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With cable television blaring from even the poorest homes and attractions like the cinema, bowling and casino gambling drawing the attention of the higher rollers, live theatre in Belize is not exactly enjoying a golden age. But if the excitement exhibited at the Bliss Institute this morning is any indication…things may be changing. Jacqueline Woods, […]
Written on January 24, 2002 | Posted in
Uncategorized |
Comments Off on Drama workshop excites budding actors
It’s an institution of higher learning that hundreds of Belizeans drive by each day without knowing it’s there. Located in the Bally Gardens subdivision off the Northern Highway, the Belize Medical College is one of a number of facilities located throughout the Caribbean and Central America. Collectively, they are known as “offshore” medical schools; places […]
Written on January 24, 2002 | Posted in
Education |
Comments Off on Medical school forges closer ties with Belize
With hot button issues like the impeachment of a Supreme Court Justice and the imposition of burdensome new telephone rates dominating the nightly news, the perennial headline grabber–Guatemala’s claim to Belize–has virtually disappeared from journalistic radar screens. Today it reappeared like F-15’s over Kandahar. It seems that with the end of the latest chapter in […]
Written on January 23, 2002 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Book presents Belize case in Guatemalan claim
A motorcyclist is dead tonight after a traffic accident in the Toledo District. Police reports are that thirty year old Fidel Coc, a salesman from San Antonio Village, was driving his motorcycle around seven o’clock Tuesday night on the Southern Highway just outside of Punta Gorda, when he collided with a bus travelling in the […]
Written on January 23, 2002 | Posted in
Auto Accidents |
Comments Off on Toledo motorcyclist killed in crash
It seems it’s open season on Cayo businesses as yet another armed hold-up has been reported to police. According to forty-five year old Chen Weibin, around nine on Tuesday night, three masked men, one of them armed with a shotgun, entered his restaurant– First Stop in Santa Elena–and demanded money. They searched the place and […]
Written on January 23, 2002 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Cayo restaurant hit by robbers
Meanwhile police say they have arrested and charged four young men for their involvement in a bar fight in San Ignacio that left another man in a coma. Nineteen year old Darwin Mendez, twenty-three year old Calvin Welch, twenty year old Willy Aguirre and a sixteen year old have all been charged with dangerous harm […]
Written on January 23, 2002 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Four charged in San Ignacio beating
While a police committee is looking for ways to improve the working relationship between cops and the community, people in the twin towns of Cayo have been taking some concrete action. On Monday, the Citizens Committee of San Ignacio and Santa Elena presented four bicycles and one motorcycle to the local police detachment to help […]
Written on January 23, 2002 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Community donates cycles to Cayo cops
The arguments may have ceased in the Meerabux case, but downstairs in the courtroom of John Gonzales, a major criminal trial was still going on. News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams has been following the case since it started. Ann-Marie Williams The trial of James Pelayo, Melvin Guzman, Ricardo Alamilla and Amir Sutherland charged with the attempted […]
Written on January 23, 2002 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Final presentations made in rape case
Middle income families who have traditionally turned to the Development Finance Corporation for reasonably priced housing loans will soon be asked to look elsewhere. That’s the word from Cabinet, which has directed the D.F.C. to turn its attention to low income customers. The government owned corporation will now accept housing loan applications for a maximum […]
Written on January 23, 2002 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on D.F.C. shifts housing emphasis to low income
Since Hurricane Iris ravaged parts of the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts in October, News 5’s teams have headed south on numerous occasions, first to assess the damage and later to monitor the recovery. on Tuesday, Reporter Jacqueline Woods and cameraman George Tillett once again headed south…and have returned with the following report. Jacqueline Woods, […]
Written on January 23, 2002 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Monkey River gears up for tourists
Shockwaves rippled from the Supreme Court today as a series of events threatened to further complicate and even cripple the already controversial constitutional case of George Meerabux. It began on Monday when Attorney General Godfrey Smith, took the podium at the ceremonial opening of the Supreme Court and made several comments about the Meerabux case, […]
Written on January 22, 2002 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Attorney General cited for contempt
But the fireworks were just getting started. Blackman made it clear that the remarks made by the Attorney General were more than just personally offensive. The justice proceeded to state that he was considering recusing himself from the case and wanted to hear from counsel. Not wasting a minute, Solicitor General Elson Kaseke, appearing for […]
Written on January 22, 2002 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Judge recuses himself…then changes mind
Ava Lovell The proceedings in and around the Meerabux case have dominated the news for the last week; today they reached a climax. And while the press is admonished to stick to the facts, sometimes the so-called facts are shaded with so much nuance that the situation calls for some additional explanation. Joining me in […]
Written on January 22, 2002 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Journalists discuss nuances of trial
A bar brawl has left a popular young man clinging to life in a coma, while his family prays for his recovery and hopes for justice. Police say they visited the Coconut Bar in the Savannah area of San Ignacio where they found blood on the floor, broken chairs and stones. Patrons at the bar […]
Written on January 22, 2002 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on “Jolly Rancher” in coma after bar brawl
Allegations of police brutality and corruption are about as common as potholes on Belize City streets, and are just a few reasons why relations between the public and the law are a little off. Realizing that perception strongly influences reality, the department is trying to patch things up and has formed a committee to address […]
Written on January 22, 2002 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Police seek better community relations
The final prosecution testimony in the James Pelayo rape case came this morning from subpoenaed witness Guadaloupe Cowo, mother of one of the minors involved in the May 2000 incident and C.I.B. detective Millard Tun. News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams was at the Supreme Court. Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting Cowo told the court via an interpreter this […]
Written on January 22, 2002 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Prosecution winds up gang rape case
Every year, it’s a highlight of the judicial calendar as the ladies and gentlemen of the bench and bar present themselves in the official opening ceremonies of the Belize Supreme Court. While today’s proceedings stuck to tradition, the lingering cloud of the Meerabux case cast a dark shadow over the legal community. But first to […]
Written on January 21, 2002 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Bz. Supreme Court opens with a bang
While the annual Supreme Court opening is usually long on form and short on substance, one issue hovered over today’s gathering like a fog bank over Victoria Peak. That is the Supreme Court case of Meerabux versus the Attorney General, a constitutional motion in which deposed former Supreme Court Justice George Meerabux is seeking to […]
Written on January 21, 2002 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on A.G. and judge face off over Meerabux case
During today’s official ceremony, members of the legal community observed a minute silence in memory of one of their own. On Friday, Alexander “Andy” Johnson, a former Chief Magistrate, died after battling a series of illnesses. He was fifty-nine years old. After retiring from the courtroom, Johnson became clerk of the National Assembly, but was […]
Written on January 21, 2002 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Ret’d Magistrate succumbs to illness
A traffic accident on the Western Highway has claimed the life of an eleven-year-old boy and left eight others in hospital. According to police, eleven-year-old Clint Price was travelling with family members to Santa Elena just before midnight on Sunday, when the Nissan pickup he was travelling in rear ended another truck between miles fifty-seven […]
Written on January 21, 2002 | Posted in
Auto Accidents |
Comments Off on 11-year-old dies in weekend accident
An inmate from Hattieville is in serious condition at the K.H.M.H. tonight after he was stabbed in a fight on the prison compound. According to Major Earl Gentle, Superintendent of Prisons, Leon Castillo, an inmate of the maximum-security block was in the yard for recreation time when he got into a fight with three other […]
Written on January 21, 2002 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Prisoner serious after yard fight
A robbery over the weekend has netted three bad guys an undisclosed amount of cash and goods. Police say around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday three men ambushed twenty-seven year old Mackenson Semeranct, a security guard working at Ramon’s Gas Station in Belize City, tied him up and left him behind the building while they ransacked […]
Written on January 21, 2002 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Robbers net cash and goods in weekend heists
A dramatic weekend fire in a highly congested area of Belize City has destroyed two houses and left sixteen people homeless. News 5’s Rick Romero rushed to the scene on Sunday to find fire-fighters fighting the flames from various angles in an effort to prevent it from spreading. Today, fire officials tell News 5’s Jacqueline […]
Written on January 21, 2002 | Posted in
Disasters |
Comments Off on George St. fire leaves 16 homeless
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and you’re on board this fresh flight on Sports Monday. It was a weekend of international football with the visit of Associacion Deportiva Carmelita from Cost Rica in full effect. Friday night they clobbered Builders Hardware Bandits 3-nil, so we take you out to M.C.C. Grounds where the semi-pro champions […]
Written on January 21, 2002 | Posted in
Sports |
Comments Off on Bandits and Yabra fall to Costa Rica’s Carmelita
After enjoying a highly profitable but controversial existence, tonight the sale of Belizean passports is no longer legal. As of January fifteenth, amendments to the constitution repealed the provisions relating to the economic citizenship program. According to government officials, it will take some time for the BECIP Unit to finalise the programme. Applications already in […]
Written on January 18, 2002 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Passport sales shut down
