April 1, 2014 The Abaconian Section A Page 1 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 07 April 1st, 2014 Great Abaco Family Fitness Weekend What’s Inside sees increased participation •Airport to open end of April according to Min. of Transport. A5 •Pathfinders continues to raise money to educate Abaco’s youth. B8 •Sporting Complex to break ground in May. A7 •Ranger Ricky Johnson memorialized with nature trail. A15 •Before Dundas Town Above: an early morning swim for the competitors at the third annual Great Abaco Family Fitness Weekend. The event has grown every there was “Old Place.” year and has become a premier event on Abaco. See page 2. A17 Gov’t inaction •Break Dancers teach $39 million North Abaco students there are “No grounds sea Limits, No Excuses!” B1 Port starts construction plane venture in two months according to CEO •Crossword Puzzle. A20 •Visitor’s Guide. A23 What’s Happening •April 2-4: Angels Acad- emy Book Fair •April 5-6: Homer Lowe Regattas Above: Colin Higgs (Permanent Secretary - Min. of Works), Colvin London (Senior Above: Tropic Ocean Airways inaugural •April 11-12: K.B. per- Business Development Manager, CHEC America), Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis, flight carrying international press mem- North Abaco Member of Parliament Renardo Curry, and Felix Chang (Principal, CHEC bers promoting the now defunct service. forms for Save the Bays Bahamas). The meeting in Coopers Town was well attended by the community. See page (Hope Town & Marsh 5. According to IJet Charters CEO, Jim Swieter, government inaction has ground- Harbour.) ed the company’s sea plane venture. The sea plane, billed as a direct flight from Ft Lauderdale to the Abaco Inn harbour in Elbow Cay, had already run its inaugural •April 26: Christian flight and received international publicity. Counselling Centre re- Despite receiving verbal confirmation from government officials, IJet and the demption Song Concert company operating the Sea Plane, Tropic Requested Service Service Ocean Airways, were never able to get the Change Change Permit NO 4595 NO Permit paperwork signed by government to pro- WEST PALM BCH FL BCH PALM WEST Stuart, FL 34997 FL Stuart, Community Calendar PAID • 5675 SE Grouper Ave Grouper SE 5675 ceed fully. US POSTAGE US Stuart Web Inc. Web Stuart PRSRT STD PRSRT Tropic Ocean Airways has been op- The Abaconian The A8 Renew your subscription before the expiration date shown in the label below. label the in shown date expiration the before subscription your Renew Please see Flight Page 7 Page 2 Section A The Abaconian April 1, 2014 North Abaco Great Abaco Family Fitness Weekend returns to Treasure Cay McCoy. “The Jamis bicycle provided by and the Treasure Cay Resort & Marina. Cycles Unlimited (Nassau) was raffled off Jeff Key was instrumental in providing for Friend's and was won by a lady out of transportation to Hector and his family Hope Town.” during his visit. He added “Having Hector Picard par- He competed in the races, provided a ticipate in the community and in the events hands-free tire change demo to participants was also a great addition to this year's in GAFFW and presented to the students at GAFFW.” Hector, a double-amputee and ECC and Forest Heights Academy. motivational speaker, had his trip made possible by the Cable Cares Foundation Please see GAFFW Page 21 Above: crossing the finish line is a sweet experience for these runners. By Timothy Roberts ticipation.” The third annual Great Abaco Fam- Mr. McCoy noted that GAFFW add- ily Fitness Weekend (GAFFW) continues ed a new event this year, a paddleboard to see growth with 72 triathletes competing clinic and races, which were hosted by in this year’s event as event organizer Lee PappaSurf out of Nassau. They also con- McCoy sees even more growth to come tinued a kids' cheerleading/dance clinic in next year’s event which takes place in which was well attended and was led by Treasure Cay. Michaud Abraham from Marsh Harbour. He said that in 2012 they hosted 18 “We are looking at adding in an additional participants in the triathlons, which is their triathlon race next year, a kid's triathlon. main event, which grew tremendously to This would be a significantly shorter triath- 65 triathletes in 2013. “We had a huge lon, and in addition to the popular 1-mile jump from our first to second year, which kid's run,” he said. we were expecting as it was a new event,” “We had a great year and raised he said. “Overall between this year and funds for both the Rotary Club of Abaco Above: cyclists racing at the GAFFW. last, we had about a 35% increase in par- and Friends of the Environment,” said Mr. April 1, 2014 The Abaconian Section A Page 3 DAMIANOS Page 4 Section A The Abaconian April 1, 2014 Coldwell Banker April 1, 2014 The Abaconian Section A Page 5 Central & All Abaco Minister eyes end of April opening Town hall meeting in Coopers Town Leonard M Thompson International Airport addresses port construction “in the final stages” of preparation By Timothy Roberts ister explained to Parliament that in or- After more than a year-long delay, der to have the airport fully operational, officials are eying the end of April for the the Christie administration would need to opening of the Marsh Harbour Interna- spend an additional $11,930,000. With the tional Airport, Minister of Transport and hike, the airport comes up at a total cost of Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin said on nearly $40 million. March 17. Included in the estimate was a $6 mil- The airport terminal, which expected lion run way extension, $3.8 million to to cost $27million, was slated to open in build a freight building, $230,000 for that October 2012; however due to numerous building’s architectural fees and $1.9 mil- setbacks and technical issues the opening lion in other architectural fees. had been delayed until now. Though the architectural plans for the Above left to right: MP Renardo Curry, DPM Philip Davis and Colvin London. As the airport contractor FES Con- freight building were passed late 2013 no struction completes final minor works the contract is known to have been granted for Airport Authority has already begun work works to begin, and presently the runway Press Release stem from this port development. to start moving staff and airlines to the new extension appears to be a future consider- Abaco residents crowded the halls of “A modern infrastructure transporta- terminal and Mrs. Hanna-Martin said that ation. The runway extension would have China Harbour Engineering Company’s tion facility to facilitate international trade, by the ‘end of April’ all systems will be allowed the larger commercial airlines to (CHEC) town hall meeting in Coopers generate new business revenues from all ready to go. land at the airport; however, the runway is Town on Monday as the government an- the things that will be built up around “Marsh Harbour Airport has had adequate for regional jet-liners. nounced construction activity to start in this,” said the Minister of Works about the long standing issues,” she said, “But we She told Parliamentarians that the two months on the $39 million North Aba- project. “It will engage Bahamian service are winding down and are in the final stag- additional high fees to have the airport co Port Development. providers and suppliers. And of course we es. The wirings and equipment are being opened is the result of a failure to plan The construction phase of the proj- expect our trade between China and Baha- laid down. Forty people are being trained coupled with ‘ad-hoc decisions’. ect is to be funded by the Export Import mas to improve.” in a four week program. CCTV is being “Officials have also determined,” she Bank of China and the government of The Principal of CHEC Bahamas, Felix installed. said, “that in planning the airport there “I have been informed by the Min- were no measures to ensure an optimiza- Bahamas and is estimated to be a roughly Chang, said a minimum of one-third of istry of Works that by the end of April all tion of space for future expansion efforts. two year project. Government and local the project’s investment would be shared systems will be ready to go. This has been Neither was there proper consultation on hope the project will be a major boost to throughout the community directly and a learning curve for us. We sought to do how the facility would reach maximum en- the economy of Coopers Town and Abaco. indirectly. Already, more than 70 local our best, but the architect initially hired did ergy efficiency,” Mrs. Hanna-Martin said. Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave companies have been contracted for works not specialize in airports; next time we’ll When ground was broken on Septem- Davis expressed his support of the con- in the past several months leading up to use someone with experience in this area,” ber 1, 2011, it was said by the Ingraham struction of the project during the town hall she said. administration that in 10 months the facil- meeting, saying there are many benefits to Please see CHEC Page 6 Back in December of 2012, the Min- ity would be completed and ready for use. FURNITURE PLUS Page 6 Section A The Abaconian April 1, 2014 Central & All Abaco The DANA course uses the inter- CHEC From Page 5 Damage Assessment Needs Analysis active teaching method, based on well- construction start. workshop held in March defined objectives that participants must “There will be job opportunities, fulfil.