San Pedro Sun

Unknown vessel causes significant damage to the reef at Shark Ray Alley
Hol Chan Marine Reserve is asking the public's assistance in investigating an incident that has left a significant strand of Acopora palmate (Elkhorn Coral) of the main reef damaged. It is believed that sometime on Sunday night, a boat ran aground the reef at Shark Ray Alley, located within the marine reserve. The vessel was pulled out unnoticed, but the impact is significant. On Monday August 5th, Hol Chan Marine Reserve office was informed of the incident after damages left behind by the vessel were clearly observed. "A vessel did run aground the reef and we highly suspect it occurred some part of Sunday (August 4th) night because when we visited the site on Monday, the damages were fresh. The damage done to the reef is significant. A lot of the corals were overturned and the Elkhorn Coral were broken into a lot of little pieces. It was just a lot of damage," Kirah Forman, Marine Biologist at Hol Chan Marine Reserve. The damage to the reef was done in two areas, but the largest impacted area measures 85 feet by 42 feet. "Because of the size of the area that was damaged, we believe it was a large vessel. It must have been something larger than the tour boats," added Forman.

Ambergris Today

Belize at Miss World and Miss America Latina Pageants
Lovely Destinee Arnold just recently won the title of Miss Costa Maya International 2013-2014 and is off to represent Belize at the Miss United Continent Pageant in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but there are two more Belizean beauties who will be proudly representing Belize in two international pageants. Idolly Saldivar, Miss World Belize 2013-2014, will have the task of representing Belize at this year's Miss World Pageant in Jakarta, Indonesia while Karen Middleton, Miss America Latina Del Mundo Belize 2013-2014, will participate in the Miss America Latina Del Mundo Pageant in Cancun, Mexico. Miss World Belize 2013-2014 will be represented by Miss Idolly Louise Saldivar of Belize City at the 63rd Miss World Final Contest to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Miss Salidvar is a beautiful model with black hair, dark brown eyes, 5ft 5in tall and is a graduate from Palloti High School in Academic Science. She also earned an Associate Degree in General Studies from St. John's College, School of Liberal Arts. Her future ambition is to become a dentist.

Professional Triathlete Casey Bateman Hosts Summer Swim Splash in Belize
The Lighthouse Christian Radio Ministry and Casey Bateman US National Team Triathlete hosted a Summer Swim Splash Camp in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize this week. The three-day event took place from Monday, August 12, to Wednesday, August 14, 2013 in front of the Holiday Hotel and hosted 32 students. "It was a really nice experience; these children are amazing," commented Casey Bateman to Ambergris Today. "The small children were taught basic skills on how to float and swim safety while the more advanced children were taught stroke refinement and triathlon work outs." The event was a total success and Bateman hopes to make it an annual event and hopefully have the cooperation of the business community for the benefit of the children of San Pedro.

Misc Belizean Sources

Sports Commentary: Reaction to 'Was Queens Park Rangers the Greatest?'
By Wellington C. Ramos Former All Orange Walk Player I want to clarify some issues related to the article "Was Queens Park Rangers The Greatest?" that was published in the Amandala sport section August 9, 2013, by my friend Michael Finnegan. Before the team was taken over by Mr Frank Sharp, the name of the team was "Rovers", which was founded, coached and trained by Dundee Lino D-Line because he was disliked after Queens Park Rangers lost the Inter-district Competition to Orange Walk Selection in the late 1960s. He was accused of selling out the game with the goalkeeper Ramball Rodriguez. All Belize won the Inter-district Competition for some years until 1975 when I started playing for All Orange Walk, with Enrique Carballo, Gregzie Jones, Nolie Leiva, Cheesie Flowers, Studd Hendricks, Mark Anthony Chavarria, Matthew Williams, Romaldo Lambey, Matutue, Daniel Cacho, Renan Briceno, Bunz Bennett, Harrier Laing. We were the first team to defeat All Belize convincingly at MCC grounds. After the game we had to get a police escort out of the park inside our bus. The Belize City people were stoning the bus with bottles and cursing us out because they were angry that they lost. Delhart Courtney was the referee for that game. Dean Lindo took our team to Picwick Club beside MCC Grounds for a treat that evening.

Waste disposal on North Ambergris Caye
Residents and Businesses on North Ambergris Caye, please contact the Town Foreman, Mr. Samuel Gonzalez to establish a drop off station for the disposal of your waste. You may contact him on his mobile number: 661-2275 or 627-9412

Galen Eagles Band Reaches Carifesta
The Galen Eagles Band, along with the Belize National Dance Company, and Joris Hendrik, have arrived in Suriname to represent Belize at Carifesta IX. In related news, the Galen Eagles Band has submitted a video to the Belize Celebrations video competition on fb, entitled Proud of My Belize, which was written by Shannelly Sutherland, and it will be performed at Carifesta.

Rotaract Cristo Rey Book Project
Feelgood news of the day. The Rotaract club had their Cristo Rey Book project recently. Thanks, Rotaract! In related news, they are starting up their Sunday Bingo again, starting this Sunday at Hode's. All proceeds go to their noble causes of helping out the community. "Thanks to everyone who showed up to help with our ongoing book project. We have some exciting longterm plans to help out high school kids! Stay tuned!!"

SFDC Deccenial Anniversary Preparations
The Succutz Festival Drum Corps is getting ready for their Deccenial anniversary this Saturday. It'll be an all day event, starting early Saturday morning. "The band is now in its Decennial Anniversary. We take this time to do the necessary preparations to celebrate 10 years of existence and bringing out the very best of our Belizean youths. It is not every day that we conclude that what was aspired emerged into one of the highlight of our village and also our country, and for that, we plan to celebrate it immensely!"

Channel 7

Stevedores Trying To Push Out "Pancho"
Right now at the Bishop Sylvester Memorial Center in Belize City, the Waterfront Workers are meeting with other members of the Christian Workers Union, trying to get their support to rally against union president Antonio Gonzalez. As we've reported, the waterfront workers want him to resign immediately. Gonzalez has agreed to step down after an Annual General Meeting on March 14th, 2014. Today, the leaders of the waterfront workers told us why they are calling on their fellow CWU members from other organization to push out Pancho: Raymond Rivers - Waterfront Workers Representative "This meeting this evening is for us to bring awareness to Central Bank, Social Security, DFC, Banana Growing, Stevedore and all the other organizations that are registered under Christian Workers Union because Mr. Gonzalez has failed to give us a financial report, failed to have election, failed everything but live good from our money. We are sure that he receives approximately $200,000 a year from all the entities and that is what concerns me most of all."

Land Grab Against Gaynair?
Ian Gaynair is the star member of the Belize's National Team, Jaguars, who scored Belize's only goal in the Gold Cup. He is also 1 of 2 members who has been honored locally and internationally for turning down money from a match fixer. Tonight, however, he's back in the news because a parcel of land which he has claims to was taken away from him. Gaynair was granted lease approval for lot number 9236 on Holy Emmanuel Street near the Gungulung Area of Lake Independence. He's invested to develop the piece of land, and June of this year, he discovered that he no longer has any claims to it. That's because it was given to another someone else, who now has title to this piece of land. Gaynair went to renew his driver's license in June, which he couldn't do because he had outstanding property taxes. So, when he attempted to pay for the taxes in relation to this piece of land, he was informed that it no longer belongs to him. 7News understands that he hasn't paid property taxes for the land. We contacted him for comment, which he declined. Gaynair works for the Vital Statistics Unit, a Government department.

Seawell Before The Supreme Court
Last week, 7News told you about the much-delayed Habeas Corpus Hearing for Mark Seawell. He's wanted by the United States for narcotics trafficking, and he's been on remand for over 7 years. And since 2011, he's been trying to get this hearing in the Supreme Court. Well, today, finally, his attorney, Arthur Saldivar was able to begin presenting his case to Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin. Saldivar addressed CJ Benjamin for a little over 3 hours this afternoon, and after the case was adjourned, 7News spoke to him about his impression of how the arguments were being received. Here's how he explained it: Arthur Saldivar - Attorney for Mark Seawell "The hearing has started on the habeas corpus application and these things are limited in relation to what we can argue on. It has to come on the abuse of process principle and it has to basically be kept within the confines of what is allowed in these particular instances. Certainly what we have put forward thus far relates to what we consider to be important in terms of the likelihood of a fair trial or the fact that one may be impossible should Mr. Seawell be extradited. But at the end of the day, I believe that for the most part the submission has carried through what we would want to be presented and we look forward to tomorrow to continue in concluding."

No Clues In Death Of New Zealander
Who killed elderly Crooked Tree Resident, 76 year old Barry Blayney - who is originally from New Zealand. A number of persons have been taken in for questioning, but Belize District Rural Police still have no major leads. His body was discovered yesterday afternoon in his house with his hands and feet bound, with a piece of cloth over his head, and his mouth taped up. There were no signs of physical violence on his body, and one theory is that he may have been tied up by robbers, and because he has breathing problems, the tape on his mouth could have caused his death. But that's just a theory investigators have - and it's far from conclusive. According to the residents, Blayney moved to Crooked Tree almost 10 years ago. Police have not been able to contact his family because there is no New Zealand Consular Representative in Belize.

The Details Of the MOU
Last night, we gave you a snapshot of the plans for the Norwegian Cruise Destination at Harvest Caye in Southern Belize. They're promising investment of 50 million US dollars in a destination that will be opened up in two years, and which will create directly and indirectly over a thousand jobs. But it's not completely a done deal - right now its just a memorandum of understanding, which we'll look more closely at in tonight's story: Jules Vasquez reporting The eight page, 23 point Memorandum of Understanding, dated July 31st, 2013, is the product of long negotiation according to Minister Godwin Hulse: Hon. Godwin Hulse - Chair, Cabinet Investment Committee "There have been many presentations of MOU's and the final one that will be presented today will clear up a bit of confusion because there's been - I think it started with about draft 6, we're at draft 10 but they caught up on us on draft 6 and moved steadily through the various progressions." The final signing was done on July 31st by trade minister Erwin Contreras who attended yesterday's event, but as is his style, did not speak or take the head table. His CEO Mike Singh outlined one of the controversial points of the MOU - the head tax arrangement:

BTIA Stays Bex, Says It's Crackhead Economics, On Steroids!
And while it's a big pitch being made, the president of the Placencia Chapter of the BTIA Stewart Krohn is not convinced Krohn and overnight tourism interests in Placencia have been opposing the plan from the very start - and today he told us, he still believes it can be vigorously and effectively opposed - especially the head tax: Stewart Khron - BTIA, President, Placencia "All I can say is that I hate to bring back this crackhead analogy - but I know crackheads on the street who are better negotiators than the people who negotiated this agreement. To say that you are now limiting yourself, you will review the head tax once every five years? Do you think the Income Tax or the GST department can make a commitment to review the GST only once every five years? This is insanity and then after five years and they somehow summon the courage to raise it by $1.00, which is the limit to which they will raise it, out of the $1.00 then $0.50 is going to go to NCL? This is the ultimate crackhead MOU." Jules Vasquez "It will happen - like it or not." Stewart Khron "Who says it will happen, like it or not? It not over until it's over Jules. You of all people know that in Belizean politics, strange events can intervene. Next week you might see an NCL ship crash on the Belize reef - with that be a game changer? Yes it would. Whenever someone tells you that it's a done deal - what they're really telling you is that might not be a done deal but they would love for it to be a done deal. I would like to tell people out there - particularly people outside of the South who might be sitting on the sidelines and saying 'well yeah I kind of sympathize with the people down there, but it's a done deal so I'll just shut up'. It's not a done deal and we've seen before in Belizean history, if the people raise their voices loudly enough then even done deals can be undone."

American From San Pedro Committed Suicide In City
Tonight, the body of 43 year-old American Belizean Timothy James Callanan, a resident of San Pedro Town, is at the KHMH awaiting a post-mortem, after it was discovered at around 5 yesterday evening at the Golden Tree Hotel. At this point, police believe that he killed himself. Callanan arrived at the hotel at around midday on Tuesday, and he was supposed to have only spent the overnight. So, when the receptionist noticed that he hadn't left up to four pm the following day, she decided to check up on him, and that's when she discovered his body. She contacted the police, who responded and retrieved the body. They found various suicide notes. He was last seen leaving Dean Lindo's law firm on Church Street at 11 am on Tuesday. Lindo reports that he was on his way to Burt Bradley but never made it there or to any of his appointments.

Bumper To Bumper Fender Bender
The northern highway is always bumper to bumper in the morning rush hour, and today that caused a four vehicle pile-up. It happened in front of Benny's Warehouse at around 8:00 when one of the drivers didn't see the vehicle in front of him come to a stop. That led a driver to rear end him, and then another, and then another in a chain reaction. When it was all over, a Dodge Neon had suffered the most serious damaged with its transmission wrecked. It's not big news, but we are highlighting a recurrent problem in that area where traffic slows and drivers tend to skylark.

Budna Gets Over Some Legal Hurdles
Joseph Budna has gotten some of his legal worries out of the way. As we told you, last year in Guatemala he was charged with kidnapping, conspiracy and illicit association with other criminals. According the Guatemalan press, Budna was the leader of a ring of criminals specializing in international kidnappings in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. Well he contacted us from Guatemala where he told us that 6 days ago - he had a breakthrough in the Peten Supreme Court - when he proved that the policeman who shot him during his September 2012 arrest had something personal against him: Voice of: Joseph Budna - From Peten, Guatemala "As you know I was charged for attempted murder and as well for an unlicensed firearm - that was a .40 firearm which police claimed at the time of my arrest that I fired shots after them. Now, I could tell you that that was false and at the Supreme Court in Peten that was proven to be false and that was the reason why the Supreme Court of that jurisdiction had set me free of attempted murder and an unlicensed firearm charges. This was one of the previous cases in Peten that I opened gun shot against them and kidnapped police in Peten, after they tried to apprehend me. None of the police weapon, none of the police bullets that they fired at me was taken before the court - I told the judge that it is without any doubt that the firearm was what they called 'quemal' and what is called on the street - means a firearm was used that was not registered and it was illegal. So I have the judge believe that these police officer - rather than arrested me, they reached to eliminate me for special interest."

NTUCB Supports Public Finance Reform
The National Trade Union Congress of Belize supports the proposed re-structuring of the public accounts committee. As we showed you on Friday, the motion was presented to the house by PUP Representative Julius Espat but soundly rejected by the House Speaker. But the NTUCB says it represents a unique opportunity to enhance participatory democracy and signal to the people that there is political will to reform isntituions. In the statement, the NTUCB lament s that, quote, "the government came into office on a platform of reform but sadly they have not done enough." They are asking the government to take ownership of the motion and ensure restructuring of the Accounts Committee. The Prime Minister has said that the restructuring as proposed by Espat would up-end the house standing orders and goes against the very basis of the parliamentary system.

Belize U-15 Footballers Await Jamaica
Tonight, the Belize U-15 National Football Team is in the Cayman Islands, and they are awaiting their second match. As we reported, the team defeated Saint Lucia with a score of 1-0 on Wednesday. The goal came from Alvin Siftones, who scored in the twenty-first minute of the second half. According the Football Federation of Belize, there were Belizean fans who were present in the stadium, and they gave tremendous support. The team is resting up for their next game against Jamaica, which they will play at around 6 tomorrow evening.

Garifuna Collective Launches "Ayo" In Belize
The Garifuna Collective has toured North America in support of their new album "Ayo" and now they've come back to Belize to launch the album locally. The album has been praised by music reviewers worldwide for creating a magical album filled with songs of "heartbreak, hope and joy." Indeed, the album produced and recorded at Stonetree records in Benque Viejo is a major cultural product- and today some of the band members told us why you should get it: Al Ovando - Bassist, Ga rifuna Collective "This is the officially day of release for the album 'Ayo' - it's a tribute to Andy Palacio - it's the second album of the Garifuna Collective band itself and it's just a continuation of what Andy started and we are just officially launching it today and letting the public know that it is now available in the stores. We'd like everyone to support and make sure everyone gets a copy." Desiree Diego - Vocalist, Garifuna Collective "It means a whole lot to us, to add to what Al said - it's a tribute to Andy, bidding him farewell and also working on new songs. I must say that I want everybody to get a copy of this CD, who could purchase it and listen to it; vibes up with the CD and us working along with the public."

Profile Of a Stroke Of Luck, And Hard Work
Tonight's profile is about Doctor Priscilla Brown Lopez - who was born in Lucky Strike Village in difficult circumstances. Tonight she tells the profile how a stroke of luck landed this lucky strike girl in the teaching profession:

PG Youth Volunteers Walk The Line
This summer, we've told you about all kinds of camps, but in the great outdoors of PG, they do things a little differently. Wil Maheia of the Belize Territorial Volunteers took this group of kids to the border - at the banks of the Upper Temash. It was a full day of activity, as they made the trek to the border, complete with lessons in map reading, and flag waving.

A Concert For Carnival Cash
On Saturday night, six carnival senior bands will be competing against each other at the 4th annual Soca Madness Competition. It's an event organized each year by Flavaz Entertainment - mainly to give a helping hand with some financial support to the winning bands. We all know carnival is fun but is also costly - and so this Saturday, these senior bands will be putting on a show in front of an audience - in hopes of winning hundreds of dollars. The organizer told us more: Andazi - Organizer, Flavaz Entertainment "Today, August 17th at the MCC Tennis Court - it's just going to be a big party. Basically it's a dance competition between 6 of the senior bands in this year's carnival road march and we're going to be giving away prizes to the different carnival bands and this is all in aid of helping them prepare for the road march. Basically we have three rounds for the competition - we will have a freestyle round where we will just throw music out at them and then they will do their thing on stage. Then they'll have an audience response round where they really have to work for the attention of the crowd. Finally, we have a little carnival costume competition.

Channel 5

N.T.U.C.B. supports restructuring Public Accounts Committee
There have been a great deal of verbal fireworks on both sides of the floor in the House of Representatives recently, including blistering remarks by chairman Julius Espat, regarding the [...]

The Norwegian men explain why the Harvest Caye Port is needed
The ink on the Memorandum of Understanding between Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and the Government of Belize has been dry from July thirty first. Minister Godwin Hulse said that it [...]

B.T.I.A. Placencia Chairman maintains NCL is a bad deal for Belize
You've heard about the minimum of twenty-five percent of the passengers guaranteed to go on tours�.that numerical amount continued to resound in the MOU as the government agreed to a [...]

Missing San Pedro businessman found dead in Belize City Hotel
Earlier this week, a missing person's bulletin was in circulation within the media concerning the whereabouts of forty-three year old Timothy James Callanan, a naturalized Belizean businessman of San Pedro [...]

Lease land taken away from celebrated Jaguar, Ian Gaynair
He scored the only goal for Team Belize in the Gold Cup in July. He received international acclaim and recognition from CONCACAF and FIFA for turning down a bribe to [...]

Mark King wants a 'reversible' apology?
Self-proclaimed Minister of Gangs Mark King will be taking KREM News to court, or at least he claims he will if they do not issue a public apology to him. [...]

The long winding and bumpy road to Sarteneja
On Wednesday's newscast we showed you one of the biggest problems affecting the thirty-five residents of the seaside community of Sarteneja. The water system is broken, and there has been [...]

Ferry in Corozal closes and villagers suffer miles of consequences
The Ministry of Works is currently rehabilitating the Copper Bank/Chunox Ferry in the Corozal district. Normally that would be good news, but residents of the communities of Sarteneja, Progresso, Chunox [...]

It started with a stolen cow, but ended with pointed gun
Thirty-one year old Jerome Crawford, of Hattieville, is tonight on remand at the Belize Central Prison, following an incident in the village on Wednesday during which he allegedly pulled a [...]

High school student busted on burglary charges
A nineteen year old student of Maud Williams High School is on pretrial detention at the Belize Central Prison after being charged with burglary and handling stolen goods.� Salvadoran national [...]

Will Mark Seawell be extradited to the U.S.A.?
The protracted case of Mark Seawell, wanted by U.S. authorities on a slew of drug-related offenses, resumed today in the Supreme Court chamber of Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin.� Seawell, who [...]

Mayor and delegation back from developing sister city relations
While Seawell fights extradition to the US, a local contingent of Belizeans recently returned from a tour of parts of America.� Forming and sustaining sister city relationships is one way [...]

Some real old time fire hearth cooking in Willows Bank
This Saturday, Willows Bank will come alive once again for its third annual Fire-Hearth Festival. And the name speaks for itself�the celebration features a fire hearth cook-off where a representative [...]

Garifuna Collective release Ayo, a tribute to Andy Palacio
They are back in the Jewel�.the Garifuna Collective is back from a tour in North America where they were featured in thirty-eight festivals and made appearances in twenty-five cities. The [...]

Healthy Living gets its cholesterol checked
Most people find out they have high cholesterol while conducting routine screening tests.� Even so, high cholesterol is diagnosed in Belize on a daily basis. It is a worrisome situation [...]