New York (GLEANER-9/18/01)- The entire Caribbean community is bonding in the wake of the disaster that rocked New York City. Everyone is sharing information and trying to assist as much as possible.

Caribbean employees worked at the WTC as janitors, security guards, restaurant workers, accountants, and computer specialists.

So far, two Jamaicans have been confirmed dead and six are missing. Haiti has reported 2 missing; Dominican Republic-one; Dominica-15; Bahamas-one; Antigua-3, and one in hospital; St. Vincent--2; Barbados-3; St. Kitts-3; Montserrat-one and Trinidad-3.The numbers are expected to go up considering the massive destruction.
NEWS FROM JAMAICA

Kingston (GLEANER)-9/30/01)-He survived 25 years in prison, 16 years on Death Row and 3 death warrants. Today, one year after walking out of Camp Road Rehabilitation Centre Louis Cooper says "life on the outside is good".
"People wonder how it is I have a clear mind after such an experience and how I survived. I tell them you just have to take it one day at a time."
Financially, things are not as he would have liked, but that it is much better than being imprisoned. Today he earns a living from a taxi cab he acquired since leaving prison. "You have to find ways. I am not complaining or begging," he stated, smiling.
Mr. Cooper was freed October 20, 2000. He described his last week in prison to when he received the 3 death warrants: "The death warrant was like looking down into a dark pit that you won't be able to get out of. To hear that you will be able to walk out of prison a free man is like a rebirth. I look at it as a person starting a new life. I call it- to hell and back. As far as I'm concerned, there is no place on earth that is hell, but death row."
Mr. Cooper, now 50, spent the better and most productive years of his life behind bars. He still maintains his innocence for the murder he was convicted of committing.
Although happy to be free, he expressed disappointment with certain aspects of Jamaican society, which he describes as depressing: "I have mixed feelings. The infrastructure has run down. The politicians have remained the same or maybe worse.... they don't tell the truth. One thing that has struck me hard is the way the Jamaican people have forgot how to plant and are now living off of foreign products. The politicians neglect of agriculture will cost the nation dearly."
Mr. Cooper hopes to use his creative skill to assist the youth of his community. He lectures on violence at secondary and tertiary schools and institutions.

Montego Bay (OBSERVER-11/6/01)- Thirty-seven year old Nigerian, Maxwell Erharuyi, is spending his 122nd day in a cell at the St. James Police Divisional Headquarters in Freeport, Montego Bay. He has not been charged with a crime, and he has never been brought before the courts.
Erharuyi was refused entry into the island after he could not produce any identification or travel documents and taken into custody July 9. He claims he lost his I.D. and documents in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and while attempting to make his way back home was taken in by immigration officers while in transit in Montego Bay. His return ticket has since expired; he has no money; a ticket back to his country costs about $6,000; and he has been unable to get help from anyone.
Appeals to the Nigerian High Commision and the Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been fruitless so far. While the police in Freeport appear sympathetic to Erharuyi's plight, they are still holding him illegally.
"An individual who is not charged for an offence ought not have his liberty taken away from him due to administrative difficulties," said attorney Clive Mullings. "What should happen is, if the person is a foreign national and there are diplomatic relations with that person's country, then that embassy must move with dispatch. Failing that, our local ministry ought to see to it that he is sent back and make arrangements to recover the funds."
According to a public relations officer in the Ministry of National Security, steps are being taken to secure Erharuyi's release.The Nigerian High Commision has now agreed that Erharuyi can be released in their custody while the Jamaican government identifies the funds for the plane ticket. But they are still trying to determine if he is, in fact, Nigerian.
According to the security ministry, Erharuyi has been in custody only because he had nowhere else to go.

Bridgetown, Barbados-(DAILYNATION-11/6/01)-Deep sea diving frogmen to inspect cruise ships for terrorist bombs in Bridgetown harbor? Thats one key item on wish lists which cruise lines have presented in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
"Yes, at least one line has asked for deep sea divers who would inspect the hulls of ships for terrorist bombs,"said an official of the Barbados Port Authoity. "But that request is kind of strange because to the best of our knowledge, the hulls of ships aren't inspected in the U.S. for bombs. So why in Barbados and other Caribbean countries? The cruise lines should be far more concerned about bombs being placed on their ships before the vessel arrives in Barbados.
"We are just as interested as the cruise lines in making Barbados a safe and secure destination and we have already taken strong steps to beef up security. But the idea of hiring high-priced deep sea divers is highly unusual and seems out of the question."

City Village, Barbados-(DAILYNATION-11/6/01)- It was a scene of carnage; birds huddled en masse under the trees they fell from in Chapman Lane. Residents were stunned as the blackbirds, sparrows and yellow breasts began dropping from their perches,dead or dying.
No one knows what could have caused the deaths. Theories ranged from the notion that someone may have poisoned the birds,to the suggestion of poisoning from ticks picked off from infected cows, to anthrax. "It's bin Laden who did it,"quipped one resident.
The Veterinary Services Laboratory is investigating. British Virgin Islands-(DAILYNATION-10/24/01)- There has been a series of earthquakes affecting the BVI. There is concern that they may generate a tsunami which would seriously affect the islands as occurred on November 18, 1867, when two earthquakes struck within minutes of each other, triggering a tsunami, causing loss of life.
"Although the possibility that a tsunami will be generated still exists, indications are that this is a standard foreshock/mainshock/aftershock sequence and that the main shock has passed,"said the Seismic Research Unit in Trinidad.
On 10/16, a strong earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale occured at a shallow depth, 110 kilometres north of the Virgin Islands. It was felt in the BVI.
The next day another one occurred 50 kilometres northeast of the first and the magnitude slightly greater. Nine hours later there was another quake measuring 4.0 in the same region. Five days later, there were four more quakes, all occurring during the morning hours. They ranged in magnitude from 4.5 to 5.0. The epicentres were in the same region.
The Seismic Research Unit is in the process of putting down seismometers in the Virgin Islands. HURRICANE MICHELLE Havana, Cuba-(AFP-11/6/01)- Hurricane Michelle slowly weakened as it moved away from the Bahamas into open ocean, while Cubans sifted through the damage wrought by the strongest hurricane to hit the island in 50 years.
Five people were killed in the driving rains and massive floods that toppled trees,downed power lines and damaged homes, bringing the total number of fatalities from the once- Category 4 storm to 15 in Central America and the Caribbean. About 700,000 people in Cuba were evacuated during the storm which crashed on the southern coast, registering wind gusts of 135 mph.
Schools in Cuba remained closed and air and sea travel were suspended. Transport was interrupted, and Havana, home to more than 2,000,000 people, lost power, forcing authorities to cut off the supply of treated tap water.
Civil defense officials reported that western Matanzas and Cienfuegos were badly damaged as was the Isle of Youth.

Negril, JA (GLEANER-11/06/01)- Several businesses in the resort town of Negril sustained millions of dollars in damages, as storm surges associated with Hurricane Michelle brought towering waves as high as 40 feet crashing down on the coast.
The general manager of the Rockhouse Hotel said that waves that were too high to estimate swept through the property destroying everything in sight. Twenty-five of the hotels twenty-eight rooms were occupied at the time, but thankfully no one was injured.
Businesses located on the West End, the cliff side of Negril, were the hardest hit.

Montego Bay, JA- Rough seas caused by Hurricane Michelle destroyed two of Montego Bay's top waterfront entertainment venues.
Margueritaville Bar and Grille and Pier One sustained major structural damage, which will require extensive repairs.

Portland, JA- Swift River community is in ruins as 13 houses have been washed away by flood waters, causing loss of lives. One was a 7 apartment concrete structure. The communities of Shrewsbury, Fruitful Vale and Claverty Cottage temporarily lost power and roads were blocked by flood water and debris.
Sections of Clarendon were flooded with several residents trapped in their homes.

Kingston, JA, Prime Minister PJ Patterson has ordered the Ministry of Finance and Planning to release funds for immediate island-wide emergency relief operations following the havoc created by the week-long torrential rains.
The PM did not state how much the restoration efforts will cost, but initial estimates were $150,000,000. He added that he deeply regretted the loss of lives and extended sympathies to the bereaved families.

EDUCATION

Mandeville, JA (OBSERVER-10/12/01)- Take a trip back in time, 500 years ago. Picture an Arawak woman, pounding cassava. She stops, her hand in mid-air. Outside her thatch hut she hears a distinct shout. The dreaded Carib Indians have approached her village and the noise of battling wooden spears and stone axes frighten her to the terror that awaits her.
Imagine Columbus's ships approaching land, but are met on shore by armed, hostile Caribs who engage the militant Spanish sailors in a vicious fight to the death.
Within 5 years, these stories of the Caribbean's past and many more like them, will come alive through a grand project being spearheaded by Northern Caribbean University.
The project - Generation 2000 - will see the construction of 27 museums on the grounds of NCU's Mandeville campus. But unlike most museums, young people will be employed as actors to re-enact the events leading up to the development of the region since Columbus.
According to Vice-principal Dr. Trevor Gardner, "Over a 5 year period we anticipate we will employ somewhere in the thousands of new people."
Since it received university status (NCU was formerly West Indies College) in June 1999, the institution has marketed itself and its progammes as student-friendly. Hardly anyone is turned away, and their work-study programme provides an added attraction to those who would not normally be able to afford a university education.
With the increase in universities and other tertiary institutions competing for the diminishing student market, the Generation 2000 project will serve also as a marketing tool which is anticipated will put the university squarely in the focus of students from the region and the rest of the world.

AGRICULTURE

St. Catherine,JA (OBSERVER-10/11/01)-The Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture has launched a video designed to build a more environmentally-sensitive school population.
The video is one of a series of tools being used to educate and sensitise Jamaica's children of the need to respect and preserve trees.
"You Are A Tree" speaks to the pleasure of fruits and flowers as well as products of trees, such as toys, kites, pencils, chairs and drums. Citing all these benefits, it appeals to the childs conscience asking,"When I'm old, why do you chop me down to make fire coal?"
The launch which took place at the Ardenne Preparatory School in Kingston, came ahead of International Day of Wood and Water which was observed on October 6th.

Guidance and Protection.
Patrick "Pato" Foster

"Unity is strength. No nation can divide w-ithin itself and remain powerful." HIM

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