Police capture ?Chucky? in early morning raid

NAZARETH--The elusive Omar "Chucky" Nelson's life as a fugitive ended around 7:00am yesterday, Monday, when he was arrested in an apartment in Nazareth.

Locating and arresting "Chucky" became a top priority as soon as detectives learnt that he planned to leave St. Maarten in the coming days.

Yesterday's exercise, in which eight to 10 officers were involved, was spearheaded by Police Commissioner Carl John.

Nelson had escaped from the Pointe Blanche prison during the early morning hours on March 20. He was in pre-trial detention at the prison for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and death of Walter Romain, who died in the Maho area after falling out of the trunk of a moving vehicle, and in several violent robberies.

Nelson allegedly committed a series of violent crimes after his escape from the Pointe Blanche prison. He also allegedly was involved in another kidnapping recently. Solely for escaping from detention, he has been sentenced to an "irrevocable" 17 years in prison.

For yesterday's operation, the 8-10 police officers involved had to report to the police station for briefing around 6:00am, after which they rushed over to the apartment in Nazareth where Nelson had been staying and carried out a reportedly flawless arrest during which no shots were fired and all occupants of the dwelling, including Nelson, were caught by surprise.

A rifle also was found in the apartment.

Police arrested the fugitive and three other young men who are suspected of having helped him and other acquaintances to evade several attempts by police to capture him. They face charges of aiding and abetting, or assisting in the commission of a crime.

In a press conference at the Philipsburg police station on Monday, police spokesman Inspector Ricardo Henson commended the officers for the successful, non-confrontational capture.

"I have to commend these officers for a job well done. They have been putting extra hours in on top of their overtime hours. They were here [police station, ed.] in 10 minutes! Officers got the call a little after six and arrested Nelson at 7:00am. They carried out the arrest crisply, clean, and endured hardly any resistance," Henson said.

Henson also thanked the public on behalf of the police and Prosecutor's Office for their cooperation and for their "integral role" in the hunt for Nelson. Henson said, "Once again this proves that when the police and general public join forces, it can only yield positive results."

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/20187-police-capture-chucky-in-early-morning-raid.html

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?Invest in SMMC for Saba, Statia patients?

~ Christian Union wants health care crisis solved ~

THE HAGUE--Instead of paying for treatment of patients from St. Eustatius and Saba in hospitals in Guadeloupe and Colombia, the Dutch Government should invest in the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC).

That is according to the Christian Union (CU) faction in the Dutch Parliament's Second Chamber and its representative Member of Parliament (MP) Cynthia Ortega-Martijn. The latter presented a 30-page memorandum describing the issues that Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba have been confronted with, since they became Dutch "public entities" on October 10, 2010, to Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Piet Hein Donner, on Thursday.

The memo includes a rather elaborate chapter on the health care situation on the islands as well as various recommendations to solve what Ortega-Martijn called a "crisis" which requires immediate action before things "escalate."

One of the recommendations is referral of patients from St. Eustatius and Saba to SMMC, where possible. SMMC has presented expansion plans for a modern hospital with super-specialist care. The hospital is seeking cooperation with the Dutch Bronovo and Juliana hospitals.

"The CU finds that it would be better for the Dutch Government to invest in a hospital in St. Maarten that is part of the Dutch Kingdom than to pay for medical treatment in hospitals elsewhere. The CU would like to see a cooperation of the Minister of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sports and management of SMMC," it was stated.

Especially in St. Eustatius and Saba, people are upset about the procedure of medical referrals. They say they are worse off than before October 10, 2010. Patients are having trouble getting their medication, glasses and hearing aids. Patients are not allowed to see their "own" medical specialist that they used to go to before October 2010, and people have to wait weeks or months before they can see a medical specialist abroad.

The strict, inflexible attitude of the health care bureau is a major cause of the problems. There is no leeway for exceptional and urgent cases. The CU would have liked to see a transition period, so people could get accustomed to the new system and procedures. "This could have prevented a lot of irritation," stated Ortega-Martijn. The CU pressed for a quick scan of the workings of the health care regulation.

Language is also a problem for patients who are referred to Guadeloupe or Colombia. "In her response to questions of Parliament, the Minister says that she isn't aware of any language issues. That is strange, because in St. Eustatius and Saba, they say that patients can't understand their doctors. General practitioners on the islands and Island Council members don't get any response to their questions about patients who are referred abroad."

Ortega-Martijn referred to a public hearing that she had attended during her visit to St. Eustatius this summer and the specific case of a man who had been waiting since April to visit a cardiologist. "He is a ticking time bomb. This is craziness," she stated.

The MP posed questions to Minister Edith Schippers of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sports VWS, in which she sought clarity on the decision to select Guadeloupe and Colombia. She asked if it was correct that only persons with Dutch nationality could travel to Guadeloupe. She further wanted to know whether it was true that people who needed to do an MRI scan in Guadeloupe were sent back home because of a long waiting time.

According to local government officials, VWS didn't take culture, identity, best practices, the existing medical infrastructure and knowledge of doctors and pharmacies sufficiently into account, when it drafted the health care regulation for the public entities in 2010.

The CU is challenging the Minister to show that the health care regulation was properly drafted. The party will request an independent investigation into the process of drafting the regulation, if the Minister fails to prove this.

The memo also addressed the issue of the state of the hospital in St. Eustatius and Saba. "The quality of Saba's hospital is not what it should be. It bears similarities to a third world hospital with an intensive care unit that was built in a garage. Agreements had been made in talks with with Saba's Government prior to October 10, 2010 that a new hospital would be built. Similar agreements were made with St. Eustatius," stated Ortega-Martijn.

The CU supports the construction of a new hospital in St. Eustatius and Saba and condemned the attitude by The Hague that it preferred a renovation of the existing Queen Beatrix Medical Centre in St. Eustatius. Ortega-Martijn pointed out that building a new hospital in St. Eustatius would be cheaper than renovating the existing facility.

The CU presented four recommendations to solve the health care crisis: a European reimbursement system for medication that takes the situation on the islands into account, a more flexible system for medical referrals, the option to choose from the various health care insurance companies and to take additional insurance, and instituting an independent complaints bureau.

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/20983-invest-in-smmc-for-saba-statia-patients.html

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Few ?real employers? have come forward

~ Duncan, De Weever still discussing BTA ~

PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister Roland Duncan is still engaged in discussions with Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever on his proposal to give 1,610 Brooks Tower Accord (BTA) applicants' "real employers" one last chance to present themselves and give their employees a chance to obtain BTA permits.

Duncan said during radio programme "For The Record" on 99.9FM on Sunday that he had made his proposal to De Weever, but was yet to conclude talks on the matter.

The Justice Minister said the matter had to be resolved, because while he did not condone breaking the law, he was not in favour of repatriating the 1,610 BTA applicants who had applied for their permits using documents from "bogus employers."

Duncan had said recently that a number of "bogus employers" running "paper companies" that did not pay taxes or health insurance premiums had filed 1,610 applications for workers under the BTA arrangement. His proposal was for the real employers to come forward within a specified time, no questions asked. Those who failed to do so would be penalised, he had said.

"I don't think that I have to reject these applicants. The fact that they dreadfully want to stay in St. Maarten isn't a legal reason to say you will break or circumvent the law, but on the other hand I think it would be extremely disruptive to the society if we go and start picking up 1,600 people plus their families when most of them are working," Duncan said. "I think it will disrupt the society and it will damage the economy. I don't want to do that."

Duncan said most persons in St. Maarten were employed, as the country's "unemployment number is very low."

He said the bulk of the BTA applicants were employed somewhere by someone and it was "offensive and downright scummish" for their real employers to refuse to support their legalisation.

"From my perspective, I intend to be pretty harsh in dealing with employers when they are caught. That's why my proposal is to give them one last chance."

Duncan said a few real employers had since presented themselves. He said unpaid taxes and health insurance premiums were issues that would have to be addressed with the real employers. He said it was not his responsibility to grant these employers an exemption on their back taxes because they had come forward.

"That's an issue that we have to deal with," he said. "On the other hand we have an island; we are looking at the economics of it and people are complaining how things are sluggish, how government is supposed to make revenues and we have a very significant part of our society who are not carrying their role and are shirking their duties.

"And I'm saying, 'You want good roads, you want police protection ... but you're not contributing. Why? For your own greedy reasons?' I don't think I'm going to have sympathy for that."

Duncan said, "The Minister of Labour might tell me, 'No, I'm not giving permits,' but for the time being I need society to recognise that this is serious. It's not just the applicants, the poor people out there. Yes, they were ripped off, but they participated in being ripped off also.

"I have employers who are not only ripping off their employees but they're ripping off government. I want employers to be ashamed about walking around as a businessman in St. Maarten and knowing, when you look at yourself in the mirror, 'I don't participate.'"

Duncan said that while St. Maarten was unique with a number of nationalities represented, it was working to the country's detriment. "I'm not saying close doors and kick out everyone and close down businesses for non-compliance, but if we are to be a mature society ... then everyone has to contribute their share, and if you feel it's not a fair share then say so and pressure the politicians, but just don't duck and circumvent the law.

"On the other hand, I see that the civil service, the government is reluctant to take action. ... What do we do if we don't give these 1,600 people permits? What do we do with them? If I don't solve the problem of the permit and you don't have a work permit then I can't give a residence permit," he said.

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/20797-few-real-employers-have-come-forward.html

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GEBE gets no instruction to implement new tariff

PHILIPSBURG--Two weeks after Minister of Economic Affairs Franklin Meyers announced that government would instruct GEBE "this week" (as in two weeks ago) to implement a particular tariff instead of the tariff that government gave GEBE conditional permission to implement on August 1, the company has reportedly not received any such instruction.

After acknowledging that GEBE's new tariff structure had not provided relief from high utility bills, Meyers said government would issue the instruction based on what he called "international norms," not on any study by government or the Economic Affairs Department.

On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Theo Heyliger could not offer any comment on the status of the instruction; neither could Secretary General of Economic Affairs Miguel DeWeever. Minister Meyers is currently off-island.

GEBE currently charges 29 cents per kilowatt hour and government intends to charge between 23 and 25 cents per kilowatt hour. Meyers said his decision had been forced by GEBE's lack of cooperation in providing information regarding the makeup of its tariff structure and fuel clause so that government could ascertain "true costs."

However, The Daily Herald understands that since Paul Marshall has been appointed as interim director while Managing Director Brooks is on vacation, government has been receiving information it requested.

Once the instruction for the new tariffs is given, the tariffs will remain in place until Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BT&P) Cura�ao completes its scrutiny of the figures associated with GEBE's tariff structure. BT&P will then advise government how to proceed as of January 2012. However, BT&P requires information from GEBE.

The Minister could not say how government's tariffs would affect GEBE's investments and if those investments would still be met, if operational expenses could be covered, if GEBE would still be in compliance with its debt service ratio of 1.5 with its major lender, how losses would be increased on Saba and St. Eustatius, considering that tariffs would have to be reduced there as well and if the cost structures of the "international norms" that he referred to were the same as GEBE's.

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/20905-gebe-gets-no-instruction-to-implement-new-tariff.html

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Judge orders Rainbow, Sabra N.V. to pay damages to apartment owners

~ In violation of planning permit and sales agreement ~

PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance of St. Maarten has ruled in favour of the Rainbow Beach Club apartment owners, and has ordered Rainbow to pay damages on grounds that the building in which the apartment owners reside was built in conflict with the building and planning permit and in violation of the sales and purchase agreement that was signed by the parties.

The developer of the project, Sabra N.V., was also deemed liable for damages. Attorney Michiel Noordhoek of law firm HBN Law, which represented the owners, explained that the planning permit stipulates that if a building is equipped with an elevator, the maximum number of floors allowed is four, and if no elevator is present, the maximum number of floors allowed is three.

Noordhoek explained that the buildings at Rainbow are much higher than what was allowed in the planning permit and this has been confirmed in the judgments. The West and South Building have five to six floors, the Tennis Building has at least six floors, and the Tower Building has eight floors with roof top units. This means that all together more than 80 apartments in the Rainbow Beach Club are built in conflict with the planning permit.

Noordhoek further explained that when the owners purchased their units, they trusted that the building would be no higher than four floors, as stipulated in the sale brochures of the project. Additionally, Noordhoek also explained that the court rendered its verdict on damages based on the poor state of the buildings, which had walls filled with mould, cracks, a failing drainage system and other aspects that were also deemed in violation of the sales and purchase agreement.

Attorney for Rainbow Beach Club Mark Kortenoever of law firm Lexwell said his client will appeal the decision based on "irregular arguments" within the judgment. He said the way the judge established certain facts as they relate to construction deficiencies will be challenged. He also contended that the judge did not motivate the decision sufficiently, did not conduct any site visits and didn't call any witnesses or hear any expert testimony.

"In our opinion the conclusion cannot be supported by what was presented in court," Kortenover said, adding that his client's position is that the subdivision permit is not relevant considering the zoning for the area, which allowed much higher buildings to be built in the general area, such as The Cliffs and Blue Mall, both of which are higher than Rainbow.

When asked what his position was on owners who contended that the two high buildings were constructed after Rainbow had built and their purchase agreements had been signed, Kortenoever said, "The judge didn't make a ruling on whether or not there were any expectations regarding the number of floors when they signed it.

"The judge said because of the conflicts in the planning permit, this was enough to rule in favour of the claim for damages. Our argument on the damages claims because of the height of the building is this: if you are a neighbour in an adjoining project, then you may have an issue if your neighbour's project has more floors, but if you are in the project itself you cannot say suffer damages because of violation of the planning permit," Kortenoever said.

The amount of damages to be paid by Rainbow and Sabra N.V. will be established in separate proceedings.

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/20938-judge-orders-rainbow-sabra-nv-to-pay-damages-to-apartment-owners-.html

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Huawei launches 2011 Broadband Forum & Road Show in Islamabad

Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, has announced that it will be embarking on a one-year road show across the region to demonstrate its capabilities in providing advanced end-to-end solutions for mobile and fixed broadband services. The road show, together with ?2011 Huawei Broadband Forum?, was inaugurated in Islamabad, Pakistan, under the honorable patronage of Dr. Mohammad Yaseen, Chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

� 2011 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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Source: http://www.albawaba.com/business/pr/huawei-launches-2011-broadband-forum-road-show-islamabad-394035

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At least 12 dead in renewed Sanaa violence

Medical and security officials on Thursday said renewed violence in Yemen's capital has killed at least 12 people as street battles reported between forces loyal to the regime and its opponents.

According to the AP, the officials said six of those killed in Thursday's clashes died in central Sanaa when government forces attacked thousands with mortars and rocket propelled grenades. Snipers on rooftops also fired on the protesters.

Three bystanders were also killed when a mortar shell in Sanaa's northern Hasbah district.

 

� 2011 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

Source: http://www.albawaba.com/news/least-12-dead-renewed-sanaa-violence-393276

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