Sentinel 25 April 2013
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THE South Atlantic Media Services, Ltd. www.sams.sh Vol. 2,SENTINEL Issue 5 - Price: £1 “serving St Helena and her community worldwide” Th ursday 25 April, 2013 LEGCO DISSOLVED, GENERAL ELECTION IN JULY ANNOUNCED Above: Prince Andrew School students at the Queen’s birthday party with Governor Capes - pg 6 ST HELENA’S TOP SCIENCE FAIR SUCCESS pg 16/17 PRIORITY, UNEQUAL PAY RATES, WHO HOLDS THE POWER IN GOVERNMENT... Governor Mark Capes talks about all these issues and more in the Sentinel Richard Wallis & Sharon Henry, SAMS Political power in St Helena rested solely on the shoulders of the island’s councillors, Governor Mark Capes said, hours before he dissolved the Legislative Council. Under the Constitution, they alone had the right to take decisions. The Governor was obliged to follow their instructions. “They think I have the power to decide everything. I don’t,” Mr Capes said in an interview with The Sentinel. He said he had been in favour of creat- One more Canon at the top of the St Paul’s Champions Yesterday ing the post of Chief Councillor – a move that was Ladder! Successful Ladder Challenge pg 8 Primary Schools’ Athletics photos & report, pg 29 rejected by the majority last month. “If we had a Chief Councillor, he could do the report (ExCo) Also inside this issue - New baby boy, visit of Basil Read’s Offshore Island Director, ice and speak for the members”. breaker Plancius in the bay, plus all the sports news, including cricket district champions continued on page 20 2 www.sams.sh Th ursday 25 April 2013 THE SENTINEL ST HELENA SNIPPETS Baby Tanner Baby boy Tanner James Benjamin came into the world on Sunday 14 April at 10.50am weighing 6lb and 8oz. He was born with perfectly formed features and an abundance of shiny black hair. Parents Amy Constan- tine and Simon Benjamin of HTH together with big brother Riley (3) are proud of the new addition to their family. Riley is extremely excited with his little brother and is always quick to show him off. The family would like to thank hospital staff, especially midwife Erika Benjamin, for effi ciently managing the quick delivery that happened within 10 minutes! Environmental Management Tackling St Helena Waste Head On Directorate meeting Leading fi gures in St Helena The meeting also looked at conservation of The well attended meeting included Coun- last week focused attention on St Helena’s unique natural environment, the cillors Cyril Gunnell and Brian Isaac. Cyril protection of its rich marine heritage and the Gunnell said afterwards, “The meeting this the problem of huge amounts of impact the airport will have on the landscape. morning is going great guns. A lot of positive waste glass currently littering the The forum gave the stakeholders an opportu- comments are coming out of it.” Brian Isaac island. nity to ask questions and raise issues that the concluded, “Environmental issues - they are At an inaugural meeting of the Environmental EMD will need to look into. Isabel hopes to everyone’s business. We have to look after it Management Directorate (EMD) on Thursday, hold further meetings of this kind every six for future generations.” councillors and those concerned about the en- months. vironment discussed ways of recycling waste and doing more to protect St Helena’s delicate natural heritage . At present glass represents “The meeting this morning is going great guns. 17.23% of all waste sent to the landfi ll. The new directorate is hoping to raise general awareness of the damage done to the envi- ronment by the litter that blights many road- sides and housing developments. “What we are doing is trying to manage and protect the environment,” said Manager of the Environ- ment Assessment & Advocacy Section, Isabel Peters. She said it was vitally important that all stakeholders in the new directorate got en- gaged in a campaign to clean up the island and recycle as much waste as possible. Th ursday 25 April 2013 THE SENTINEL www.sams.sh 3 ST HELENA SNIPPETS New to Rent FILLING Compton House, THE GUT Market Street, Jamestown Three bedroom traditional Town House One bite at a time! Viewing of this property is highly recommended The visit of Graham Temlett All enquiries to Dave Yon, Telephone 2396 Sherrilee Phillips, SAMS (property available end of May) “Photographs, tables and reports can never tell airport,” and that the steepness, the aggressiveness of the topog- this aspect of raphy,” said Basil Read’s Offshore Island Di- the project now rector for the Airport Project in an interview made more sense last Friday. Graham Temlett has been in the after his visit. post for the past 27 months. Until now he had “Knowing that kept up to date on airport developments from everyone knows Johannesburg via daily Skype conferences. what they have to “We have a lot of photos but that never tells do to certify the the story. Even when people come back from airport has been the island and they tell us, ‘until you’ve been good for me,” he here you’ll never understand the intensity of added. the topography,’” said Graham. One of the big- For Basil Read the project is the fi rst of its gest jobs on Ba- kind and Graham said it has been a “steep sil Read’s hands learning curve.” He said that the three most is the fi lling of important criteria, when it came to a project of Dry Gut. With this order, were planning, planning and plan- a million cubic ning: “If you miss a design detail, a procure- metres fi lled and ment detail, a specifi cation detail, it could cost seven million still Graham Temlett at Longwood last week you a month before the vessel comes around, to go, Graham before you can get it back to the island.” He again mentioned how a picture of Dry Gut lenge, “is making sure we have picked up ev- went on to say that before the start of the air- did not show the reality of what was being ac- ery aspect of the airport certifi cation require- port construction he had known nothing of the complished. “When you’re down in the Gut ments and that nothing is dragging.” shipping industry. “We had a chartered vessel looking up, you realise just how much further With every RMS arrival, Basil Read’s staff that had our name on the side but that was as you’ve got to go...it’s that good ole saying becomes a stronger force. However, the much of shipping as we knew. We now know ‘how do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a company and Graham have been “pleasantly far more. We know far more about airports time.’ How do you fi ll dry gut? One truck surprised” by the local skills that have been than we knew.” load at a time.” found. In terms of staff sent to the island his An advantage of his visit is “engaging with The company began their schedule for airport motto is, “If you’re working across border, all the directorates.” Graham said that direc- certifi cation approximately nine months ago, send your A-Team.” He admitted that they torates such as Customs, Immigration, Po- “So that by the time we are ready and complet- hadn’t a 100 percent record with the A-Team lice, Environmental, Utilities and Fire all had ed with the physical works, we’re also ready but gave a rating of 95 percent. a “huge role to play in the certifying of your to operate the airport.” The next biggest chal- Graham’s short stay ended on Monday when he departed for South Africa on the RMS. St Helena Weather We’re getting darker mornings and evenings are now drawing in earlier. Still no signs of any settling rains and Red Hill reservoir re- mains on alert with uncomfortably low water levels. Here are the weather data readings for the past week from the Met Station at Bottom Woods and ANRD at Scotland. Bottom Woods Scotland Min temp 18C 16.5C 16.5C Max temp 24C 23.9C 23.0C Mean temp 20.2C 19.9C Total sunshine 32.8 hours 41.2 hours Total rainfall 5.2mm 13.7mm Looking up from the surface of Dry Gut Mean w/speed 10.2 knots 4 www.sams.sh Th ursday 25 April 2013 THE SENTINEL SENTINEL Inside the galley onboard Plancius COMMENT Darrin Henry, SAMS Although we marked our fi rst year fi ve weeks ago, it feels as if The Sentinel’s inaugural cir- cle was completed just yesterday. Our very fi rst issue featured the Primary Schools’ Ath- letics. As with the young athletes, the year of growth has been diffi cult to appreciate day to day, yet it is there and seems far more ob- vious today. At that tender age, changes in the youngsters is amazing. Young limbs have stretched and strengthened, facial features and mannerisms are becoming more defi ned and their unique characters are beginning to peek through. No doubt many parents would Plancius anchored in Jamestown yesterday have taken quiet note of the change. I can’t help but draw comparisons with our fl edgling team at SAMS. A year ago as a training exercise our one-on-one ‘chat’ in- Inside one of terviews with each other would stall quickly. the cabins The concept of provoking and maintaining recreational discussion, asking follow up questions and actually enjoying the interac- tion just caused upset bellies with nervous- ness.