Local News

Sea turtles have been used to symbolise wisdom, felicity, immortality, fertility, water, and Mother Earth. For centuries they have been revered as lords of the oceans and the bearers of the burdens of the physical world. These majestic creatures, however, far outdate the mythologies that were developed about them. Indeed, evolutionists have determined that sea turtles became distinct from all other types of turtles at least 110 million years ago – making them truly prehistoric.

Windsong Trust, based in Los Angeles, California, and established by the late philanthropist Martin Crowley for the education of children, created the Windsong (Anguilla) Foundation in August 2009 for the purpose of providing educational assistance to the children of Anguilla. The Windsong Trust has committed US$2 Million to the Windsong (Anguilla) Foundation to fulfill the late Mr. Crowley’s dream of assisting the children of Anguilla.

In a flurry of excitement and anxious anticipation, some thirty-odd children between the ages of 4 and 14 converged at the No-Walls Church of Hope on Monday August 2nd to enroll in a week-long Vacation Bible School (VBS). By the end of the rewarding week, 41 youngsters had benefited from five four-hour sessions of intense spiritual training mingled with fun and social camaraderie, which served to break the “boredom” of the Summer vacation.

The Anguilla tourism fraternity has joined with Viceroy Hotel Group to welcome back Jeff David to its shores as the new General Manager of Viceroy Anguilla after a successful stint as General Manager of Viceroy Snowmass in Aspen, Colorado.
First Nominated Member of the Anguilla House of Assembly and Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for Tourism, Hon. Haydn Hughes, indicated his satisfaction with Mr. David’s return and appointment at Viceroy.

A cross-section of the public in Anguilla benefitted on Tuesday evening from a meeting at the Teachers’ Resource Centre which provided useful information on the new Customs system for the island.
Known as the new Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA World), it is being introduced to Anguilla as a pilot project.

The Special Needs Classroom at Campus B of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School has taken on a new look, thanks to members of the Anguilla Optimist Clubs and the Red Cross.

A few members of the Optimist Club of Anguilla, Progressive Youth Octagon Club and Red Cross members, led by volunteer Carlos Lake of Cap Juluca, spruced up the Classroom on Tuesday 17th August 2010.

the following press release was issued by the Anguilla United Front late last week.

Wednesday, 11th August 2010, at approximately 11:30 am, Mrs. Cora Richardson Hodge, the Anguilla United Front Candidate for District #2, was served by a member of the Royal Anguilla Police Force with three (3) summons to appear before the Magistrate’s Court in relation to work done and invoices submitted on behalf of a former client of the Firm of C.R. Hodge & Associates. We are made to understand that summons were served on other persons in relation to the same matter as well.

A former baseball player with the New York Yankees, and with proud Anguillian family ties, Carlton Fleming, was in Anguilla this week on a fact-finding trip. He came to look into the possibility of arranging for an International Tennis Federation Tournament on the island in March of 2012.

The Anguilla House of Assembly met on Wednesday this week, August 11, mainly to approve the Memorandum of Understanding, recently agreed between the Anguilla United Movement Government and Cap Juluca Properties Ltd.
The new agreement replaces the Memorandum of Agreement entered into between the former United Front Government and Mr. Adam Aron, Cap Juluca’s Chairman and CEO, on July 7, 2009.

There were seven crimes reported for the period August 4th to 11th. They comprised three burglaries in Tackling, East End, and South Hill, where the items stolen were fruit juices and other beverages; and four thefts in Shoal Bay, West End, The Quarter and Island Harbour where the items stolen included power tools, gold chains, electrical wire and a Blackberry cell phone.

After much discussion, a new Memorandum of Understanding has been written and agreed between the Anguilla Government and Cap Juluca Properties Ltd. It replaces the Memorandum of Agreement entered into by the previous Government and Cap Juluca’s Chairman and CEO, Adam Aron, on July 7, 2009.

In these challenging times, some have suggested that our businesses could benefit most by inspiring the best “free” advertising available to every enterprise around the world: That is, customer loyalty based on exceptional service. The financial facts are that delighted customers tell 4-5 others, while dissatisfied customers tell 10-20. With online forums and social networks, one author suggests that the negative number is closer to 3,000; while the positive count is still just three.

With locally-owned Royale Caribbean Hotel at Little Harbour, Anguilla, now nearing completion, a marketing agreement has been signed with Choice Hotels, a world-wide chain of 6,000 affiliated top notch resorts. The company also boasts of 10 million industry members/partners with whom it circulates marketing information about tourism properties.

Well-known taxi-driver, Mrs. Lillian Rogers, of Stoney Ground, was the centre of attraction when she turned 70 on July 29. She celebrated the milestone in her life with a thanksgiving service and dinner at Dorack’s Place, Katouche Bay, where she was joined by a large cross-section of the community comprising family and friends.

The Anguilla United Front Parliamentary Opposition would like to express its grave concerns about the manner in which the Government has dealt with issues related to Cap Juluca, the flagship of our Tourism Industry. These concerns are not recent but have reached a breaking point in the wake of certain correspondence now circulating in the wider community.

The Anguilla National Trust has partnered with Mr. Crispin Brooks, Managing Director of Rosell Media, to produce a documentary on Anguilla’s marine parks and marine life. Brooks, who is also a filmmaker, has sourced the services of friend and colleague, Ms Shanon Sparks, an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker.

To stay alive, a 66 year old Nevisian woman, Blondina Williams, affectionately called “Blonny”, has to travel to Anguilla twice per week to have dialysis because of her chronic renal condition. Every Monday and every Friday the Nevisian grocery store owner flies out of Nevis to St. Maarten and sails to Anguilla where she has a four hours long dialysis at a concessionary cost of EC1,000 per treatment.

On July 28th and 29th 2010, the Anguilla Renewable Energy Office (AREO) and the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association (AHTA) joined forces to deliver an important workshop to the hoteliers and villa owners of Anguilla.

Let me take this opportunity to commend Anguillians, returning family and friends, other residents and our visitors for making Summer Festival 2010 a success. Despite the many constraints --- for the most part things went well. As is to be expected, there were issues of controversy, events that needed improvement and disappointments for some groups and individuals. But, as I intimated in my last column, the Summer Festival Committee is a “well-designed” machine ready to be deployed --- once deployed all of us then make the festival a success.

AARF’s most recent article in The Anguillian discussed how dog’s communicate – so to be fair, this time we will explore cats and how they communicate with each other and their human person too!
We have always been told that when a cat purrs he is happy, but did you know that isn’t always true? Did you know that a cat’s tail is also a means of communication? And have you ever seen that “crazy scary mouth open/ teeth bared look” cats get when smelling an object? What exactly is that all about?