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THIS WEEK”S SUMMARY
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JAMAICAN OFFICER FACES EXTORTION CHARGES—08/02/08
Jamaican police report that a top officer has been arrested and charged with operating a multi-million-dollar extortion ring. Mark Shields, Jamaican Police Deputy Commissioner, states that Superintendent Harry Daley has been charged and is now held at a maximum-security prison. The extortion ring allegedly operated from Spanish Town, where Daley supervised a unit. Daley has been a police officer for 30 years.
DISAGREEMENT ARISES AMONG JAMAICANS OVER OLYMPIC PREPARATIONS—08/03/08
An argument has developed between the Jamaica Olympic Association (JAAA) and members of the MVP Track Club about Jamaica’s preparations for the Olympic games in Beijing, China. The organizations have different views of the pre-Olympic training camp in Tianjin Province. Stephen Francis, MVP coach, wanted to keep his Jamaican athletes under his guidance to complete his training program. His athletes include Asafa Powell, Melaine Walker, and Bridgette Foster-Hylton. He says the JAAA is forcing the athletes to train with what he considers inexperienced coaches.
JAMAICAN ARTIST DIES—08/04/08
Christopher Gonzalez, Jamaican sculptor, painter, and pioneer in Jamaican art, has died at the age of 65. The artist died in Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay. He suffered from cancer, according to Kay Osbourne, managing director of Television Jamaica. Gonzalez was born in Manchester in 1943 and was famous for creating a 9-foot statue of Bob Marley, the reggae legend.
JAMAICAN CHILDREN OVER-EATING, NOT UNDER-FED—08/05/08
According to a study on nutrition conducted by the Early Childhood Commission (ECC), more children in Jamaica are over-eating than are under-fed. ECC Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughn says that over-nutrition totals between seven percent and eight percent of the children surveyed, while under-nutrition measured between three percent and four percent.
JAMAICA LOSING MONEY FROM GAY TOURIST MARKET—08/08/08
According to Dr. Donna Chambers, lecturer in Tourism at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, Jamaica is losing billions of dollars by ignoring the large and wealthy gay tourism market. Stakeholders in tourism must decide if they can afford to ignore this market, which has been estimated at US$65 billion, or five percent of the total US$1.3 trillion global tourist market.
JAMAICA ENDS BANANA EXPORTS, FAVORS LOCAL COMSUMPTION—08/06/08
Jamaica has essentially decided to stop growing bananas as a crop for export, and the Ministry of Agriculture plans to introduce a campaign designed to increase the local consumption of the fruit. According to Dr. Christopher Tufton, Minister of Agriculture, the future of the banana is in local consumption, “including local value-added.” Jamaicans ate over 100,000 tons of bananas in 2006, over three times the amount sold to foreign markets.
ST JAMES MAN KILLED IN DOMESTIC DISPUTE—08/07/08
Leshane McKay, 19, was stabbed to death during an argument with the mother of his child and another man. Police reported that McKay went to visit the woman at 2 a.m. in Cornwall Court. The woman had been seen with Dwayne Unis, 29, of Trelawny. Police said McKay and the woman argued and that Unis intervened, resulting in the stabbing death of McKay. Unis turned himself in to the St. James police and was charged with murder.
JAMAICA CRITICIZED FOR ATTACKS ON GAYS—08/08/08
Jamaica was soundly admonished at the International AIDS Conference being held in Mexico City, Mexico. The island was called “a homophobic society that discriminated against” gay people. Robert Carr, executive director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVCC), used a PowerPoint presentation to graphically illustrate his view that Jamaica is a nation where police attack and chase away gays who report crimes against them.
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JAMAICAN DIASPORA NEWS
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MANLEY LAUNCHES MEMOIR—08/05/08
In conjunction with the 46th Anniversary of Jamaican Independence, Beverley Anderson-Manley will launch her book, The Manley Memoirs, at The Chancery in Washington, D.C. The book chronicles her life’s path from stationmaster’s daughter to the wife of one of the most charismatic prime ministers in the history of Jamaica. Older and wiser, Beverley now discusses her life in an intriguing and revealing memoir of triumph, loss, and redemption.
JAMAICAN STABS FELLOW ISLANDER IN MISSOURI—08/06/08
A 32-year-old Jamaican man has been arrested in connection with stabbing another Jamaican in the neck at an inn in Branson, Missouri. The wounded man was treated at a hospital and released. According to reports, the two men were fighting over a woman at the Payless Inn on Route 76. Both men are in the United States on work permits.
GOLDING ASKS DIASPORA TO HONOR VICTORIES OF FOREFATHERS—08/07/08
In his Independence Day message, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding called on Jamaicans worldwide to think about the struggles experienced by their forebears and to ensure that their hard-won victories are safe. Golding asked Jamaicans to “recall the valiant struggles of our forefathers and strengthen our resolve not to fail them.”
FORUM IN SOUTH FLORIDA TO DISCUSS GANG VIOLENCE IN JAMAICA—08/08/08
Representatives from law enforcement agencies in Jamaica and South Florida will attend a public forum in Miami to talk about ways to control gang violence on the island. The forum is hosted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas.
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SPORTS
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JAMAICAN CYCLIST PREPARED FOR BEIJING—08/02/08
Ricardo Lynch, Jamaica’s only cyclist at the Olympics in Beijing, is ready for the competition. Vaughn Pang, president of the Cycling Federation, says that Lynch is completely prepared and ready to represent the island in the competition.
BOLT TO RUN 100 METERS IN BEIJING—08/03/08
Usain Bolt of Jamaica will run in the 100-meter race at the Olympics in Beijing, China. His coach, Glen Mills, has confirmed that Bolt will run both the 100 meters and the 200 meters there.
CAMPBELL-BROWN FAILS TO QUALIFY IN 100 METERS—08/04/08
Veronica Campbell-Brown will not run the 100 meters at the Beijing Olympics. She lost her chance by finishing fourth at the Jamaican Championships in June and failing to qualify. She will defend her 200-meter title at the Games, however, and is looking to get a second 4×100 gold medal.
NIKE, SANDALS TO SPONSOR JAMAICAN GOLF TEAM—08/05/08
Nike, the sporting goods manufacturer, has teamed up with Sandals Golf and Country Club to sponsor Jamaica’s golf team to the Caribbean Golf Championships in the Cayman Islands. The partners will present the Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) with golf bags, shirts, balls, gloves, caps, and cash contributions to help the team win the regional golf title.
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DEVOTIONAL
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Beating The Odds Every Time
The mid-week jackpot in one of Canada ‘s lotteries was a whopping $46 million. Reports indicate ticket sales totaled $27.79 million, and according to those in the know, the odds of winning the jackpot in this lottery, regardless of the amount, were one in 14 million. Yet that didn’t stop people from putting down $2 for a single ticket for that one chance. After all, without a ticket, one doesn’t have a chance. The next morning, according to the headlines, of all the thousands of tickets sold, two lucky ones had beaten the odds.
As I pondered the news story and thought how incredibly difficult it was to beat those odds, it occurred to me that in the believers walk with God there are no odds that we have to deal with. His Word offers nothing but guarantees, all backed up by His steadfastness. In Numbers 23:19 we read, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”, and in Joshua 23:14b, “…not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.” The Psalmist reminds us, “The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made” (145:13, NIV), and from the writer to the Hebrews, “…he who promised is faithful” (10:23).
Thanks be to God we do not have to wait for the odds to be in our favor to lay hold of His promises. He will do whatever He said He would do, and for those who come to Him in faith, those promises are 100% guaranteed, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20, NIV). Someone may or may not win the lottery jackpot, but in Christ Jesus we win every time.
In 1899, Leila N. Morris got a hold of this truth and penned the words:
“‘Tis true, O yes, ’tis true / God’s wonderful promise is true;
For I’ve trusted, and tested, and tried it / And I know God’s promise is true.”
What has been your experience? Can you testify to the fact that those words are true? Why not go out this week and tell somebody about the faithfulness of God?
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CREDITS/SOURCES
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The weekly news is compilation of new articles from top Caribbean and Jamaican news sources.
