The 2009 Belize Rural Central Football Competition, organized by Mrs. Sharon Thurton and sponsored by Minister Michael Hutchinson, climaxed this afternoon at the Ladyville football field with an exciting final match between the previously undefeated Thurton F.C. and defending champion, Rebels
The things we aspire for in life, are the things which we believe will make us happy. The vast majority of us aspire to be rich, imagining, as we do, that access to material luxury, sating our senses, will give us joy. The New Testament, however, famously warns, “What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?” The world can excite and please our senses: the soul is something else again.
The military in the republic of Honduras, just south of Belize, staged a coup d’état on Sunday morning, June 28. They barged into the presidential palace, took constitutionally elected president Jose Manuel Zelaya out of bed in his pajamas, and put him on a plane to Costa Rica. Then, in concert with the Honduras Supreme Court, the military had the leader of the Honduran Congress, Roberto Micheletti, sworn in as interim president.
I thought it was a serious discussion, the one that proposed allowing born Belizeans who became American citizens (or other nationalities) and lived in America (or other countries), to vote in our elections. To run in our elections for a seat, or to be given a seat in the House is another story
Two more accused murderers walk... The case against two accused murderers has gone down the now famous route of “nolle prosequi,” as this morning, Crown Counsel Trienia Young was forced to call it quits and enter a nolle prosequi in the Supreme Court of Justice Adolph Lucas.
Some prices outlined in KHMH preliminary audit “absolutely unjustifiable and unsustainable.” Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hon. Dean Barrow told Amandala today that he is calling on the Board of Directors of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) to act immediately against the person or persons who oversaw purchases of supplies from the private sector that were made at “absolutely unjustifiable and unsustainable prices,” absent a good explanation from them.
It’s official. The World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville, Spain, from June 22 to June 30, has decided that the Belize Barrier Reef System, inscribed 13 years ago as a World Heritage Site, must be added to the list of World Heritage in Danger.
Orange Walk police have detained a “person of interest” as they continue to investigate the death of Ezekiel Tejeda, a toddler of Tower Hill village outside of Orange Walk Town. Tejeda, age 2, was taken to the Northern Regional Hospital in town around 4:00 p.m. on June 26, suffering from cardio pulmonary arrest.
SJC makes counter-allegations against Minister of Education... Information reaching Amandala today from the Office of the President of St. John’s College, Frank Garbutt, indicates that “Effective [Tuesday] June 30, 2009, parents who have paid school fees in full at St. John’s College may receive refunds on the increased portion of their fees from the finance officer during regular working hours.”
Belize has joined the voices of condemnation of Sunday’s coup d’état against elected Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, who was ousted from his presidential home and exiled to Costa Rica in his pajamas, early Sunday morning, after Honduran military officers stormed his residence.
The senior division playoff opener between TRIP and Flames fitted the two teams who matched up in the first game of the regular season. Flames won that game in a nail-biting finish, 51-48, in regulation. This game started with similar intensity and at a torrid pace, with both teams combining for the highest scoring first quarter of the season, 24-21, in favor of Flames. Gary Francisco and Bernard Felix put on a show by trading baskets in the first half, scoring 17 and 18 points, respectively. Francisco finished with 28 for the game, while Felix ended with 24 after fouling out in the third quarter. After the loss of Felix, the wheels seemed to come off for Flames, as they could manage only 7 fourth quarter points and ultimately suffered the 61-53 loss. Meanwhile, in the do-or-die U-19 semifinal match played between Hopkins and Rebuilders, in perhaps their best game of the season, Rebuilders proved to be the only team able to slow down the Hopkins duo of Macario Augustine and Iver Ventura, who were held to a season low of 10 pts and 6 pts, respectively. The duo ordinarily averaged 17 ppg and 13 ppg, respectively. However on this night, as a result of solid team defense and timely offense, the Rebuilders were able to pull off the huge win by the final score of 46-41.
KHMH auditors’ preliminary report due Friday... Day nine of the standoff between the Belize Medical and Dental Union (BMDU) and the Board of Directors of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) ends tonight, with no clear resolution in sight.
$2 million spent, but Marion Jones Sports Complex still a wasteland... Private sector Senator Godwin Hulse has called for a probe by the Public Accounts Committee into a special report of the Auditor General tabled at Tuesday’s Senate meeting, signaling that over BZ$7 million—nearly a third of the Venezuelan housing grant spent in the run-up to the 2008 general elections—was “unaccounted for.”
