Local News

Anguilla Progressive Party candidate contesting general elections in District One, Lawyer Palmavon Webster, opened a Constituency Office in Island Harbour on Saturday September 12, a day that carries much significance for her. The Office is situated in the former home of her aunt who raised her, the Late Mrs. Lambertine Webster, and its opening coincided with Lambertine's birthday.

Two Seventh-day Adventist Ministers, Pastor Danny Philip, and Pastor Carl Hastings, who served Anguilla with much dedication and distinction, have been given new appointments by the St. Croix-based North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

In a simulcast address to Anguilla and all the other jurisdictions of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Chief Justice, the Hon. Hugh A. Rawlins, issued a call for what he described as “the professionalization of the Bar.”

The leading jurist was at the time delivering, from Roseau, Dominica, a 22-page address opening Law Year 2009/2010.

Anguillian born Colonel Timothy L. Lake will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Military on September 18, 2009 at a Promotion Ceremony in his honour to be held in Maryland, U.S.A.

Senior Opposition Member, Hubert Hughes, held his weekly press conference on Wednesday, regretting that his colleague, Edison Baird, was still not available for health reasons to assist him.

Mr. Hughes charged that the Government could not deal with the island’s declining economic situation and it would take “a fast track situation to bring the island back on course.”

First Caribbean Bank has made a sizable donation of some ten thousand US dollars to the Department of Library Services. The gift has allowed the Library to purchase eight computers, six of wish will be used by the public and two for support functions.
In a brief ceremony to mark the official commissioning of the computers First Caribbean Country Manager Marie Rey explained that, in October 2007, the bank celebrated its fifth anniversary.

The Anguilla Red Cross collaborated with a number of Government health agencies over the weekend to spread the message of the importance of good heath habits and First Aid. On Saturday September 12, Red Cross members and volunteers participated in a Wellness Fair conducted by the sections of the Ministry of Health and the Health Authority of Anguilla (including the Physical Therapy Department, Health Promotion, Food and Nutrition and HIV/AIDS).

While on Anguilla, during the 2009 Shipwreck Survey and after, we recorded and photographed ten newly documented sites. Importantly, the team and I owe our success to the people of Anguilla. Not only did the team receive support from the Government of Anguilla and AAHS for the project’s logistics, but from many local divers and fishermen who are most familiar with Anguilla’s waters.

Anguillian born Colonel Timothy L. Lake will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Military on September 18, 2009 at a Promotion Ceremony in his honour to be held in Maryland, U.S.A.

Colonel Timothy L. Lake was commissioned in the Regular Army from ROTC at North Carolina A & T State University as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science, Industrial Technology, Manufacturing.

The Anguilla Social Security Board is at the forefront of an initiative to introduce a Strategic Management System known as the ‘Balance Scorecard’ to Anguilla. The move is a tactical intervention to address the impact of the global financial crisis on the island and is similar to a Balance Scorecard Strategy implemented by the Board in 2007.

Agricultural officials and other stakeholders in agriculture met on Thursday September 10 for a workshop to review the mandate of the Department of Agriculture, with the main aim of planning the way forward for the agricultural sector. The facilitator was Dr Floyd Homer, an agricultural consultant from Trinidad and Tobago. The opening ceremony was chaired by Director of Agriculture, William Vanterpool.

A new appointee as Head of the Governor’s Office has taken up duties in Anguilla. She is Ms Catherine Firth who has succeeded Mr. Terry Alloway, who has returned to the United Kingdom at the end of his tour of service.

Some of the news headlines this week focused attention on the plight of Linda Carty, a 50-year-old woman of Anguillian parentage, who has been on death row in Texas for a number of years now, awaiting execution by lethal injection.

The Teachers’ Resource Centre was the scene of a well-attended public forum, on Tuesday evening this week, on the dire financial and economic situation in Anguilla on Tuesday evening this week and on how to find a way out of the fiscal difficulties that have overtaken the island.

Crime in Anguilla increased by one from last week to hit the 25 mark for the period September 2 to 9. Offences included six burglaries, two attempted burglaries, four cases on theft, five involving the possession of Cannabis, seven of criminal damage and one case of robbery.

Speaking at his weekly press conference on Tuesday this week, Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, warned that the employment situation in Anguilla would continue to grow until the island began attracting investors again.

Veteran Minister of the Anglican Church and former senior civil servant, Reverend Vanier Menes Hodge, celebrated his official Retirement Mass in front of a packed St. Mary’s in the Valley on his 70th birthday, Sunday August 30. The occasion was a joint service, combining the congregations of the three Anglican Churches along with a large cross-section of the Anguillian community.

The Anguilla House of Assembly has given its approval to three motions to authorise the Minister of Finance to borrow money to meet various financial requirements.

Introducing the motions on Friday, December 4, Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, said the first motion was an overdraft facility for a 20 million dollar loan from the National Bank of Anguilla.

Opposition Member, Hubert Hughes, explained to reporters, at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, the reason for his refusal to pay property tax. He was responding to a charge made by Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming.

The Anguilla Social Security Board’s Management Team held its annual Retreat at Paradise Cove on September 7-8, 2009 to update the Board’s Strategic Plan. The Retreat was facilitated by Robert Wynter, partner in the Jamaican firm Growth Facilitators and a certified Balanced Scorecard Practitioner.