He said, “I do recall as every young man would, growing up in rural TT, the Shouter Baptists preaching the word of God and His beneficence and Hell’s damnation.

“Those admonitions, as the bells they rang, resonate today, relevant and timely.” Reflecting on the state of affairs today, Carmona said, “It is therefore timely and relevant that we celebrate today the perseverance and the human resilience of the Spiritual Baptist community.” He appealed to citizens to, “Not lose hope, as a nation, in our capacity to get things right and put things right. The Spiritual Baptist movement has demonstrated that hope lives eternal.” Reflecting on the struggles of the Spiritual Shouter Baptists, Carmona said today “celebrates a defining victory in our burgeoning democracy.” He said the Spiritual Shouter Baptist faith had “further demonstrated that a belief in the supremacy of God can progressively propel any nation.” Against this background, Carmona said, “We must therefore stand proud as a nation, that we had the strength of character and foresight to correct a wrong of the past.”

Lee, who is UNC chairman, said, “Like the dark times when Baptists were not allowed to enjoy their faith, today we see citizens have now become imprisoned in their own homes as they are not able to freely walk the streets or carry out their daily activities due to the current crime situation.”

He said Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day 2017, “presents us with an opportunity to learn the qualities of determination from a strong dynamic community which has added tremendous value to the framework of TT and use them to liberate our nation as we fight for a TT where each citizen is able to enjoy prosperity, safety, individual growth and contribute to the sustainable development of their nation.”

Charles said the Baptists teach the population that, “good, while it may have its ups and downs and at times seem on the threshold of defeat, will ultimately succeed.” He stated, “Overcoming trials and tribulations is a very important aspect of success and ultimate victory.” Padarath lamented that the People’s Partnership coalition went out of office before they could have built the secondary school for the Spiritual Baptist community.

“He did not get to come to the funeral because I heard police had him at (Sangre) Grande.

He could have lost his life. It could have been him in that box (coffin),” said the siblings’ 70-year-old father Andrew.

Smith, also known as Shaka, of Piparo Road, Tabaquite, was shot and killed by officers of the Eastern Division on Thursday night in Rio Claro. Smith had gone to rescue the now detained brother from gunmen in a forested area in Rio Claro. Instead, on arrival, he was shot and killed by police and died en-route to the Rio Claro Health Facility.

He was buried at the Tabaquite Public Cemetery following a funeral service at his home.

“It was because of him Shaka went to assist, but God is love and everything will work out,” the father added.

Police arrested the 34-year-old brother on Sunday afternoon at the family’s home.

Relatives said that while at his home, the younger brother telephoned Smith saying he was hiding in a forested area from gunmen who ambushed him. As such, Smith went in search of his brother when tragedy struck. Police however said that they were responding to a robbery and on reaching Tabaquite Road, Rio Claro, the occupant (Smith) of a vehicle fired at police who returned fire killing him.

Investigations are continuing and up to yesterday, the brother remained in custody.

Also affected was the administration office of the Point Fortin Borough Corporation, which sent workers home early.

In a media release, state-owned oil company Petrotrin said the company was “investigating reports of strong hydrocarbon odours in the Techier Village and Mahaica communities neighbouring its Point Fortin operations.

“Upon receiving initial reports earlier today, the company’s emergency responders visited the identified areas and commenced investigations,” Petrotrin said, adding that under the National Oil Spills Contingency Plan, it had also established an Incident Command Centre to manage its emergency response.

Petrotrin stated that arrangements have been made for residents affected by the odours to obtain treatment at Petrotrin’s Medical Centre in Point Fortin.

However, residents of Tenth Street Extension, Teschier village said they had not been told about any medical arrangements by the company, but were only told not to cook using open flames or use their microwaves.

One resident, Reea Williams, who was among a group who had assembled on a bridge overlooking a dark and oily river , said they began smelling the fumes on Tuesday evening.

“We don’t know what going on here, nobody coming and saying anything, all we are seeing is oil floating in the water,” she said, adding some residents had complained about vomiting and nausea associated with the fumes.

“It have two fan in the house and we can’t even sleep, we eyes burning,” she said. “Somebody have to come and tell us what is happening.” Another resident said they may have to resort to blocking the roads should their cries for help go unanswered.

Meanwhile, Petrotrin said the Ministry of Energy, the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and all other relevant regulatory agencies had been notified.

Once charged, the man will appear before a San Fernando magistrate.

PC Nagessar of the St Margaret’s Police Station is investigating.

“They will look at your name.

They will find out about you. All that you say online can be documented, shared and judged,” she said.

Addressing the opening yesterday of Bishop Anstey High School’s career fair at the school in Port-of- Spain, Rowley, a past student and deputy head prefect, said, “Watch how you conduct yourself on social media. Watch what you say online.

Watch the pictures you post on Facebook.” Telling the pupils to watch their language too, she said, “We can say many things without using curse words. Some think it is cool to do that.” They feel boys will look at them if they use curse words because they are cool, “But think again,” she said, because “when they come to choose their wives” they will look elsewhere.

In seeking admission to universities, said Rowley, an attorney, many universities were looking for allround students.

“They look for evidence of community service. Volunteering is important. Sport is important. Extra- curricular activities are important.

Some universities will actually overlook you if you have none of these on your CV (curriculum vitae),” she said.

Now is not too early for students, she said, to start building their CVs In terms of career choice, she said, “You need to think seriously about what you love. Follow your dreams – but you have to dream realistically.” Using her own experiences and those of her family members, she said what a student may want to become might change several times before they make that choice. Initially, she said, she wanted to become an archaeologist, then a doctor and finally she had to make the choice of studying either economics or law. She chose law.

He husband’s initial’s choice, she said, was to become a journalist, but instead he became a geologist before becoming a politician.

While dreams are always a good starting point, she said, “Be guided by your natural abilities.” “If you don’t like to cook you can’t be a chef. If you don’t like to read, you can’t do law, because that is all you do.” While parents can help students to make choices, she said, “They should not actually make those choices for you.” Some parents would want students to do what they wanted because they did not have the opportunity to do it.

“They may see themselves in you. Don’t get vex with them. They mean well. They are just trying to help you along the way to make the right choices.” Once students chose what they liked, she said, they will not say “Boring” when someone asked them how school was, or when they went to university they would not change from one major to another, thereby incurring more costs and prolonged studies.

“And of course you will not drop out of university if you choose something you like,” she said.

But whatever subjects or career they chose, she said, “You must always have proper work ethics. That starts from school.” Asking the students to remember Mahatma Gandhi’s quote, “The future depends on what you do today,” she said, “With hard work, dedication and faith in God, your

In an address to the nation last night, Garcia focused on the incidence of bullying and violence which have been highlighted in the media and on social media.

These include a school girl beaten unconscious by three schoolmates at the Mayaro Secondary School and an 11-yearold boy who was diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) at the Santa Rita RC School in Rio Claro. The boy’s alleged bad behaviour sparked protests by parents of other children attending the school.

Garcia said the schools which are being closely looked at are Mayaro Secondary, Rio Claro East Secondary, Mayaro Government Primary, Santa Rita RC Primary and Carapichaima ASJA.

He claimed the ministry’s plans have worked although the situation continues to worsen.

“The plan for addressing school indiscipline, inclusive of bullying, was a school-based, data-driven approach,” Garcia said. “Each school was mandated to have a discipline committee which consisted of representatives from the administration, guidance officers, social workers, students, heads of department, a dean and school safety officer.” He said reports on school indiscipline, bullying and misconduct were disheartening to most.

“The ministry’s aim is for citizens to recognise the importance of and place value on learning, healthy lifestyles, national pride and a sense of right from wrong.” Garcia said his ministry has implemented several initiatives to deal with indiscipline and violence.

These include schoolbased management and curriculum reform which addressed under-performance in language and maths at the primary and secondary school levels.

The ministry engaged key stakeholders to sensitise them to the plans, objectives and anticipated outcomes of the programmes.

He said the Morvant/Laventille Project, launched in October 2016, was designed specifically for the community to enhance numeracy and literacy in government schools, reverse the current trend of poor mathematics grades and provide remediation solutions for teachers.

Former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh said there were 23 areas where there were programmes that may have had enormous success and if continued, would have resulted in a significant reduction in school violence.

Gopeesingh said the Students Support Service Division has been depleted and the officers who were social workers have not been paid for the year. He said all teachers should know who the students with discipline problems are, and should be able to give a figure on the statistics.

He said teachers should be trained in identifying students with behavioural tendencies.

He said the fact that the population is being served by a single CT scanner at Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EW MSC) in Mt Hope, highlights the Health Minister’s lack of management skills and lack of accountability to the population.

Gopeesingh was responding to reports that CT scanners at Port-of-Spain General Hospital, Sangre Grande Hospital and San Fernando General Hospital were non-functioning. Patients needing this service are being referred to the EW MSC. Gopeesingh said this would have a significant negative impact on patient care since CT scans are vital in diagnostic medical tests.

He said the breakdown has led to the denial of medical care for patients, some of whom have had to spend as much as $5,000 to receive service at private institutions. This despite the fact that the Couva Children’s Hospital is fully equipped with modern CT facilities which Government has refused to utilise.

Contacted for comment, chief executive officer at PoS General Sheldon Cyrus said one of the scanners went down last week Friday, but should be back up next week. He added that the second machine should be operational soon. CEO at San Fernando General Anil Gosine, said one of their scanners went down last week while another has been non-operational for over two months. He said they do not want new machines since the two can be repaired.

Gosine said the cost of one CT scanner is $4.2 million.

“The one that went down two and half months ago has a warranty on it, but it’s just that the supplier hasn’t fulfilled their obligation. By next weekend we should have one up,” Gosine said.

Sangre Grande CEO Dr Rameshwar Maharaj said the scanner, “has not provided any appreciable level of service since November.” He said that despite multiple attempts of field service engineers to resolve various issues, there have been continued performance failures of the unit with scanner age being cited as the major contributing factor to downtime.

Maharaj said an average of five patients are referred to the EW MSC daily to access CT scans.

Panday said this as he addressed reporters at his Gordon Street, San Fernando law office on Tuesday. He also agrees with former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj’s assertion that any good plan to reduce crime, “is only as good as its implementation.” “In order to urgently deal with crime, it is necessary to implement laws which are on the books,” Panday said, citing the existing DNA legislation which he added, should be upgraded while the Forensic Science Centre should be well resourced for increased efficiency.

He said the Interception of Communication Act should also be implemented and which would give the police the power to monitor the conversations of the criminal element.

Panday said the complete removal of Preliminary Inquiries would shift the backlog from the Magistrates’ Court to the High Court where the resultant backlog would result in “complete chaos.” He said legislation appears to have omitted the police service from the process as no time-table had been placed on the police, to effectively and efficiently conduct and complete investigations.

“Therefore, I support Mr Maharaj’s suggestion that various measures including resourcing of the police service be improved immediately so they could speed up investigations,” Panday said.

According to Lawrence’s manager Boxu Potts, in a media release, “His Excellency seems to know more about the sport of boxing than the heads of the Boxing Fraternity in this country.” The media release noted, “valuable advice was given to Lawrence (by President Carmona) about the technical aspect of how he should manoeuvre during a fight (as well as) not showing much of his body to his opponent and putting himself in a shell during a fight.

“He also related some much appreciated words to the management and promotional team (of Fight Night team) on how to take Lawrence’s career to the next level as well as choosing Lawrence’s fights wisely,” the media release added. “His Excellency also indicated he found Sheldon to be familiar, as they were from the same Fyzabad/Siparia area.” The Fight Night team extended their appreciation to President Carmona for taking the time to meet Lawrence as well as the advice given to the 29-year-old pugilist.