The brunch, at the panyard at 64 Tragarete Road, begins from 6 am, while the street festival begins at 2 pm. Entertainment during the brunch and after the annual Independence parade will be provided by Pelham Goddard and Roots, Lord Relator and host Newtown Playboys.

The Street Festival music will also come from bp Renegades, FCB Supernovas, Skiffle Steel Orchestra and NGC Couva Joylanders.

The event is free and food and drinks will be on sale.

Yesterday, La Romaine contractor ( Ian Jahoorie) was placed on $500, 000 bail when he appeared before Magistrate Alicia Chankar in the San Fernando First court on six fraud charges.

He was not called upon to plead as the charges were laid indictably.

Four of the charges related to uttering fraudulent documents namely fraudulent Central Bank cheques to the value of $600,000, another for attempting to obtain money from the Arima Borough Corporation and the last for obtaining $280,000 from Republic Bank, San Fernando which was drawn from the account of the Arima Borough Corporation .

Police say the offences were committed between June and August.

The businessman was arrested at the bank last week Thursday when he went to make a withdrawal. He is to re-appear in court on September 25.

Investigations were conducted by ASP Ghisiyawan, Sgt Bachew and Cpl Badree of th Fraud Squad.

Charges were laid by PC Lutchman.

On Sunday, at about 10.30 am police received a report of a body being found. When they arrived at the scene, they saw the decomposing body dressed in blue jeans and a pink and white bra. Rattan, of Lee Kham Road, Mamoral went missing on Tuesday last.

Her mother Lisa Nagil went to the Brasso Police Station last Wednesday and reported that her daughter left home to meet a man in Curepe, only known as Jimmy, concerning a job.

Nagil said at about 8.30 pm on Tuesday, she received a telephone call from Rattan, also known as Isabella Joseph, saying she was liming with a friend named Crystal at KFC. Nagil said when her daughter failed to return home that night, she tried to make contact with her but was unsuccessful. She told police her daughter was last seen wearing a fitted jeans, a multi-coloured top, pink purse and earrings with the initials “JI” in one ear and the word “Boss” on the other.

Police believe Rattan may have been killed elsewhere and her body dumped in the river. An autopsy yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James revealed Rattan died from blunt force trauma.

Grieving relatives described her as a wonderful person who was desperate to find a job to assist her family. A relative, who did not wish to give his name, said he wanted to advise young women seeking employment to be cautious about venturing to places to meet people who may have ulterior motives.

“This child did not do any harm to anybody,” he said. “She was a young woman who had dreams of a bright future, and to snuff out her life like this is inhumane. We want justice and, even if we do not get justice from the law, we know the person who carried out this devilish act will suffer even a worst fate than what happened to our dear Jasmine.” Her mother and father Joseph Rattan were inconsolable yesterday upon leaving the Forensic Science Centre after viewing the body.

It was always a great pleasure for me to appear before these two judges in my early days of practice. They wore lightly their cloak of judiciary, yet enjoyed the respect of all.

They both recognised that their entitlement to be addressed as “Milud” did not confer on them near divinity, as in their interactions with subordinates they acknowledged a shared humanity. Both loved to chat, and though this annoyed some practitioners, I thought it made bearable the rigours of practice.

Maharaj was as passionate about family law as I am. He often took the opportunity to ask my opinion on some family law point or refer me to some judgment in family law that I should review.

His judgments were thorough.

His fatherly pride in his three sons in law was no secret.

He was always very polite, pleasant and exceedingly patient.

He truly made the practice of law a joy.

Who can forget Narine’s sense of humour? One day I walked into the Appeal Chamber Court and he informed me that he was not pleased with me. I was genuinely puzzled, as I knew all my documents were in order. As he saw my confusion he proceeded to ask me how I could get married and not invite him.

On another occasion, I was vigorously arguing a point when he said to me that he thought I would have cooled down after my marriage. I remember once when I was awaiting a judgment from him and we met socially.

As I approached him, anticipating I might ask him about it, he immediately placed an index finger on his lips. He certainly knew how to take the wind out of my sails.

I recall when applying for leave for a writ of habeas corpus involving a child. He engaged our client, a Nicaraguan of Chinese descent, resident in San Francisco, about her lineage.

I did not see any point in his questions, but in retrospect realised that it served to calm our client, who had been extremely anxious about her matter.

His interests were wide -ranging, making him an excellent conversationalist. He could see humour in any situation, and fielded expertly, comments on his physical resemblance to a younger judge, which was compounded by their common passion for cricket.

I pray the ultimate judge would judge these good men gently and welcome them into His hallowed hall of justice.

HAZEL THOMPSON-AHYE attorney

Most of us will still continue to take the ferries from Port of Spain to Tobago or fly on CAL from Piarco.

So why make this very expensive mistake? Bird watchers, environmentalists and tourism professionals have come out against destroying the habitat, beauty, and quaintness of Toco. Why not consider repairs and widening the Toco roads and bridges, then building wooden cabanas to encourage eco-tourism in Toco, advertising that area to would-be visitors.

Maybe the money could be spent instead in Chaguaramas.

The only road to that part of the island, which has existed since the 1930s, is the scene of daily roadblocks both ways. That is also where the Defence Force headquarters are located.

Lots of money have been spent developing Chaguaramas to encourage entertainment activities there. There are restaurants, hotels, a petting zoo, amusement park and boardwalk, a military museum, boat industries and water sports.

However, no thought has apparently been given to improving access to Chaguaramas.

Surely, the first priority should be building a tunnel through the mountain or a new road, which will encourage tourists and locals to visit the area.

PATRICIA BLADES via email

Head coach Dennis Lawrence and the majority of his 26- man squad checked into the residential training camp at Cara Suites Hotel in Claxton Bay yesterday prior to a late evening training session at the Ato Boldon Stadium and immediately there was sense of focus and business-like approach to the few days ahead.

According to Jacksonville Armada midfielder Kevan George, “We have to believe in our ability.. that is what can make the difference for us. I am very motivated and personally I’m ready to play this evening if the match is changed to that time,” George told TTFA Media.

“We need max points.

There’s nothing like a tie in either of these two games.

We have to get in their faces more and obstruct their rhythm.

They are a team that likes to keep possession — especially in midfield — and they build on that momentum.

If we can disrupt their play early, especially as we are home, and try to impose ourselves then that will be a key for us.

We have to stay focused and not focus on the game against Panama. We have to take care of Honduras.

“The main thing is belief and we need the fans to get behind us and keep supporting.

It will be an adjustment playing at Ato Boldon but football is football so we will just get accustomed to the surface over a couple days.

Our main thing is just to make it uncomfortable for Honduras,” George added.

“People underestimate belief. I have seen a lot of crazy things happen in my short life span.

The coaches believe in us and we believe in ourselves as players and this is something we have to maintain right through to the final whistle on Friday,” he said.

Among the players already in camp along with the home-based pros are Minnesota United midfielder Kevin Molino, Mekeil Williams, Honduras- based duo Jan Michael Williams and Daneil Cyrus, Jomal Williams, Khaleem Hyland, Cordell Cato, Joevin Jones, Aubrey David, Carlyle Mitchell, Willis Plaza, Jamille Boatswain and George. El Salvador- based midfielder Leston Paul, European- based duo Radanfah Abu Bakr and Sheldon Bateau and US-based forward Trevin Caesar are all expected to join the camp soon.

Tickets remain on sale for the encounter at all NLCB Lotto Locations priced at $350 (covered) and $200 (uncovered.) Trinidad and Tobago’s Kevan George, left, says three points is mandatory against Honduras on Friday.

Philippe Coutinho is fit for Brazil’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers, despite the midfielder not having played for Liverpool this season because of a stated back injury, a federation spokesman told ESPN Brasil.

Coutinho, 25, is attempting to force through a move to Barcelona and has been the club’s main transfer target this summer, with the Reds turning down three bids for him thus far, with the latest being worth a total of £118 million.

Though he has not appeared in any of Liverpool’s four games on the young campaign, he was called into Tite’s Brazil squad for the team’s matches against Ecuador and Colombia on August 31 and September 5, respectively.

And a CBF spokesman yesterday said the former Inter Milan man was without any injuries and will begin training with his teammates today.

Before joining the national team in Porto Alegre, Coutinho paid a quick visit on Sunday to Rio de Janeiro- based doctor Michael Simoni, who has known the former Vasco da Gama star for years.

With the transfer window closing on Thursday, there was speculation the midfielder had undergone a physical with Simoni ahead of a move.

However, Simoni denied there had been any examination when asked by ESPN Brasil.

“When he had surgery on his shoulder and stayed alone in Europe — he was very young — who helped was me. This was shortly after he moved to Europe. He called me [Sunday]. I didn’t examine him, nothing medical,” Simoni, who serves as Fluminense’s health director, explained.

“Belief in our ability and believing that we have what it takes.” That will be the sentiment echoing throughout the next few days in the Trinidad and Tobago camp ahead of Friday’s all-important 2018 World Cup Qualifying match against Honduras.

Head coach Dennis Lawrence and the majority of his 26- man squad checked into the residential training camp at Cara Suites Hotel in Claxton Bay yesterday prior to a late evening training session at the Ato Boldon Stadium and immediately there was sense of focus and business-like approach to the few days ahead.

According to Jacksonville Armada midfielder Kevan George, “We have to believe in our ability.. that is what can make the difference for us. I am very motivated and personally I’m ready to play this evening if the match is changed to that time,” George told TTFA Media.

“We need max points.

There’s nothing like a tie in either of these two games.

We have to get in their faces more and obstruct their rhythm.

They are a team that likes to keep possession — especially in midfield — and they build on that momentum.

If we can disrupt their play early, especially as we are home, and try to impose ourselves then that will be a key for us.

We have to stay focused and not focus on the game against Panama. We have to take care of Honduras.

“The main thing is belief and we need the fans to get behind us and keep supporting.

It will be an adjustment playing at Ato Boldon but football is football so we will just get accustomed to the surface over a couple days.

Our main thing is just to make it uncomfortable for Honduras,” George added.

“People underestimate belief. I have seen a lot of crazy things happen in my short life span.

The coaches believe in us and we believe in ourselves as players and this is something we have to maintain right through to the final whistle on Friday,” he said.

Among the players already in camp along with the home-based pros are Minnesota United midfielder Kevin Molino, Mekeil Williams, Honduras- based duo Jan Michael Williams and Daneil Cyrus, Jomal Williams, Khaleem Hyland, Cordell Cato, Joevin Jones, Aubrey David, Carlyle Mitchell, Willis Plaza, Jamille Boatswain and George. El Salvador- based midfielder Leston Paul, European- based duo Radanfah Abu Bakr and Sheldon Bateau and US-based forward Trevin Caesar are all expected to join the camp soon.

Tickets remain on sale for the encounter at all NLCB Lotto Locations priced at $350 (covered) and $200 (uncovered.)

West Indies have had numerous specialized slip fielders in the past, but Davis believes there is too much changing of personnel in the slip region. In the current series against England, West Indies have dropped a number of catches in the slip region and the outfield.

Davis said, “The slip fielding is not up to the level it should be, and I believe it is because there is nobody specializing there. You’re seeing different people in the slips. We saw a lot of (Jermaine) Blackwood in slips and then we saw Kieran Powell and we are seeing (Kyle) Hope.” Davis, Cricket Administrator at Queen’s Park, fielded in slip in the four Test matches he played for West Indies and was also a specialized slip fielder at Glamorgan when he played county cricket in England.

Davis says it is difficult when catches are dropped in the slip region after a fast bowler is constantly working on finding the edge of a batsmen.

“It is not only frustrating, it is painful (for a fast bowler).

Bowlers work on a batsmen and you are setting him up and you are looking to get the edge. For a catch to be dropped in the slip after you work on that hour after hour it is painful.” Davis says Australian Mark Taylor, Australian brothers Ian and Greg Chappell and the West Indies trio of Robin Bynoe, Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd are some of the best slip fielders he has ever seen.

He stressed that practice is key to improving slip fielding.

“It is practice, a lot of practice and taking plenty catches that is what they ought to be doing.”

They used it to pay medical bills, Alicia George, 35, of King’s Wharf, San Fernando, told magistrate Alicia Chankar in the San Fernando Magistrates’ court. Through her attorney, the woman said that she had been trying to get pregnant for the longest while. She worked at the casino on High Street, San Fernando, but had prearranged the roulette pin ball machine so that common-law husband, Antonio Andrew Anthony, 57, could keep winning.

Yesterday, both pleaded guilty to 49 charges and the magistrate ordered both to pay $93,000 each which they must pay within the next three months failing which, each will serve a total of 181 months in jail.

George and Anthony are from King’s Wharf, San Fernando, and were arrested on Friday last and charged with larceny of various sums of money from the casino between January and last week Monday.

Chankar read the 49 charges to both and they pleaded guilty. The prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan said that the casino’s owner, Chandra Maharaj, saw on surviellance camera footage that unsual amounts of money had been paid out to one particular customer — common- law husband Anthony. Police Constable Crawford of the San Fernando conducted an investigation, the prosecutor said, which revealed that George had keys to the roulette machine.

On various days since January, Seedan said, Anthony will go to the casino and George who had access to the pin ball, would place it in a winning spot on the machine. Video footage, the magistrate heard, also saw she actually placing the ball in its position and Anthony being paid out cash.

The prosecutor produced winning tickets which showed Anthony won on 49 occasions with sums ranging from $500 and $6,000 between Janaury and last week Monday.

Chankar heard that the video footage also showed George placing a particular colour of a ball in the winning slot which indicated that Anthony had won. Crawford confronted her, the prosecutor said, and she replied, “Officer, I never take all that money. All of that is small money. I continue to take one or two.” Crawford also confronted Anthony and he, the court heard, replied, “Boss, I assisted my wife a few times, but we eh take so much money.” Attorney Analee Girwar pleaded to the magistrate against imposing a custodial sentence on the couple.

George, he said, had been trying to get pregnant for the longest while and is now two-and-a-half months pregnant. She took the money to pay her medical bills, the attorney added. “Both of them are very sorry for what they did,” Girwar said.

Chankar chastised both of them and questioned whether they had intended to keep stealing until their luck had run out. “You mean you sorry your luck run out? You did not stop, but continued on and on,” Chankar said. She ordered that failing to pay the fines, George is to do 181 consecutive months simple imprisonment. Anthony will do hard labour.

UNC chairman David Lee criticised the Rowley-led Government saying corruption was taking place under his watch as in the ferry procurement fiasco and the inter-island seabridge as he, Rowley, spoke of weeding out corruption in government.

In a release, the PNM said, the last people who should speak on issues of corruption are the leadership of the UNC since between 2010 and 2015, when the UNC was in charge, most allegations of corruption against a government were made.

One such example, the PNM said, is the case in which public officials are being accused, on the basis of evidence, of facilitating a corrupt transaction involving land.

The matter, which has cost taxpayers $175 million, the PNM said, took place under the watch of a UNC minister.

The Office of the Attorney General, following the money trail, the PNM said, has also found what appears to be a bribe paid by the vendors of the land to a public officer who overvalued the land.

Recently, too, the PNM said, search warrants approved by the courts were executed on a number of contractors on the basis of evidence provided, that a former UNC minister was listed as a co-conspirator in possible crimes against the State.

The PNM said on September 4, 2015, the last working day before the 2015 general election, the UNC government compromised the State’s case against the OAS contractor in the construction of the extension of the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin.

The party said, being investigated is the former UNC appointed chairman of the Chaguaramas Development Authority granting questionable leases of State lands on September 6, 2015, the day before the 2015 general election.

In addition, the PNM said, the $1 billion of the National Gas Company money spent “to build” a wastewater plant in the Beetham with a UNC favoured contractor, is now a subject of litigation.

While its senators and even MPs are being investigated for corruption, the PNM said, “the nation does not welcome any comments from them on corruption, unless it is to provide evidence on those who may have participated in corrupt acts between 2010 and 2015.”

James O’Connor’s film To Be A Renegade, captures the story of the bp Renegades through an examination of the violent beginnings of pan, the era of change, and its present state as a positive influence on communities, with steelbands now travelling abroad as international ambassadors.

Featuring players, founding members and supporters, the documentary funded by bpTT seeks to show what it really means to be a Renegade. As part of its support for the film, bpTT is sponsoring a free screening on September 22, 8.30 pm, at MovieTowne, Port of Spain. Tickets will be available from the box office on a first-comefirst- served basis, at the start of the festival.

Birdsong by Vibert Medford, follows Mia Gormandy — the first woman to be appointed arranger for birdsong, during one night of practice as she prepares the band for the 2017 Panorama competition.

Founded in 1973 at the UWI, the band later moved to Tunapuna, becoming an integral part of the community, creating employment, providing music literacy training and facilitating educational scholarships among other pursuits.

The name birdsong was chosen from inception to reflect the band’s desire to make music as sweet and melodic as the sound of birds.

To Be An All Star captures the extraordinary energy of one of the big moments of Carnival 2017, when the Massy Trinidad All Stars won the Large Bands Panorama finals.

Both birdsong and To Be An All Star will screen on September 24, as part of Feature T+T, the ttff ’s day-long celebration of local films at MovieTowne Port of Spain, San Fernando and Tobago.

Feature T+T is part of the country’s celebration of Patriotism Month and is sponsored by the Ministry of Community Development Culture and the Arts.

Tickets cost $30.

The pan films are part of the more than 34 short and feature films that will screen at this year’s festival.

For more info: ttfilmfestival.com