THE EDITOR SPEAKS: QUANTITY DOESN’T EQUAL QUALITY

The decision by the government to allow around 1,500 workers, many in the tourism sector, the chance to stay when their permits expire in October has angered many and equally been applauded.

The tourists industry doesn’t just want people. It wants EXPERIENCED people. Tourism is our lifeblood. Unfortunately for Mr Ezzard Miller no two persons are equal.

Would Miller welcome an inexperienced Caymanian executing an operation on his heart at the expense of an experienced work permit holder?

I mention our super backbencher, North Side member of the Legislative Assembly who has told the media he is willing to go through the details of all of the Term Limit Exemption Permits (TLEP) issued by the immigration department to see if he can help match the jobs to Caymanians.

Whilst it is easy to try and match up brain surgeons it is not so easy to match persons in the tourism industry.

“I will do whatever it takes to ensure that the law is enforced and wherever a job is held by a permit holder, if there is a local person ready, willing and able to do that job they will be given the post,” Miller said. “This is what government should have done before they announced that they would all be allowed to stay.”

His last statement saying government should have gone through the details of all of the Term Limit Exemption Permits (TLEP) issued by the immigration department to see if there was a job match to Caymanians is unfair.

There was absolutely no time for them to do this. They had to make an announcement quickly as the two year extension to their five year work permits put in place by the Bush government had only a matter of a few months to expire.

You are dealing with people and whether they are Caymanians or work permit holders they all have the same feelings, the same frustrations but NOT the same skills.

You cannot treat people as if they are numbers and can be placed in a ‘Yes” box or a “No” box just by looking at numbers on a piece of paper.

The country will suffer if that is done Mr. Miller. If you care to read the news articles iNews publishes from all over the Caribbean you will see other countries are scrambling to find the BEST persons in the areas of tourism because that is where they get the bulk of their revenue from.

If two persons are EQUALLY qualified and one is a Caymanian, of course he or she should be given preference.

The word EQUALLY is the criteria and how do you measure that except by actually interviewing both persons.

Does Miller have the time to do that? I fear not. He can interview his North Side constituents who are out of work. He is asking them to “come along and go through the list — once he gets the necessary information from immigration — so he can see how accurate the assumptions are that the jobs are ones that locals don’t want or are not qualified for”. That won’t take long.

Just looking at a list doesn’t take long either.

But it is quality over quantity. If that doesn’t happen we all will suffer.

 

REPEATED RAPES OF 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL GETS MAN 30 DAYS IN JAIL, AND THAT’S MORE THAN MOST

By Crystal Shepeard From Care2

In 2008, police and school officials learned that a Montana senior high school teacher, 49-year-old Stacey Dean Rambold, had engaged in a sexual relationship with one of his students when she was just 14 years old. He would be charged with three counts of sexual intercourse without consent in that same year.  The case was pending when his victim, Cherice Morales, committed suicide just a few weeks before her 17th birthday.

Her mother testified that the abuse was a key factor in her death.

After her death, Rambold entered into an agreement with the prosecution where he admitted to one count of rape. Charges would be dismissed if he complied with conditions of the agreement, including completion of a sex offender treatment program. Rambold was terminated from the treatment program in November 2012 after it was learned he was having unsupervised visits with teenage relatives in violation of the agreement.

The next month, the prosecution reopened the case.

Earlier this week, Judge G. Todd Baugh sentenced Rambold to 15 years in prison after Rambold pleaded guilty in April to a single felony charge of rape. In a move that was met with outrage, Judge Baugh then suspended all but 31 days of his sentence and gave him credit for one day served.

Rambold is now serving thirty days in prison for the repeated rape of a 14-year-old girl.

According to the anti-sexual abuse network RAINN, there are more than 200,000 sexual assaults in the United States alone. More than half of these assaults are never reported. The fear and stigma associated with being a victim is overwhelming. For those that do find the courage to come forward, they are further victimized by a justice system that is sometimes filled with predators who continue to abuse them.

Judge Baugh’s sentencing is just the latest in judicial insensitivity.

In Chatsworth, Georgia, Angela Garmley was in a court regarding her sexual assault by three men when Judge Bryant Cochran requested to hear her side of the story in his chambers — privately. After sharing the details of the assault, Judge Cochran began sharing his own details – about his marriage and his desire for a mistress. He then proceeded to make requests of Ms. Garmley, including for her to return to his court in a few days wearing a dress – without underwear.

Garmley did not comply.

Instead, she filed a complaint with judicial authorities and publicly outed him in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A few days after the interview appeared in the paper, Garmley was arrested for drug possession after the driver of the car she was riding in was stopped for not having dimmed the bright lights.  The officers searched the vehicle with a drug sniffing dog and crystal meth was found in a magnetic box attached to the car. The drug charges were dropped after an investigation discovered that Judge Cochran had enlisted the help of his handyman and the two arresting officers to frame Garmley in retaliation for filing the complaint.

Judge Cochran denied the charges, but later resigned from the bench. Andrea Garmley has a civil suit pending.

In August 2012, Monica Contreras was in Judge Patricia Doninger’s Las Vegas, Nevada court on a routine divorce matter. As Ms. Contreras was getting ready to leave, Marshal Ron Fox directed her into a nearby waiting room for a drug search. She never contested the drug search, even though there was no explanation or reason for him to do one. Contreras told him she would rather have a female officer in there as a witness. He refused.

Out of view of the court, Marshal Fox then instructed her to lift her shirt, and proceeded to touch her breasts and buttocks.

No drugs were found.

Upon returning to the courtroom, Contreras reported the incident to Judge Doninger — or at least she tried. She reiterated that she didn’t object to the unauthorized search but was offended that he did so without a witness.  For more than four minutes, Contreras tried to explain what happened, in detail. Judge Doninger never once looked at her.

Marshal Fox then ordered Contreras to recant her story. When she refused, through tears, he ordered her to be handcuffed and taken into custody.  She was taken to jail and her daughter was sent to foster care.

Judge Doninger said nothing.

Two months later, Contrearas filed a complaint with the Court Marshal Internal Affairs Department. After a six month investigation, where it was discovered the entire courtroom incident was caught in a harrowing video, the marshal was fired. Due to the public outcry, Judge Patricia Doninger was removed from the bench in July of this year.

Monica Contreras has also filed a civil suit

In his sentencing of Rambold, Montana Judge Baugh said he considered the recorded statements of the victim, indicating the troubled teenager was “as much in control of the situation” as her rapist because she was “older than her chronological age.”

In the ensuing outrage, the judge issued a clarifying statement saying that of course a 14-year-old can’t consent, but this wasn’t a “forcible” or “violent” rape. He added that if Rambold hadn’t violated the terms of his agreement with the prosecutors he never would have served time. In other words, he wasn’t sentenced for rape, but for violating the terms of an agreement.

This is little consolation to Cherice Morales’ family, even if Rambold’s thirty day stint is more than most rapists serve. Nearly 97 percent never serve a day.

During an interview with CNN Auliea Hanlon, Cherice’s mother, was asked if she felt the judge should resign. She responded, “If he’s going to keep handing down sentences like that and making judgments on how old people act, then yeah.”

Judge Baugh is a publicly elected judge having served for almost 30 years, winning his first election in 1984.

He is up for reelection next year.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.care2.com/causes/repeated-rapes-of-14-year-old-girl-gets-man-30-days-in-jail-and-thats-more-than-most.html

 

BESTSELLING AUTHOR LESLIE MORGAN STEINER SHARES PERSONAL STORY OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands : Books & Books in partnership with the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre is pleased to present an intimate evening with Leslie Morgan Steiner. All are invited to join the New York Times bestselling author and domestic violence survivor at the Camana Bay bookstore for the Cayman Islands launch of her eye-opening memoir, Crazy Love, on Saturday, September 14 at 7pm.

This free event will include an author presentation, group discussion and book signing.

About the Book

At 22, Leslie Morgan Steiner seemed to have it all: a Harvard diploma, a glamorous job at Seventeen magazine, a downtown New York City apartment. Plus a handsome, funny, street-smart boyfriend who adored her. But behind her façade of success, this golden girl hid a dark secret. She’d made a mistake shared by millions: she fell in love with the wrong person.

At first Leslie and Conor seemed as perfect together as their fairy-tale wedding. Then came the fights she tried to ignore: he pushed her down the stairs of the house they bought together, poured coffee grinds over her hair as she dressed for a critical job interview, choked her during an argument, and threatened her with a gun. Several times, he came close to making good on his threat to kill her. With each attack, Leslie lost another piece of herself.

Gripping and utterly compelling, Crazy Love takes you inside the violent, devastating world of abusive love. Conor said he’d been abused since he was a young boy, and love and rage danced intimately together in his psyche. Why didn’t Leslie leave? She stayed because she loved him. Find out for yourself if she had fallen truly in love – or into a psychological trap. Crazy Love will draw you in – and never let go.

Crazy Love is now available at Books & Books.

About the Author

Leslie Morgan Steiner is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Crazy Love and the editor of the critically-acclaimed anthology Mommy Wars. From 2006-2008 she wrote over 500 articles for The Washington Post’s popular online work/family blog On Balance and she currently writes the weekly column Two Cents on Working Motherhood for the website Mommy Track’d. She has appeared in countless publications, including Vogue, Self, Parenting, Newsweek, Psychology Today and The Los Angeles Times. She is also a regular guest on the Today Show, Fox News and MSNBC to name a few. Steiner holds a BA in English from Harvard and an MBA in Marketing from Wharton. Her career accomplishments include writing and editing for Seventeen magazine, launching Splenda Brand Sweetener internationally for Johnson & Johnson and five years as General Manager for the 1.1 million circulation Washington Post Magazine. She is a frequent speaker and corporate consultant on the subjects of marketing to moms and family violence.

About the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre

The Cayman Islands Crisis Centre (CICC) is a non-government charitable organisation that provides services and programmes focusing on domestic and sexual abuse through the provision of safe temporary shelter, community education and victim assistance. The only women’s safe house in the Cayman Islands, CICC has provided housing, counselling and support to more than 700 women and their children since its inception in 2003. The organisation aims to create a safe society where all individuals are equally valued and respected.

For more information, call 949.0366 or email [email protected]. If you require safe housing, call the 24 Hour Crisis Centre Hotline at 943.CICC (2422).

For up to date information on all Books & Books events in Grand Cayman, visit www.booksandbooks.com, like Books & Books (Cayman) on Facebook and follow @BooksandBooksKY on Twitter.

• Founded in 1982 by Mitchell Kaplan, Books & Books is exceptionally well-respected in the literary community as one of America’s most successful independent bookstores with three locations in South Florida – plus stores in Grand Cayman, Westhampton Beach, Miami International Airport and the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale.

• Books & Books Grand Cayman is located in the Town Centre of Camana Bay, at 45 Market Street, where it is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00am to 9:00pm. The store number is 345.640.2665.

• Books & Books was one of the first shops to open in the Town Centre of Camana Bay; Grand Cayman’s most vibrant shopping and entertainment destination. The store is designed to encourage customers to explore and creates a sense of discovery with a large section dedicated to Caymanian authors, as well as a vast number of titles of Caribbean interest. A light and airy room dedicated to children has a particularly impressive selection of picture books in addition to toys, educational games and books for kids of all ages. The new and notable fiction section includes New York Times bestsellers, while the art room has a comprehensive collection of architecture, design, photography and gardening books.

• The Books & Books International Visiting Author Series brings renowned authors from around the world to Grand Cayman. The store has hosted more than 100 writers including Salman Rushdie, Michael Ondaatje, Robert Goolrick, Alexander McCall Smith and Dylan Lauren and children’s authors and illustrators such as Mo Willems, Loren Long and Anna Dewdney.

• Sign up to receive Books & Books Grand Cayman’s free, weekly electronic newsletter of special events by visiting www.booksandbooks.com. Scroll down to the Event Newsletters section, type in your email address and select Grand Cayman Events.

For more information on Books & Books Grand Cayman, like Books & Books (Cayman) on Facebook and follow @BooksandBooksKY on Twitter.

 

CAYMAN ISLANDS REVIEWS TOURISM

By John Owens From PR Week

The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism has launched a tender process to help with Public Relations in Britain and potentially in Europe.

Cayman Islands: George Town’s Heroes Square (picture credit Roger Wollstadt)

A shortlist of agencies has now been selected after an RFP was sent out in recent weeks for the retained brief, which is understood to be currently held by Juicy Communications.

Don McDougall, who is regional manager for Europe for the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, said the work would cover the UK and possibly in Europe.

‘We’re positioning it for people looking for a new destination in the Caribbean, and we’re putting ourselves against other islands beyond the Caribbean, such as the Seychelles and Mauritius,’ he added.

‘While we will be targeting a clientele that can afford the destination, we will also be focusing on other, more niche opportunities, including diving and bird watching.’

The West Caribbean island’s Port Authority has reported a decline in cruise passenger numbers year-on-year since February, with July’s figures of 66,874 down 27.4 per cent on the same time in 2012.

The closed process, taking place because of a legal requirement, is expected to conclude by the end of September.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/1209772/cayman-islands-reviews-tourism-pr/

 

TRIAL SET FOR MAN ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ABUSE AGAINST HIS STEPDAUGHTER

A trial date has been set for January 2014 for a 27-year old man charged with 14 counts of indecent assault against a 10-year-old girl and two counts of cruelty to a child.

The man is accused of touching and rubbing up against the girl, who is his stepdaughter, inappropriately when she was aged 10 and 11 over a two year period, and exposing her to pornography while she was in his care.

The girl is now 17 years of age.

The man has pleaded “not guilty” to all charges.