There is a lot more to be considered than just that.

Back in the days of TTT there were no other television stations, and no cable providers with a hundred-plus channels from which to choose. Two and thirteen — that was it.

TTT ’s broadcast output contained about 30 per cent local programming: Twelve and Under, Mainly for Women, Parade, Riki Tikki, Through the Eyes of Tomorrow, Panorama, Scouting for Talent, Community Dateline, The Game Show, Play of the Month, Teen Talent and Show Case, just to name a few; with most of these programmes being no longer than one hour’s duration.

The foreign programming contained shows such as Young and Restless, which at the time was the most popular show on television, Charlie’s Angels, and the rest of the day’s transmission made up of other foreign content.

In TTT ’s heyday, Trinidad had a vibrant recording industry that was rolling out music weekly, some of which have become today’s classics, that helped a great deal in producing material for local programming. Trinidad even had its own record pressing plant (KH). The cultural field was alive and this fed and manifested itself in what viewers and listeners were exposed too.

One can say that foreign shows such as America’s Got Talent and Dancing with the Stars are 21st century versions of Teen Talent, Scouting for Talent and Ballroom Dancing etc.

How sad it is that with the expansion of the electronic media no one could have taken those ideas and concepts to advance standards that could have generated viewers and buy in from advertisers.

The staff at TTT , at the time, was very professional, and management ensured that programmes were of a certain standard before they went on the air.

Times have changed, and to bring back TTT with the legacy it left would entail much hard work with lots of dedication and totally professional personnel.

The now-for-now programming that we experience today did not exist at the time.

Programmes were well researched, edited, and presented — something sadly lacking in the current electronic media today.

So if the plan is merely to change the name from CNMG to TTT , rehire personnel, and go mainly local, we may well be looking at the birth of yet another failed venture.

GERALD AGOSTINI via email

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

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.”

He said a lot of the engineering and planning work for Trinidad and Tobago takes place in Houston and a lot of the managerial work for the industry also relies on activity taking place in Houston so the closure of the sector there will have a temporary impact on Trinidad.

He added that all of the major oil companies in Trinidad will have offices in Houston or rely on services coming out of Houston.

Driver said it was a very tragic situation for the people of Houston and as far as he has been able to find out, all TT citizens working in the energy sector there were safe.

In Trinidad, a spokesman for bpTT said the company’s operations continue as normal and it is monitoring the situation in line with its usual safety practice. Officials at other energy companies operating in TT also said their businesses were not affected.

According to news reports, the ten oil refineries in Houston and Corpus Christi, an export hub for energy deliveries to Latin America and Asia, which were forced to close because of Hurricane Harvey normally had the capacity to refine about two million barrels of oil a day. Among the facilities which were forced to close was Exxon Mobil’s Baytown refinery, the second largest in the US about 25 miles east of Houston, which employed about 7,000 people and had a processing capacity of up to 584,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Whether Magistrate Lisa Singh-Phillip will impose a jail sentence on Kendall Noor will be known on October 18, when the 33-year-old mechanic of La Romaine returns to court. The magistrate took away the driver’s permit from Noor yesterday after he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol.

Singh-Phillip heard from the prosecutor Sgt Martin, that at about 8.14 pm on Saturday, Police Constable Henry and other officers were on duty conducting routine checks along Cipero Road, Golconda, near San Fernando. Noor who was the driver of a vehicle, was stopped and officers detected a strong scent of alcohol and subjected him to a breathalyser test. The results revealed he was over the legal limit by 35 microgrames.

Noor’s attorney Kern Saney, pleaded for leniency, saying, “My client is not a heavy drinker; he was drinking because he was celebrating something. He was unaware that he was over the limit.” Singh-Phillip decided to give Noor the opportunity to mitigate himself by attending Alcoholic Anonymous and Arrive Alive sessions.

In a release yesterday, the RIC said as part of its remit, it is responsible for prescribing and publishing standards for services of the utility.

A quality of service standards (QSS) scheme was first proposed in 2003 to ensure the authority provides and maintains an acceptable level of service to its customers. The commission said the standards were finalised after an extensive consultative process.

However they were never published in the TT Gazette and the RIC is now engaging in a second round of consultation.

The QSS covers broad areas of concern to customers.

These include the minimum water supply to be provided to customers; the time in which complaints are to be resolved; time in which a request for connection should be completed; and time to restore supply after an unplanned interruption.

The RIC said it uses a consultative approach in which stakeholders are invited to comment on the draft standards before they are finalised and published.

Members of the public are invited to the peruse the draft revised standards and provide comments and feedback to the Commission.

All comments must reach the RIC by October 23. The full draft standards document, as well as a summary of the standards, can be downloaded from the RIC’s website at: http:// www.ric.org.tt/consultations.

A printed copy can also be obtained from the RIC’s office at the Furness Building in Port of Spain.

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.

The bandit escaped in a waiting silver Nissan X-trail van which, police identified as stolen, was later found abandoned in Gopaul Lands, Marabella. Police believe the businessman was followed to the bank. According to a police report, at about 7.57 am yesterday, the bandit walked up to the victim, put the gun to his (businessman) head and ordered him to hand over the bag. As he was leaving, he snatched a handbag containing $3,000 from a woman who, along with others in line, had been ordered to lie on the ground while the robbery was being committed.

Investigators believe the businessman, whose pharmacy is on the outskirts of San Fernando, was the main target. Police said the businessman is thankful his life had been spared. However, the incident left other customers shaken.

Marabella police are investigating.

After six games, in the six-team standings, Honduras are fifth with five points, while TT are rooted to the bottom with three points. Mexico lead with 14 points, followed by Costa Rica (11), United States (eight) and Panama (seven).

The top three teams will book their tickets for the World Cup in Russia while the fourth-placed team will progress to the Inter-Confederation Play-offs — against the fifth-placed team in the Asian Zone in a homeand- away tie in November.

Asked how TT coach Dennis Lawrence should approach Friday’s game, Joseph responded, “It’s important that Trinidad (and Tobago) try to get a victory in those games because we’re in the bottom of the table. Playing at home, we have the advantage.

“The game is playing in Couva and that is some advantage as far as the crowd support and (according to the coach) the closeness of the spectators to the ground. I expect that there should be a full house because it’s a smaller stadium than the Hasely Crawford Stadium.” As far as tactics are concerned, Joseph noted, “In order for us to get three points in this game, we have to use a fairly attacking system which means there might be some problems as far as the defensive part of his formation is concerned.” Joseph added, “He can’t afford to decide on an attacking formation and leave his defence open. He has to mix it in the sense that he has to be very careful to ensuring that his defence is steady and, at the same time, trying to get goals up front.

“Having played against these Central American teams, they are very quick and they use the short (passing) balls. We can’t leave the defence open because they’ll try and make use of it.” Regular captain and centre forward Kenwyne Jones is still out of the squad after suffering a knee injury in June.

Joseph stated out, “Kenwyne Jones was being used as the point man and, with the games that I saw, you weren’t seeing many much movements from him. He was looking for the ball coming across from the air. He has the strength, he has the height to get at the ball in the air but, at the same time, you cannot be static. It may be a good thing that he’s not in the team.

“We have few forwards who may be fairly quick. I think this might be a good thing that he is not playing and there are other players who could really cause some problems with the opposing defences.”

As the sensitisation thrust continues, I am hoping that groups including the secretaries of denominational boards, the several associations of principals, and TT UTA will be included In addition, each school should develop a health promotion plan for the new academic year from which staff, parents and students can benefit