Decomposed body of man found in SP

Venancio Tillett, deceased
The San Pedro Police Department is investigating the death of a man on the island. At about 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 18th, police were called to an area south of San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye in the Boca Ciega Area where police found the lifeless body of a man in the second stage of decomposition. The man, identified as 59-year-old Venancio Augustine Tillett, a resident of San Lazaro Village in the Orange Walk District, was a caretaker at Club Caribbean Resort. According to Police, Tillett was found in the water near some mangroves dressed in brown pants and a gray T-shirt, with no foot wear in Siete Canal in the Boca Ciega Channel. While no visible signs of violence were observed on the body, a post mortem examination was conducted on Monday, January 19th, to determine the cause of death.

Fire partially destroys building in DFC

A fire in San Pedro Town partially destroyed a two storage building in the DFC Subdivision. According to the Second in Charge of the San Pedro Fire Department, Miguel Medina, the Fire Department received an urgent call informing them of a fire at approximately 12:22 a.m. on January 21st, 2009. Police along with the San Pedro Fire Department responded to the scene where upon arrival they observed a two storey partially wooden and concrete structure with its southern portion engulfed in flames. The fire department managed to control the fire but the lower flat which houses a grocery shop (“One Love Grocery Store”) received damages. Read more on this story in Thursday edition of The Sun!

Other efforts to catch the LionFish are being encouraged and several organizations have mounted an educational campaign to alert residents about the lion fish perils. SeaSports Belize for instance, who are a local tour company in Belize City have issued posters of the LionFish which encourages the catching of the species, “WANTED dead or alive”. Some negative impacts caused by the Lion Fish if allowed to become widespread, can cause further declines in fish and lobster populations. Impacts can mean less fishery products and reduction in reef health. Thus, divers are advised that although the lionfish are a beautiful sight it is just as dangerous and divers are asked to capture it by using a net or pushing it into a bag. Reporting the sighting and its location is the next best thing! Read more on this story in this week's edition of The Sun!

Library/Media Center complete for RC School

On Friday, January 16th, The San Pedro Roman Catholic Primary School held open ceremonies for the school library/media center. The library, which comes at a cost of $17, 000 dollars was a donation to the school from the Calendar Girls. Books for the library was also possible through a charitable organization called “Books for Belize,” which is being spearheaded by Eve and Ross Dirnback of Ambergris Parts.
On this day, students were acclimated to the center and were allwoed to browse thru the books. "A welcomed project", Principal Kay explained to us that the library will offer positive reeinforcements not only for students but teachers as well.

20 Million in reef damages estimated in WesterHaven mishap

The Westerhaven cargo ship remains grounded on the Belize barrier reef 32 miles from Belize City in an area near Caye Glory. Continuing rough seas have prevented the Department of Environment from making an official assessment of the damages, but reef expert Melanie McField who accompanied our asspciates 7NEWS to the scene yesterday on swollen seas has says the ship damaged 10,000 meters of reef which amounts to a dollar figure of twenty million us dollars. Today, Chief Environmental Officer Martin Allegria told us that information received so far suggests that the ship was on autopilot when it veered off course. Martin Alegria, Chief Environment Officer (DOE)

Martin Allegria, Chief Environmental Officer“Preliminary from my officers are that it was on autopilot apparently but even if a vessel is on autopilot, I mean you have to have some sort of safety mechanism; a person on watch should in case it goes out of the established route. Machines can go wrong sometimes. At this stage, at this specific point in time Jules it is difficult for me to tell you what the valuation is at this point in time. Why? Because we haven’t been able to get underneath or under the sea to see what and where this boat is specifically grounded on. The current legislation under section 29 of the Environmental Protection Act, it basically establishes a maximum of $200,000 for damage to the environment. However with assistance from the Port and other agencies, a case of that damage to the reef for example in this case proves to be due to negligence, wanton disregard, carelessness, that type of thing – of the captain in this case – the same legislation provides for us to be able to charge in the courts on those infractors three times the value of the damage.”
And while it passed without any publicity, about a month ago, another cargo vessel got stuck on the reef. The damages for that are not finalized but they are believed to be in the same range as this one – above ten million us dollars.