Belize Bureau of Standards lists Grocery Stores that Provide Proper Receipts at Point of Sale

As a part of its five star store survey the Belize Bureau of Standards is highlighting stores that provide proper receipts at point of sale. The survey was conducted throughout October and November of last year. The purpose is to assist customers in making wise shopping choices by highlight grocery outlets that are protecting consumer’s health, safety and economic interest. Kenisha Stuart is the Customer Protection and Liaison Officer at the Belize Bureau of Standards. (more…)

Gold, silver, lead at Chiquibul

Belize, particularly the Cayo District, is being explored for its store of precious metals, such as gold and silver, as well as lead and other associated metals—tin and zinc. How much of these metals are buried underneath the surface of the Chiquibul area in western Belize is uncertain, but a letter dated August 15, 1978, made available to our newspaper recently, suggests that there may be more “wealth untold” in The Jewel than Belizeans know.

The letter, more than three decades old, reveals that Dr. D. A. Andrews-Jones, Chief Geologist for Anschutz Minerals Corporation, a US company of the famous Phil Anschutz, who reportedly spent millions exploring for oil in Belize in the same era, had been exploring Belize for metals in the 70’s and 80’s.

Andrews-Jones wrote to H. C. Flowers, then Inspector of Mines for Belize, reporting that samples of rocks that had been obtained from the Smokey Branch area of the Chiquibul River, in Cayo, contained lead and silver, in some cases as high as 50 to 86% lead and up to 22 ounces per ton of silver. (more…)

2010 New Year’s Baby

Baby Javon Gehan Lashley was delivered at one a.m. on New Year’s Day.

Annually, on the first newscast of the year we feature the New Year’s baby, the first child to be born at the KHMH on January first. And this year’s New Year’s baby seemed like he had a date with destiny; he wasn’t due until the end of January, but he came in time for the New Year’s party.

Jacqueline Godwin:  “Yvane when you visited the doctor and you know that you were pregnant did you ever expect that your little son would be born on New Year’s Day?”

Yvane Mangar, Mother of New Year’s Baby: “No I never thought, never expected. I always hear about people having the baby on the 1st of January and I never thought I would be that one and so it is exciting but yet I am worried a bit since he is in the Intensive Care. But like I said, all the excitement came afterwards once he is home.”

Meet the New Year baby Javon Gehan Jeff Lashley who was born four weeks earlier and weighs just over two pounds but he is doing well in the special care baby unit at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. (more…)

Minister of National Security Appoints Team to Investigate Allegations of Wrongdoing

Minister of National Security Carlos Perdomo announced the appointment of a three member Inquiry Team last Thursday following allegations of unprofessional conduct by members of the Police Department. The team is made up of Senior Personnel from the Ministry of National Security. The family of Christopher Galvez who was murdered last month alleges that the Police Department has not been acting professionally.

Deputy National Security Coordinator Oliver Del Cid leads the team. The other members are the Ministry’s Administrative Officer Jennifer Saldivar Ramirez and Police Liaison Officer Assistant Superintendent Marlon Allen. The team has been charged to investigate the allegations of unprofessional conduct, investigate whether any external interference occurred in the release of Andre Aguilar, investigate whether any procedures were breached by Aguilar’s release and investigate the allegations by the family that they are being threatened by a police officer. At the end of the inquiry the report will be submitted to the Minister. Source: LoveFM.com

Belize Zoo Tropical Education Centre Day 1

A trip through Belize

Follow the Story of a Teacher leading a group of American Highschool students on a trip through Belize in spring 2009 at ajourneybegins-j.blogspot.com:

We were up early and at the airport by 5 am to catch the Continental flight heading to Houston. Some of the students hadn’t been to be yet because they were busy packing or were too excited about the trip ahead of them. Of course most of them crashed as soon as the plane took off. A few of the girls walked off leaving their boarding passes and passports on the ground. Since this was a serious matter, I picked them up and waited until we were boarding and the girls were stressing out about their ‘lost’ items before walking over to the girls and giving them their tickets and passports. I mentioned to them that they needed to keep these with them at all times no matter what. Once we got to Belize, I would take over holding all passports but they needed to be smarter with their passports and tickets in the future. (more…)

Mississippi Lab team trains police in Belize

Kathryn Moyse performs tasks at the Scales Biological Laboratory in Brandon. Lab staff recently trained police in Belize.

A Rankin Mississippi-based biological laboratory specializes in one main function: identification through DNA. Scales Biological Laboratory’s team helps law enforcement officials solve crimes throughout the U.S., but on a recent trip to Belize, the three-person team brought DNA technology to Central America.

The goal was to teach DNA testing to Belize’s national police, laboratory director Bo Scales said. “They have very little in the way of crime fighting – no guns and flashlights hardly,” he said. “We were thinking Belize like you see on a cruise. It wasn’t exactly like that.”

The lab team spent a week in November teaching techniques from the basics to the most sophisticated, Scales said. Included in the lessons were DNA collection, preservation and testing. “I think they walked away with a good bit of information,” he said of his peers in Belize.

It could be a while before the Belize national police use DNA testing to solve crimes, but it will happen eventually, he said. “When there’s a high-profile case, that’s when they’ll say we’ll go with DNA,” he said. His wife, Barbie Scales, said the group was treated royally in Belize. “The people out in the public knew who we were,” she said. (more…)

Cruise Ship Ryndam brings Christmas Cheer to Liberty Orphanage

Liberty children poses with their gifts aboard the "Ryndam".

Children from Liberty Orphanage received Christmas cheer with a ‘Fun Day’ aboard the Ryndam cruise ship in Belize City on December 16, 2009. According to Ralph Bladen of the ship ‘MS Ryndam’ they have developed a close relationship with the Liberty Orphanage in Ladyville, thanks to the power of the social networking site Facebook.

“I tracked down Lindsey Smith, who is stationed in Belize with her husband, via Facebook. I suggested to Lindsey that the ship would like to offer the 37 children of the Liberty Orphanage the opportunity to visit the Ryndam for a fun day outing and meet Santa Claus,” Bladen explained.

The crew of the ship formed an orphanage committee and organized the Fun Day for December 16. The evening before the “big day,” event manager Kelly Williams and casino host Alexandra Moisei organized a “Celebrity Blackjack” evening in the casino. Guests were asked to sign up for a nominal entrance fee with all proceeds going to the orphanage. The dealing in the casino was carried out by Captain Vincent Smit, Hotel Manager Douglas Hernandez, Cruise Director Matt Allen and Ralph Bladen. A total of $550 was raised that night. (more…)

Belikin’s Revealing 2010 Calendar

Miss June 2010

Jaw dropping…. That is one way you can describe the Belikin calendar for the New Year, thanks to some very provocative photos of young Belizean women chosen for the 2010 publication. It’s racier than it’s been in previous years. Of course, the publishers of the calendar are selling beer, not bibles, and the calendar enthusiasts are mostly men who aren’t likely to be put off by the revealing pictures. But still management declined to speak to us about the revealing spread.

We did however get to speak to two of the models nineteen year old Miss March, Michelle Swift and Miss October Samantha Gillett who had not yet seen the calendar until just before they were interviewed and like us were surprised about what they saw.

Michelle Swift, Miss March: “It wasn’t really something I was thinking about a long long time. I had a cousin who actually did it and her sister is actually on the calendar and at the time I really thought it was something neat. I really liked the girls on the calendar, the way they represented themselves and I thought that when I got a couple age older I would try at least to see if I could make the calendar.” (more…)

Former Prime Minister Esquivel Knighted

Former PM Esquivel Knighted

Over time, both Barry Bowen and Michael Ashcroft have made no secret of their dislike for Manuel Esquivel’s style of Governance between 1993 and 1998 – and it’s also widely knows that they did all they could to get him ejected from office in 1998. But tonight those two – who are also two of the richest men to hold a Belizean passport – share a very high honour with Esquivel. What’s more Ashcroft, Bowen and Esquivel are now the only three Belizeans to share that honour.

Scratching your head? You should be because in the post colonial era – the abbreviation KCMG is slightly arcane. It means “Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George” and in Belize it is the most senior appointment in the queen’s honour system bestowed upon persons other than Belizean Governors-General. In plainest terms, it is a higher honor than a regular knighthood. (more…)

New Year’s Message from the Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

My fellow Belizeans: The sense of anticipation and resolve with which we greet every New Year, is even more acute this time. That is because now we are also celebrating the start of a new decade. And our consciousness of the power of faith and endeavour, is always heightened when we mark another milestone in the march of time and progress. There is thus a special awareness of the indomitability of the human spirit that the conjunction of New Year and New Decade brings. This will be most welcome in Belize as our country steels itself to deal with the challenges of 2010.

The worldwide recession, which bore fully down on us in the second half of 2009, will run its course in the year ahead. Our difficulties will therefore peak and decline by the end of 2010. But until that happens, government and people must deal with the problems caused by slumping revenues, increased debt repayments, and the general economic slowdown.

Before I turn to that though, it is necessary to give thanks for such blessings as we enjoyed in the year that is ending. We were spared, despite the undeniable fact of climate change, any serious assault from hurricanes or other natural disasters. Such events as did occur included flooding in the south and the effects of the earthquake in Honduras. But NEMO, on which we continue to invest and which continues to improve, was able to deal with these comprehensively and expeditiously. (more…)