Tragic story. But time to face the facts. The Mudd is an illegal residential subdivision. Illegal BPL hookups; homes too close to each other; inadequate septic facilities; etc, etc,etc. Struggling working class Bahamians have to buy the land. Get plans drawn up. Fart around with the Ministry of Works, who seem to be lost in the wilderness; pay ridiculous fees to BPL for an electrical connection; then Water and Sewerage; then tip someone so that you can get a occupancy certificate; and on and on and on. This mess was allowed to develop when Edison Key brought in Haitians to work his farms and it has gotten out of hand because successive governments have done nothing to address this, and all of the other, shanty towns in the country. We have a vast majority FNM government who, unfortunately, are good at spinning yarns, but p-iss poor in taking action. So the Mudd and Pigeon Pea and all of the other shanty towns will continue to grow and continue to burn.

Same old sh-t. BPL is increasing your bills for debt service. The government does not give a rats a-s about the environment. The oil still and will always leak because that is the what we will accept. This is the Snakes oil that is leaking and the FNM is happy to pay. God help us.

Okay. We know what Resolve is and who created it. My question is when will the government make it known publicly, as to which loans were transferred to Resolve and what really has been done to collect them. For that matter what has happened to the entire portfolio of questionable loans at BOB. We have heard names like Leslie Miller, Pat Mortimer, and Obie Wilchcombe mentioned as some of the delinquent loans (in the millions) but still see no action taken to garner their assets and they are operating business as usual. Furthermore, the results of a forensic audit have not yet been made public. Is anything going to happen to McQueeny, the Chairman, the board et al, who approved these fraudulent transactions. Me thinks not. Politicians protect each other. Because you never know who will win the next election, and many hands are mired in graft. No change here.

Tragic. I hope that the company he was employed by had him in a pension plan, and life insurance. Also liability insurance to cover this type of situation. Ministry of Labour needs to insure his family is properly compensated and stay on top of this. Condolences to his family.

Ha Ha. Messenger you are spot on. Only problem is, no one knows where these numbers taxes are going and will be going if they increase. The numbers boys have better accounting systems than Govt. and if they( the government) are such idiots as to believe they are collecting what they should; God help us. More numbers taxes equals more money for graft.. Govt. lottery is the answer there. But I agree with the love of chicken, liquor, crabbie, and numbers.

Alcohol and tobacco are already very heavily taxed. Duty on tobacco products is 200% plus stamp tax and vat. Beer is taxed at 10$ per imperial gal. that works out to 18$ per case plus tax and vat. Increasing these will negatively impact tourism as they a large consumers of both these products. Maybe the good Doctor and the Minister of Tourism should duke it out on this one. A wage deduction similar to NIB will be easier to administer and have a more defined paper trail. In addition, if National Health is as good as they say it will be, employers and employees should be happy to contribute as they can then do away with the very costly group health plans that they are burdened with. But wait, that might cause and insurance war. Mudda sic. What a quandry.

This juggling of numbers sounds like a load of bullsh-t. Only one way for vehicular traffic to access Paradise Island. An absolute market controller and they have money problems? Come on. Mismanagement. Yes. Fraud. Perhaps. I wish I had that franchise. I would not have financial difficulties. Raise the tolls. Ask Atlantis to pay more. But leave the Bahamian people out of this.

We can all feel the pain of these people. However, the mud has always been an den of illegal activity. Illegal hookups to BPL, illegal businesses, prostitution, and gambling. To refresh every persons memory, the originator of the Mud was Edison Key, who brought in thousands of Haitians to work his farms. But I am sure that he will be referred to as a Bahamian Hero and laid out in state. Why has no one been charged for allowing this shanty town to grow so large. No house plans. No building permits. No BPL connections. Toilet and septic facilities. Give all the MP's. especially Mr. Key a medal.

A reverse cycle modern day Robin Hood. The old one "stole from the rich to give to the poor". This one "steals from the poor to give to himself", and he is the hero that our youth will want to emulate. Plenty money. Fine cars. Big house. Fast Women. And we wonder what has happened to the moral fiber of our society. Go Go Government.

I hope Mr. Wells does his homework on this. Lobster fisherman in the Bahamas are currently geared towards capturing lobster by "hooking" them with a modified spear; wringing the tails; dipping them in a cleaning solution; and freezing the tails. In order to capture live lobster and bring them to market, boats would have to have wells; dinghies would have to have some sort of live storage capabilities, and capturing would be a whole different ballgame. Boats that currently set traps for lobsters (very few) would have to be modified from freezer storage to live well. Very expensive to do. Purchasers of the live lobster, would have to have large storage areas to place them in, (again,very expensive), and then there is the matter of transport to China. Talk to the real fishermen in Spanish Wells and get their input. Sounds like a pipe dream to me.