Early yesterday, the rumours began circulating that police armed with a warrant were on their way to the attorney’s home.

However, hours later, further information began circulating that police realised that they had the wrong address for the attorney on the warrant and had to return to Port of Spain to get a fresh warrant signed.

The attorney, when contacted by Newsday, said he had no information that a warrant had been issued for his arrest and found it strange that one had been issued for him.

Sources also revealed that the attorney’s relatives also learned of the alleged impending arrest and this brought them to tears. However, Newsday contacted several senior police who described the information as a rumour being spread by people with certain agendas.

Up until yesterday, no warrant had been issued for the arrest of the attorney and according to wellplaced sources, an investigation against the attorney is continuing apace.

The vehicle is valued at $212,000.

According to a police report, at about 2.30 pm on Wednesday, Boodram Harripersad was in his garden at Petit Morne Extension, Ste Madeleine when a white AD station wagon pulled up and three men armed with guns alighted the vehicle. With guns pointing in his direction, the thieves approached Harripersad and demanded that he hand over the keys to the van. They then escaped. PC Lall of the Ste Madeleine Police Station is investigating.

The victory at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy meant Amazon Warriors were scheduled to play Trinbago Knight Riders in eliminator two last night at the same venue. The winner of last night’s match will face St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the final tomorrow at the Brian Lara Academy, from 9 pm.

Khan, an 18 year old Afghanistan spinner, took the first hattrick in the five-year history of CPL as Jamaica Tallawahs posted 168 for eight in their 20 overs.

The moment came for Khan in the 15th over of the match when Andre McCarthy (14), Jonathan Foo (duck) and Rovman Powell (duck) were all out bowled to the wily spinner. They all had their stumps rattled while playing forward as they misjudged the flight and spin. Khan ended with 3/32 in four overs, while Kumar Sangakkara was the top batsman for Tallawahs scoring 57.

In reply, 36-year-old Luke Ronchi of New Zealand struck 70 off 33 deliveries with five fours and five sixes to guide Amazon Wariors to 169/5 in 17.5 overs. Mahmudullah was the chief destroyer for Tallawahs grabbing 3/25 in four overs.

After the win Ronchi said, “It was nice, it is always nice to make runs. You want to help your team win games of cricket. If it’s batting, bowling or fielding whatever it is I think everybody wants to help their team win. It is nice to make some runs and get us closer to the title.”

Batson made the comment while addressing a workshop themed “Increasing productivity through Health and Safety,” held by the Environment, Safety and Health committee of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce at the chamber’s Westmoorings headquarters.

Speaking on the topic, “Consider the consequences of driving recklessly,” Batson outlined a number of factors which contribute to road accidents and deaths, among them driving while tired and driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. However, he said a culture change was taking place on the roads, observing that, these days, when people attended all-inclusive fetes they called maxi-taxis to take them home rather than driving themselves. Batson also spoke about the, recently opened, Licensing Office at Frederick Settlement, Caroni, asking participants at the workshop who had done business there about their experience. Responding to one participant who reported that he had had a good experience there, Batson said the new office was more efficient than the one at Wrightson Road in Port of Spain.

He warned drivers to be careful on the roads because of the, recently introduced, demerit system which would see drivers suspended once they racked up the specified number of points.

Police officers at the workshop revealed that 13,400 tickets had been issued since the introduction of speed guns in TT.

Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police Harnarine Rampath told Newsday in an interview afterwards that, “Speedgun enforcement, is recognised worldwide and with the addition of the spot speed cameras, the red light enforcement and the demerit point system all would tie into bringing about a safer community so that all of us could live in Trinidad and Tobago.” Rampath said there had been 77 road fatalities so far for the year compared to more than 100 for the same period last year. He said there had been a 20 per cent reduction in fatalities.

He said the police were hoping that people heeded the call to be more careful in the use of the country’s roads, noting that they had done several outreach programmes at schools to sensitise young people about the dangers of driving at speeds which posed risks to themselves and other road users.

Gary Texeira, chief executive officer of ROSE Environmental Limited, a company which promotes environmental and industrial hygiene and safety, who is also a member of the chamber’s Environment, Safety and Health Committee which organised the meeting, said the event was planned to demonstrate the interconnection between being safe at work, at home and on the roads. The workshop featured presentations on fatigue and stress management; managing quality indoor work environments and safety in transportation and vehicle management.

He said he was satisfied that legislation and the efforts of law enforcement were gradually changing the way people did things.

Saying TT nationals make up 80 per cent of the association’s clientele, he said poor inter- island transport has hit domestic tourism by Trinidadians seeking to vacation in Tobago, and led to occupancy rates in guest houses of just 20 to 22 per cent. While bigger hotels have a 34 per cent occupancy rate, James bemoaned that their occupancy level must reach to 52 percent just to break-even and pay costs such as staff and utility bills. He said the regional average is 68 per cent, adding, “We are way down.” Saying the Tobago hotel sector had lost $25 million over four months of the ferry crisis, James said hoteliers now will no longer allow bookings unless the intended guest can state that he has an airplane or ferry ticket, as it has been too costly to the hotels to constantly have to refund hotel rents. He could not estimate the money lost by tourism operators such as hired cars, but said overall the sister isle has lost “many millions and millions of dollars”.

James said an even greater loss than the immediate financial losses was the loss of confidence in the Tobago destination by Trinidadians, especially the high-spenders who have gone elsewhere.

“Endless restaurants and hotels have had to close down,” he lamented.

Hoping to hold off the banks at an upcoming meeting, James however said, “The problem is not now. The problem is that we didn’t earn the money in July/August.

The problem is going to be next month and the month after and the month after. People have tried to keep the staff but what we have done is reduce the days. We have three-day weeks.

“What we’ve had to do with utility companies is ask for payment plans. When you don’t have the money coming in you cannot pay your taxes, your utility bills and your staff.” James said the $30 million State subsidy on the airbridge may well be justified in terms of the job creation that tourism brings to Tobago, plus the savings in foreign exchange by Trinidadians who may have otherwise gone abroad. “We have never assessed the domestic tourism value,” he remarked.

He lamented a dire lack of information on domestic tourism such as the alleged inability of Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) to say how many of its tickets sold were for same-day returns, what is the average length of a vacation stay, and where the tickets are being sold (Trinidad or Tobago.) James said fallout from the ferry woes had come on the heels of a cessation of foreign investment in Tobago due to a land licensing registration.

“We lost 12 large investors.” He said this land licence is supposed to take 12 days to issue but in fact on average takes one year.

Trinidadians who had built villas to try to sell to foreigners had also been hit by this land licensing.

James said land licensing registration has in effect led to a 30 percent devaluation of Tobago properties whose equity value had been pledged to obtain bank loans.

Lawrence indicated in the postmatch session on Tuesday that he will try to finish the “Hex” in the best manner possible but already has his sights on this country’s 2019 Caribbean Cup and subsequent CONCACAF Gold Cup campaigns.

“I knew we were coming into the game and it was going to be a very difficult one because Panama are a very-organised team. I thought the game was very tight before two individual errors cost us the first two goals. And from there it was difficult because Panama showed a good drive and determination to get a victory and I want to congratulate them on that,” Lawrence said.

“Of course it’s very disappointing because we are not into the competition for losing games. We knew what was at stake because if we could have managed to get a victory it would have kept us in it so we are very, very disappointed.

We have to find a way to dust ourselves off as soon as possible and move on. We have to start looking ahead to the future,” he added.

“We’ve got a responsibility and there’s still a lot to play for, for other teams. Obviously we are not in contention anymore but we are going to ensure the we put together a squad with the view of the future. We will always put together a squad that will compete and make sure that we don’t let the Hexagonal teams down because obviously we understand that we have a responsibility to go out and put in the performances to try and get results,” Lawrence stated.

He also commented on TT ’s missed chances in the first half.

“That was massive for us. If we put away the first chance then it put Panama under pressure, we are on the front foot and it gives us something to hold onto. It’s a situation we had in the last couple of games. We’ve conceded goals and also missed opportunities and it’s something we have to try and fix. It’s a position on the football pitch which I’ve been searching for which is that striker who knows how to put the ball into the back of the net.

(Tuesday night) showed the difference. Panama had the couple opportunities and they put away three.

We had our chances and we missed so that cost us the game in the end,” Lawrence said.

The ministry says, “Leisure marine or yachting is a maritime services sub-sector which is economically viable, given Trinidad and Tobago’s (TT) strategic geographic location below the hurricane belt, world class yacht repair and maintenance services, and storage capability.” In order to effect the necessary changes and growth in yachting, the ministry has collaborated with industry stakeholders and public sector partners to develop a yachting policy 2017 – 2021.

The ministry said policy implementation, which has commenced, is intended to increase the economic contribution of the sub-sector through increased business activity, employment creation and greater foreign exchange earnings by supporting the growth of a self-sustaining sub-sector.

“Immediate priorities include a comprehensive review of the regulatory and legislative environment, to be concluded in the next fiscal period.” Other critical initiatives actively being addressed to stimulate the sub-sector include: Facilitating the ease of entry into and departure from TT through the use of a single harmonised form; conducting customer service training and developing and implementing standard operating procedures for border agency officers at yachting ports of entry; Improving the human resource base through skills training and certification; Improving the infrastructure through the development of marinas and upgrade of yachting sites; and a marketing and promotional plan to promote the yachting sub-sector internationally and locally.

“The Government is aware of the challenges being faced by the sub-sector and remains committed to ensuring that these issues are addressed to allow the sub-sector to flourish,” the ministry assured.

She claims her Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) results were changed last week Wednesday. She said she was made aware of the situation when one of her friends advised her to recheck her online results as some students’ grades were being changed.

“The results I received on August 18 had been changed because CXC had given me a grade three in Economics and now I’m seeing a grade one,” she said.

The student said she knows of an instance where a student received a grade four in Management of Business and subsequently had that changed to a grade one.

“CXC is making mistakes and giving persons the wrong grade and no one knows what was the cause of their error.” She said some students may have received a change and they are unaware of this. “Some of my friends were depressed and had gotten into bad habits such as drinking. This is people’s lives CXC is jeopardising.” She said her main concern is the results which schools and universities would have received. “If CXC made a mistake and gave me the wrong grade, then that is what I would have submitted to universities, so it is now affecting my chances of getting in.” She said the results on her preliminary results slip are now different from the online results. “I was told by my school that the actual certificate will have the correct results.” The student said some of them who had paid for queries are uncertain about the possibility of getting refunds.

An Arima student told Newsday, “I was hearing rumours of results changing so I went to check mine as well, but it seems that CXC has locked the system off now.” This change has left many students questioning the integrity of the results they received.

Minister of Education Anthony Garcia said an investigation is being conducted to determine whether there were technical changes to the region

Vice president of the association, Curtis Douglas highlighted the issue during the Joint Select Committee on Land and Physical Infrastructure’s meeting at the Victor E Bruce Financial Complex in Scarborough.

Douglas said Tobago fishermen have been neglected for the past few years causing the fishing industry to suffer and their pleas to have a refuelling station were ignored. He said fishermen resorted to illegally transporting gas in a jug to refuel their fishing vessels.

Khan said he was unaware that there was never a refuelling station available for boat owners in Tobago but promised to address their concern.

“I’m going to do my own research and give a commitment outside of the Joint Select Committee that I will follow up personally on that matter,” he said.

Khan said Tobago is in a crisis after listing over 15 local fruits, provisions and vegetables including tomatoes, lettuce, dasheen, potatoes and cucumbers being imported to Tobago. Khan said the situation with the air and sea bridges has shown how vulnerable Tobago is where the island is unable to feed itself.

“I call upon the department of Food Production, Fisheries and Forestry (to understand) that you have a responsibility to this island.

You are the drives of government policy and you have a responsibility to come up with some plan that could take Tobago out of this state. It is critical.

“I don’t know what the solution is, but the seabridge issue has exposed, at a fundamental level, the structural weakness of Tobago’s economy especially as it relates to agriculture and food production.

If the Caricom jetty doesn’t work, Tobago would be in trouble.

Somewhere along the line you all dropped the ball and, if you don’t pick up that ball quickly, you will hurt deeply for it. When you are unable to feed yourselves with basic commodity you are at a great risk.”

These Social Welfare officers should be trained in the correct manner in which they need to speak to members of the public.

Too often, I have observed the inhumane way in which disabled and elderly people are spoken to.

It was only last week that I witnessed an officer speaking harshly to an amputee in a wheelchair as well as an elderly woman using a walking stick. These are poor people who are seeking a service and who should be treated with utmost respect. Family members who accompany their elderly loved ones to this office are often refrained from confronting the officers on their cruel behaviour as they know it will cause some form of victimisation.

I have also encountered on consecutive Fridays this particular office having their doors locked at 3pm. These Social Welfare officers need to be reminded that they too will one day become senior citizens and would hate to be treated in that manner. So please, listen to yourselves whilst dealing with those persons seeking your assistance.

Also, there is no telephone communication with that office as the telephone lines usually ring off without being answered.

These elderly and disabled persons are faced with having to sometimes pay someone to take them to the office just to get basic questions answered when they can be facilitated by a telephone call.

I am calling upon the Honourable Minister Cherrie-Ann Crichlow- Cockburn to please intervene and retrain these officers in basic etiquette as well as, ensure that the telephones are answered in order to deal with members of the public..

Sumintra Samaroo via email