All the member bands which were successful in the various categories of Panorama were presented with certificates of appreciation for their achievement.

According to Gerard Mendez, chairman of the region, the executive is trying to keep the bands active and will host several events including a Panorama in September. There will be no small, medium and large bands as each band will have 60 players.

This is to be held on Republic Day at the Queen’s Park Savannah.

Other activities include a bingo and Pan Under the Stars on June 16.

In his address Pan Trinbago president Keith Diaz said the Pan in the Countryside series will continue in July with the first stop in Mayaro. The second stop will be Cedros and then Santa Cruz. The results for the J’Overt Bomb competition is as follow: Single Pan bands Sapophonics 175, Ice Water Ensemble 174, Belmont Hi Larks 165, Laventille Pashphonics 161 and Uni Stars 158.

In the Conventional bands, the judges could not separate Desperadoes and PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars as they both amassed 178 points.

They were followed by Courts Sound Specialist of Laventille 177, Massy Trinidad All Stars 175, Musical Gems Steel Orchestra 173, CAL Invaders 159 and Blue Diamonds 147.

Here are some highlights of the presentation.

Balkaran, 35, of Poui Trace, St Mary’s Village in Moruga, died shortly before midday on Wednesday at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH), relatives said.

He worked at Alpha Transport located at Cumuto Road, Barrackpore.

Balkaran was repairing the truck in the presence of co-workers shortly after 9 am, when the truck part unexpectedly flew out and struck him on the head. Reports are that on impact, Balkaran was knocked unconscious. The mechanic, who lived with his mother, Seeratie Balkaran, 54, was taken to hospital where he later died.

The bereaved mother of two yesterday recalled the last moments she had with her only son.

“Jerry drank a cup of tea and told me he was going to work. That was around 7 am. My sister-in-law came here at about 10.30 am yesterday (Wednesday) and took me to the hospital. Someone had called to tell her that Jerry got in an accident on work,” Seeratie said.

Relatives arrived at the hospital shortly before 12 when doctors ushered them into a room and announced Balkaran had died.

“They brought out the body and the head was bandaged up. My son was a very nice person, very hard working. He did everything, he planted the crops around the yard, he was a mechanic, he was a truck driver,” the mother said.

She added that seven years ago, her husband Doodnath died of natural causes. Since then, Balkaran became the sole breadwinner and he took care of her. He was neither married nor had any children.

Relatives estimate that he had been working for the company for the past 17 years.

Police said that an autopsy performed at the mortuary of the SFGH yesterday stated his death with consistent with an accident.

Barrackpore police are continuing investigations.

And while he vows to steer the side to the top half in the 2017 Pro League season, helping the club rise as the beacon of hope for the Morvant/ Laventille region remains his biggest aspiration.

The new season kicks off today and runs through to December 17 Shabazz said that with the help of the San Juan/ Laventille Regional Corporation and the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT ) – through its facilities management headed by Anthony Blake – the Park Street Recreation Ground in Morvant is set for an upgrade which is expected to include fencing of the venue and resurfacing of the playing field.

It’s only the beginning, according to Shabazz, who would like in the near future, a facility equipped with a dormitory and gym — somewhere he says young men and women can aspire to be a positive part of in a community constantly reminded of the negative effects of crime.

“A football facility will do wonders for a community like ours, and even if you blindfold Ray Charles (the deceased American music pioneer who was blind from age seven) he could see that.” Last season, for the first time in the ground’s history, Park Street welcomed top flight football when Morvant Caledonia hosted three of their Pro League matches at the venue. And, it was well-received by a football- mad community, with crowd attendances estimated around the three-thousand mark.

Only the Mahaica Oval in Point Fortin, on its very best days, could compete with such an estimate.

Shabazz believes an upgrade to the Park Street venue will present Morvant Caledonia United with merchandising and marketing opportunities, gate receipts, an overall atmosphere of belonging and a representative of the people and community.

“Facilities in the communities could ensure that the Pro League and its clubs go on to another level, financial viability, crowd support and participation and more accountability on the part of the players on the pitch,” said Shabazz, the club’s longstanding technical director and founding member.

He said the commitment of sponsors such as the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT ), Massy, Courts, National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) and National Petroleum (NP) to football and community development has kept Morvant Caledonia alive, and has given the club the impetus to continue to drive forward.

But without a home, he says clubs continue to struggle on the brink of extinction.

Morvant Caledonia, a former club of current Trinidad and Tobago national team coach Dennis Lawrence, national youth coach Russell Latapy, as well as another World Cup 2006 player Densill Theobald, and even Pro League CEO and former national forward Dexter Skeene, had, for a long time, been one of the most attractive teams to watch in the Pro League.

But the once formidable force of the Pro League have finished second-from-bottom in the last three seasons.

“It’s a good challenge for me now,” accepts Shabazz, who replaced new Dominica coach Rajesh Latchoo.

Pro League fixtures: Round One Match Day One
(Friday June 9, 2017) At Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva Club Sando vs Morvant Caledonia United — 6pm Central FC vs San Juan Jabloteh — 8pm

(Saturday June10, 2017) At Arima Velodrome, Arima.North East Stars vs Point Fortin Civic — 7pm

(Monday June 12, 2017) At Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva Defence Force vs Police FC — 6pm W Connection vs MIC-IT St Ann’s Rangers — 8pm

He was faced with these questions from reporters during a news conference yesterday at the Ministry’s St Vincent Street, Port of Spain offices, where he announced the appointment of a new head for the Education Facilities Company Limited (FCL). (See Page 9) “I know the Chief Education Officer (Harrilal Seecharan) and our School Supervision Department have been looking at students who show signs of some kind of instability. I don’t want to say mental illness because I am not an expert,” Garcia said. He added there is a programme that has been put in place to identify students who are at risk, to work with the Students Support Services (SSS) Division to bring comfort to these students.

“I’m saying the problems would not go away, but at least you can attend to them and deal with the concerns these students are expressing,” he said. It was put to him that it would seem the issue was more than what he is proposing, but Garcia again reiterated that he is not an expert in the field of psychology.

“The Chief Education Officer who drives that service together with the SSS Division is dealing with it. All I know is that is being attended to and those students who are at risk are receiving the necessary attention,” he said. Asked what exactly does this intervention programme entail, Garcia said he could not answer that right now.

Asked to comment on the fact that social workers are not trained to identify mental illnesses, he responded: “This is one of the problems we face, when we have media conferences like these, we like to stick to the issue. I have called this media conference to discuss the issue of the EFCL…let us stick to the issue.

“I am not prepared to discuss any other issue. The media conference was called to discuss EFCL issues.

Do we have another question please? Anything that affects our children we will attend to it,” Garcia stated.

His appointment comes after the resignation of former chairman Arnold Piggott last week. Vasquez, who was the acting chairman on the former board, was one of three members who was retained– Daniel Cox, who was appointed acting general manager and Clyde Permell.

Piggot resigned citing family commitments and “the protection of my reputation and family name.” During a news conference yesterday at the Education Ministry, St Vincent Street, Port-of- Spain, Garcia expressed his dissatisfaction with the former board’s operations which included reporting lines not being adhered to, retrenchment exercises, the slow pace of construction works being carried out, and the process to be undertaken when emergency repairs were to be done when schools are forced to close.

There are now six members on the board, however, Garcia said they would add more, adding that the board could have a maximum of 13 members and a minimum of two.

Saying that they intended for the ministry to work closer with the EFCL in the future, Garcia said there were many areas they needed to tighten because of some of the challenges they experienced over the last few months “We will not allow the spectre of schools being closed down for simple reasons. During the day to day operations of the schools, you would find that in some of these schools closed so that they could effect repairs.

“One of the things that we frown upon is the delay in having those repairs put into place. Some schools would remain closed for two-three, sometimes four weeks. Our children have a right to education. We have decided that whenever a school has to be closed, we must immediately trigger emergency measures.

We are going to ensure that the procurement of all measures be put in place. The tendering process would be done expeditiously, so that our children would not be forced to stay away from school for any prolonged time,” the minister said.

Asked why they decided to retain some of the members, Garcia said Cabinet, in its wisdom, decided that they were going to move forward with new members.

“We were having some challenges with the board and quite a large amount of concern to express in various quarters of how the board was operating.

Cabinet found it was necessary to make a step forward. Cabinet decided to inject new life into the board,” he explained.

He added that it was within the remit of Cabinet to decide how they treated with boards, who decided on the appointment of boards, and who would constitute members of the board.

Asked if there was blame laid against Piggott and his leadership of the former EFCL board, Garcia said he did not want to ascribe any blame or any misdeeds on the former chairman.

“All I am concerned with at this point is that an audit is taking place and in a week’s time we will be apprised of the results accordingly.

Until then I can say no more. We have to wait until the results are made known to us before we can say if there is any impropriety,” he said. The minister said there were 141 schools currently in need of repairs and the minister assured they would do so during the July-August vacation to ensure that all schools would be opened on time for the new school term.

Meanwhile, former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh renewed his call for the remaining directors to follow the former chair and tender their resignations in light of allegations being made.

He said Government had a moral responsibility to dismiss the directors to restore the country’s faith in the organisation, following the extensive published claims of unlawful activities at EFCL.

Gopeesingh said failure do so would hold the Government equally guilty in the ongoing EFCL debacle. He added that only one member of the board attended a statutory meeting of a bipartisan Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament last Monday, to inquire into matters at the State-owned company. The JSC, was a constitutional creature of the Parliament.

However, Garcia said he was not aware that all members of a board needed to be present during a JSC meeting.

He said Vasquez had indicated that his name not be included in the list of names of those attending the meeting.

Vasquez indicated that he would attend the meeting if it was so requested.

“I prefer to stay with the United States and the United Kingdom.

With the exception of jury tampering and serious cases of fraud,” Mark said, “That is the only time they have introduced trial by judge alone. Every thing else is trial by jury.” Contributing to the debate on the Miscellaneous Provisions (Trial by Judge Alone) Bill in the Senate yesterday, Mark said, “I do not want to be part or seek to become part of those countries.” He said it was in a judge alone trial that, “The iconic Nelson Mandela” was sentenced for life in the cells of Robben Island.

South Africa, under an apartheid regime, he said, established the trial by judge alone for racist reasons.

“We don’t want to be part of that experience,” he said registering his opposition to the bill.

As lawmakers, he said, their first duty as lawmakers is to safeguard the majority against terror, aggression and tyranny of the minority, especially against corrupt governments where they exist.

Mark did not agree with Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, other Government and Independent senators who said the new piece of legislation was providing for an option to the trial by jury.

He said that the bill seeks to amend trial by jury in the Criminal procedures Act in relation to mentally ill persons, to trial by judge alone. His colleagues, including Attorney General Faris Al Rawi who piloted the bill and who spoke before him, Mark said, have quoted extensively Chief Justice Ivor Archie who favours the abolition of trail by jury. Back in June 2012, he said, Al Rawi was against abolishing trial by jury.

Mark said, Al Rawi at the time claimed that trial by judge alone was infringing on citizens constitutional rights, that it was dangerous and that he had a difficulty with it in the criminal justice system.

In 2012, the then People’s Partnership Government, he said, “had brought something (in the Parliament) to abolish trial by jury and we pulled it back because when we went out there the people were against it.” The former Senator, now Attorney General, he said, is singing a different tune by advocating for trial by judge alone.

The Spice Isle contingent wowed the audience with their presentation of Blue-rella — a banking twist to the Anne Anderson classic, Cinderella.

The team’s humorous presentation included dance pieces and a monologue which won the challenge trophy and the prize at last Saturday’s show. The event was in tribute to the bank’s 180th anniversary celebrated on May 15.

Coming in second was 2015 winner, Republic Bank Barbados, with their presentation of Lewis Caroll’s masterpiece Alice in Wonderland – Down the Rabbit Hole. Avalene Harris of Republic Bank Trinidad’s Group Marketing and Communications Department placed third with her emotional rendition of Dionne Warrick’s I’ll Never Love This Way Again — a soulful classic dedicated to her late grandfather. Fourth place went to Tekesha Davis of Ellerslie Court Branch who performed Singing Sandra’s Voices from the Ghetto. Melinda Deonarine-Sohan of the Gulf View branch placed fifth performing Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi’s O Mio Babbino Caro.

The competition which takes place bi-annually gives the bank’s staff from across the region an opportunity to display their performing abilities on one stage. The participants attend auditions and a series of rehearsals in preparation for the competition.

The show was judged by Dominic Kalipersad, Glenda Collens, Abeo Jackson, Lylah Persad and Bernadette Laughlin- Scott. Emcees were Nikki Crosby and Jason “JW” Williams while Nigel Rojas and the band accompanied the performers.

I’ll Never Love This Way Again which earned her third spot.

It wasn’t possible to be a journalist under such a great newspaper editor as former Trinidad Express and Trinidad Guardian Editor-in-Chief Owen Baptiste and not have indelible — not to mention nostalgic — memories.

My memories date back to 1984 when I walked into the Express, then located in that old cocoa house on Independence Square, hoping for an interview with Mr Baptiste.

I shared some of those memories at the Nalis library last Monday during the launch of Mr Baptiste’s new book, a collection of columns called No Sacred Cows: The Essential Benedict Wight and Other Writings Part III.

I remember the day I was hired like yesterday. Feeling confident in my long-sleeved black dress, I settled for my interview. Mr Baptiste watched me and said, “Are you on your way to a funeral?” But he hired me. I soon learned about Mr Baptiste’s high standards.

Every morning, he’d come down the stairs; we’d take a deep breath and wait to be summoned in the office one by one. Usually that meant being raked over the coals for our mistakes: grammatical errors, poor reporting… He circled those errors with a thick, red marker. We got praise too. I lived for that praise. Every day I woke up and thought about how I could write a feature with a fresh new angle to please Mr Baptiste. I loved feature writing.

“One day,” I told the audience at Nalis, “Mr Baptiste sent me to interview some squatters on Caroni Ltd (1975) land. When I tried to interview them, they cussed me up one side and down the other.

“I came back to the office wondering what to do. I couldn’t say I didn’t get a story so I sat down and wrote a story that had few words and all the cuss words, which consisted of one letter and a set of blanks. (The story looked like Morse code).

“When I got summoned to Mr Baptiste’s office, I thought this is the day that I die. Much to my surprise, Mr Baptiste said it was one of the best stories he had ever seen.

He always loved when his staff took bold chances in their writing.

On that day, I learned that a story isn’t always about what you say. Sometimes it is about what you don’t say.” Under Mr Baptiste’s guidance, I learned to be a journalist. “A story is never about events,” he said.

“It’s about people.” One time I wrote a controversial news story and the person in the story, a public servant, seemed to have panicked when he saw his quotations in print. He called Mr Baptiste to say I had misquoted him, and Mr Baptiste said, “No, she didn’t. She asked you the same question in five different ways.” I learned that skill from Mr Baptiste.

I also learned that day that he didn’t throw his reporters under the bus when they were right.

There are so many stories to tell about working for Mr Baptiste. I learned over the years that he not only took chances with stories; he took chances with people – like me, an anthropologist, who wandered in his office one day dressed in a black dress.

We are fortunate to have three volumes now of the columns Mr Baptiste wrote under the pen name of Benedict Wight. They are columns that chronicle every aspect of life in Trinidad and Tob a g o .

T h e s e a r e b o o k s e v e r y – o n e should r e a d .

But that is a subject of another column.

“The Police Service Academy’s induction programme offer training to recruits with respect to treating with mentally ill persons,” Moses said. On Monday, police shot and killed a mentally ill man identified as Daniel ‘Paul-O’ Paul, 23, of Ste Madeleine after he threw stones at them near his home.

The standing orders of the Police Service, Moses said, defines who is a mentally ill person as well as officers designated to deal with them.

Moses, also a Minister in the Ministry of National Security, said that guidelines to handle mentally ill persons who have breached the law and have been detained by the police, and the process for detention by the police, are in place.

In light of the recent fatal shooting, the TTPS, he said, “is in the process of reviewing its training programmes. Training continues apace.” On another matter, asked what Government was doing in relation to a recent statement made by Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries that the Caroni Swamp was being used for human trafficking, and the smuggling of illegal drugs and weapons, Moses said, “The Ministry of National Security exercises ongoing vigilance.” The security services, he said, conducts operations countrywide with focus on particular locales to safeguard the national security interests as necessary.

Also present were director Jennifer Marchand and permanent secretary Jennifer Daniel. Initially JSC chairman, Port of Spain South MP Marlene Mc Donald, asked whether free movement within Caricom was “not so free”, and why? In reply, Thompson said it is hard to coordinate domestic laws between 15 different sovereign States, and there exists no overarching regional guide on how to facilitate free movement.

She then revealed, “You do find when you are looking at this CSME instances where fraud is prevalent.

Persons are presenting for example fraudulent skills certificates when they are seeking to apply. You are seeing persons who do not have the requisite qualifications or experience and they are trying to circumvent that by trying to obtain certain certificates by ‘other means’ which are not legal.” At that Mc- Donald trumpted, “Fake papers! Like Mr Trump’s (US President Donald Trump’s) fake news.” Thompson continued, “You also have instances where persons with degrees from institutions that are not accredited obtain skill certificates from other member States, and so on. There are other sensitivities as well that we must take into consideration when we are looking at these issues and challenges.” She said this country is now amending its Immigration (Caricom Skilled Nationals) Act to try to deal with some of these issues.