POLICE have been called in to probe injuries to two children, one of whom was struck in the head by a kite on Sunday at the Queen’s Park Savannah.

The other child, Joshua McKenzie, 6, suffered burns to his right hand, allegedly at the hands of a relative from the Arima district.  The boy had gone there to spend the Easter holidays and reportedly had marks to other parts of his body, according to a newspaper report. Police sources said McKenzie’s uncle, Quentin Padressie made a report on the incident to the Arima Police Station Sunday night and acting Cpl Sylvester of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is continuing investigations.

In the other incident, police sources said three-year-old Amanda Steele is at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the St Clair Medical Centre. Asked if the child was going to survive, a male official at the institution said their prognosis was good. The police described her condition as satisfactory after undergoing emergency surgery Sunday. The young child was struck in the head after a kite went haywire, following a strong breeze.  She is the daughter of Brian and Gillian Steele, who reside in Grenada and are on holiday in Trinidad. Police said charges are unlikely to arise since it was not maliciously done. However, police sources said if the parents desire redress, they can do so.  Belmont police said the child’s father was at the station yesterday.  PC Aroon of that station is continuing investigations.

A 25-year-old motorcylist is warded in a stable condition after colliding with a car along SS Erin Road, Debe,  on Sunday night.

According to police reports, around 9 pm, Brian Junior Bruce, of Penal, along with a passenger, Fareeda Khan, were travelling north in his red and white Yamaha 250 motorcyle, when, reaching in the vicinity of Ragoobar Trace, he observed a green Datsun coming out of the street. Reports stated that Bruce attempted to swerve to avoid crashing into the car but the two collided.

Both persons were thrown off the bike, which ran off the road. The EHS ambulance arrived about half an hour later and rushed both injured persons to the San Fernando General Hospital. Khan was treated and discharged, while Bruce was treated for broken limbs, cuts and bruises and admitted to Ward 7.  PC Ramoo of the San Fernando Traffic Branch is continuing investigations.

One hundred tickets were issued for various traffic offences, a stolen van was recovered and a  man was arrested for marijuana possession during separate police exercises carried out in the southland over the Easter weekend.

The majority of tickets were issued by officers of the Mon Repos Highway Patrol led by Ag Insp Sampath, Cpl Dwarka, and including PCs Singh, Corbette, Cole, Ramjattan, Ramnarine and Roopchan between last Friday and yesterday. Seventy-three persons were ticketed for overcrowding, defective lights, no horn, breach of traffic lights and other offences.

The officers also recovered a white three tonne van, belonging to Arima Discount Mart, which was stolen on April 17, when the driver was hijacked by bandits in Gasparillo. The bandits made off with the van carrying over 20,000 worth of goods. Except for the goods, the van, which was discovered at St Johns Road, St Margarets, was intact. Yesterday a party of officers attached to Mon Repos Police, led by Cpl Nagessar, including PCs Gomez, Lall and Ladhar, issued 12 tickets for “extra” speeding to motorists travelling along the Solomon Hochoy Highway between 7 am and  11 am. And last Friday night during a three-hour road block, policemen of the San Fernando Traffic Branch led by Sgt Mohammed, ticketed 15 persons for various traffic offences.

Around 9.45 am, a 54-year-old unemployed of La Horquetta Road, Glenco, was arrested by police motorcyclist PC Sydney Gill who was  on patrol duty along Kings Wharf, San Fernando. Reports stated that the officer spotted the man smoking an unusually long cigarette and became suspicious. The officer examined the cigarette and observed that it contained marijuana. The suspect was arrested and is expected to appear before a San Fernando Magistrate today charged with possession of .8 grammes of marijuana.

Government is pressing ahead with plans to relocate the Red House.

Sources said last week that Government will be holding the  competition for local architects to design the new Parliament building. It will also be taking the issue to the House committee of the Parliament.  A source said that after these two things are done, Government will then consult with the people to find out what their views on the matter are.  “We want to take all opinions on board. Let’s hear what the people have to say,” the Government source said.

But Newsday understands that the mobilisation against the relocation of the Red House is continuing apace. A petition of thousands of signatures appealing to Government to reconsider its decision is being prepared. Representatives from different regions of the country are being selected to work on getting signatures. It is understood that the Public Services Association wrote to the Prime Minister saying that the Association was unhappy with the decision to move the Parliament out of the Red House.

The PSA, in the letter, was very firm that the relationship between Woodford Square, the people’s Parliament and the official Parliament should not be severed. The PSA asked for a meeting with the Prime Minister on the matter. The Association is awaiting a response from Prime Minister Patrick Manning to its request. But, depending on what that response is, the PSA may join the effort to collect signatures. Prime Minister Patrick Manning said recently that Government was continuing its discussions with Chief Justice, Sat Sharma, on plans to relocate the Magistrates’ courts. He said those talks which are being held with Public Administration Minister Dr Lenny Saith, Attorney General Glenda Morean and Sharma, were “very cordial”.

Sharma had criticised Government’s intention to move the Magistrate’s courts in order to construct the new Parliament building. Government has earmarked the entire block for the building.

There is no Senate today because Tobago senators had asked that Parliament be held next Tuesday since the Easter weekend is such a grand affair in the sister isle. All energies in Tobago are spent on that weekend, they contended. And the Government agreed with this position.

Debate, thus, on the Anti-Kidnapping Bill will continue on Tuesday 29. In the interim however, Independent Senator Ramesh Deosaran is calling on Government to lay the “Caroni Plan” in the Parliament as well as make a formal announcement now on Constitution Reform “in order to satisfy the condition which the UNC had set for their support of the Bill”.

In a letter to the editor, Deosaran stated: “The Parliament cannot refuse to respond effectively to all the grieving and bleeding now experienced by the population, especially over this rising epi-demic of kidnapping — with or without ransom.” Deosaran stated that it was imperative that a bipartisan approach be adopted. He said in his view there seemed to be some move in the Senate last week towards a PNM-UNC alliance in having the Anti-Kidnapping Bill passed.

The Senator stated that he was bringing certain amendments to the Bill. The first amendment would seek to re-insert the “no bail” clause for the accused, but with a condition. That condition is that no bail should be granted to a person if that person has one previous conviction for an indictable (serious) offence. The second amendment seeks to place the offences of kidnapping within the proceeds of Crime Act (2000) which would give the police more teeth with its investigations.

The third amendment seeks to introduce a new feature of private security and investigation, by granting power to the Attorney General to provide a licence to trained and competent professionals to assist crime victims or families in tracing criminals, kidnappers or any person who threatens the safety of other persons. He said such licensed private investigators would also be in a position to assist the police.  “Neither the Government nor the Police should debar a grieving family from seeking a supplementary, non-obstructive way of freeing their kidnapping relative as well as helping to provide further evidence for prosecution,” Deosaran stated.

The amendments have been sent to the Clerk of the Senate. If at the end of it all, the Bill has to be returned to the Lower House for amendments, “then it will be an effort in the public interest”, he said.

TWO men were up to late yesterday hospitalised after being chopped and stabbed in their heads in separate incidents on Sunday.

A 75-year-old Mayaro man and a 29-year-old man, of Enterprise, Chaguanas, were up to late evening assisting the police with their investigations and are facing charges of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. In one of the incidents, police said around 5 pm Sunday Eugene Bruno, 58, of Faria Circular, Guayaguayare, had a dispute with a 75-year-old man over a bush fire on a piece of property in the district. It is not known who the property belonged to but police said both men were allegedly armed with cutlasses. The elder man is said to have chopped Bruno on the left side of his forehead, suffering a five centimetre laceration.

Bruno was rushed to the Sangre Grande Hospital where he is in Ward 2 in a stable condition.  The 75-year-old man was later arrested at his home by a party of officers. PC Greaux is continuing the probe. Two hours earlier, police said Hasely Campbell, 21, of Fourth Street, Mount Lambert, was at the Caravan Beach Resort, Church Street, Mayaro, when he got into an argument with a 29-year-old man. Police said the Chaguanas man struck Campbell in the head with what appeared to be a bottle.  Campbell was rushed to the Sangre Grande Hospital then transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital because of the seriousness of the wound. He underwent surgery and is being treated at Ward 16 for a 7.5 centimetre laceration to his head. WPC Edwards of the Mayaro Police Post is continuing investigations.

Antiguan Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Vere Bird yesterday signed a Protocol Trade agreement with TT Minister of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources John Rahael, which would once again allow Antigua to import agricultural produce from TT.

Rahael said following the mealybug infestation a few years ago, a ban had been placed on all agricultural produce from TT. He stated that this signing represented the re-establishment of an opportunity for local farmers to earn increased incomes, thereby creating greater food security and safety. This, he said was one of the major objectives of the ministry. He revealed that TT had already signed trading agreements with Grenada and Dominica, and now with Antigua and Barbuda. “We are already seeing the benefits of these agreements,” claimed Rahael. Rahael concluded yesterday’s signing by thanking Bird for taking time out to come to TT to sign such an agreement which would foster economic growth between both countries.

CHAIRMAN of NAR Tobago, Christo Gift, has accused the Orville London PNM administration of giving Tobago-nians the impression that it was vigorously pursuing a solution to the Pigeon Point issue and called for Tobagonians to wake up and fight for what was rightfully theirs.

He was speaking at a press conference held at the NAR headquarters on Thursday, the eve of the anniversary of the death of  Michael Melville, who was fatally shot by security guard Richard Bontour on the Pigeon Point premises, three years ago. It was reported that Melville, a craft vendor of Bon Accord, was shot for the same reason still being addressed now, that of accessibility to the beach.

Gift further stated that the NAR failed to understand why the THA was discussing the issue with Club Pigeon Point, who was only leasing the property from Robinson Crusoe Limited, the actual owners. He stated that if any arrangements did come out of these negotiations, should Club Pigeon Point cease to exist, these arrangements would be nullified. Even sadder, he said, was the fact that the very party chosen by the people, was now allegedly agreeing to evict the vendors from the premises and taking away their livelihoods. Gift said that, after the PNM-THA administration had spent approximately $2 million of tax payers’ money to rebuild the infamous Pigeon Point jetty, people were still paying to gain access. “Devils are in the details and the details are missing from this,” he said. He concluded that the only solution to this issue was for the THA to seek absolute acquisition of the Pigeon Point beach.