This motion was passed during the city corporation’s statutory meeting yesterday at the City Hall, Knox Street, Port-of-Spain.

According to Akil Durham, Councillor for Belmont North and West, the funds will be financed by donations and contributions from the public and private sectors. He said the money will be authorised by the Council to be allocated to the fund.

In moving the motion, Durham explained some of the ways the funds will be used.

“The money under the fund will be utilised for charitable causes within the city, emergency relief due to a natural disaster, accidents and mishaps within the city, scholarships to needy students and members of the community within the city of Port-of-Spain.” He continued, “Promotion and hosting of national culture, artistic, religious celebrations and anniversaries as well as city receptions.” He said the decision of the motion will be sent to the Minister of Local Government for approval.

Ramdharine said 49 percent of the accidents over the last three years involved a single driver and his/ her vehicle. He believes that the drivers who travel alone are at a higher risk as they are more likely to fall asleep or get distracted and if left unchecked, the number of road fatalities will surpass that of 2016.

“The police service would like to see an enforcement of the laws by citizens,” said Ramdharine who quoted the number of speeding tickets issued this year alone to be 13,002. He also said that the highway and traffic branch alone have issued 21,606 suffix penalty tickets.

Road safety Coordinator, Brent Batson advised parents of students who are attending new schools to do a “dry run” of the unfamiliar route before school starts. He said that as the new school term begins next week motorists should be especially aware of the expected traffic that comes with it. He warns drivers to be more alert not just for themselves but for the people around them.

Police officers will be out there in their numbers to try to manage the traffic situation.

Its latest accomplishment seems to be a deliberate attempt to shorten the longer version of the game, by reducing a five-day Test match three days. While the players have been known by nature to be trendy, this is by no means a style that another team would like to adopt, unless of course it is the winning team.

This brings to mind a recent joke I heard. Two teams were engaged in a match. The first to bat made 101 runs. The other team made two fifty and lost. How? It made fifty in the first innings and fifty in the second. Any team comes to mind? I wonder if the cameraman is to blame?

W DOPSON Woodbrook

The Classic will feature various age groups such as the 12-and-Under, 10-and-Under, Eight-and-Under and the Open divisions. There will also be a number of categories among the adult swimmers. There will also be other races on the schedule — a 5k, a 3k and two 1k races.

President of the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT ) Wendell Lai Hing, spoke about the events at a media conference held at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence in Macoya, on Wednesday.

“We are having a 5k which is basically a qualifying event for Carifta which is being hosted in Jamaica next year. We also have a 3k which is basically the novelty event,” Lai Hing said. “We have also increased the distance for the younger ones (12-and-Under) because we felt that a little more challenge will be beneficial to them. They will be swimming a 1k.” Last year the 12-and-Under swimmers were required to swim a distance of 750 metres.

Lai Hing thanked Subway for sponsoring the event for yet another year especially in tough economic times.

“Subway, I must say in this trying economic times we really do appreciate what you all are doing for us. It is not easy to have to face parents and say to them ‘look we have to put out x amount of money because we just don’t have the funds’. We depend on the Government heavily, but Subway has partnered with us and I am pleased to say that it is nice to know that corporate Trinidad, by way of Subway, has continued to be with us.” Vice-president of Subway Carla Furlonge-Walker said the Open Water Classic is just one of many sporting events Subway has been involved with for the past few years.

“For Subway sport and youth is an obvious alignment and for the past four years we have been working on developing relationships around sport. From 5k events, to marathons, to triathlons, tennis, hockey, cycling, cross fit and of course swimming,” Furlonge-Walker said.

Furlonge-Walker said Subway wants to provide young swimmers with the opportunity to compete “There are a lot of young swimmers with a passion for open water swimming. We see them every year on the third Sunday in September at Maracas, and we will continue to support their passion and help to provide a platform for them to compete.” The media conference on Wednesday also recognised the performance of the national junior swimmers at the Goodwill Swim Meet in Guyana held recently.

Four mobile scanners were donated to Trinidad and Tobago by the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency in 2014 and Comptroller of Customs, Glenn Singh said on Tuesday that the final contracts were expected to be received from the agents by yesterday or today.

He said once the final payment is made to the dealers, their representative will be in Trinidad within days to assess the scanners. He was speaking during a visit to the Point Lisas port by members of Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on National Security. Committee member, Prakash Ramadhar expressed disappointment that the scanners were not yet in operation, pointing out that the instruction to have scanners installed was given since 2010.

Singh told the committee that 15 percent of all full containers imported through the port are sent to the Container Examination Station (CES) to be checked.

In response to further questioning, he said that containers may also be examined when they are being unloaded at the premises of the consignees so that alltogether 48 percent of imported cargo is examined by the Customs and Excise Division.

However, officials of the Point Lisas port said that 15 percent is high because at US ports less than five percent of containers are examined.

However, committee Chairman Fitzgerald Hinds responded that those were ports which are equipped with scanners and it is the containers which are red flagged after passing through the scanners which are sent for examination.

Explaining the reason for the visit by the committee, Hinds said that guns are entering Trinidad and Tobago and the intelligence services have indicated that the legitimate ports are being used to bring contraband into the country.

Two mobile scanners, essentially a vehicle with the scanner mounted on it, will be allocated to the port of Port-of- Spain while two will be allocated to the port of Point Lisas.

During a tour of the Point Lisas port and Customs areas at the North and South Terminals of the Piarco Airport, Hinds, expressed the hope that when the scanners are installed, the Customs and Excise Department would be able to increase the extent of scanning of goods imported into the country. However, a senior official familiar with the situation said he could not give any commitment that this would happen, pointing out that the mobile scanner is something new to the department and they would have to see it in operation and understand what challenges are involved before commenting on whether there would be an increase in the extent of scanning. He said once the units are put into operation the Customs Department might make a determination that the two mobile units are able to provide the hundred percent scanning suggested by Hinds or that more units would be required to do so.

The official said that officers of the US Customs and Border Protection Agency will work along with the local Customs officers in operating the units.

Police sources said the exercise was conducted between the hours of 4 pm and 6 pm.

The police received information which led them to upper Haig Street, Carenage, where they searched an abandoned house. As a result, police found a pistol and a magazine with nine rounds of 9mm ammunition.

No one was arrested in connection with the find.

Describing Independence as a time for empowerment, Charles said, “Tobago’s autonomy is a priority on the assembly’s agenda.” He said the THA is currently consulting with a Cabinet sub-committee regarding the draft bill on autonomy for Tobago. He said once this part of the process is completed, the draft bill will be sent to Parliament for debate.

Charles also said the THA is working to create, “stronger, long-lasting partnerships will redound to our benefit.” He said these include the possibilities of public-private partnerships,” as we seek to accelerate our development programme.” Charles the Assembly’s recently created Tourism Agency is taking a holistic approach to improving Tobago’s tourism product.

He urged Tobagonians and the rest of the population not to be distracted by negativity and naysayers as the country marks 55 years of independence today.

TT acquired their first medal at the championships as the Men’s Team, consisting the trio of Njisane Phillip, Kwasi Browne and Nicholas Paul, sprinted the track circuit in a time of 45.08 seconds to claim the silver medal. Colombia’s team of Fabian Puerta, Santiago Ramirez and Ruben Murillo denied the hosts gold, finishing with the fastest time of 44.54 seconds.

Argentina rallied to bronze in the category finishing the finals of the event with their time of 45.55 seconds.

TT ’s women cyclists saw a more challenging opening day as they did not make it to the podium.

Both Jessica Costa and Teniel Campbell finished the Women’s Scratch event in the top 20, however, they ended in the 17th and 20th positions, respectively.

Jennifer Valente of the United States sealed the gold medal of the event as Cuban Marlies Mejia claimed silver and Allisson Beveridge secured the bronze for Canada.

Valente stunned the spectators after she crashed in the 40 laps race with eight laps to go as she fell hard, and almost half of the peleton coming down on top of her. However, they all were able to shake off the fall without any major injuries and executed an exciting sprint finish during the remaining laps.

The United States had a strong showing on the night as their cyclists, Madalyn Godby and Manndy MarQuadt, also won gold in the Women’s Team Sprint with a time of 34.24 seconds. Canadian riders Sthanie Roorda and Amelia Walsh pedaled to silver while Venezuela’s Mariaesthela Vilera and Yolimar Perez managed the bronze medal in the event.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation (TT CF), Robert Farrier, stated, “These five nights of competition showcases the talent of the athletes in our region, but underlying all the medals and the glory is the vast opportunity for Trinidad and Tobago of turning sport into a viable business.” He continued, “For this championship, we have visiting our shores over 250 athletes, 100 officials and the 19 presidents of various Cycling Federations of this region.

This is our opportunity to show the region that we are capable of utilizing this venue as a centre for training athletes.” The TT CF president elaborated on the investment needed to move forward with the Federation’s plans by stating, “The‘Satellite Centre Model’ utilised at the UCI School and now by the TT FA through FIFA, is that which should be used by all sporting organisations as we seek to make Trinidad and Tobago a sport tourism destination.

This will also begin to see full and proper utilisation of the world class sporting facilities which will certainly set them all on the path of being self-sustaining.” Farrier also detailed, “What we are stating is that there exists an already successful model, which we (TT CF) has, and all we are asking is that the stakeholders sit with us to discuss and learn how it should be implemented. For this business venture to be successful there has to be a partnership with the TT CF, UCI, the Government and Corporate TT .” The Elite Pan Am Track Cycling Championships continues today with the morning session from 10 am free to the public, while the evening session at 6 pm will cost fans $50 to enter.

“There are vendors who have been registered already, those are the vendors who will be allowed to remain on Charlotte Street. All other vendors, we are asking you to remove yourself in an orderly fashion.” Mayor Martinez added , “We are going to ask our police service to assist us in ensuring that the areas are properly regulated.

Charlotte Street is the first street we have started the regularisation process, however we are moving to the other streets thereafter.

Once the process is completed on Charlotte Street we want to ensure that vending is properly regulated throughout the city.” Martinez said although vending occurs in all cities around the world, there are rules and process vendors have to follow to ensure the city remains a successful city.

“How it is done? It is regulated.

Vendors are allowed to vend in certain parts and ply their trade in a very decent manner.

They are young entrepreneurs, but at the same time they must be regulated.” He said discussion are being held with the police to further collaborate on new and innovative ways to enhance the safety and security of the burgesses and citizens of the city of Port-of-Spain.

“We must instill in our children that importance of obedience and giving of themselves, just as Ismail did, upon realizing the task that had been asked of his father. For it is only in this way that we can come together as one,” Hosein said in a message to mark Eid Ul-Adha, observed annually on September 1.

“We must promote the values of having a strong character in our younger generations and to all our fellowmen. Live above reproach and this way, we can progress together as a nation.” Hosein said Eid Ul-Adha reminded Muslims of the importance of obedience to the Almighty and one’s parents.

“This is a message that we can all draw from – that we have a duty to our younger generations to inculcate the ideals of sacrifice, hard work and devotion.” Hosein said Eid Ul-Adha commemorates Abraham’s unyielding commitment to his faith, such that he proved his willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail.

“Almighty Allah recognised his devotion and intervened, letting a lamb take Ismail’s place.

It is the holiest Islamic observance,” he said. “Every year on Eid Ul-Adha, the Islamic community worldwide comes together to mark the end of the holy pilgrimage, Hajj, and to give honour to the spirit of sacrifice which marks this celebration.

“For Hajj, we leave behind our worldly possessions to make our pilgrimage to Mecca. We stand together, men and women, as equals before God. And in so doing, we recognise and honour the great sacrifice that our forefather, Prophet Abraham (Peace Be Unto Him), was willing to make; and are able to reflect on the many ways we as individuals and collectively, can make sacrifices in our daily lives to demonstrate our devotion and do good for humanity.” Hosein said during this holy observance, Muslims are called upon to make sacrifices to the Almighty by dividing meat into three portions: one for ourselves, another portion for family, and a third portion for those in need.

He said this sharing represents the key lessons of Eid Ul-Adha – sacrifice, equality and charity.