Bahamian professionals from a wide cross section of the community gathered on Wednesday April 18 in a networking reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy to celebrate their participation in U.S. government sponsored academic and professional exchange programs. Since 1973, more than 200 Bahamians have had the opportunity to take part in exchange programs through the U.S. Embassy, such as Fulbright and Humphrey, the International Visitor Leadership Program, Summer Institutes, and others.

During a brief ceremony, United States Chargé d'Affaires John Dinkelman presented Ms. Christine Campbell with a special plaque recognizing her as the U.S. State Department Alumni of the Month for April, for her leadership and commitment to public service.

In its march across The Bahamas, transforming administrative space into art-filled, vibrant retail experience centres loaded with live smart phones and other wireless devices, BTC opened the doors of two new stores in four days this week, surpassing even its own fast-paced record. The telecom company opened its store on Shirley Street in Nassau today and in George Town, Exuma April 19. Both had been closed for extensive renovations and each required what the company has referred to as a "complete rip and replace." More than 200 people turned out for the Exuma opening event filled with music, fanfare and festivities.

"We at BTC are committed not only transforming how we do business but the environment in which we all come together to conduct that business," said BTC CEO Geoff Houston.

On Friday, April 20, fifteen volunteers from the USS Gettysburg made a special visit to the Willie Mae Pratt Center for girls to participate in a clean-up outreach at the facility. For three hours, the volunteers painted the interior of several of the cottages and removed some of the debris from the perimeter of the center.

For the visiting U.S. Navy officers, they did not hesitate to offer their time and energy to the Bahamian community. Chaplain of the USS Gettysburg Lt. Buster Williams noted that for the volunteers, the decision to give back is always an easy one as they find joy and a sense of accomplishment when they have an opportunity to come face-to-face with and assist the people of different countries they visit.

Starbucks joined forces with the Bahamas National Trust to take Action for the Planet on Saturday, April 21st by clearing invasive cattails from Harrold and Wilson Ponds National Park. "Starbucks staff and management were pleased to volunteer and help the BNT at Harrold and Wilson Ponds National Park " said Dino Matsas, Starbucks Operations Manager. "We like for our staff to get actively involved with the organizations we support and volunteering at the park helped us understand the role of the BNT as our national parks manager and experience some of the challenges they face in managing our protected areas."

This was the first activity that Starbucks has planned with the BNT. The team will be at The Retreat on April 28th, helping to generally clean and clear the paths at the BNT headquarters on Village Road as part of their continuing Earth Day commitment to take positive action for the planet.

A tiny shop packed floor to ceiling with accessories, swim and resort wear walked away with top honours and a cheque for $1,000 in an ongoing monthly contest to identify winning merchants, restaurants, attractions and experiences in the Bahamas Priceless program, co-sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and MasterCard.

Congratulating Ashley Outten, left, Manager of A La Plage at Marina Village this week were Tommy Thompson, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Tourism, and Diane Phillips, DPA, the agency representing the program in The Bahamas.

Scores of students put their talents to the test at the Sandals Foundation's First Annual Science Fair. The competition called for students to create a tourism product that integrated science, math, economics, art, communications and technology. It was held Friday afternoon in the Fred Kassner Conference Center at Sandals Royal Bahamian under the theme: "The Resort of the Future."

The students were asked to create a model resort (depicted in anyway the student wished i.e. drawing, painting, computer generated, three dimensional model made out of cardboard).

A local leading bank said Thursday that activity at the recent car show at the Mall at Marathon was the busiest in years, with more buyers prepared to put down substantial down payments and showing up prepared with plans, pre-approvals and budgets.

BOB (Bank of The Bahamas) retail sales manager Ian Thompson said today the bank saw a marked difference between last year and this year's auto show, an annual event bringing together cars and trucks, buyers and the companies that finance them. "Last year, we had a lot of people who came out to look, but it was almost as if they were dreaming of what they wanted to buy one day," said Thompson., "This year, people were a lot more serious."

An Antonov 124-100 cargo aircraft arrived on Grand Bahama Saturday, April 21st, at 11am to pick up a special cargo. Two 29 ton propellers were transported from the Grand Bahama Shipyard to the airport where they were loaded into the mammoth craft and the plane departed on Sunday at 2pm to deliver the propellers to Italy.

Photo: Jeremy Cafferata (Freeport Ship Services), Carl-Gustaf Rotkirch (CEO GB Shipyard) and Simone Valtolina (Aeroporto C. Colombo) with the eight pilots who flew the Antonov 124-100.

(Photos: Erik J. Russell / Keen i Media Ltd)

Thanks to a contact from the Grand Bahama Tourism Board, the Grand Bahama Children's Home had a WONDERFUL visit from the NFL's Baltimore Ravens Cheerleaders over the Easter holiday.

In addition to the donation of gifts to the Home and a personal cash donation from the ladies themselves, the Ravens cheerleaders spent time with the children playing games and teaching them cheers - drawing loads of smiles and laughter from them all. "It was wonderful for our children to receive such love and kindness from these talented ladies," said Assistant Administrator Enzy Jones.

The operators of Island Soap House greeted scores of onlookers, shoppers and nearby store owners with bright smiles and luxurious scents as they launched their new business, during the official opening of the Churchill Square recently.

On Friday, 20th April, Executives of The Grand Bahama Port Authority, Limited (GBPA) marked the completion of its Downtown Turnaround Project, with a brief ceremony, unveiling the historical Sir Winston Churchill bust and officially opening a new mini Bahamian shopping village within the Churchill Square. Kiosk operators shared that the GBPA project was an impressive initiative to revitalise the city's centre.

People often ask us how we do what we do. How we cope with seeing the worst of what humans can do to innocent animals day after day. From the worst cruelty and neglect to the incredible sadness of watching a pet's confusion, fright and resignation as she watches her beloved owner give her up. How we keep our sanity when dealing with the uncaring or uninformed public. How we keep from falling in love with all the animals that come in and how we keep our hearts from being broken.

How do we do what we do? By taking each day as it comes, and doing the best we can, at that moment, for each and every animal that comes in. And sometimes, we are rewarded beyond our wildest dreams when we get to watch dozens of our precious babies leave us for a real second chance, that we could never give them here. Last week was one of those times.

We won't write the usual "puppylift timeline" here. The video speaks volumes and tells a great deal of the story. What it may not convey is the inordinate amount of time and effort it took to make this happen on all fronts.

Remarks by Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham

Ladies and Gentleman: From the earliest time in my public life I have held a keen interest in creating a physical presence of the Government in Freeport. That is why, 25 years ago as a young Minister I caused the first government administrative complex - the NIB Building - to be constructed here in Freeport. Similarly, that was why following the election of the first Government led by me in 1992 we constructed the former Batelco Administrative Complex which today houses the Office of the Prime Minister, the Justice Complex housing Magistrate and Supreme Courts, 5 schools, a Police Headquarters for the Northern Bahamas and Police Accommodations.

Today we officially open this new Government Administrative Centre.

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During a brief ceremony staged in the heart of Downtown's Churchill Square, executives of The Grand Bahama Port Authority, Limited, (GBPA), marked the culmination of its 3-phase, 3 year Downtown Turnaround Project (DTP) on Friday past.

President Ian Rolle, along with newly appointed Vice Chairman for the GBPA Group, Miss Sarah St. George and Interim President for the Downtown Freeport Business Association, Mr. Wilfred Seymour stood proudly as they unveiled the newly revitalized Sir Winston Churchill bust, followed by a tour and opening of GBPA's new Bahamian Shopping Village within the Churchill Square.

Sunday, April 22, marked the official 42nd annual international celebration of Earth Day. Over the weekend hundreds of Grand Bahamians volunteered throughout the island to be part of this important global event. Civic organizations, schools and local businesses came out in big numbers to assist with cleaning up beaches, planting trees, and getting children involved with taking responsibility for their environment. What a wonderful site to see so many people working together with the common objective of keeping our island clean and beautiful.

Over the years there have been many initiatives on Grand Bahama to celebrate Earth Day. Each year the number of people who participate in these events grows. This year the Keep Grand Bahama Clean (KGBC) committee reached out to civic organizations and local businesses to assist with organizing activities throughout the island. The response from the community was so overwhelming that Earth Day events had to be scheduled over a full week from April 20 - April 28.

The first time I met Hannes Babak he was fresh off a plane from Vienna with a roll of drawings under his arm. The drawings, prepared by an Austrian firm of architects, were for a high-rise building on Lucayan Beach. These were the grim economic days of the 1980's in Freeport and he arrived fresh-faced with the blessing of the Port Authority to commence a major construction project. But first he had to get building approval and that would entail employing a local architect to ensure that the drawings met the local Building Code.

On behalf of a colleague I was one of several architects he met. I reviewed the drawings that were competently prepared except they did not show a secondary emergency exit from each apartment and the elevators for a multi-storey building were seriously undersized. I politely pointed this out but Mr Babak was in Teutonic determination mode and would brook no changes. The interview was quickly concluded.

ART Nucleus, a Grand Bahama community arts group, will host an " ARTiculate TALKS" presentation by Margot Bethel, founder of The Hub, a community-based art centre in Nassau, this Monday, 30th April 2012 at 8 pm at L'Utopia on East Sunrise Highway in Grand Bahama.

Bethel will speak on "The Learning Spiral: Facing and Embracing the Challenges of Building an Independent Artist-Run Space in The Bahamas." The public are invited to attend this FREE event.

The short film "Sudden Onset" written and directed by Bahamian Katherine Beneby II will premier at the College of The Bahamas Harry C. Moore Library and Information Centre on Thursday May 10 at 6pm with guest presenter Dr. Charles Rahming and host for the evening Jerome Sawyer. An educational forum will follow the film.

After her brother David Beneby Jr. was diagnosed almost 15 years ago, writer and director Beneby became impassioned with a desire to educate and inform Bahamians on Multiple Sclerosis which is a disease that influences the central nervous system and affects 2.5 million people worldwide.

The watersports team at Sandals Royal Bahamian has much to celebrate. They were recently the recipients of an award from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) for exceeding their certification goals. It is the first time Sandals Royal Bahamian has received the award in its 15 year history.

Sandals offers PADI certification courses at all its Bahamian resorts including the resort chain's newly launched PADI National Geographic Diver Course at its property in Emerald Bay Exuma. The new specialty certification course teaches guests how to become true explorers and scientists of the sea.

Jeffrey Burnside didn't even break a sweat. He had just ridden 100 miles, biking up hills and down valleys, around bends, rolling past others participating in Ride for Hope, passing them with a smile and a wave as casual as if he were out for a Sunday drive.

"It was a lot of fun, a piece of cake," said the consummate cyclist whose long history with biking takes him all the way from the 1970 Commonwealth Games in England to the 1972 Olympics in Munich where he made it to the quarter finals in the 1,000-meter sprint to this day in Eleuthera where he, like nearly 600 others, were pedaling for a cause -- to raise funds for the fight against cancer.

Parking lot wars

This entire "Parking Lot" war at Butlers Food World, is in my opinion the height of ridiculous. Can Mr. Babak be anymore childish? As a Landlord he is displaying the most deplorable behaviour. Can he not remember before Butlers was there, there was never more than a handful of cars at best at anytime.

This should actually count as a warning to anyone who is thinking of taking place in his new Circle Mall what they too can have in store for them with Mr. Babak as their Landlord. Be prepared! A Circle Mall that probably would not even have been a thought had it not been for the opening of Butlers Food World; a Mall, I might add, may not even have the appeal it has without Butlers.

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Leadership, a Matter of Trust!

"Leadership, a Matter of Trust" is probably the best campaign slogan being displayed for the upcoming election. It tells you everything about the organization and the people leading it. After all, what is life or an organization if you cannot trust it? Trust is the essence of good stewardship and of life.

When Sir Kendal Isaacs was leader and Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield Chairman, I along with the other members of the FNM, could take their word to the bank. It was easy to work with them; you knew at all times where you stood. They never double crossed you. In the front lines in war, in politics or generally in life you must "trust" your leader.

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Hubert had a better sense than we did

As a businessman in Grand Bahama I have managed to maintain my business despite the challenges we have here. I, like my fellow businessmen and women, watched and hoped that the GB Port Authority would start getting their act together and improving our lot here in Freeport. I watched the family fiasco, the revolving Chairmen, and then thought the Babak decision was sound. He was international like Edward, he had his own money (I was told), and he'd done so well himself.

I can't lie, I was a bit miffed by the PM's decision to deny his GBPA work permit. In fact, many of my fellow businessmen and women felt the same. Then I read the Freeport News on Monday morning and read "Butler wants something for Nothing!" I just could not believe what I was reading - seriously, blocking parking spots to hinder business. This is the action of the man who was leading the PORT? The one we wanted to stay there - and we questioned Hubert?

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