Because of the crime crippling our country, I want to become a police officer. Yes, I am ready to put away my three law degrees, quit my career, and ditch my suits to wear that ugly, old colonial uniform in order to do something to help solve crimes and arrest criminals regardless of their surname or home address.

In the good ole’ days, during times of war, young men served in the military; whether it was voluntarily or by conscription, they served their country with pride.

I want to do the same. I want to risk my life fighting to protect my fellow Trinbagonians from criminals, especially those seemingly untouchable white-collar ones.

Currently, the troops we have sent out to fight are working for the enemy, as they claim to be “fed up” with failing at their jobs, instead of actually doing it. They never wanted the career, they only wanted the permanent “wuk”.

The PNM government, on the other hand, is still playing a blame game with crime, going so far as to now re-classify murders into categories to justify why responsibility lies where they think it should.

According to the Prime Minister, there are regular murders which is the government’s responsibility and “domestic murders” which is the responsibility of the victims.

This husband, father and grandfather, is saying that it is a woman’s choice of a mate that results in her death, in the latter category.

Is this not the same disgusting argument as the disgraced former Port-of-Spain Mayor, Raymond Tim Kee, who decided to police women’s bodies and not his mouth when he basically said that women should expect to be raped when they are scantily clad? The callous sentiments of Keith Rowley made my heart bleed as a feminist, a father, a son, a brother, an uncle, and a nephew; it illustrates why emotional intelligence supersedes the one of the academic variety.

Fortunately for Doc, he was lucky enough to find his soulmate; for others, they think they do until things suddenly change.

To know what a person may turn into years from now requires a combination of extrasensory perception, a crystal ball, a deck of tarot cards and several visits to an obeah practitioner.

When I listen to the asinine comments of those on top, I cannot join their parties, nor can I allow my intellect to be whittled away by the idiocy they call governance, so I want to be a police officer – a detective, where I can use my intelligence to solve crimes. There is one major problem with my plan to serve as a police officer and that is that I cannot and will not work with the majority of people serving in the TT PS. Suffice it say, if I wanted to join a gang, I could have done so during my time in NYC or even easier in thug-land Baltimore.

In order to get patriotic police officers like myself to serve, the entire police service must be fired and immediately replaced through different educational criteria and recruitment processes.

The legal consequences will be trifling to the impact 4000 of my compatriots who share my mind-set will have on this country in a matter of months. It’s not far-fetched: in 2005, the President of the Eurasian country of Georgia fired 30,000 police officers to combat corruption. Ukraine did the same thing in 2015 when every single officer was fired in a country where police and political corruption was so rampant that for a moment I thought I was reading about Trinidad and Tobago.

I am more than willing to serve my country as a police officer without even thinking twice, and I am sure that there are at least 4000 of us out there willing (really and truly) to put our lives on the line for all of our brothers and sisters in this country. I am ready to protect and serve my country with Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Dignity and Excellence, and while I would rather serve as Prime Minister or at the very least, Minister of Labour, once the TT PS is gutted and revamped, I would g l a d l y do it as a police officer.

For the sake of our country, Dr Rowley, please try calling my bluff.

Clearly he has demonstrated his disgust for the heinous domestic-related murders occurring almost daily, as we all have, and has sought to share pertinent advice to our womenfolk.

I think the call for an apology for his comments is both disingenuous and hypocritical.

Every right-thinking parent would, at one time or another, advise their children on the choices they make or should make regarding their friends and people with whom they associate.

Mothers always ask their daughters, “Are you sure he is the right one?” Fathers always view their daughters’ choice of boyfriends critically and this is not done in a malicious way, but with care and concern for the wellbeing of their children.

Rowley in his capacity as father of the nation has chosen to warn his daughters that they need to exercise greater care in choosing their mates, as far too often, and as the records show, these choices end up being fatal.

Can he be faulted for this? He did not proceed to identify the traits of the right mate or seek to condemn any as not being suitable. He simply cautioned about the choices, and his statement should be accepted as that.

In my estimation, any advice or guidelines that we as a people can get to assist our individual efforts to deal with the troubling issue of crime is most welcomed.

Perhaps, based on Rowley’s advice, some young woman may decide that she will not take the chance to meet with a stranger in search of a job, or spend more time gathering information on his background or credentials. Or another may not decide to take a ride home from someone she barely knew, thereby saving her own life from a tragic end.

To view his comments as being victim blaming is to have missed the point completely.

The truth is that we have many young and not so young women in our country, who are still enamoured by the “bling” and the show of material endowment, and spend little or no time checking out certain characteristics which might indicate the true nature of their suitor.

Certainly some women will take offence at this statement, but it is the truth and indeed the truth offends. It is a material world in which we live and material wealth often times trumps good character when it comes to choosing a mate.

The advice is simply to not be blinded by the glitter so that you don’t see the truth. This will not stop domestic violence, but certainly it can help to prevent it.

So Rowley, take a bow for being forthright and courageous to call it like it is, and not be distracted by the political opportunists who seek to devalue and derail the exercise on which you have embarked.

Garvin Cole Tobag

This is the cry of Ruby Adams- Johnson, the grief-stricken grandmother of 15-year-old Abiela Adams whose semi-nude body, throat slit, was found on a roadside in Courland Tobago yesterday.

“It is time to do the right thing, start to hang them,” Adams-Johnson declared in her call for a resumption of the death penalty.

“That is what they supposed to do. They know that is what they supposed to do. Tell them, let they do that.” Adams of Mary’s Hill, a small village next to Whim, is Tobago’s fourth murder victim for 2017.

Tobago recorded four murders for 2016.

A male friend of the dead teenager is said to be assisting police with investigations into the incident.

Adams’ body was found at 3.30 am yesterday at the side of the road off Solenn Lane, Fidelis Heights (North), Courland, which lies between the villages of Black Rock and Plymouth.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Tobago Division, Garfield Moore told Sunday Newsday that around 12.15 am yesterday, the teenager’s mother, Katherine Gill, reported Adams as missing at the Old Grange Police Station.

Moore said relatives as well as police conducted searches in Crown Point and surrounding areas and a relative stumbled upon the body at 3.30 am, at Courland.

“No one was held in connection with the murder. However, a male friend (of the teenager) is assisting police officers with their ongoing investigations. He would have been one of the last people who would have interacted with her, so we are speaking to him,” Moore said yesterday.

Adams was a Third Form student of the Signal Hill Secondary School and played football for her school as well as being a member of the Under-15 national team. When Sunday Newsday visited Mary’s Hill yesterday, residents were in a state of shock at hearing the news of her murder.

Adams lived with her mother at the corner of Mary’s Hill junction within walking distance of the Whim Anglican Primary School.

Persons gathered at the slain teenager’s home said her mother was not there, and could not say where she was at that time.

Her grandmother could not believe she died in such a horrific manner.

“Knowing the child that she was, I could not believe what I have heard. I only know she wasn’t rude. She wasn’t disrespectful to people. She was loving, She was nice and when I got the news I start to bawl,” Adams- Johnson told TV6 News.

Recalling her grand-daughter’s prowess in cricket and football, Adams-Johnson said: “She striving to reach the goal she want.

Why she life have to go like this?” One resident, who described the teenager as respectable young lady in the area who was not known to wander out late at night, said news of her death was a shock since he and others in the village would constantly look out for and be ready to defend young women.

A woman operating a food stall at the junction described Adams as a beautiful child who visited her stall often.

Several residents blamed Adams’ murder on an “outsider” saying “Tobago men won’t watch a young lady and kill her just so.” “It’s one set of new taxi drivers coming over here to work,” one claimed.

The residents said they have asked, on several occasions, for surveillance cameras to installed at the Mary’s Hill junction but to no avail. Just two weeks ago, members of the Police Service, Tobago Division, hosted a first town meeting at the nearby Whim Community Centre, not far from Adams’ home. At the meeting residents and the members of the Village Council applauded the police for their work, saying there was a decrease in criminal activity in the area.

Meanwhile, manager of the Signal Hill Secondary’s girls’ football team, Syandene Blackman, described Adams as a dedicated and talented footballer.

“Abiela also played cricket. She would have touched the lives of everyone she came into contact with, both in Trinidad and Tobago.

She was a member of the National Under 15 football team as well.

Always smiling and making everyone around her smile. She was also a well-behaved student and always portrayed model deportment.

Parental support was never an issue. Her mum was always there to support her,” said Blackman.

Blackman said the persons who killed Adams, “I must say have to be really heartless.” “Every time you look at Kady, which she was sometimes referred to as, all you can do is just fall in love with this beautiful soul. I know us at school will have a hard time dealing with her death.

“All females now need to realise how valuable our existence is and put the necessary measures in place to sustain our lives.

“We need to start looking out and protecting each other. We need to unite and show the world that we are no longer going to accept this as just another murder, we are not going to accept violence against us as common or normal, but we will grow in strength and do whatever it is necessary to show the world that our lives do matter,” she said.

On Facebook, scores of Tobagonians expressed anger and hurt at the news of Adams murder.

Said one commentator: “To wake up to this kind of news, it’s like war of the times, like Tobago trying to compete with Trinidad.

Slit throat, what next body parts in a bag found somewhere, what are we and I say we Police Civilians. Everybody need to put a foot in this is going too far its February 11th 2017, four confirm murders non-solved? Lord Oh lord.” Another commentator cast blame on the police, citing insufficient effort to curb the increasing crime crisis: “We need a new police commissioner and revised structure as to who he reports to with clear expectations of desired policing results. Wanton countrywide violent crimes with a single digit detection rate are a clear sign of a failed justice system, ineffective policing, and a society lacking in purpose and cherished values.” (Additional reporting by Olive Elizabeth Gonzales and Kinnesha George)

Fresh from her winning the prestigious Victoires de la Musique award (France’s equivalent of the Grammys), on Thursday, for her hugely successful album Far From Home, Rose’s female counterparts yesterday revelled in the afterglow of the achievement, saying she had taken the calypso artform and, by extension, local culture, to new heights.

“It is very rare that a woman would take such a title and I am proud of her,” said Karene Asche, the 2011 National Calypso Monarch.

Saying she had watched Rose accept the award on the social networking site, Facebook, early yesterday, Asche regarded the accolade as the culmination of the veteran calypsonian’s years of unwavering dedication to the artform.

“I feel proud that her career has taken her that far and she is not just an inspiration to me but to all of th other young female calypsonians out there.” Asche said Rose was an inspiration during her formative years in calypso.

“She is in my heart,” Asche said.

Barb ad i an- born Francine Edwards (Singing Francine), who, along with Rose, shattered the stereotypes that had prevented women from venturing into the once male-dominated calypso arena, said the fruits of Rose’s labour had finally paid off.

“She had worked long and hard and I am very, very happy for her. It is good to see positive results amid all this negativity. It is not just a victory for women but all calypsonians,” said the 72-year-old Francine, whose memorable contributions include “Suddenly”, “Hurray, Hurrah” and “Mrs Calypso”.

But calypsonians were not the only ones weighing in on Rose’s phenomenal success.

Officials, friends and Calypso Rose, winner of a French music award for her album Far From Home.

Photo courtesy qobuz.com associates of the veteran, Tobago-born bard, also were quick to hail her achievement.

Newly sworn-in Secretary of Tourism, Culture and Transportation in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), Nadine Stewart- Phillips said the award spoke volumes not just for Rose’s stellar career but for all of Trinidad and Tobago.

“This award is indeed deserving of Her Majesty, the residents of Tobago and by extension the people of Trinidad and Tobago are indeed proud of the achievement of Calypso Rose and salutes the stellar work she has done for our culture more so in the calypso and the entertainment fraternity,” Stewart-Phillips said in a statement.

Stewart-Phillips said the award came at a time when the Tobago economy needed to be revitalised.

She said: “The THA is pleased with this recognition which comes at a time when our tourism industry needs that added boost to turn around our visitor arrivals.” Stewar t-Phi l l ips said the THA intends to use Rose as one of the island’s cultural ambassadors “to help drive our efforts to further promote Trinidad and Tobago globally.” “Calypso Rose’s achievement signals that we have a rich culture at home and we must never doubt ourselves that we cannot compete against the world. We must continue to harness and preserve our rich traditions, the art form as well as other noteworthy essentials to showcase to the world.

“This recognition could only have been possible through the love for country, dedication, perseverance, consistency and commitment demonstrated by this calypso expert.

Former THA Secretary for Community Development and Culture Dr Denise Tsoiafatt- Angus said Rose’s achievement was especially phenomenal given her age. “I think her success goes beyond being a calypsonian from Tobago who has achieved international status and acclaim.

There is also the age issue,” she said.

“Many of us feel that at Calypso Rose’s age, she should probably be at home taking care of grandchildren. But at her age she is still reaching for the stars and achieving those milestones. I think that is what is really inspiring about all of this – that she has not given up on continuing to reach for the stars.

“So, I feel very proud as a Tobagonian and even more proud and inspired as a woman by what she continues to do at her age.” Tsoiafatt-Angus said up and coming performers and young people generally can learn perseverance from the revered calypsonian.

“I think young people nowadays need to also look at that because many times they expect success to be achieved overnight and sometimes you have to be patient and continue to do the work and it will come,” she said.

Glenda-Rose Layne, co-ordinator of Culture in the THA’s Division of Community Development and Culture, said Rose’s pioneering achievement was in the making for quite some time.

“She wanted the world to hear calypso and she prepared herself for that,” Layne said.

She said for Rose, calypso went way beyond Carnival.

“That was just a part of it. She wanted people to understand her songs.” Singling out “Abertina”, Layne said: “That is not a story about Carnival but real issues in the society. It is about women being abused.” Layne regarded Rose as a true storyteller.

“And she has told our story to the world.” Radio Tambrin 92.7fm owner and social commentator George Leacock described Rose’s award as overwhelming.

He recalled that in December 2016, Rose and fellow calypsonian Winston Bailey (Shadow) had received the highest award in the THA. Less than one month later, in January, Leacock said, the THA Division of Culture and the Tobago Carnival Committee paid tribute to her in a show at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex.

“Her success, in my view is totally overwhelming to the level of the first time we saw Dwight Yorke (former national footballer) score a goal on TV,” he said.

On a personal level, Leacock said he grew up being told by his father that Rose was the first individual he used as a chantwell in his Carnival band.

“So, today, for me is a day equivalent to a birthday, marriage or the birth of children. I am absolutely ecstatic.

It points to the direction that we are going to have a wonderful Carnival in Tobago, led by Calypso Rose.” Meanwhile, Aiyegoro Ome, former president of the National Joint Action Committee, in hailing the Calypso Queen, said it was perhaps fitting that Rose had sung “Leave Me Alone” when she accepted the award.

“She is sensing that the calypso is a Road March contender,” he joked in a statement.

Ome, who is also chairman of the National Action Cultural Committee, said it was instructive that Rose had received the award shortly before the 33rd National Calypso Queen Competition which is being held, tomorrow, at Queens Hall, Port-of-Spain.

“It has bought back a very pleasant memory of a caring woman,” he said.

“I recall when Sister Liseli Daaga and the women of the National Women Action Committee (NWAC) met with Rose in 1985 as they planned to revive the National Calypso Queen Competition.

“Rose gave her immediate support for the competition. She told them that she would perform free of charge because of her belief in the power of women and the power of women in calypso

For a citizen, 34-years-old, and without any high public office or enormous riches, the multitude of heart-felt eulogies at Angelo’s passing seemed unprecedented. And deserving, so exceptional was he. His father, Rudolph Bissessarsingh, noting Angelo as “the longest surviving person afflicted here with pancreatic cancer,” said that Angelo always had “a permanent smile on his face, even under the most stressful conditions.”

At his final moments, Angelo recalled Lord Pretender’s tune:” Never ever worry, doh mind how things looking bad.” An incredible and most unusual human being, said Simone de la Bastide. True, as my colleagues, Professor Bridget Brereton and Gerry Besson said, he was not the university historian, but everyman’s historian. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, noting Angelo’s friendship with his son, said: “He has proven that people with curious minds and a love for knowledge can be some of our most shining examples of citizenship.” His friend and collaborator, Paolo Kernahan, recalled Angelo’s “rapier wit” and freedom from ordinary prejudices. His life exemplified the verse: “If I can help somebody, then my living will not be in vain.” It was what he did and how he did it that attracted the heart-felt eulogies.

But it was more – his personality.

Always cheerful, with dimpled smile and twinkling eyes. These while enduring, as his doctor said, “the emperor of maladies, the king of pain.” Opposition Leader Kamla Persad- Bissessar said: “Angelo’s wit and charming smile brought joy to anyone who interacted with him.” It is people like Angelo who still nudge us into believing “what a wonderful world.” Yet in that same week, the murders were horrific.

Some graphic headlines: “Four more murders.” “Father charged for attempted murder of son,” “Businessman killed while texting wife,” “Pensioner stabbed to death,” “Boy, 15, shot dead in panyard,” ”Dasheen farmer shot dead in Biche,” etc. Then this too: “Bully breaks boy’s arm.” So much so that Pastor Vernon Duncan, delivering the sermon at the funeral service for traffic victims Carla Collins and her two sons, cried out: “Only God can save this country.” All this at the time the angelic virtues of Angelo were being urged for nation-wide acceptance.

At Belgrove’s Funeral Home, his father eulogized: “Angelo was born into abject poverty, but I felt like the richest man to ever walk this earth because here was this little boy with this bright smile on his face, calling me Pa.” Angelo wrote, among other things, three books. He died “penniless.” His father gave a glimpse of life’s cruelty when he said, “As he started to put on weight so rapidly, people were unkind to him, and I paid thousands to doctors. They took all the money and found nothing wrong with him. I had to pay $43,000 for them to put a fibre cable in his stomach to tell him he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer.” (Guardian, Feb 3).

With spiritual courage, he recited to his crying father: “Everything in this universe is a river – the blood in your veins is a river; the sap in the tree is a river; the electricity is a flow of electrons, it is a river; the solar wind is a river of energy flowing towards the earth.” And showing that he knows what he was talking about, he continued:” The dark energy that encapsulates all the universes and galaxies is a river. My consciousness came from that river. But when I return, Pa, I want you to let all my friends know that I will carry in that river the fond memories of each and everyone.” (Guardian, Feb 6) We know death will come, but it takes great courage to walk peacefully into that moment. Angelo’s recitation reminds me of Shakespeare’s words through Julius Caesar: “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

Of all the wonders that I have yet heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear; seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.” The curtains were drawn; angelic Angelo went away courageously.

He did it his way.

In reported homicides for last year, 34 women were among the statistics. For 2017 to date, seven women have been murdered.

On Monday’s “Conversation with The Prime Minister”, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, in response to a question on what was he doing to stem spiralling crime in Trinidad and Tobago, responded, “You calling on the Prime Minister to do something about crime. I am not in your bedroom. I am not in your choice of men. As Prime Minister, I cannot dictate to the police how to treat with citizens. Like you, I too am watching with anger at some of the things I am seeing. I have not opened my mouth.” Head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies, Dr Gabrielle Hosein, said a number of cases involving abuse of women in which they were assaulted or murdered were very specifically about intimate partner violence (IPV).

“What that means,” she suggested, “Is that there is something that is missing in terms of women who are experiencing any level of IPV being able to successfully get protection from social services. When you are experiencing violence from your partner you call 800-SAVE, maybe you end up in a shelter, and shelters are very specific kinds of experiences.” She added, “As we are aware, there are a number of women who are killed after getting protection orders. The woman whose throat was slit (at MovieTowne last week) had a protection order. Apart from issuing a protection order we need to look at what is the process of monitoring.

Is there a system of sufficient monitoring those situations in which women are trying to live their lives?” Hosein said protection orders sometimes exacerbated women’s vulnerability, and there was not sufficient institutional follow- up. Hosein said if a woman took out a protection order, and even if she stayed in the house with her abuser for whatever reason, while she was still there, police should visit regularly to see how she was without any complaint being made.

“A system then gets put into place, and when they found the police making those visits, it decreases the likelihood of violence because the men know you are not isolated, that you carry the force of authority, that you have networks that are available to you,” she said.

Hosein said there was a disjuncture about what was happening at the level of calls to domestic violence hotlines and recommendations of women being taken to shelters. She added that women showed up at the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services looking for some kind of economic support so they leave their abuser and get the space that they needed.

“Something is missing between points of contact and the follow up that’s required to continue to provide safe conditions for women,” Hosein told Sunday Newsday. “The State needs to have a monitoring mechanism once they knew this was happening.

It was not her responsibility to always go to the police station. There is need for a more sustained follow-up and monitoring, once reports have been made, that provide women with protection, initiated and managed by the State throughout the process.” Hosein said there was not sufficient connection being made with random killings.

She said greater connections needed to be explored amongst the various cases to find out where seemingly random killing of women occurred, and what could be the factors that we are missing.

“Too many women are dying outside of the IPV situation,” Hosein observed. “Too many women are being killed for it to be merely random. There are explanatory causes for all social behaviour when it is occurring with such frequency.” Hosein added, “I think we need to really get an approach to looking at these cases and what are their connections that may not currently be taking place or which can take place, with an eye to figuring out what are the patterns in situations that appear random.” “You need to have specialised analysts working on this kind of data within policing units,” Hosein suggested. “Not every police officer is able to put together this kind of data. There are patterns happening that we are not aware of.” With respect to the Prime Minister’s oversimplified suggestion that women “pick their men wisely,” clinical and counselling psychologist Nidhi Kirpalani pointed out that people choose their partners primarily on the information they have, the wisdom and knowledge given to them through their observations, and lessons and the way they interpret such lessons.

Therefore, not only could a person hide their true self, or certain aspects of their personality, but the other person’s own experiences could skew the information gained, making them oblivious to certain signals.

Warning signs include addiction (porn, alcohol, drugs) which alter the person’s neurochemical state, a history of being abusive, and aggressive coping strategies. She said while research suggests the history of an abuser could include witnessing domestic violence in their family or experiencing direct physical, sexual, emotional abuse/neglect, that did not mean that all persons with such a history would definitely abuse nor that persons without such a history would not.

Kirpalani explained the essence of abuse was control and power, taking away these things from the abused. She said persons who abuse may use demeaning language, put their partner down emotionally, severely criticize, may use physical force and even sexual intimidation or sexual force.

“A key facet is often in the manipulation,” Kirpalani pointed out. “These perpetrators often praise and adore their partner afterwards. So, ‘I hit you to I love you’, ‘you know you get me angry’ to ‘here are flowers’ etc.

Often they don’t bother to talk about the event after it occurs as if nothing happened. Imagine the psychological roller-coaster that victim experiences probably over and over.” She said someone with a tendency to abuse may continue to do so unless they seek ways to improve themselves, preferably through therapeutic interventions, adequate coping mechanisms and development in their sense of self so that there was no need to prey on others to feel better.

Why do women stay in abusive relationships? Firstly, Kirpalani pointed out that women were also perpetrators. but unfortunately, abused men were often ridiculed while it was often condoned when a woman hit a man. She stressed that healthy relationships did not involve abuse by any party.

“Some women and men stay because perhaps it (leaving) is not the socially correct thing to do,” Kirpalani pointed out. “Does religion or culture insult those who leave? Sometimes family members would encourage you to stay or even blame you.

Some may say look he’s/she’s sorry and got you flowers or gifts.

Some external parties may not believe you at all because your partner does not appear that way. Often people fall victim to what we believe society wants us to do.” Kirpalani noted that at times victims believed they were at fault, or they may stay due to fear or threats of harm to family members, friends or children. Some were financially reliant on the abuser because they were stopped from working or paying bills, or they believe they would have no house nor job if not for their partner.

“Some believe that to leave means to be killed or to be brought back into the situation since there is not adequate support to help the person get away from such turmoil – a place where they can engage in therapeutic interventions so that they see that the power and control lie within them and not with their partner.

We need more places for these victims to be able to come for their security and find the help they need especially if they have children,” she said.

She added that to help stop the cycle of abuse, emotional intelligence training and education on positive coping strategies should be given to children at a young age. She suggested such training be given through the school systems, particularly institutions with a psychologist attached.

Kirpalani urged victims of domestic violence and their loved ones to seek help for themselves, any children involved, and even the perpetrator.

She advised them to contact Men Against Violence Against Women, the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Psychologists which had a list of private psychologists who could assist (secretary@ psychology tt.org or their Facebook page), and other agencies who help those in need.

This game will be contested at the Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair.

Merry Boys defeated PowerGen by 10 wickets last weekend at the Brian Lara Recreation Ground in Santa Cruz to get their title quest under way on a positive note, while the Parkites earned first-innings points against Victoria at the Barrackpore West Secondary School Ground.

Alescon Comets were also convincing victors in the First Round, as they spanked Tableland by 139 runs at Pierre Road in Charlieville. They will be seeking a second successive win when they entertain PowerGen at the aforementioned Charlieville venue.

The other winning team from the First Round, First Citizens Clarke Road United, will play hosts to Victoria at Wilson Road, Penal. Clarke Road got a hardfought 27-run win over Central Sports at Wilson Road a week ago.

Today’s other fixture will feature Central Sports against Tableland at the Invaders Ground in Felicity.

In related news, the Second Round of the TT CB National League 50-overs competition will be staged tomorrow, with 2016 winners Parkites hosting Merry Boys at the Queen’s Park Oval, Clarke Road entertaining Victoria at Wilson Road, Comets battling PowerGen at Pierre Road and Central Sports facing Tableland at Felicity.

In First Round action, on January 29, Queen’s Park trounced Victoria by 109 runs while Merry Boys got the better of PowerGen by 37 runs. Clarke Road and Comets were eight-wicket winners over Central Sports and Tableland respectively.

All matches today will begin at 10.30 am while tomorrow’s fixtures, in the 50-overs competition, will bowl off at 10 am.

Chief Secretary, Kelvin Charles, is to meet with the Tobago Executive of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service tomorrow to address the issue. In a release issued by his office yesterday, Charles sought to assure the Tobago population that security is a top priority.

“The Tobago House of Assembly is committed to working with the TTPS and relevant civil society agencies to find solutions to the challenges of crime on the island,” the THA release said. “The Chief Secretary assures the public that security of citizens is a top priority and that the THA is prepared to do what it has to, in order to protect Tobagonians.

With this in mind, the THA has been strategising and developing initiatives to deal with the challenges, and the public will be informed.” The Signal Hill Secondary School Form Three student went missing last week. Her body was discovered yesterday.

Charles’ media release yesterday said that the recent murders on the island, as well as crime in general, demand the attention and cooperation of all members of the public, leaders and protectors.

Going further to express condolences to loved ones of those who have lost someone to violence, including Adams, the release added, “All loss of any life is painful to society and loved ones. We all have a role to play in resolving this growing problem.” In this regard, the release reminded the public to come forward and report to the police any information related to crime, reminding that there are also anonymous ways to report a crime. I the release, the THA urged the public to use all avenues to relate any such information.

Other political leaders in Tobago, in addition to being outraged by the demise of the student, were critical of the People’s National Movement (PNM) in dealing with the crime situation on the island. THA minority leader Watson Duke told Sunday Newsday that he is continuing his call to the Chief Secretary and Prime Minister to enact a serious crime plan for the island.

“This is Tobago’s darkest hour and it is the most hopeless hour when the Chief Secretary just throws his hand in the air and says he has no crime plan and he would work with Crime stoppers to stop crime.” Duke said. “The Prime Minister keeps ‘jamming still’ even though our country is being ripped apart by crime against humanity, it is indeed sad.” Duke called on all countrymen to not lose faith, as he noted that ‘hope is not lost.’ “We are prepared to deal with crime head on, Duke said. “We are prepared to create community policing to work with the Community Comfort patrols to ensure that every child, every family and every village is protected, none will be left behind.

Very soon and after thorough consultation, we would announce a crime march in Tobago and that would be the beginning of the end of this false PNM THA administration, who is only intent was to win and now that they have won they don’t care, but we would ensure that the voice of the minority or the majority is heard through us in that Chamber,” Duke said.

Meanwhile, Political Leader of the Tobago Forwards, Christlyn Moore said she was overwhelmed by the situation.

“First of all my condolences to the family,” she said. “I cannot comprehend what that mother must be going through to learn that the child that she nurtured for 15 years has been taken from her and not by accident but by the hand and the desire of a criminal.” Moore added, “That is the most heart-breaking thing, and my very being goes out to that family and the community of right thinking people share in their grief.” Moore said this brings into stark reality what has been said for the past few months.

“The crime situation is completely out of control and it has spilled over into Tobago. We are now on the 11th of February, we have met the amount of murders that we ended 2016 with in Tobago, we are now at that number on the 11th of February, 2017.” “We are in crisis.” she declared. “If there was ever a time to sound an alarm, that time is now.

Crime in Tobago is going to become a factor, a larger factor even if all other things are done right in Tobago.”

Adams, who represented this country at the CONCACAF Under- 15 Women’s Championship in Orlando last year, was found dead by the side of the road in Courland, Tobago, with her throat slit less than 12 hours after being reported missing by her mother Katherine Gill.

There were tears and screams yesterday from members of the Under-15 team who played alongside the talented and charismatic Adams.

Ricarda Nelson, manager of the national Under-15 team, said the girls are all inconsolable.

“It’s heartbreaking. You still cannot understand how the mother or family feels right now. What could a young girl like Abiela do to deserve what happened to her? We really need to deal with what is happening in our society today,” Nelson said.

“All my players right now are in tears, crying because they were all close. I could hear the screams while on the phone with some of the parents. I am a mother and you have to ask how do you deal with something like this. Her mother was always there at training last year. We even thought that her mother didn’t have a job because she was always there to assist with the team and her daughter, travelling back and forth between Trinidad and Tobago” Nelson said to TTFA Media.

Marlon Charles, who coached Adams at the CONCACAF Championships last year, expressed dismay and shock on hearing the news of her death.

“When you hear news like this it reflects on home because as someone you have coached, these players become part of you. You think about it as a father, as a parent, as a coach, you reflect on how she would have encountered everything she had to go through. This is really a traumatic situation that has hit us really hard in the football fraternity,” Charles told TTFA Media.

“She had great potential to go on to play for other national teams and would have been part of the upcoming screening for the national under 17 women’s team. She journeyed over from Tobago for the Under 15 screening last year and made the final selection and turned out to be one our better players and I am certain she would have been back for the Under 17s.

These are dreams a young lady surely would have had and it has been taken away,”he added.

TTFA president David John-Williams also expressed condolences to the family of Adams.

“We are deeply saddened by the news of young Adams’s passing.

Our deepest sympathies goes out to her family and we pray that God will grant her family and her closed ones the much needed comfort and peace during this time,” John-Williams stated “The TTFA will make every effort to support the family in this difficult time,” he added.

Meanwhile, manager of the Jewels Sport Club, Carel Percy, a club which Adams was a part of was too distraught for words.

“RIP to one of our babies. One of our stars, our Jewels SC baby Abiela Adams. We all know she had a bright future, National Under- 15 Footballer. It’s really sad.

This is too close to home,” she posted on her Facebook page.

National player Maylee Attin Johnson yesterday called on Tobago to not follow the ungodly trend of killing that is taking place in Trinidad. Johnson posted several pictures of her and Adams in happier times, saying, “I will always remember your infectious smile”.

Another senior national player, Kennya ‘Yaya’ Cordner of Tobago, was also shell-shocked by the young footballer’s murder.

“Lord please tell me why…this one hurting my whole soul right now , just last night we talking about you girls coming to play U-17 and the coaches coming up to see you I can’t my heart is bleeding,” she posted on Facebook.

There were also posts online from those who did not know Adams personally. One status said: “Hear my cry oh lord what have this little girl do to be treated with such brutality Rest In Peace baby girl I don’t know you personally but you and my daughter were in first form together and I feel your pain. Rest In Peace lil angel this one is really hard hmmmm imagine how her family and friends who close to her feel. I am not even her friend or family and I feel because I am crying out as a mother I have a girl child and I won’t like this to happen to her.” While another said: “Didn’t even know u. Used to see you in school. You wasn’t even a trouble maker. Just so they killing out the young talents. R.I.P baby girl u will be missed.”

Well, that title found greater confirmation last week on shores far away from calypso country, France to be exact, as that music mecca conferred on her top recognition last week. The spicy, evergreen, larger than life Tobagonian won the World Music Album award in the French Ministry of Culture’s Victoires de la Musique awards, dubbed the French Grammys, for her platinum album Far from Home.

This came after hard months of tours in Europe, and is indeed a joyous shot-in-the-arm for Trinidad and Tobago, a ray of sunshine during some gloomy times, economically and socially, when this country is in a painful period of self-doubt and necessary self-evaluation. Rose has provided a wonderful boost to our collective self-confidence to give us hope. Who would have thought that this reassertion of national pride could have come from a woman in her eighth decade of life, the much loved McCartha “Calypso Rose” Lewis, all of 76 years young? Truly, her contemporary, Slinger “Mighty Sparrow” Francisco, was correct when he sang, “Age is just a number,” a point not lost on another vintage calypsonian Lord Nelson, 86, vying for Soca Monarch in 2017.

Given that any monarch’s role is to personify their nation and its aspirations, such has aptly been achieved by Queen Rose since being declared our very own Calypso Monarch in 1978 as recorded in her lively 1978 number, “Her Majesty” (1978).

While the French award is a victory that is personal to Rose as a crowning glory of her decades of labouring in the calypso vineyard, the sweetness of it all spills over onto all of us who as a people now bask in her reflected glory Her agent, Lorraine O’Connor, said, “We are so ecstatic and overwhelmed right now. People say calypso is dying but it is more than alive. It is so amazing!” Culture Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said Rose has put kaiso music onto the world stage and shown our people’s potential.

If Rose’s mission in her latter years had simply been to sing over her early hits — “Tempo” and “Fire in mih wire”– it would have allowed her to keep her place in our hearts, but she has done so much more. She has taken her genre of kaiso a step further to fresh audiences by blending in the influences of her international collaborators.

In “Albatina” Rose has guitar notes, deliberately slightly offchord, jumping in and out of the main stream of music, adding to her allure.

Like past calypsoes, revellers will nicely chip to “Leave Me Alone” yet all will agree its beat has a little extra something.

But overall, Rose has shown how calypso can evolve to find fresh avenues abroad, alongside the success of soca stars, completely outside her era, like Montano, Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez, Destra Garcia and Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez, all this decades after overseas successes of Lord Invader’s “Rum and Coca Cola” and Lord Kitchener’s “Jump in the line”, the latter featured in the movies, Beetlejuice, The Little Mermaid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. We excitedly anticipate Rose’s return at Carnival even as the nation surely mulls ways in which to honour her.