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In these strange pressure filled times it is increasingly difficult to tell where politics ends and the law begins. Today we are once again reminded of that tendency as another decision with strong political implications has been rendered in the civil suit of the Social Security Board versus V.H. Courtenay. Viewers will recall that last […]
Written on July 31, 1998 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Justice Meerabux orders Courtenay to pay $3.34 million
Residents of the southern districts have experienced some bad luck this week. On Thursday evening in the village of San Juan in the Stann Creek District a twenty-one year old Guatemalan died as the result of a freak accident. Rafael Santos Juarez was reportedly riding his bicycle through the village when he lost control and […]
Written on July 31, 1998 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Villager dies in bicycle crash
Around the same time as Juarez crashed in San Juan, a fire was destroying a building and generator at the big mango farm near Monkey River. The General Manager of Tropical Produce Company Laila Mehlum told police that she saw smoke coming from the twenty five by twenty five foot shed housing the farm’s light […]
Written on July 31, 1998 | Posted in
Disasters |
Comments Off on Two fires destroy buildings in south
In crime news, police in Belize City have nabbed two young men on robbery charges, resulting from separate incidents. Twenty year old Jason Flowers was arrested and charged on Thursday for the robbery of a Chinese shop on Oleander Street. The proprietor, Shu Wo Hui, told police that shortly after eleven o’clock on Tuesday morning, […]
Written on July 31, 1998 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Two arrested in separate Belize City robberies
Considering that it just announced a record thirty eight million dollars in profit, no one could argue that it wasn’t time for B.T.L. to show a little generosity. This morning News Five’s Jacqueline Woods was on hand as the company introduced one very lucky customer. It’s probably the best wedding gift that Deborah Moe could […]
Written on July 31, 1998 | Posted in
Miscellaneous |
Comments Off on Belize City woman wins B.T.L. $10,000 raffle
While luck is a wonderful thing to have on your side, the two subjects of our next story are depending more on their skill as politicians. In tonight’s continuing series on “Elections ’98” we hear from Cayo Central’s Eduardo “Dito” Juan and Dan Silva. Eduardo Juan, U.D.P., Cayo Central “Well the campaign issues in Cayo […]
Written on July 31, 1998 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Juan and Silva return bout in Cayo Central
While politicians argue exactly how good or how bad things are in Belize, other segments of society are taking a more analytical approach, in the hope that solutions are best achieved after first ascertaining the facts. Today one such group unveiled a study that seeks to measure just how we’re doing as a nation of […]
Written on July 31, 1998 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Report measures national achievement
With political wars raging all around us, News Five commentator G. Michael Reid has tonight chosen to elaborate on a battle fought not with words, TV commercials and blue notes but with real weapons like muskets, cannon and — you guessed it — pok-n-o-boy sticks. “Though I aspire to never belabor a point, my last […]
Written on July 31, 1998 | Posted in
Commentary |
Comments Off on G. Michael Reid fights Battle of St. George’s Caye
The police department has confirmed that two suspects in the murder of a U.S. tourist have been captured in Honduras. Norman “Butch” Martin and Carlos Castro are in the custody of Honduran police while a third suspect, Glenford Westby, is still on the loose, presumably in Honduras. According to national C.I.B. Chief Gerald Westby, Belizean […]
Written on July 30, 1998 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Two suspects in Maya Beach murder held in Honduras
In political news, these past several days have been used by both major political parties to pursue claims in court that various persons on the voters list ought not to be there. Today News Five’s Patrick Jones headed out to San Ignacio to see how the process was working in Cayo. Cayo North representative Salvador […]
Written on July 30, 1998 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Magistrate hears objections to Cayo North voting list
Those rains forecast by the weatherman may be wreaking havoc with people’s outdoor recreation, but they’re good news for B.E.L. and BECOL, operator of the Mollejon Hydro Plant. Although July was a drier month than normal, recent rains in the south of the country have increased the flow in the Macal River. That has resulted […]
Written on July 30, 1998 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Rains help increase hydro plant output
Three people escaped serious injuries in two separate mid afternoon traffic accidents today on the same portion of the Western Highway. A News Five crew returning from an assignment in Cayo, found police at mile ten, trying to get all the facts straight. According to Sergeant Luis Castellanos, the first accident happened shortly after two […]
Written on July 30, 1998 | Posted in
Auto Accidents |
Comments Off on Car, truck and ambulance damaged in Western Hwy. accidents
Recently we reported on the long awaited opening of the swimming pool at the YWCA on St. Thomas Street. Today we are informed that the pool is being heavily used by the public for recreation and the learn to swim program will continue through the month of August. The “Y” has several other educational programs […]
Written on July 30, 1998 | Posted in
Miscellaneous |
Comments Off on Summer programs continue at YWCA
Next week the third annual edition of Belize’s tourism expo will take place in Belize City. While the three-day event will not be heralded by huge amounts of fanfare, the deals made will be worth millions to the future of the tourism industry. Arreini Palacio has a preview. “Belize, the eco-cultural destination of the twenty-first […]
Written on July 30, 1998 | Posted in
Economy |
Comments Off on Belize Travel Expo opens next week
They have both held ministerial portfolios in respective governments and in the 1993 general election the margin of victory was only one vote. Tonight, in the continuing series “Elections ’98” we focus on the contest in Collet. Remijio Montejo, P.U.P., Collet “For the P.U.P. and myself the issue is to improve the standard of living […]
Written on July 30, 1998 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Rematch of “one vote” election in Collet
It is part of a nationwide series of workshops to let Belizeans know just how new legislation will effect the country’s families. This morning I dropped in on a seminar at the Radisson to see how things have changed and why. Four years ago, the National Committee for Families and Children was formed to advise […]
Written on July 30, 1998 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on N.C.F.C. explains new family and children laws countrywide
It was their first major stumble in a campaign that was otherwise going strong, and today in the court of Justice George Meerabux the People’s United Party had to pay the price – both in cash and loss of face. In the biggest verdict ever rendered in a Belizean libel case San Ignacio Town Councilor […]
Written on July 29, 1998 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Esquivel wins record libel judgement against Marconi, P.U.P.
There has been a major break in the murder of a tourist earlier this month on the Placencia Peninsula. According to sources News Five considers reliable, Norman “Butch” Martin, one of three suspects in the July fifth killing of Raymond Kirk at Singing Sands resort, has been apprehended by police in Honduras. A team of […]
Written on July 29, 1998 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Placencia murder suspect captured in Honduras
Three days after a senior church group from New York arrived in Belize for a one week vacation, one of its members has died of natural causes in his hotel. According to the police, the body of seventy-seven year old George Owen Dalrymple, who was staying at the Fiesta Inn, was discovered by a friend. […]
Written on July 29, 1998 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Tourist dies in hotel room
A child has died by drowning in Seine Bight Village. According to Independence police, four year old Chester Williams and several other young children had ventured out twenty five yards away from Williams’ home Tuesday evening to play in a deep water hole. Suddenly, the boys told police, Williams went under and never resurfaced. The […]
Written on July 29, 1998 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Baby drowns in Seine Bight
In economic news the nation’s most profitable corporation, B.T.L., has reported another record year. Gross revenues are up by almost two million dollars to nearly seventy five million. Pre-tax profits have likewise jumped by one point eight million to almost forty million. Earnings per share topped out at a record seventy nine point eight cents […]
Written on July 29, 1998 | Posted in
Economy |
Comments Off on B.T.L. reports record sales, earnings, dividends
In yesterday’s newscast we spoke to Opposition leader Said Musa about the report of the Commission of Inquiry which severely criticized his actions while he was Minister of Foreign Affairs. While Musa defended his performance and called the report just one more example of political witch hunting, what we neglected to include yesterday was the […]
Written on July 29, 1998 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Musa: P.U.P. will put passport sales to referendum
In other political news, we take a look tonight at the major candidates in the Mesopotamia division of Belize City. U.D.P. incumbent Michael Finnegan, is facing a challenge from P.U.P. footsoldier turned candidate, Ray Lightburn. Patrick Jones reports. Michael Finnegan, U.D.P., Mesopotamia “The issue, not only in my division but throughout the country, this election, […]
Written on July 29, 1998 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on “Elections ’98”: the Mesopotamia division
Not to be outdone by the September Celebrations, the Belize City Council is in the process of organizing some fun… for the month of October. The week of activities will include cultural and artistic displays, a two-day exposition and a poster competition. The fair, which will become an annual event, will also feature several historical […]
Written on July 29, 1998 | Posted in
Miscellaneous |
Comments Off on Belize City Council to host annual fair in October
The report was submitted on Monday to the Prime Minister, but according to the P.M.’s office copies will not be provided to the media until Wednesday afternoon. So all we have to go on is a government press release, which supposedly summarizes what the report has to say. “The report,” of course, is that made […]
Written on July 28, 1998 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on P.U.P. leader says Commission report is raw politics
