The Hallmark of gangs is how vicious and deadly and punishing they can be. So there’s inter- gang fighting. Internet-gang battling, gangs launching assaults on society at large and the battles between gangs and the police and authorities. So just say the police was to take down a key gang member. Say one who was peddling guns. The retaliation may not be against the police. That may bring too much heat. But it may be against other gang members, who may been suspected of snitching. It may be against members of another gang or it may just be an assault on society. Sending a message to ‘leave us alone or else..’. And with gangs, unless you cut the head off or stifle their source of income, they will continue to grow and become more deadly.

It’s just a matter of the war being back on. A certain court case has come to an end and the outcome was not what was expected. So maybe they called off the ‘cease fire.’ And so it’s back to counting dead bodies. When the mafia was warring, it was not unusual for one mobster to personally kill over a hundred people and order the killings of hundreds more. Or maybe young men are waking up to find out they were sexually molested or physically abused as kids.

> We have our Cabinet paper. (It) has
> been prepared and that should be going
> before Cabinet any day now. As soon as
> we get the green light for Cabinet,
> I’m hoping sometime maybe within the
> next week or two that we will be
> sending that RFP out and hopefully we
> can expect to see the body cams.

And when will cameras be placed in interview booths at CDU and other police stations? why is it that in this day and age citizens, many of them innocent, are arrested, taken into custody, beaten and forced to sign statements or have false charges place on them. Charges that they have to spend years and thousands of dollars to defend? And some become known as 'known to the police., even unto death.

> A 54-year-old Canadian man was
> sentenced to prison on Friday for
> smuggling almost $10,000 worth of
> heroin into the Bahamas from London
> late last year in the hope of getting
> more than $3m in exchange.
> #Magistrate Samuel McKinney sentenced Reginald Merritt to three years for
> smuggling the $90,000 worth of drugs
> into the country on December 27 with
> plans of being paid some $3.5m for his
> efforts.

So whats wrong with this story. Get it right *Tribune!*

This is one of the greatest loss of life from a single tragedy in the country. And it is business as usual only because The dead are Haitians.

So y'all wasn't reading between the lines ay? The Prime Minister all 'round the place saying how all these multi-million$, even Billion$ projects about to start and jump-start the economy creating thousands of jobs and reducing unemployment, maybe to mid-single digits (5-7%). The Minister of Tourism is blowing his horn saying Tourism figures are at unprecedented levels, 20% increase in Eleuthera and almost as high in some other Family Islands. And Deputy Prime Minister, K.P. Turnquest is saying some of the red ink on the books is turning blue with the potential to turn black in a matter of years. So ya tink dey hinting that while erry body spreading rumour that VAT is going to increase, it may actually be decreased, if only to 10%, before elections. Money flowing ay?

Go in Super Value. A 3-pound bag of (imported) conch cost $46.17. Yes, Forty-six Dollars and 1seventeen cents. There are food places like Bamboo Shack (how many locations), and the fish fry stalls that are consistently pumping out hundreds and hundreds of salads and conch snacks daily. And at a volume that never existed before in the history of the country. So there is pressure on the conch supply so as it is on lobster and scale fish. And from what was seen in the last apprehension of poaching vessels, when these boats come into Bahamian waters they raid with no mercy. So while there may be no cause for alarm, there is real cause for action, Conservation measures, and proper management.

> Of these findings, Dr Allen said:
> “We’ve found there’s a powerful
> connection between early childhood
> sexual abuse and late teenage year
> murders… If a kid is abused sexually,
> between one and seven years-old, they
> have a high rate of violent crimes in
> the late teenage years, early 20s.

The factor(s) that are causing murder had to have been introduced into the (black) Bahamian society within the past ten-twenty years when the incidence of murder became epidemic. Bahamians, like other blacks, endured .hundreds of years of slavery where women were raped, married women even, in front of their husbands and children. Male slaves were forced to breed and be separated from their children and there was always physical abuse, including lynchings, mutilations and hangings. Murder among the slaves was a rare occurrence. And even after slavery, with the continued abuse and discrimination, the spraying with fire hoses, the dog attacks, the destruction of property, the cross burnings. So again the good doctor is asked what sample did he use? Does data reflect that there is an increase in incest, child abuse, and murder? And if he did take a sample of murderers, what portion of them fit into this category. And, as an alternative, why did murder not manifest itself in other (Family island) communities where these characteristics are also present?

The tragedy is far reaching. Families in Haiti not knowing if their loved ones are dead or alive. Persons and families in the US in a similar situation. And persons here whose immigration status may be in the limbo or they don’t want to jeopardize it so they too scared to come forward and help with the identification process. Only thing to do is take pictures and make an album that family can access and know the fate of their loved ones. Or if that’s to macabre, then make an album of the survivors

Incest (though not right) is more common in several Family Island communities. Yet their murder rate is zero. Not just over one year, but over decades. Tell the good. Doctor to dispense of this garbage and go do some proper research. Hint: many of the murders are ‘hits’/ executions where there is little or no correlation between the killers and the victims except they may be in warring gangs or fighting for drugs turf