Late Wednesday evening the Belize Bank Bulldogs announced the signing of savvy veteran and former Raider, Bart Sanchez, after he was released by the Sugar City Eagles that same evening. Sanchez, who was rumored to be an unhappy camper in Sugar City and not seeing eye-to-eye with team management, apparently got his wish, which was to play for a city- based team.
We are now at the midway point in the first round of the RFG Insurance Trophy Tournament and this weekend will feature some interesting matchups. Let?s take a brief look at them.
On Saturday night, March 25, Hankook Verdes will host Alpha from Orange Walk. Both teams have identical records, with Hankook Verdes having the slight advantage in goal difference. Both teams are in dire need of some crucial points.
The first ever Central American Cricket Championships were hosted last weekend in Lords Bank, Belize, under the guidance of the Belize National Cricket Association. Belize, Costa Rica and Mexico participated in this historic event.
On Day One, Belize produced a powerful performance to overpower a spirited Costa Rica. Winning the toss and batting first, Belize muscled their way to an imposing 341 for the loss of 8 wickets in their 40 overs.
If official estimates for 2006 prove true, Belize would see the first back-to-back decline in cruise tourist arrivals since 1998?which the Government has used as a benchmark year for boasting cruise tourism growth.
In a briefing with the press at the Belize Biltmore Plaza this morning, Central Bank Governor, Sydney Campbell, said that arrivals in the sector declined 6% in 2005. He said that there would be a further decline of about 13.5% this year, 2006.
Prime Minister, Hon. Said Musa, is expected to present the 2006/2007 budget, including $668 million in spending, before the House of Representatives today, Friday, March 17.
Last year Musa?s budget was met with fiery resistance from a wide cross section of Belizeans, particularly the trade unions, private sector agencies and even two of his own House members. Things are a lot different this time around.
The David Fonseca crisis, which involves the mishandling of hundreds of thousands of Belize City Council dollars, represents the first big challenge to the new Zenaida Moya mayoralty.
It being the case that former Mayor, David, is the younger brother of Minister Ralph Fonseca, one of Belize?s richest men, it appears that the new Mayor, having inherited an indebted and cash-strapped City Hall, is toying with the idea that there are ways David could make good the missing money.
When Ismail Shabazz and I went to Los Angeles by bus (through Tijuana) in late December of 1971, the Mexican highway through Escarcega was already in effect, and that Escarcega road took maybe ten hours (guesstimate) off the time from Chetumal to Tijuana. Previous to the Escarcega road, if you were going to Tijuana from Chetumal, you had to go all the way up northwest to Merida, then come back south before heading west and north to Vera Cruz, then west to Mexico City and north to Tijuana. After Escarcega, you headed west from Chetumal, then north to Vera Cruz, etc.
I read with much dismay and outrage a letter to the editor appearing in your March 12th edition. Honestly, I don?t pay much mind to what Smokey Joe has to say and I think that if you do a general consensus amongst your readers you will find out that NOT too many people are particularly concerned about what he writes. I am of the humble opinion that his ?inferiority complex? issue is a very personal one, but it does scare me when he concludes without knowing the facts (especially when he talked about HIV and AIDS in his column about 2 weeks) - by the way we have been No. 1 in AIDS for a good number of years now as opposed to what he says that we ?now? became No. 1.
Former Belize City mayor, William David Fonseca, has declined an interview with our newspaper regarding the current controversy over $248,000 in salary advances and bounced cheques, as well as $155,000 paid in his name from the social assistance vote of the Belize City Council. The total is $403,000, which the current mayor, Zenaida Moya, says has not been properly accounted for.
Moya told us that Fonseca has made a verbal agreement with the BCC to repay at least the 30-odd thousand that pertains to the bounced cheques. We understand that he had been given a deadline of 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 17, to repay the money.
In the Corozal village of San Joaquin a young Chinese businesswoman is in shock over the senseless killing of her husband, Ji Shen Li, 34, last night. The murder has left her, her two children, ages 5 and 2, and San Joaquin villagers in mourning and a state of disbelief.
Ji Shen Li, also known as ?Sammy Li,? was gunned down sometime after 9:00 last night, Wednesday, March 15, inside his business, Sammy?s Store, located in San Joaquin, 4 miles on the Northern Highway outside of Corozal Town.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, March 15, 2006, by the Central Secondary School Sports Association, the male football team of Gwen Lizarraga High School has been stripped of the championship, which they had won in dramatic fashion over St. John?s College last Friday, March 10, 2006.
The Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association reports that Belize has won 4 silver and 5 bronze medals in the VIII Central American Games. Below is the medal breakdown by sport:
Earlier today, Thursday 16, 2006, at the MCC Garden, the Belize City Primary School Football Tournament ended with a bang with two exciting championship games. In the first, the girls from Holy Redeemer and Queen?s Square Anglican battled to a scoreless draw in regulation. Therefore the game had to be decided in penalty. In the shootout, Queen?s Square Anglican emerged victorious with the 3-2 victory over Holy Redeemer. Channa Romero, Andrea Noralez and Faith Mejia scored for Queen Square Anglican, while Stacy Usher and Leanne Murray scored for Holy Redeemer. Queen?s Square Anglican are now the Belize City champs with Holy Redeemer as the runners-up. Congrats to both teams.
On Saturday, March 11, 2006, the Harrison Parks National Cricket Competition was back in action with a series of exciting games.
First Division Action
On Saturday in Crooked Tree, Brilliant edged Home Protector Sunrise by a score of 127 to 120 runs. Howell Gillett and Lawrence Banner took 3 wickets each for Brilliant, while Landis Wade took it easy with only 29 runs. For Home Protector Sunrise, it was a valiant effort on the part of Clarence Anthony, who scored 46 runs and Edison Parks, who took 5 wickets.
