New Year's First Major Fire
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MONDAY 4 JANUARY 2021 | ISSUE 173 | WWW.POINTVILLE.AG NEW YEAR’S FIRST MAJOR FIRE SEE PAGE 3 PAGE 5 PAGE 7 PAGE 16 No travel Hugh Marshall: Fu Manchu: No restrictions Satisfaction comes simple voice against Barbados from helping people Editorial: Goodbye 2020... Welcome, 2021 Page 2 MONDAY, 4 JANUARY, 2021 EDITORIAL PAGE 2 GOODBYE 2020… WELCOME, 2021! The year 2020 will cer- campus at Five Islands whatsoever, yet, that in- given the fact that we tainly be recorded in the to better arm themselves dividual is able to spread continue to welcome na- annals of human history with higher certificates the virus. tionals and visitors from as the ‘year of the great or diplomas for the ex- So the virus spread many of the hotspots. plague’. pected job openings. from country to coun- What of the year be- Even less than a week The world was ours try and by March, the fore us? Everyone has into the New Year, there to conquer, or so we World Health Organiza- expressed fatigue with are aspects of the year thought! tion declared it a pan- the need to wear masks, that just ended that Then came news to- demic. That same month, social distancing, and seemed to have disap- wards the end of 2019 the Antigua and Barbu- other protocols. Every- peared from our collec- of a strange disease da government closed one wants to be able to tive consciousness. “You that was killing scores of the nation’s borders. The return to what for them quite often heard ques- people in Wuhan, China. airport and cruise ports is ‘normal’. The question tions such as ‘did that Many were hearing of grounded to a halt. is, when will that be? happen this year?’ and Wuhan for the first time A state of emergen- The vaccine will not be ‘are you sure it didn’t so it was understandable cy was enforced as we widely available in An- happen earlier?’ that for them, the prob- moved from a hard lock- tigua and Barbuda until 2020 had cast such lem was literally and fig- down to one that takes the second quarter of a dark cloud of gloom uratively, a world away. effect from 11:00 pm to the year at the earliest, over our lives that there But we did not take 5:00 am. This is likely to or so we have been told. seems to have been a one important factor be in effect until the end It will be months before decision, unconsciously, into account; interna- of March this year. most people are vacci- to forget many of the tional travel. The inter- There was the mass nated. It therefore won’t things that happened connectivity of the world cancelation of events be until the second half during the year. today means that you or the scaling down of of the year that some But however much we can be in St John’s today others; Carnival, Sail- semblance of normality tried, it has been diffi- and be in Wuhan within ing Week, sports, church returns. cult, even impossible, to twenty-four hours with services, beaches, and Nevertheless, the New fully erase the deluge of the right connections. independence festivities Year opens with prom- negatives that will al- A second key factor; to name a few. ises and expectations ways be associated with viruses, which caused Yet, despite this, the that can still be realized. the year in review. the illness discovered in people of Antigua and We have shown much It was a year that ush- Wuhan, know no bound- Barbuda have largely resilience and creativi- ered in a promise of aries. They can infect a adhered to the health ty during the year 2020 better economic perfor- human and he/she would protocols instituted and these ought to be mances both locally and not show any symptoms by the government to the foundation upon in the important source until much later. Mean- combat the spread of which we build for the markets for tourism. Sev- while, that individu- the disease. So far, the future; with resolve and eral new projects that al may have had close country has been able steadfastness. ‘There’s promised jobs and oth- contacts with personnel to hold the of COVID nothing to fear, but fear er benefits were an- at airports, the aircraft, active cases within sin- itself!’ Franklyn D. Roo- nounced. taxis, hotels, etc. infect- gle digits even though sevelt told that to the In their personal devel- ing others without know- the numbers of con- American people at the opment planning, many ing it. firmed cases have been height of the Great De- expressed a desire to In this case, the cul- ticking upwards in recent pression of the 1930s. It take advantage of the prit, COVID-19, can in- weeks. was a rallying cry for opening of the new Uni- fect a person who does The government says America, it can be ours versity of the West Indies not show any symptoms this can be expected today! PAGE 3 LOCAL NEWS MONDAY, 4 JANUARY, 2021 New Year’s First major fire It took two visits from in time to help the firemen firemen to fully extinguish with access to the building a fire that completely de- both from the front and stroyed the interior of a the back,” Core stated. nightclub and restaurant The businessman said he that operated just yards had made significant in- away from the St John’s vestments into the business Police Station over the hol- with multiple A/C units, iday weekend. big screen televisions and Fire Chief Elvis Weav- other equipment as well er said the St John’s Fire as stocks which he said Station received a call is quite substantial. “I will just after 11 p.m. on Friday have to sit down and put (New Year’s night) to put the figures together care- out a fire in a building on fully, but my initial guess is Church Street that housed that the losses will amount Best Buy variety store on to about $150,000.00. Nei- the first floor and Eastern ther the building nor the Nightclub and Restaurant contents were insured so on the second floor. this is a personal loss to “The call came in at me,” he revealed. 11:03 pm on Friday night He also complained that about a building on fire the firemen did not allow on Church Street…they re- him to secure any of the sponded and met the up- stock or equipment after stairs of the building on fire the first visit. and the officers used water Weaver is however de- to extinguish the fire. The fending the fire department concrete building is 55 x 61 calling the suggestion that feet in diameter. Sometime his men did not do a good later, at 4:21 am Saturday job the first time around as morning came a second ‘unfortunate’. “My men as- call about the building be- sured me that they put out ing on fire again. This time all the fire that they could they sought assistance from see during the visit,” he de- Coolidge and All Saints fire clared. stations to put out the fire,” Asked what could cause Weaver reported. the fire to reignite after This time the interior of the firemen left, Weaver the nightclub and restau- said there are several pos- rant was fully gutted by sibilities. “It could be that the fire, embers were burning in Weaver also reported the roof which the firemen that two elderly women could not see when they who live in the adjacent first visited the scene. That property – Thelma Cama- could have continued to cho, 99 and her daughter burning causing the sec- Rosalie, said to be in her Saturday morning and are guished when the firemen ond flare up,” he added. 60’s - had to be evacuated said to be doing well. left the scene Saturday The Best Buy store only by the firemen and moved Meanwhile, a distraught morning after the first call. suffered water damage. to a neighbour’s house be- Wayne Core, the propri- “I received a call from The fire department will cause of the smoke inha- etor of the nightclub and a friend saying that the undertake a full investiga- lation. Both women were restaurant is asking wheth- building was on fire so I tion into the cause of the returned to their home on er the fire was fully extin- immediately rushed back fire. MONDAY, 4 JANUARY, 2021 LOCAL NEWS PAGE 4 Record number of barrels cleared in 2020 More than eleven thousand of a programme designed to help the port. (11,000) barrels were processed by families in Antigua and Barbuda Boddu said the programme offi- the Customs Division between April cope with the fallout from the pan- cially ended at the end of Decem- and December as families took ad- demic. ber although barrels that landed vantage of a government relief pro- Under the programme, families prior to that date will still be pro- gramme because of the COVID-19 could import barrels of food and cessed. “It will be up to the Cabinet pandemic. toiletries as well as anti-COVID to determine whether to extend the This comes from Comptroller of items such as hand sanitizers and programme any further,” he indicat- Customs, Raju Boddu, who report- disinfectant spray and only pay a ed in response to queries about the ed to PointeXpress on the success $10.00 processing fee to Customs at possible extension of the initiative.